Manny Ruiz, 53, has restored 72 vintage camper vans in the eight years since his ex-wife moved to Arizona with a guy who’d bought a 1968 Ford Econoline Manny had spent 11 months perfecting. His worst flaw, if you ask the few friends he lets hang around his shop outside of Astoria, is that he’d rather sand a rusted wheel well for 12 hours straight than admit he’s lonely, or that he still has the handwritten note his ex left taped to the inside of his toolbox, just to remind himself not to let anyone get close enough to disappoint him again.
He’s leaning against the side of a 1972 Volkswagen Westfalia he just finished at the annual Clatsop County Classic Car Show, sipping a lukewarm Coors Banquet, when he spots her. The sun’s low enough that it gilds the edges of her hair, and she’s wearing a linen sundress the color of wild lavender, scuffed leather Birkenstocks instead of the stiletto heels the other wives of the local big shots are tottering around in. She’s not staring at the custom Ford F-150 that just won Best In Show, the one owned by Dale Hendricks, the real estate developer who’s been trying to buy Manny’s shop lot for three years to build a strip of luxury vacation rentals. She’s staring straight at the Westfalia.