"It is really fun despite being so simple and yes it makes your truck dirty but hey, we have car washes for a reason." He laughs then points out the other sushi in the package. "Crispy crab, you gotta try that. Crispy fried onion, actual crab not imitation and a creamy sriracha sauce." He opens the carryout package and shows it to her. "Go ahead and pick at whatever you want." He takes a bite of kung pow shrimp with some rice.

Ele picked up the crab and took a bite, then nodded as she chewed. It was very good, and the spiciness of the sriracha sauce was perfect in balancing the flavors of the crab.

"I still don't understand the draw of that,"

Ele said with a shrug. She crossed her legs under the table and smiled,

"How long have you lived here?"

"All my life. I hopped around in the area until I was about 10 then stayed mostly in one area. I don't think I could ever live anywhere else." He slides a piece of tempura shrimp to her. Taking a bite of the mongolian beef then some rice. "You would have to experience it to get mud bogging. Simple as that."

"That must have been nice."

Ele said, accepting the shrimp. She opened her orange juice and took a sip before she spoke again,

"I grew up with a single mom, but she liked having boyfriends. She'd move us in with her latest guy, things would be fine for a while, then they'd breakup and mom would put us in a hotel until she found a new guy."

Shrugging, Ele took another drink,

"We moved a lot."

"My mom had one boyfriend for about 10 years before getting him out of the house and living single. But from 6 to 10 I lived in 5 different places and went to 6 different schools until my mom scraped enough together to buy a home." He smiles at her picking up a piece of sushi finally then looks around. "So, what are your plans for today while you wait?"

Sitting back in her chair, Ele mentally checked through the tasks she would need to do today while Tyler worked. Then she remembered the doctor's orders. Making a face as she took another piece of sushi, Ele sighed

"I was going to have a bunch of emails and phone calls to make, but now I only have one EXTREMELY stressful call to my boss."

Ele could feel her heart pounding harder as she thought of calling her boss to tell him that she was out of commission for the next 2-4 weeks. She could only imagine the look on his face, and suddenly Ele was very thankful she was a few hundred miles away from the office.

"Well, they have massage chairs here and a massage place here in the mall just down the hall each direction from the food court. Massage chairs you turn left, massage parlor to the right, about the same price to get the full experience. $15 for 45 minutes on the chairs $20 for 60 minutes at the store." He finishes eating and slides the rest of the food over to Ele. "You can have the rest." He says to her with a smile. "Even if you can't eat it now you can save it for later."

"I'll save it,"

Eke said, packing up the rest of the food. A massage did sound nice, but for now she needed somewhere quiet where she could talk on the phone in private,

"Is there somewhere that I can be alone? This is going to be a difficult call to make and I don't want passersby to hear me getting my head ripped off."

"My store has a quiet area that you can close the door to." He says as they walk together. "My store is just a little walk from here." He turns left and walks down the long hallway. Arriving at his shop a few moments later. "Here we are." He says, walking in and heading behind the counter. "Straight to the back hun."

Following Tyler closely, Ele was thankful when they got to the shop. Giving Tyler a grateful look, Ele smiled at him,

"I still don't understand why you're doing all of this for me. You don't even know me, but I just want to say, thank you so much. I'll find a way to make it up to you."

With that, Ele went to the back room and shut the door. Inside, she dialed her boss's number and waited as the line rang.

He smiles at her and says. "It is the right thing to do." He prepares for the dyno contest and test and tune. As he waits for the arrival of the racers for the next days event and random entrants he begins repairs on different engines and rc vehicles. After a minute or 2 of waiting he gets a young customer coming in. "Excuse me. I am looking for a slot car set." The kid says. "What kind would you like? We have up to a 13 scale mile track." The kid looks on with surprise. "How much is that one?" He thinks. "Like 600, it is a 6 lane track and allows up to 12 cars to run at one time. Fully programmable cars, they all have their own distinct capabilities though, the 600 only includes 2 cars. You have to buy the rest separately." He looks at his money. "What can 250 get me?" He smiles and picks up a track and says. "5 Scale miles and 2 cars. This one is actually a 4 lane with 8 possible cars to run." The kid smiles and nods. "That is it." He rings the kid up and sends him on his way.

