Chapter 7
Grace smiled as she told him her phone number. He tapped the numbers with his fingers as she gave them. He added her as a contact, then pressed the call button and put his phone to his ear.
Grace fished her phone from the little bag she carried around her shoulder and answered. ”Hello, this is Grace Murphy.”
Sid chuckled. ”Nice to hear your voice, Grace Murphy. This is Sid Hoffman.”
She giggled and he loved watching her happiness. Chiefy came over and sat beside Grace. Without effort, Grace patted Chiefy”s head.
”Well, hello, Sid. What”s new with you today?”
Grace”s cheeks were an adorable pink. Her hair was slightly windblown, and her lips were shiny.
”Aww, just the usual. A run in with a local biker gang. A visit from a beautiful girl and her gorgeous owner. You know, a regular day.”
Grace”s smile grew. Her blue eyes sparkled as they bantered, and he wanted to lean in and kiss her so bad his lips tingled.
”Wow, that sounds like a rather interesting day. Are all of your days are like that? This is the happening place to be then.”
Sid chuckled. ”That”s what I hear. Stop by, anytime, every day. I”d love to see you.”
She blushed again, dropped her eyes to the ground and her feet shifted. He remembered her comment yesterday about not being complimented by a man, and he thought she should be complimented every day. She was a good person. She was so beautiful. Resourceful and self-sufficient. Who could not want to watch this woman blossom?
He reached out and lifted her chin with his fingers. He saw her swallow and his heart squeezed. His thumb brushed her chin softly and their eyes met. The blue of the Caribbean Ocean is what he stared at. He leaned in slightly, mostly to give her the chance to back away. She didn”t.
His head dropped down and he moved in closer. Closer still. Until their lips met. He kissed her lips softly and briefly. Pulling back slightly he waited, then she moved in and kissed him back.
Chuckling reached his ears as Coop waddled into the garage. Sid grinned but Grace”s embarrassment was visible. Her face and ears turned a bright red. ”Coop, have you met Grace Murphy and Chiefy?”
”Not formally, until now.” Coop shuffled to them and held his hand out to Grace.
She placed her hand in his and shook. Coop chuckled and glanced down at Chiefy. ”This is the girl who helped you out yesterday. Or should I say, girls?”
Chiefy”s tail wagged and Coop leaned forward slightly to pat her on the head. ”Chiefy. What kind of a name is that for a girl?”
Grace chuckled. ”My brother named her after his friend, Chiefy. He was the leader of their ball team in the military. It started out as a joke that he was the chief ball organizer. Then it was shortened to Chief. He passed away a few years ago and when my brother got this girl here, he named her Chiefy in honor of his friend.”
”Well, that”s real nice now. She looks like a great honorarium for a good friend.”
Grace smiled as she looked at Chiefy. ”Yes, she is for sure.”
Coop looked up at him and grinned. ”Well, I”ll leave you all to it then. I”ve got to finish up this old truck”s brakes before the owner comes to collect it.” He motioned toward the truck up on the hoist.
Grace smiled and nodded. ”It was nice to formally meet you, Coop.”
The old man nodded and grinned. His gray hair still stood out from his scalp in a wild array of waves and directions. ”It”s nice meeting you ladies too.”
Coop nodded, turned and grinned at him, then shuffled to the old truck up on the hoist.
Grace turned toward the door and Sid followed alongside her. As they reached the door, he noticed the biker still watching the Garage. Grace noticed too.
She inhaled a deep breath. ”Are you going to be alright, Sid?”
He swallowed the emotion that rose in his throat. When was the last time someone truly cared about him in this way? It had been entirely too long for sure.
”I”ll be alright, sweetheart. You ladies go on down to William”s and get your stuff. If he”s still there when you come past, stop in and I”ll get you home safely.”
”Okay. We”ll be alright.”
She took a couple of steps then turned back to him. ”Thank you.”
He chuckled. ”For what?”
”For caring. For complimenting me. But, mostly, for caring.”
Emotion clogged his throat and his vision wavered as moisture gathered in his eyes. He took a deep breath to let his body adjust to the flood of feelings that raced through him. ”You”re very welcome, Grace. I should thank you for the same thing. Thank you for caring, lady.”
She smiled as their eyes locked. Chiefy whined and Grace shrugged. ”Gotta go.”
He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded but he couldn”t say anything just now. He watched Grace and Chiefy hurry toward the sidewalk, then turn left to head to William”s. As he turned, his eyes skimmed past the biker still watching the Garage. He moved to the toolbox and pulled a couple of wrenches from the drawer, then went outside to finish putting the old Knucklehead”s parts back on after they”d soaked in an oil bath last night.
He kept a side-eye on the biker to make sure he didn”t follow Grace and told himself it didn”t matter that he sat here all day watching the Garage. What did he think he was going to see anyway? Or, perhaps it was a scare tactic. Whatever. If the biker only knew the things he’d had to do in his life in the military, he’d realize not much scared him. Certainly not someone staring at him.
He wrestled a couple of parts back on, worked over some of the parts to get them on using a rubber mallet, and clapped when the final part had been man-handled onto the old bike.
He glanced toward the Garage, then chuckled as he straddled the old ripped and rusted seat pan. That and the paint on the old girl would be the last thing he worked on. Right now he wanted to get her started, then he”d work on new tires, brakes, the chain, and other components to make her actually rideable.
Turning the gas petcock to on, he turned the choke to full choke. He primed the motor and filled it with gas, turned the key on and kicked the kick-starter a few times. She rumbled at first, sputtered a bit, then she started. He rolled the throttle a couple of times and Coop stepped out of the garage laughing and clapping his hands.
”Well done, Sid. Well, done.” The old man praised.
Sid”s heart swelled with pride. She had a lot of work to be done on her, but he’d gotten it started! He couldn”t wait to tell Grace he”d gotten this old girl started. He glanced down the street and didn”t see her coming, and a sadness washed over him. He wanted to share this with her. Coop came to stand a few feet away from him, the biggest smile on his face Sid had seen to date.
Then, he saw her. Grace. She had started to jog toward him, Chiefy running alongside her. Grace”s smile was wide, her face an absolute delight. She and Chiefy stopped next to Coop and Grace clapped her hands. Chiefy wasn”t as excited and barked at the noise.