Dirty Work

"Where's he gone?" She asked.

"Said he needed some air and popped outside." Andy replied. "Em, can I ask you something?" She nodded. "Does he seem all right to you?"

"You know him better than me Andy. Why do you ask?"

"He just seemed more uncomfortable than usual at the presentation."

"I think that was me." She said blushing. "I was sat somewhere awkward for him." A smirk spread over Andy's face, Amy giggled too. "I wasn't that comfortable either you know." The other two burst out laughing. "I could have hurt him!"

"Sorry Em." Andy managed to gasp. "But..." He laughed again. "Sorry, but I've never seen him so embarrassed. You must have a really great sitting technique."

Amy slapped his arm.

Emily smiled as well.

"I'd better find him and tell him sorry." She picked up her drink and the one for Pops and headed outside.

***

Pops was just standing and looking up at the night sky when Emily found him. She passed him his drink without a word and he muttered his thanks.

"Pops, I'm...I'm sorry about..."

"Not your fault Em." He paused. "Well, not intentionally I hope." A hint of a smile played about his face. He looked into her concerned eyes and a feeling that had been growing since her saw her in her party dress finally blossomed. "Emily, can I kiss you?" His voice changed to a worried tone. "I'll understand if you don't want to."

Emily looked into his now anxious face and knew she wanted to kiss him too.

"You can kiss me anytime you want to Pops. I want you to ki..." The rest of the sentence was left unfinished as he gently lifted her chin and tenderly kissed her. As they parted they both looked into the others eyes, recognising that they were both sharing the same feelings. "Pops." Emily said. "Is this wrong?"

"No Emily, it's just perfect." He said, leaning down to kiss her again. Their lips met, more passionately this time, their arms wrapping around one another, holding them close together. They stood like that for a long time, just kissing, not caring about the rest of the world. Emily shivered as they stopped. "Are you cold? Here take my jacket." Pops slipped the jacket off and draped it around her shoulders.

"It's not the cold so much. I can't help thinking what the others will say."

"Here and now I don't care."

"But later?"

"Maybe I will." He shrugged. "But I'm not going to worry now. Come on, let's slip away."

"What about Andy and Amy?"

"They'll soon realise we've gone and not worry about us. Come on, we'll get a taxi home."

***

Pops had never been as happy as he had for the last few months, ever since the party and the kiss. He and Emily just seemed to fit together so well. They demanded nothing of each other. A lot of the time away from work they were together, but not always. They each still did their own thing. The time they did spend with each other was always magical. Pops still couldn't believe that he had found such a wonderful girl, a girl that put up with him. He knew he had some bad habits and tried to rid himself of some of the worst, but Emily had accepted him as he was, she wasn't pushing him to change, he just wanted to. The only thing that bothered him was when they had their occasional arguments. Whenever one occurred he became deeply aware of the difference in their ages and hoped she wouldn't find someone else. It meant that it was him who usually backed down, as he really didn't want to lose her, but the feeling was there that one day they would part for good.

For Emily the weeks flew by. She had never met anyone who cared so much for her, who did so many things for her without her asking. But she had the feeling that something was missing. It was nothing concrete, just a vague feeling that was always with her, sometimes rising up and scaring her, usually dormant, but always with her. She was certain it wasn't Pops, at least not directly. In her heart she knew that she loved him, and he loved her. The problem was, he never actually said so. Those three words 'I Love You' had never come from his mouth. And deep down that played on her insecurity, scaring her. She didn't want to be without him. But Pops had been on his own for a long time and she knew he could live without her. She was certain he didn't want to, but he could. Whether she could was open to question though, and that was the thing that she was most frightened of.

***

The argument started out as something really stupid. Juliet had been off the road for a week for a major service and Pops was rubbing his hands at the thought of getting her back.

"I miss her when we have to take the spare." He said as they left work on the Friday afternoon. "I love that truck."

Emily was stung by that. Her tiredness and her worries made her snap back.

