Once my classic car had been put in storage for the long winter, my small hatchback became my daily driver. I loved that little car and still do.
At one of our first car shows together, I had admired the lovely wooden storage box Ian had in his trunk – compartmentalized for cans of cleaner, bottles of oil, and a space for rags and other miscellaneous items. I didn’t need anything in my classic car at the time because I was still learning to drive and didn’t go to any out of town shows where I would need cleaning supplies, but my little hatchback was a bit of a mess. The hatch was always littered with rags, jumper cables, cleaners – all kinds of detritus.
I had mentioned to him that I could use something like that in my hatch, so I was very happy when he suggested that he could make a similar one that was custom fit to my car. About a month later he invited me over to his house so he could do some measurements and I got to pick out what kind of wood I wanted from the various pieces he had in his shop.
We kept in touch as he worked on it, and in the late fall it was ready and I loved it. Beautiful light golden wood trimmed with cherry; dovetail joints, gleaming hardware, and a special tray that slid back and forth, revealing the contents in the bottom of the box while holding smaller items above. It was gorgeous.
At each subsequent monthly car club meeting at the local legion, he would often help me carry things out to the car and admire his handiwork each time I opened the hatch. I always pointed out the box to other people I knew whenever I had the opportunity as I was so tickled with it and that he had made something special just for me.
I was starting to become even more attracted to him as the winter progressed even though I knew I shouldn’t, but I could tell he was starting to feel the same way.
I looked forward to each monthly meeting and it wasn’t too long before spring arrived and it was time to take the cars out again. That was when our friendship started to grow a little closer…..
The Betrayed Widow 