by Teisha Mott
“Thanks!”
She dialled Jeremy’s cell and then Samantha’s cell. Still no response. She slumped into her car, feeling totally defeated, but refusing to start crying again. This was the worst day ever. What was she going to do? It was at moments like these that she realised just how badly she wanted a boyfriend of her own. Boyfriends weren’t only good for making out with. They also had practical uses as well – like finding a solution for two flat tyres. She had no one to call…
A thought came to her. She was not totally out of options. There was one other person she could call, although the thought of him caused her stomach to turn. If she called him, she would never hear the end of it. But at that moment, what choice did she have? Klao pulled her notebook from her handbag and flipped through the pages, trying to find the number. There it was, looking up at her: Matthew St. James. She paused for a few moments, still unsure whether she should punch the keys. She could be opening a hornet’s nest calling Matt. He would be stuck on her like white on rice now, and she would definitely owe him a lunch date. But she was in a fix. She had no choice. She closed her eyes.
“Lord, if I am making a big mistake, please stop me!” She prayed. “Please don’t let him answer…”
She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and punched the seven digits to Matt’s cell phone. He answered almost immediately.
“Hi-lo!”
Klao wrinkled her nose. ‘Hi-lo’. What kind of greeting was ‘Hi-lo’?
“Matthew?” She questioned.
“Ye-es?”
She realised he was not sure who was calling him.
“This is Klao…”
“Klao? Klao Persaud?”
“Yes.” Klao swallowed. “I’m sorry to call you so late, but I have a problem, and I hope you can help me!”
***
Klao adjusted herself in the backseat of her car. She tucked her legs as far up to her chin as they would go, and sighed. Matt was on his way, or so he said. She hoped he was not too far away, or that she was not putting him too much out of his way. She did not want to be too obligated. Matt had not even asked her what kind of problem she was having. He had only asked where she was and had said he would be there in two shakes. That was awfully kind of him…
She looked up when she heard the two taps on her car window. It was Matt. Klao opened the doors and got out.
“Your two back tyres are shredded,” he said, stating the obvious.
“No shit, Sherlock!” Klao spat.
Matt smiled. “Always a ray of sunshine, aren’t we?”
Klao blushed. “Sorry.”
“Is alright. I’m accustomed to you now!” Matt frowned at the tyres. “How did this happen?”
“I reversed over the sabre tooth,” Klao explained.
“So you didn’t see the sign that said ‘don’t reverse over the sabre tooth’?” Matt flipped his cell phone open. “Or you think they weren’t serious.”
Klao opened her mouth to offer a retort but nothing was forthcoming Matt was calling someone.
“Yout’, you lock up already?” Matt said to the party on the other end of the phone. “How far you reach? I have a situation here… I looking a tow… Or, you have a spare I can borrow? CRV…”
Klao wondered who he was talking to.
“What year CRV is this?” He asked her.
“’08,” she responded, wondering why that mattered.
Matt repeated the information to the person on the phone. “Yeah... Mag rims on it....” He turned to Klao again. “How many spokes are on your rims?”
Klao looked at him as though he had asked her to tell him the size of the moon. How the dickens did he expect her to know that?
Matt looked at her dumbfounded expression and smiled again. “Never mind!”
He got on his knees and examined her tyres. She saw his expression when he noticed the shiny mag rims she had selected when she was purchasing her CRV last December. Darrin told her that rims were more cosmetic than functional, and they had cost a small fortune; but, people in traffic always complimented her on them.
She turned her attention to Matt, who was still talking to the person on the phone.
“By the Persaud Financials ATM drive-through on Braemar,” he was telling the person. “A’ight. Thanks bredren… Much appreciated… Cool!”
“Who was that?” Klao asked.
“A friend of mine has a garage,” he told her. “He’ll come and lend us a tyre.”
