Chapter 11 #2
“Yeah, and our problem became the JoCo Jokers’ problem. All we did was push it into their territory. You do realize that’s why Slice wants a sit-down, right?”
“Yeah, I gathered that.”
My cellphone chimes on the bench where I left it. I snatch it up and read the text. The guy interested in Betty hit me back with an ETA, and even though I’ve made my peace with it, my heart sinks a little.
“I gotta split.” I sigh while grabbing my shirt and cut from the locker and slipping them back on. I’ll shower and change at home after this is over. Wash away the sweat and sadness. “Hit up the Jokers and see when they want to meet up.”
“ H ow about a Ninja Turtle?” Cherry holds up a plastic-encased costume, complete with a turtle shell, green sweatsuit, makeup, foam nunchucks, and an orange mask.
“No,” Ace firmly replies.
“I thought you loved Michelangelo. You’re a tough sell, kiddo.
” Cherry chuckles, returning the now seventh or eighth costume Ace has vetoed to its hook on the large display of children’s costumes.
“Are you and Dean dressing up to take him trick or treating, too?” she asks, turning to me.
“Maybe we should try the group theme section?”
“Couldn’t hurt.” I shrug.
We make our way further into the huge Halloween pop-up shop. Ace’s grip on my hand tightens the nearer we come to the spooky displays of giant skeletons, blow-up ghouls, and other creepy animatronics on sale.
“Do you want me to pick you up, Ace? None of these are real, sweetheart. They can’t do anything to you.”
He shakes his head defiantly, determined to walk through the store on his own.
We spend the next while going through all the group character costumes, until Cherry pulls two off the display.
“We have to talk him into this,” she whispers excitedly, flipping the costumes around to show me one predominantly black package and one red. “We’ll just have to get you a blonde wig.”
“I don’t think I can pull off blonde, Cherry…”
“Wait! Don’t say anything yet…just look at this…
” She tucks the costumes under her arm and bends to grab another from the toddlers’ section below.
“Imagine Ace, in this!” She nearly squeals with excitement, holding it up for me to inspect.
“We could stuff a little pillow over his belly! It will be adorable! He’ll look back on the pictures and love them! ”
“This is actually epic,” I can’t help but agree.
“Who doesn’t love The Princess Bride?” Cherry practically bounces up and down, shoving the red Princess Buttercup costume at me, along with the black Dread Pirate Roberts costume for Dean to be Westley. “Ace will be the most adorable mini giant!”
“Do you want to be Fezzik?” I ask him, “Daddy will dress up too if you do.”
“Okay,” Ace agrees.
“I’m going to have to try this dress on,” I say, “I don’t trust these one-size-fits-all deals.”
“I need something for the bar. Axel is volunteering at a safehouse on Halloween night with Viper, but I still want to dress up for fun,” Cherry says on our walk to the wig section.
We spend a few minutes searching until Cherry finds one long enough to pass for the character and hands it to me.
“I still don’t know about a blonde wig.”
“You’re only wearing it for a few hours,” she insists. “And we can add braids at the temples to style it up a little more… Try it on.”
I do the best I can without a proper wig cap, relying on Cherry to help me straighten it out.
“What do you think about mommy’s hair, Ace?” I ask, once it’s somewhat in place.
His little brows furrow, and his nose scrunches as he shakes his head.
“Try it on with the dress since you want to make sure it fits anyway,” Cherry insists. “Ace can help me find something for the bar in the meantime.”
“Alright. You stay with Aunt Cherry, I will be right out, Ace.” He takes Cherry’s offered hand.
To my relief, the costume does fit. I change back into my regular clothes, and almost have my boots on when I hear the alarmed pitch in Cherry’s voice. “Ace? Ace! Where are you, sweetheart?”
I grab my purse and shove the curtains open, hurrying out of the changing room.
Cherry is frantically looking around for Ace.
With every beat of my racing heart, it feels as if my blood is being pumped out and replaced with ice water.
Nightmare scenarios flood my thoughts while I desperately search for my son.
“Ace!” I call out, storming around to the other side of a haunted house lawn display.
Relief floods my system when I spot him tagging along after a woman with long blonde hair. Although I still feel like I could have a heart attack, it’s understandable he’d mistake her for me. I was just wearing a blonde wig, and she has a similar physique to my own.
He turns to me, a look of genuine confusion in his expression. Realizing his mistake, he dashes back to me, and I can’t help but pick him up and hug him.
“Oh, thank God!” Cherry returns to my side and strokes Ace’s back. “I swear he was right there beside me. I took my eyes off him for a second.”
“He’s here, he’s okay… Ace, you can’t wander off like that, baby.”
“Is everything alright?” a woman’s muffled voice asks. When I turn around, it’s the blonde Ace was following. Her hazel eyes appear concerned behind the fancy Venetian mask she’s wearing. She must have been trying them on when we interrupted her.
“Yes, a case of mistaken identity.” I force a light laugh. “I was just trying on a costume with a blonde wig. He must have gotten confused.”
“Well, there is a lot going on in here. Poor little guy was probably just overwhelmed,” she says, shifting her masked face to look at Ace. “Such a handsome little boy. You’d do well to keep near your momma, Ace. Someone might want to snatch you up!”
Ace’s grip around me tightens. Although the woman is right, and she didn’t do anything wrong, something about the way she said it unnerves me. News reports about Cassidy Jones flood my thoughts, and I just want to take him home.