"More than me it seems."

"What? I never said that Emily."

"You inferred it though. You love an inanimate lump of metal but you never say that about me."

"I didn't think I had to." Pops was concerned and puzzled at the same time. "Em, being with you has been the best time of my life."

"But still you can only say you love a piece of machinery and not me." She snapped again. Pops looked at her with no understanding. "Oh, I'm going home. I need to think."

"Em. Emily. Wait up." Pops said. "Tell me what to do. I don't know how to put it right." But it was too late, she had gone.

***

Emily wouldn't answer his calls all weekend, so it wasn't a big surprise when she called in sick on the Monday morning. And then Juliet wasn't going to be ready until late afternoon. Mondays always sucked, but this was the worst one for ages for Pops. Andy didn't enjoy it much either the mood the older man was in. He managed to prise the information that he and Emily had argued out of Pops, but couldn't cheer him up. They finished the days work and went into the workshop to see how the work on Juliet was going. Told she needed a proving run, the two of them volunteered to take her out. As they left the yard behind them there was a phone call from one of the rounds still out. Andy answered it.

"What's up Ken? Need a hand?"

"No, we're coming in now. I was just wondering if there was a reason for Emily to be waiting for a bus to the train station." Andy looked at the phone.

"What's up Andy?" Pops asked.

"Ken says he saw Emily at the bus stop on the Railway route."

"What!!" Pops slammed the brakes on and snatched the phone. "You sure it was Emily Ken?"

"Of course. She doesn't look that different in civvies."

"Thanks." He threw the phone back to Andy. "You coming? I might get into trouble for this."

"Em is my friend too. Let's go."

Pops dropped Juliet into gear and stamped on the accelerator.

"Come on old girl; give me all you've got." He muttered. Juliet responded.

It was a master class in driving a dustcart quickly and safely. Pops kept just the right side of safe where he had to; where he didn't Juliet was pushed to the ragged edge. He took corners tightly, missed cars by inches and finally came out onto the bus route. Andy just sat and marvelled at the skill Pops was showing; he'd never seen driving quite like it in a vehicle this big, there had never been the need.

By the time Juliet swept into the car park at the railway station Pops was covered in sweat and Andy's hands were stiff from holding on. They came to a halt and jumped out.

"Bus hasn't arrived yet, people still at the bus stop." Andy pointed at the queue over on the other side of the car park.

"Okay, you go inside and make sure. I'll get to the stop." Pops panted. As he trotted over he saw the bus arrive.

Emily was surprised to see a dustcart on the far side of the car park; she knew there were no collections scheduled today. She got off the bus and was met by a panting Pops.

"Emily, don't go. Whatever I did wrong, I'm sorry. Don't leave. I love you." And there it was. The three words she'd longed to hear from him. And it was obvious that he meant them. She smiled and held his face.

"You big silly. I wasn't leaving; I was going to see my mom. She's sick. Didn't they tell you?"

"They got it muddled then. We thought it was you who was sick." He hesitated.

"Well, everyone else did. I thought you were still mad with me and were..."

"And I was running away from you? You dope. I couldn't do that. I thought about it, but I couldn't. I realised I was being irrational about you and your truck."

"She got me to you though."

"She did. Now I have to get the train. I must see my mom."

"Yes. Yes, of course."

"I'll be back in a couple of days. And thank you."

"For what? Being stupid?"

"That as well. Thank you for those three words. You've never said them to me before."

"Three..? 'I love you'? I thought you knew."

"I do, but it's nice to hear them sometimes."

"See? I knew it was my fault."

"Don't knock yourself out over it. Now buzz off so I can catch my train."

"Call me?"

"Every day." She smiled and kissed him before hurrying off to the ticket office.

Pops watched her as he walked back towards Juliet to meet Andy. Deep down he knew that eventually, for one reason or another, he and Emily would be parted for good. He smiled to himself. But it wasn't today.