Klao nodded. She looked at him. He was not wearing old man jeans tonight. In fact, he was rather dressed up. He was wearing dark blue dress pants and a long sleeved pink shirt and a blue and pink striped tie. His shirt even had cuff links. Klao did not know that men, apart from her grandpa Ravi, still wore cuff links! “How come you’re so dressed up?”
“I had a meeting,” he told her. “I was just leaving when you called.” He leaned on her CRV and looked at her. “How come you are out so late? You not ‘fraid someone kidnap you for ransom?”
Klao did not respond. She sighed and looked at the starry sky. She wondered how far away Matt’s friend was. She hoped he would not be long, because she did not want to be in the dark parking lot with this Matthew guy for too long.
Matt looked at her. “Klao Persaud…”
Klao looked at him, wondering why he was repeating her name.
“Don’t you find it lucky that we always keep meeting like this?”
“I think it’s going to rain tonight,” Klao said, looking at the sky again.
Matt looked up, too. It was obvious that Klao had not done well in high school geography. The sky was as clear as a summer evening’s sky could be. It looked as though it would never rain again.
“I mean, when I started week before last, I never had any idea that I would run into Klao Persaud in the supermarket, and when I went to look for Janelle, I had no idea you would be in the parking lot waiting for your cousin. It has to be providence, don’t you think? Good luck? Bad luck? Which do you think?”
“How far is your friend coming from?” Klao refused to get into a discourse with Matt St. James about whether their constant meetings were chance or providence. As it was, she was sorry she had called him. She looked at her BlackBerry, wishing it would ring, and that it would be Samantha or Jeremy. One of them could come and rescue her, and she could tell Matthew to leave.
“He’ll be here shortly,” Matt told her. He paused for a while. “And I never imagined that my phone would ring this evening, and that you would be on the other end. You made my evening – you know that?”
“I hope he comes soon, because my puppy is alone at home…”
“Why do you keep doing that?” Matt asked.
“Why do I keep doing what?”
“I am trying to have a conversation with you and you keep trying to change the subject!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Klao blushed in the darkness.
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Do you think this is coincidence or fate?”
Klao shifted uncomfortably. “How far away is that guy? Is he coming from the moon or something?”
“There you go again! I have asked you the same questions six times, and six times you have avoided giving me an answer!”
“Because I only answer on the seventh try,” Klao told him. “You see, seven is my number of completion – just like God’s. You have to ask me seven times to get a response.”
Matt rolled his eyes in frustration. “Why can’t you even attempt to be nice to me?”
“Because I am aloof, antisocial, and for the most part, a first class bitch!” Klao spat. “See? I answered your seventh stupid question!”
Matt decided not to talk to her anymore. He stood in the dark and played a game on his cell phone while he waited on his friend to come.
Klao indeed felt like a first class bitch. Why, oh why, was she so mean to him? She called him when she was desperate, and he came out of his way to help her.
Why did she have to be so nasty? But she did not like the questions he was asking. She did not like them, especially because she had asked herself the same questions over and over again. He really was rather ubiquitous! Although, she thought, this time, she was the one who called him. Why did Tevin have to be out of town? Why didn’t Sam or Jeremy answer? Why were Andie and Nate ‘indisposed’? Why was Matt St. James her last resort, and why did he insist on analysing the situation. She sighed deeply, feeling her head begin to hurt from all the questions.
Not soon enough, a Toyota Hilux pickup truck pulled up. A portly man with a blossoming pot belly hopped out.
“Wha’ gwane, yout’?” He greeted Matt.
“Inna di struggle, as usual!” Matt nodded to him, and helped him remove a tyre from the back of the pickup.
“You see the cricket?” He asked Matt.
“Don’t remind me!” Matt said, sounding annoyed.
“Di bwoy dem mek a man waan…” His friend struppsed his teeth and spat on the ground in contempt, and Klao assumed the West Indies had not done too well that day. She was not a fan of cricket, but her father was a die-hard enthusiast. She wondered whether he was as cross as Matt’s friend. Perhaps, but she was sure he would not spit on the ground like that.