I turn to Cherry. “Are you ready to go?” She nods, eager to leave this place now, too. “Great, I just have to grab the costumes from the changing room, and we’ll go.”
“I’ll get them,” Cherry insists, then hurries off.
“Well, you have a happy Halloween, honey,” The blonde woman says to Ace, before she turns and walks off as well. I shift him in my arms to look him in the face.
“When mommy tells you to do something, you need to listen, Ace. You can’t wander off like that.”
He nods, bottom lip pouting, before he leans forward to hug my neck. I hold him tighter, pressing a kiss to his head.
“You’re not in trouble, sweetheart. Mommy loves you more than anything in this world, Ace.”
I shove the cuff of my sleeve up and glance at my watch.
The guy isn’t late, but I’m eager to conclude this bit of business before my family arrives home.
Fortunately, it isn’t long before I spot an unfamiliar truck heading up the road in the direction of our home.
That must be him. I make my way over to the detached garage and open up one of the rolling doors.
Flicking on the lights inside, my eyes land on Betty, my candy-apple red Harley Davidson Heritage, with the studded black leather two-up seat and matching saddle bags.
Fuck…this hurts.
The pea gravel in my driveway crunches beneath the tires of the pickup as it pulls up behind me, and I turn around to face her potential new owners.
Two men exit the truck and walk over to greet me with handshakes.
“This her?” the slightly shorter, stockier guy asks, gesturing to the bike.
“Sure is.” I sigh.
“She’s a beauty. Why you sellin’er? Wife put you up to it?” he jokes.
“Can only ride one at a time anyway.”
“ We still talkin’ bout the bikes?” He elbows me in jest.
My expression must have clearly conveyed my lack of amusement at his inappropriate joke regarding my wife. The other guy clears his throat uncomfortably, then cocks his chin toward Serene. “You sellin’ that one, too?”
“No,” I say firmly. I’m not quite that nervous yet…and I don’t want to imagine things getting to the point where I’d consider selling Serene. “Just these bikes in the front. The Heritage…the Nightrod…the Sport Glide…the Rebel. Any or all of these.”
The two men spend some time checking out the bikes. “Anything wrong with them?”
“Not a thing. I’m a mechanic. They’re all in great condition.” I glance at my watch again. “If you want to think it over and get back to me, that’s fine.”
“Can I take the Heritage around the block?”
“Yeah,” I reluctantly agree. “Key is in her.”
His buddy and I watch him ride off down the hill. Just as he takes the bend around the pecan orchard, Vanna’s car does as well, heading home. Fuck…
She pulls her car up the driveway, parking it over near my truck at the far side of the detached garage beneath the carport. She watches me curiously as she gets Ace out of his car seat, lifts him into her arms, and makes her way over to us.
“The wife?” the guy asks.
“Yup.”
He places his hands on his hips, looking at her a moment longer before his gaze shifts back to me. “I’d be a lot happier than you seem to be if that was coming home to me… Selling these bikes ain’t your idea, is it?”
“Oh, it is,” I insist, which seems to confuse him, but I don’t care.
“Hello,” Vanna greets us pleasantly, coming to stand beside me. “What’s going on?”
“Buddy o’ mine is test riding one of your husband’s Harleys,” the guy answers right away, appraising her as if I’m not standing right the fuck here.
“ Oh?” She peers up at me, surprised, before she glances into the garage, taking stock of my bikes. “Betty?”
“Yeah, doll,” I say, hoping she’ll leave this alone, at least until the sale is done and we’re in the privacy of our home. “Why don’t you take Ace inside and see if he’ll take a nap?” I suggest, though, naps have become a hit or miss thing with Ace these last few months.
The concern doesn’t leave her expression, but she goes into the house, leaving us to conclude our business. The stocky guy returns with Betty a few minutes later.
“She rides great. What are you asking for her?”
“A firm eighteen.”
He nods, looking over the bike some more. “Well, I got sixteen on me now. I can come by your shop and give you the rest tomorrow.”
“Fair enough,” I agree, and we shake on it.
V anna is standing in the kitchen when I enter our home. Ace is in the living room, playing with his toy motorcycle along the stone hearth of the fireplace like it’s running along the dangerous edge of a cliff.
“Hey, doll. Just wanted to see you and Ace before I head back to the shop.”
“Would you like some lunch? I think I’m going to take him down to the farmstand once he’s eaten.
Maybe after a full belly and picking some gourds, he’ll settle down for a nap.
I thought he was tired at the Halloween store, but he seems to have caught a second wind.
” She pauses, lightly rubbing the side of her arm. “You sold Betty?”
“I did. Here.” Stepping up to her, I take her hand and press the cash into it. “Deposit this in Ace’s account when you get a chance. It’s more than enough to cover preschool, easy… Guy still owes me a few bucks on top of it, too.”
“Are you alright? After our talk on the porch…now Betty… I’m a little concerned.”
“As long as you two are taken care of, that’s all that matters.”
She gives me a somewhat skeptical look as Ace rushes into the kitchen with us, asking to show me what they got for Halloween.
“Vanna, I promise. I’m Aces, baby .”
Vanna tucks the money into her purse, then removes the contents of the shopping bag and holds up a costume that kind of looks like Zorro.
“Actually,” she chuckles, though I can tell she’s putting up a carefree front for our son’s sake, “Since Ace agreed to be Fezzik, you’re The Dread Pirate Westley this year.”
Whatever makes my family happy. I smile and joke, “ As you wish .”