Chapter Eighteen
Jenna checked the window, then turned and took another sip of her coffee as she watched Lacey finish shoveling oatmeal into her mouth.
“If you don’t slow down you’re going to choke yourself,” Jenna warned.
Lacey shrugged. “I’m in a hurry. I want to get to school and see Riley.”
“Choking on your food won’t get you there any faster.
” She turned and looked out the window again.
She didn’t know why she kept checking, he wasn’t supposed to be here for another ten minutes.
But she’d finished dressing and doing everything she could think of to make a good impression and now she was stuck waiting.
“Are you impatient to get to the new job or impatient to see your big muscle man again?” Lacey asked, a sly grin on her face.
“He’s not mine. He’s just being nice.” Jenna’s face heated but she ignored it.
The last thing she needed was to encourage her sister. Then the kid would never stop teasing her about Roadkill. And the last thing she wanted was for her to say something in front of him. She knew, if that happened, she would want to melt into the floor with embarrassment.
“Uh, huh. That’s why you’re checking the window every ten seconds to see if he’s here yet.”
“No. I’m checking every little bit because he’s doing us a favor and I don’t want to make him wait. That would be rude.”
“Uh huh.” Lacey finished her oatmeal, took her bowl to the sink, and washed it before heading to her room.
A squeal outside made her twist around and check the window again. In the yard sat a dark gray four door pickup she didn’t recognize, a closer look at the driver proved it was Roadkill.
“He’s here, get a move on!” Jenna shouted. She drained her coffee and set the mug in the sink, then grabbed her purse, slung it over her shoulder, and stood tapping her toe while she waited for her sister. A few seconds later, Lacey hustled out of her room, her backpack flung over one shoulder.
“I had to get my phone. Don’t forget to call about me riding the bus to the shop.”
Jenna opened the door and held it while her sister went out then turned the lock and closed it behind herself. She paused only long enough to make sure it had latched then followed her sister down the stairs and to the truck.
“Thanks so much for this,” Jenna said as soon as she opened the door. “Hopefully they can look at the car today and get it fixed for me.”
“I can ride the bus to school, if I need to,” Lacey put in.
“I know you can, Lace, but you have to get up so much earlier to make the bus. I hate that.”
“No big deal, darlin’,” Roadkill said as he watched her get settled. She noticed he watched Lacey in the rear view, and hoped he was making sure she was buckling up. “Buckled up back there?” he asked as soon as Jenna’s seat belt clicked into place.
“Yes, sir.”
“No more of that,” he growled as he put the truck in reverse and backed out of the driveway.
“What?” Jenna asked with a frown.
“No more siring me. Call me Roadkill.”
“Um,” Lacey said behind her. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, squirt. I’m sure. Makes me nervous when someone calls me sir. I’m afraid I’ll have to start making decisions.”
“But Roadkill? Are you sure you don’t want me to just use your name?” Lacey sounded unsure. “I can call you Mr. Roadkill if you want? It just seems, I don’t know… disrespectful.”
“Mr. Roadkill? No. Just no.” He pulled up to the red light at the highway and stopped.
Jenna watched Roadkill. “What branch did you serve in?” she asked after a moment.
He glanced at her, then to the road, then back to her for a moment. “Marines. How did you know?”
“The decisions thing. I’ve heard something similar before. Thank you for your service.”
He turned back to the road but didn’t respond.
She hadn’t expected him to say anything.
She’d seen a lot of vets who didn’t like to be thanked, still, she couldn’t not say it.
She couldn’t imagine voluntarily leaving your family and everyone you know behind, never knowing if you’d ever see them again.
There was so much more to it, she knew, but to her, that was the worst part.
“Have a good day,” Jenna called to Lacey as they reached the drop off line. “I’ll text you with the details about the bus as soon as I know.”
“Thanks, have a good first day!” Lacey called back as she hopped out of the truck, slammed the door, and raced toward the building.
“I’m sorry about that,” Jenna said with a wince. “I keep telling her she doesn’t need to slam the door.”
Roadkill shrugged as he pulled the truck out of line and back onto the road.
“Not a big deal. I’ve slammed it more than a few times myself. Did you want to stop anywhere before we hit the shop?”
Jenna shook her head.
“No. You’re already late to open the gym. I don’t want to make you any later.”
“Darlin’,” he paused and she turned to look at him, “I have Bobby Lee opening up. And I can do that as long as I need to. I just want to make sure you and your sister are safe.”