“Thanks for coming,” Matt told him, as he took the tyre. “This is Klao. Klao, Marvin Stewart.”
Klao nodded, hoping that Marvin Stewart would not attempt to shake her hand. He looked kind of dirty.
“You alright to change it?” Marvin asked Matt. “The wife waiting for me to pick her up half hour now, and you know how she stay…”
“It's fine,” Matt told him. “Thanks. I’ll take it back to you tomorrow. Hail up Sheena for me.”
Klao watched Matt’s friend drive off. She could not believe he had a wife. She wondered how it was that everyone else in the world was able to procure a spouse apart from her.
“Marvin used to work at Suzuki, but he decided to open his own garage last year,” Matt told her as he removed his tie and cuff links and placed them into her hands. Klao felt the smooth silk beneath her fingers. She watched as he rolled up his sleeves and began to loosen the lug nuts on one of the tyres. “He is a good guy – can always depend on him. You’re going to have to buy two new tyres tomorrow. Do you know where to go?”
“I’ll figure it out,” Klao told him.
“Or if you want, I could go get them for you!” Matt got down on his knees and started jacking up the rear of her car. He was so efficient, Klao noted. In no time, he had one tyre off, and was replacing it with the spare.
“Don’t you have to be at work?” She asked.
“I’m not bound to a desk,” Matt explained. “I can find the time to help you!”
Klao wanted to ask him what he did for a living. She wanted to know what job was flexible enough for him to be on the road all day, and allow him to fit her car with new tyres, while having meetings until after nine at night – meetings to which he had to wear dress pants, a tie and cufflinks. Perhaps Bianca was right, and he was indeed a boy genius with his own start-up company!
He finished with one tyre and began working on the other. Klao watched him while she did menial tasks in between. She handed him the nuts and the wheel locks and held his tie and cuff links, feeling very much like the damsel in distress. Soon, he was done. Her CRV was wearing two spare tyres and the old torn tyres were in the back of her car. He dusted the dirt from his hands and accepted the wipes and hand sanitizer Klao offered.
“Thanks, Matt,” Klao said, meaning every word of it. “You have rescued me – again!”
“Well, I’m just glad I could help,” he replied, still smiling. “Do you want me to pick up your car at your office tomorrow and take it to the tyre warehouse?”
“I really don’t want to inconvenience you…” Klao began.
“It isn’t an inconvenience – I promise!”
“We’ll see,” Klao decided. She got behind the wheel. Matt closed the door after her.
“Klao…”
“Yes…”
“I need back my tie and cuff links please!”
Klao blushed. She did not realise that she still had his things. She handed them to him, and he stuffed them into his pocket.
“Will you be okay to get home?” He asked. “Should I drive behind you?”
“I have to stop and get gas,” Klao told him, suddenly remembering what was the root cause of all her problems that evening. “My gas light has been flashing.”
“Then I should drive behind you,” Matt decided. “Just in case you run out of gas on the road.”
Klao did not think that would happen between the PE drive-through and the Texaco station in Liguanea, but Matt looked so sincere that she could not tell him no. Besides, he had helped her. Otherwise, she would probably have to push her car to Millsborough that evening. Besides, she could politely ditch him at the gas station.
She drove slowly with Matt behind her to the Texaco gas station. Matt pulled in behind her, and while her tank was being filled, he pumped air into her tyres that he noticed were a bit soft. As she watched him, Klao decided it was so nice having a man around who could do those things for her. Of course, she knew how to pump her tyres. Her brothers had made sure of that. She did not know how to change a flat, but it would be a good idea to learn.
“I think I’ll be okay now,” she told Matt as she paid the gas station attendant $3,000 in cash. “Thanks again, Matt…”
“What direction are you going?” Matt asked.
“Millsborough…”
“I’ll drive behind you.”
Klao decided not to argue and drove off.
Finally, she pulled into her complex. Matt pulled in behind her. She was surprised, however, as she gathered her handbag and briefcase, to see him getting out of his car.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m walking you to your door!” He looked at her as though she was crazy. “Do you think I was raised outside? I have to make sure you get in safely!”
