The Most Attractive Man Beside a Compressor

The visitor season grew as he remembered. People came for events, holidays and family visits; private kitchens wanted equipment that worked without consuming every spare hour of their staff. Ben rented rather than promising a giant warehouse before he could pay for one. Tina insisted on clear maintenance checks and refused to let him call an unreliable unit charming. Tina added two thousand dollars of her savings to working cash when they incorporated. Their company began with Ben owning eighty percent and Tina twenty for her defined technical contribution and that cash investment. She wanted a stake, a wage for ongoing work and the right to tell him when he was being ridiculous.

June, thirty-one, sold flowers for celebrations and often worked beside caterers. She found Ben rescuing a toppled display after a guest backed into it. He had no talent for arranging flowers, but he stayed until the mess was gone. June straightened the collar of his shirt and asked whether he was always this useful after everyone else left. Ben said the record was improving. She invited him to dinner and kissed his cheek outside the restaurant. They enjoyed a short courtship before choosing friendship when she decided his schedule left too little room for hers.

Rose, thirty-four, designed clothes and helped make their work uniforms look like something a human might voluntarily wear. At the fitting she pulled Ben's sleeve straight, glanced at his face and smiled. "You are allowed to enjoy this. The shirt will not become more expensive." He invited her to a dance evening. Rose accepted, wore red and made him forget how much his old back had once hurt. Their attraction was warm and brief. She wanted to travel for design work, and he was finally becoming willing to stay and build something.

Ana, twenty-six, managed a small grocery shop and rented a unit during a refurbishment. She tested every promised detail, then surprised Ben by asking whether his careful customer service extended to dates. He took her for coffee. Ana wore blue, laughed at his nervous formality and moved her chair beside his instead of across the table. They shared two easy evenings before deciding that affection was not the same as a plan. She kept the shop independent, and Ben kept her as a customer by answering the telephone after the flirting had ended.

Kim, thirty, drove commercial deliveries and liked his equipment more than his original loading method. She reorganized it, handed him the keys and asked what compensation she could expect for saving his dignity. Ben offered dinner after paying her invoice. Kim approved both arrangements. At the meal she took his hand and admitted she found men who could accept correction dangerously attractive. Their later friendship kept the humor without the uncertainty; she chose a partner whose work took him on the same routes, and Ben continued paying her properly.

Cora met him when he brought a repaired domestic freezer to her mother's house. At twenty-nine, the nurse had already spent a long shift answering people who believed fatigue was an inconvenience that happened to somebody else. Ben made the delivery quiet, explained the controls simply and left before asking a single unnecessary question. Cora found him outside and handed him water. She wore a loose white shirt and looked more tired than flirtatious until she smiled. "You may come back when I am awake," she said. "For coffee, not another appliance."

Their coffee lasted two hours. Cora asked about his mother, his work and the way he kept glancing at the time without looking bored. He admitted that he had spent years behaving as though missing one call would end his life. Cora reached across the table and turned his telephone over. "Let us conduct an experiment." Ben survived. At her door she touched his face, then kissed him with a calm that made his recent confidence feel pleasantly unnecessary. He drove home slowly enough that Lea later accused him of having forgotten where the accelerator was.

By year's end, the rental business had earned thirty-eight thousand dollars before company tax. Ben bought good shoes and paid to fix his mother's leaking roof. Tina bought better tools from her own earnings. Lea sent more private customers. Joy kept him fed, and the dinners with Lea had become a genuine romance. Ben told Cora and Tina about the other relationships before anything turned into a secret. Tina said information was useful but did not automatically constitute emotional competence. Cora asked him what he wanted. He wished, briefly, that the question had come with a service manual.