Great, Emma thought. If he could fix up the car easily then there was no question on whether those were good or bad news. Emma would be driving her car again in no time and thanking Bucky for another job well done. Like she had many times before.
She was aware that the fault was not in the mechanic. Bucky did what he could and there was no one else Emma trusted with her car - any other would either simply refuse to fix up the yellow beetle because it was a lost cause or would charge her absurdly for every single visit and temporary fix that this car required. Bucky was honest with her, too - it was Emma who was too stubborn to actually listen.
In response to the wink, Emma rolled her eyes just before Bucky disappeared beneath the car once more. “You know I’m not giving her up this easily. I could never do that to you. I basically pay your rent at this point.” A joke on herself. It was true that the money invested in this car was getting to be a bit much, but she still couldn’t picture herself spending that money to buy a new one.
“Is there anything else I can do? I mean— If I were to splurge on a new car, then I could also splurge on something absolutely ridiculous and that no one would ever do to save a car from the 70’s. Are you really trying to tell me you don’t have any tricks up your sleeve that could bring her back to her old glory?” It was a long shot, she knew. And frankly, Emma expected Bucky to get tired of her shit any day now. Still, she had to ask.
“—You think I’m insane, don’t you?”
Emma’s voice was muffled slightly by the car that Bucky was currently under. A hearty chuckle echoed from the underneath of the vehicle and throughout the shop. She wasn’t wrong about her payments. Her beetle had become a consistent point of income for the business. He was fairly certain last years bonus might have even been partially from her mechanic payments. Bucky continued to work on the underside of the beetle until he had to roll himself back out again to answer Emma.
He sat up on the creeper, brushed a few loose strands of hair out of his face, and stood up. Bucky chewed his bottom lip as he looked at the beetle. He had grown fond of Emma and this made everything he said all that more difficult. Bucky sighed as he looked into Emma’s pleading eyes.
“Nothing short of a miracle would bring this old gal back to her glory days. The most I can do is keep patching her up and trying to replace any busted parts, but that is just temporary. She wasn’t built to last this long. I am still surprised you have had her running fairly well this long.”
“No. I don’t think you are insane. I have seen insane. You are far from it. People grow fond of their cars, especially ones that they have had for years. A car becomes a part of the family which makes it hard to let go. They are filled with memories and moments that stick with the owner.”
He turned back toward the yellow beetle with his hands on the hips of his coveralls.
“I will get her running again, but you should start looking for a new car. You might even get lucky and find another bug like this one.”
With that last comment, Bucky slid back under the car and continued to fix as much as he could so Emma could have a working car before the work day was done.