Jenna’s eyes watered and she blinked several times to keep the tears from falling.
“Thank you,” she said when she could get the words past the lump that had formed in her throat.
He pulled up in front of Savage Road Service and Repair and killed the engine.
“You don’t need to come inside. I can do this.” Jenna said, despite what felt like there was a whole kettle of red-tailed hawks dive-bombing in her belly.
“I know you can. I just wanted to do this first,” he said.
“What?” She frowned.
Then she felt his hand on her belt. The next thing she knew, she slid across the seat as he tugged her to him.
“This.” He lowered his mouth and covered hers with a brief, gentle kiss. “There,” Roadkill said when he broke the kiss. “Now you have something to think about other than how you’re doing. I’ll see you about five.”
She stared at Roadkill, not sure what to say or do. His kiss had made her toes curl, and every thought she’d had for probably the last year fly out of her head.
Roadkill tilted the top of his head toward the building. “You don’t want to be late, do you?”
That got her moving. She got out of the truck and went inside on autopilot.
She wanted to press her fingers against her lips as she remembered the kiss.
She wanted to go back out to the truck that was already backing away from the building and ask him to kiss her again.
Neither of them would impress her new boss, and she needed this paycheck.
Especially now that Mason had been arrested.
She tried to push the kiss out of her mind and focus on what she’d need to do today as she went in search of Papa Smurf.
The bell above the door rang, making Jenna look up from where she was trying to calculate a repair bill for Papa Smurf to find Lacey coming in, the strap of her backpack over one shoulder. She frowned and checked the time. A little after three, how had it gotten to be so late?
“Hey, Lace, how was school?”
“Do we really have to do this?” Her sister said as she collapsed into one of the chairs in the waiting room. “It’s middle school, Jenna. The bus ride though, that as something.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t realize there was a whole hierarchy of status tied to where you sit on the bus.”
“Yeah, I bet. Since you’ve never had to ride one, you wouldn’t know that only the little, little kids sit in the front, unless you’ve gotten in trouble on the bus.”
Lacey shook her head. “This is going to take me some time to learn, but at least I get to ride with Riley.” There was excitement in her tone that Jenna hadn’t heard when she was talking about school in quite a while.
She’d always hoped some of her sister’s love for school would come back once she got to high school when the social shit wasn’t quite so bad.
“What homework do you have?”
“Math,” Lacey said with a sneer.
Jenna’s shoulders slumped. Math was the hardest subject for her, and it only got harder as her sister got older. Jenna had barely scraped by with a C all the way through school, and she hoped that Lacey would have an easier time of it, but not so far.
“Hey, I was wondering when you’d get here,” Papa Smurf said, coming through the door from the shop. “What do you have in the way of homework?”
“Math. I hate math. It wasn’t bad until they started putting letters in there, now I’m more and more confused every week.”
“I guess this is your lucky day. I got you covered,” Papa Smurf said as he pulled open the door to the shop.
“Yo! Joker. I need you.” Papa Smurf let the door swing shut and winked at Lacey.
“He’ll gripe and complain, but don’t let that bother you.
He’ll warm up to this pretty quickly.” He stepped a little closer to Jenna, leaving space for the door.
They didn’t wait long before the door swung open and a tall man about her age wearing the same overalls all the men wore, his hair pulled back into a knot on the back of his head. Jenna had met him before, but it had only been introductions before he’d disappeared into the shop.
“What you need?” The newcomer didn’t even look at Jenna or Lacey as he spoke to Papa Smurf.
“I’ve got someone in need of some help.”
“So?” Joker scowled. “I take it you want me to do the helping?”
“I do, but only because it’s right up your alley.”
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“Watch your mouth. There are ladies present.”
Joker’s scowl grew deeper, but he turned and looked at Jenna, sparing only a glance at Lacey.
“I apologize, ladies. I’ll work on not doing that again.” He dipped his head toward Jenna. She blinked and watched him, not sure this was the best idea, but willing to give it a try.
“Back to why I called you in here. Someone is having trouble with her math homework and could use a little assistance. I know you’re good at math.”
Joker turned and looked at Lacey for a moment then to Jenna. “This your sister?”
Jenna nodded.
“Joker, this is Lacey. Lacey, Joker. He’s part of the motorcycle club with Roadkill and Papa Smurf.”
“Nice to meet you, sir.”
“Not sir, just Joker. What kind of math?”