“What could possibly happen to me between here and the door?” Klao asked.
“Knowing you, a whole lot!” He joked.
Klao frowned. “Well, that just goes to show that you don’t know me! I can take care of myself.” She struggled to pull her bag of files that she had taken home just to pacify Mrs Reyes, from the back seat.
“That’s the trouble with you independent women!” Matt noted, nudging her aside and removing the bag from the car. “You think you can take care of yourselves, and that you don’t need a man to take care of you. Well, I’m sorry, but I don’t subscribe to that.”
“Oh really?” Klao trotted behind him to her front door.
“Yes, really!” He took her keys from her hands, and opened the door. “Opening doors, pulling out chairs, changing tyres – chivalry isn’t dead, and I’m not burying it!”
Klao looked at the smiling man standing in her door way. Was he serious? She did not know that gentlemen like that still existed. It was comforting. If he was serious, he would make an excellent husband – the kind of husband that James Dobson spoke about. Maybe Bianca and Andie were right. Maybe she should go out with him and get to know him…
“I’m gonna go now…” He said, breaking her thoughts.
“Oh – sure…” Klao felt a little bit flustered. “Thanks again, Matt.”
“You’re welcome, again, Klao,” he responded, his trademark grin plastered across his face.
Klao wondered if he used to be called ‘Smiley’ as a child. She had gone to prep school with a boy called ‘Smiley’. He would always be smiling, even when his front teeth had fallen out. She wondered what ever had become of Smiley. She wondered why she could not remember Smiley’s real name. Matt was saying something else.
“What?”
“I said, I will pass by your office early in the morning to take your car to Tyre Warehouse,” he repeated. “What time do you normally get in?”
“About nine.”
&nb
sp; “That’s good. That way you can get it back before noon. Goodnight Klao.”
“Good night, Matt!”
Klao stood in the door way and watched as he got into his Tiida. She pressed Minx, who had come to meet her at the door, to her bosom, and watched as he drove out of her courtyard. Matthew St. James was a decent man, she thought. He had proven it again.
“That’s him, Minx!” She said, pressing a light kiss to her puppy’s shaggy forehead. “That’s Matt St. James. Do you think we should let him become our friend?”
Minx cocked his head to one side and looked at her.
“I agree,” she told him. “He can be our friend, but nothing more. He’s not of our ilk.”
She had her shower, put on her softest nightie and settled into bed with a cup of chamomile tea and her book ‘Table for One’. Minx was dozing at the foot of her bed. Her BlackBerry rang.
“Are you okay?” It was Bianca.
“I’m fine. I’m home and in bed.”
“You got Sam?”
“Nooo…” Klao wondered whether she should tell Bianca that Matt had helped her. She decided not to. She could not deal with Bianca getting all sorts of strange, romantic ideas in her head. “I called another friend of mine, and he came and loaned me a spare.”
“What friend?”
“A guy from law school,” she lied. “You don’t know him.”
“Oh!” Bianca sighed. “Well, at least you’re home and you’re okay. Try to get some sleep now. I’m going to try to catch a nap since here is pretty quiet. Goodnight!”
“’Night, Bee!”
Klao placed her BlackBerry on the nightstand and turned off the bedside lamp. Although she had been beat earlier, she suddenly found that she could not sleep. She sighed in the darkness, as her mind replayed the occurrences of the evening. She saw Matt swinging the lug tool, pushing up the sleeves of his pink shirt, and getting down on his knees to change her tyres. She saw him smiling with her on her front step, and talking about chivalry not being dead. She wondered whether he had gotten home. She wondered where he lived, and if he lived alone. Obviously, he did not have a girlfriend, or else he would not have asked her out. Why, given his impeccable manners, did he not have a girlfriend? Was something wrong with him? Was it apt to call and find out whether he had gotten home safely? She decided to send him a text message, and picked up her BlackBerry again.