In the office, Ele sat in the desk chair and called up her boss who answered on the first ring. The older man's gruff voice made Ele cringe,

"Where the hell have you been Ele? I have a backlog of emails and messages from clients who can't get a hold of you! Explain yourself! Now!"

Ele bit her lip hard and put her elbow on the desk, her head in her hand as he talked, demanding an answer. Taking a deep breath, Ele spoke softly, trying to keep her voice from shaking,

"I was in an accident and had to go to the hospital with a head injury... And the doctor is making me take medical leave."

The voice on the other end of the line was silent, and that made Ele extremely nervous. Swallowing hard, Ele spoke again,

"He should have faxed the order to you, he says I can't work for a minimum of two weeks."

Closing her eyes, Ele bit her lip again and set the phone down on the desk as her boss erupted with anger. She didn't even need to hold the phone to her ear to hear what the man was saying, and Ele tried to shut out the yelling. Yelling did something to her, made something inside of her suck whatever confidence and strength Ele had and reduce the woman to a shaking, weak mess. Even now, Ele could feel her hands shaking, so she clenched her fists and took deep breaths while her boss went on his tirade.

Walks to the back of the store and hears the yelling through the door. He instantly gets mad hearing the man yelling. He steps inside and looks ready to go on the warpath. He shuts the door, turns on a radio and picks up the phone. He tries cutting the man off several times to no avail until he suddenly yells right in the phone. "SHUT UP YOU ASSHOLE!" The guy immediately quiets down and that is when Tyler goes off. "Listen up you jerk! You are yelling at a woman for getting in an accident. You cut straight to cutting her down for something she has no control over. Nuh uh, this shit is not happening on my watch. She crashed a car, and cracked open her head but you think more about the money than her well being and that really pisses me off. You deserve to lose EVERYTHING! You care more about your fucking money than the welfare of your employee. I am gonna make sure everybody knows what kind of loser you really are and I have the connections to do it. Now rot in hell you pissant." He hangs up the phone on him and turns to Ele. He kneels down, hugging her. "Sorry about that hun, you do not deserve that."

When Tyler came into the office Ele looked up, ready to ask him to leave, but Tyler shocked her into silence. He picked up her phone and silenced her boss by ripping into the man with just as much gusto as what was given. With her mouth hanging open, Ele watched Tyler hang up and kneel in front of her. With his arms around her, Ele realized she had been holding her breath. Breathing in, she let Tyler hug her, returning the comfort with her own hug. After a moment, Ele sat back and put her still shaking hands in her lap,

"I could lose my job for what you just did,"

She told him, her voice soft and quieter than it had been all day,

"But I kind of don't care. Thank you."

She said with a small, uncertain smile.

"Hey, if you lose your job I can get you in at my friends resort, I mean, the place has only been reopened and renovated for 3 months and the entire resort is worth 30 million dollars." He rubs her back gently then laughs. "Man that felt good."

"If I do become unemployed, I'll hold you to that."

Ele said, standing up and reclaiming her phone. When Tyler spoke, Ele turned back to him and gave him a cheeky smile,

"What felt good? The yelling or the hug?"

She teased, checking her phone one more time then putting it in her back pocket.

He laughs. "The yelling, but now that you mentioned it, the hug felt just as good." smirking he turns off the radio. "It is about to get really loud outside the shop. You wanna see some craziness?"

Wanting a distraction, Ele nodded her head. What could be crazy about this little hobby shop? Crossing her arms over her chest, Ele motioned for Tyler to lead the way.

He opens the door and walks out. On his way out he grabs a 3 foot tall monster rc truck and a controller with a bunch of buttons on it. He rolls the truck out to the front of the shop to a machine outside the door to the shop. "This is called a dyno. Once a month we have a weekend dedicated to racing. One of the events is a dyno contest. It measures a bunch of things but the main things are horsepower and torque. This machine here tells the people how much power is being transferred to the wheels from the engine." He rolls the truck up the machine and starts strapping it down. "This truck will scream. It has an engine called a 609 stinger. It is a scale 609 cubic inch V8 but it is a quarter scale engine so it is actually 152 and a quarter cubic inch engine. You will probably need to cover your ears."

Ele looked at the huge rc truck and raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. Weren't these things just giant toys? Looking at Tyler, Ele couldn't help her expression of disbelief,

"I mean... If you say so..."

She said, raising her hands to cover her ears.