Page 25 of Biker Daddy

“You did it exactly right, Brent. Thank you.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t know your name then.”

“Next time you’ll know to write A. D. D. I.” Brent nodded with a wide smile that fell quickly at the sound of his mother’s holler.

“My mom’s calling. I should go. She gets mad when I don’t come right away.” He pointed at the envelope. “It’s a picture I drew.”

“So that’s why you have marker on your hands. You’re an artist.” The little boy glowed.

“Fitz taught me how to draw. He says I’m good. He says I can be an artist someday. He takes me to the cliff house to paint sometimes when Mom’s been…” He looked at his feet. “Partying.”

“I think if Fitz thinks you’re talented, then you must be.” Partying?The cliff house?

Addi opened the letter quickly and pulled out a drawing of a stream and trees on the inside of a waffle box. It was much better than she’d expected for a child no more than six. “It’s beautiful! Fitz is right about you. I’m going to get a frame for this.”

“You are?” His eyes were big and round, and he shoved his glasses up again. His toothy grin showed adult front teeth currently too big for his child-sized mouth.

“I am.”

Addi stood straight and closed the fridge door, hearing Brent’s mom screeching once again for him. “Thank you for the picture. I’ll treasure it.” He leaned forward to hug her and she gave him a good squeeze back.

“I’m sorry your uncle died. He used to sit with me when I’d to go to work with my mom on Saturdays. He was really nice.”

Addi pressed her mouth and gave him a sad nod. “I hope to see you again, Artist Brent.” His little face lit with her words and he ran off.

When she walked out a few minutes later, the purple Beetle was kicking up dust and Drew was staring cross-armed and stone-faced. She didn’t fail to notice the lipstick on his neck and cheek though.

Unexplainable jealousy burned in her as if she had some claim on him. Before Drew noticed, she jogged toward the woods. Addi not only had no right to be jealous, but being so was ridiculous! She hadn’t been involved with Drew since she was sixteen and even then he’d told her it wasn’t real. She had no rights to him, now or then.

She was here for her uncle’s funeral, not to mess around with Drew, and certainly not to become jealous and obsessive over him. No matter how sweet he was being or how close she felt to him. Or how much he flirted or made her feel special. Or how much desire and arousal he stirred in her.

He’s not mine.

Brent was on her mind too. He was a sweet kid but his mother wouldn’t be earning any parent of the year awards in Addi’s opinion. It brought back her own childhood issues.

Addi felt her knees buckle but caught herself. Being at the camp was stirring up all kinds of emotions and memories—things she’d never really dealt with. She wanted to release all the emotions battling inside so she could pack them neatly away inside herself again, but if she was going to break down, she needed to do it alone. She needed to be away from the man who seemed to catch her at every weak moment. She walked deeper into the forest.

The ground was soft, and her only comfortable shoes were some chunky-heeled sandals that kept sinking into the damp earth, but they didn’t stop her from barreling through the natural paths that formed in the woods.

She leaned against a tree and pulled out Brent’s picture. She stared at the well-drawn scene. How come she had never seen Uncle Ray paint? Not when she was there for the summer or even over the years when he’d stayed with her for holidays and vacations. She thought of the smudges of marker on Brent’s hand. She had never seen Uncle Ray’s hands marred with paint.

Running her hands along the rough, damp bark of the tree she leaned against, she breathed in the heady scent of nature. She hadn’t gone into the forest the summer she’d been at camp, except once. She closed her eyes, breathing deep. The forest led to the cliffs. The cliffs were where she’d fallen and where Drew had saved her.

“Hey, Addi.” One of the camp leaders came out through the door, tossing a baseball in the air. She smiled and nodded at him, remembering his name was Markus.

“You coming with us today?” He swished his light brown hair back and caught the ball, tossing it again before she could answer.

Addi shrugged as she watched him leap forward to catch the wayward ball. Other boys milled out of the hall, laughing loudly, punching shoulders and creating boy ruckus. Addi didn’t do anything with the camp boys. They were happy to roll around in the dirt, hike, slide to home base, canoe, and the million other things boys did, but she didn’t fit in with the camp leaders either.

It was parents’ day so the leaders had free time.

As Markus watched her expectantly, blinking his large brown eyes, she decided that she’d try, especially after Uncle Ray’s lecture about how disappointed he was that she wasn’t participating or interacting with others.

Addi just didn’t like nature. She hated bugs, snakes, rodents, and dirt. Mosquitoes spread all kinds of bad stuff like malaria, and ticks spread Lyme disease. Some snakes had hemotoxic venom that could kill, rodents were the cause of the plague, and playing in dirt could give you tetanus. And ever since her mom’s accident, she didn’t take risks.

“So?” Addi’s mind snapped alert at Markus’s terse voice.

She needed to make friends if she was going to be here all school break. After all, she’d come to have a normal summer.

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