Chapter 14 Alice #2
“So, you see,” Tiny supplies, moving beyond the talk of his other daughter. “Lia here needs a place to crash. Her mom…the uh, girlfriend I had twenty years ago…”
“Twenty-three,” Lia corrects. “I’m twenty-two now, so if you factor in gestation, you know, Dad and Mom hooked up like twenty-three years ago.
And it’s okay, Dad. We’re all adults here.
” She peeks over at Zoey and then holds a hand over her mouth.
“Almost all of us,” she whispers. “Mom had a one-night stand with Dad and didn’t know how to find him,” she whispers, keeping an eye on Zoey.
Then she raises her voice to normal speaking volume as she resumes the story where Tiny left off.
“So yeah. Mom, Dad’s girlfriend from way back, moved to Canada with her richie rich new man.
She sold her townhouse, and I packed up and hit the road with my girl crew. ”
Tiny points to the dogs.
“Yeah.” Morris nods. “Got that much.”
“It took some doing, but I found my dad, spent a couple months on the road in my van, and here we are! Reunited!” Lia wraps her arms around Tiny’s stomach and holds him tight.
“Well, that’s… That’s wonderful,” Morris says, looking confused.
“We were kind of hoping Lia and the dogs could crash here for a few days,” Tiny says. “I talked to Lia’s mom this morning—”
“Jen,” Lia fills in. “Mom’s name is Jen.” Lia drops to the carpet beside Zoey and picks up one of the dogs. They chatter and play, Lia showing my daughter how she painted one of her dog’s nails.
While they make a fuss over the dogs, Leo watches, seemingly awestruck by Lia.
“Come in, son,” Morris says, motioning for him to stop hovering in the doorway. “This is Leo,” he calls out.
He gestures for Tiny and me to join him in the kitchen. The apartment is small and open, so we keep our voices low so we’re not overheard.
“What the hell, man?” Morris asks. But he’s grinning like a loon.
“Goddammit, Morris.” Tiny is flushed a deep red, and he’s fidgeting. “Been tryin’ to reach you all day. I didn’t know what the fuck to do! She has three dogs, Morris. Dogs!”
I cover my mouth with my hand to avoid bursting into laughter.
“All right. A couple things. You sure she’s yours? This ain’t some scam?” Morris asks.
“Nah.” Tiny shakes his head. “It’s legit.
I was contacted by a PI a few months ago, but I thought they were working on some criminal shit.
You know I don’t talk to cops, man. You know the trouble I got into a while back.
I figured my past could stay buried if I just didn’t answer, but then I get this call from Jen out of nowhere.
” I can feel the huff of Tiny’s sigh from two feet away.
“It wasn’t really just this morning,” he goes on.
“She really is my kid. Jen and I hooked up at a bar years ago when I was a prospect. She only knew my real first name, the one I went by before I was patched in. She knew I was a biker, but I didn’t have a patch or anything yet, and she could never remember the name of the club. ”
“She raised Lia all these years by herself?” I ask.
Lia seems like a completely untraumatized, lively, beautiful young woman. If this Jen woman could do it… Well, I already know that I have to. It’s just encouraging to see at least one example close by of someone who has.
“Yeah,” Tiny nods. “That’s why the kid’s here.
I mean, my daughter. Her. Lia. Lia.” Tiny looks like he is still struggling to feel his way through the names and terms. “Jen was a nurse when I met her, and I guess she married some high-up guy at a pharma company and took off. Lia thought it’d be the perfect time to find her birth father. ”
“And she just showed up in your life this morning?” I can’t imagine just showing up on the doorstep of a man I’ve never met, expecting to be treated like family.
I pretty much dropped into Morris’s life, and here he is, treating me better than I deserve.
Better than my husband.
Better than my boyfriend before that.
Better than anyone, honestly.
Morris is taking care of me. He is there for me. And for reasons I don’t fully understand.
It hardly makes sense. And yet, here we are.
“Not exactly,” Tiny admits. “The girl and I have been in touch for months. Nothing big, just e-mail, some calls. I knew she wanted to meet up, to come out this way, but she’s…kind of a free spirit, if you know what I mean. She didn’t really give me specifics. Like a date.”
He looks over at her, chattering away with her dogs and Zoey. “But I’m glad she’s here. A call to let me know she was coming would have been nice, but… I guess that’s family.”
“Well, congratulations, Dad,” Morris says. “You’re now the proud father of a girl crew.”
Tiny gives Morris a fist in the gut, but it lands softly. “Asshole,” he mutters. “So, can she crash here or what? I can’t have all that…in my room at the compound.”
Morris watches Lia, who is wriggling around on her belly on the floor with Zoey, doing God only knows what.
The dogs seem to know this game well, and they follow her movements with poses of their own.
Leo, for his part, seems transfixed by the hippie beauty. He’s moved to the kitchen with the adults, seemingly curious about what’s going on.
“No dogs allowed here, Tiny,” Morris says, shaking his head. “Wish I could help a brother out, but apartment rules.”
“Goddammit,” Tiny says. “Yeah, I got it. It’s all right. We’ll figure something out.”
“She can stay with me,” Leo offers.
All eyes in the kitchen fly to the kid.
“I mean, I have a house with a yard. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms.” Leo shrugs. “My brother’s been MIA for a year, since the legal action started on the shop. I’ve got room. Don’t mind the dogs.”
Tiny cocks his head, and I see him thinking it over.
I step back from the guys to let them sort out their issues.
It’s like the guys are a fraternity, not a motorcycle club.
I keep that thought to myself because I don’t think Morris would much appreciate the comparison.
But if you count the dogs, the girl crew outnumbers the bikers.
Before anyone can respond, my phone buzzes with a text message. I check my phone and see I have five messages already, more texts coming in fast and furious. I scan the messages from my sister.
Rayne: Alice, he knows.
Rayne: Alice, are you okay? Are you getting my texts? He knows, Alice.
Rayne: Alice, call me as soon as you get this.
Rayne: I’m scared, Alice. Jerry’s been calling me every five minutes. He won’t stop calling.
Rayne: God, I’m scared. Please, big sis, call me as soon as you can.
Rayne: Do you think he’d come out here? Come to Denver? Does he have my address, Alice?
I hold the phone in shaking hands as I walk up to Morris.
“Baby?” He looks away from the conversation he is having with Tiny and Leo. “What is it?”
My pulse turns to lead as I hold up the phone and show him Jerry’s text.
Jerry: I thought the dog you were going to see was your sister’s. Not three yapping mutts.
“Jerry’s watching us right now,” I say before the room goes black.