Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 86158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“We were young once, you know,” he said with a grin.
“I prefer not to think about it,” I replied.
“Here’s the thing, Charlie,” my dad said, his tone growing more serious. “You need to cut down on what you’re buyin’ and streamline the menu options. Cut costs there, first. Keep the prices the same, ’cause you don’t have the cash for a new sign. And you gotta get some more traffic comin’ through the shop. You don’t have that, none of the rest of it is gonna help you.”
“Okay,” I said.
God, I was so tired. When I wasn’t working, I was thinking about work. When I was asleep, I dreamed about it—waking up in the middle of the night so I could go over numbers again. I couldn’t believe that my big plan, the one I’d thought through for months, was failing.
I didn’t fucking fail.
“You head over and talk to Tommy right now,” my dad ordered. “He’s at the garage and I told him you’d be stoppin’ by.”
“He’s gonna give me shit,” I complained, getting to my feet.
“Probably,” my dad said, handing me the folder of papers. “But he’d give you the fuckin’ moon if you asked for it and you both know it, so take the shit and say thank you when he eventually tells you yes.”
“Yes, father,” I said, leaning down to kiss his forehead.
“Your ma might be there,” he said as he followed me out of the trailer. “Tell her I’ll be there soon.”
“Why is she at the clubhouse?”
“Bringin’ me lunch,” he said with a chuckle. “She didn’t know I was meetin’ you today.”
“It wasn’t a secret,” I replied as he walked me to my car.
“I know, I just didn’t want her here,” he said, shooting me a grin. “They’re deliverin’ that claw foot tub today that she saw at the vintage place up north a couple months ago.”
“The one she kept talking about?” I asked, my jaw dropping. “I thought you told her it wouldn’t work.”
“I lied,” he said easily. “It’s a surprise, so keep it to yourself.”
“I will,” I promised. “She’s going to shit!”
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I headed for the Aces compound. I wanted a relationship like my parents,’ even though they grossed me out on a regular basis. They were so good to each other.
When I was growing up, it had been weird as one of the kids of the town’s notorious motorcycle club. There’d been talk—I was pretty sure all of us had dealt with it in one way or another. Parents didn’t want their kids playing at our houses. They called us worldly—as if that was a bad thing. Looked down their noses at us when they saw us at school events. But by the time I was a teenager, I realized that it was all bullshit. I’d had the most stable life out of any of my friends. Their parents cheated, split up, lost their jobs and houses. While mine, well, they just kept on loving each other and us kids. Outside forces may have made our lives harder in some ways, but our family unit was unshakeable. Most kids didn’t have that.
You really can’t judge a book by its cover.
My dad must have called him, because Tommy was waiting outside for me when I got to the club.
“Your pop said you needed to talk to me,” he called out from his seat on one of the picnic tables. “You’ve got as long as it takes for me to finish this.” He held up a smoldering joint and waved it from side to side.
“I better hurry, then,” I said dryly. I started talking as I walked toward him, and by the time I’d reached him, I’d lined out exactly what I wanted and how much I was willing to pay him. I was hoping that by laying it all out quickly, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to argue with every single word I said… maybe just the big points.
“Sounds good,” he said easily.
I jerked in surprise.
“You’ll have to go fully organic and make sure you have vegan options,” he continued, making my jaw drop open.
“I—what?”
“Or just organic options,” he said, waving his joint around. “And vegan ones. Vegans are no animal products, right? You can do that. Coffee comes from beans.”
“Back up,” I said, struggling not to laugh.
“The main building is gonna be one of those hippie dippie health food stores,” he replied.
“It’s tiny.”
“I’m guessin’ they don’t have much variety,” he said dryly. “The price was right.”
I stood there staring at him, this man I’d known my whole life, that I’d seen eat four fast-food cheeseburgers in less than ten minutes, who treated his body like anything but a temple.
“Heather’s putting you up to this, isn’t she?” I asked finally.
“Woman’s about to bankrupt me,” he said, shaking his head. “Whole house is filled with organic shit. I’m hopin’ they’ll give us a discount.”