Page 134 of Patching Over

She turns and looks at me and says, “It’s not that, honey. Growing up, our father was too enamored of his drugs to worry about the fact he had a kid in the house who needed to eat. Tony would drop off money, but Daddy Dearest would use it to buy his poison of choice instead of groceries. I ate twice a day at school, but a lot of times, I didn’t have anything to eat for dinner, and forget the weekends. That was until Tony realized what wasgoing on and got an account for me to use. Still, old habits die hard, I guess, so when I’m able to eat, I do so as if I won’t get to eat again for a while.”

Sleeper at least looks suitably chastised, while I’m pretty sure my jaw’s on the ground. I can’t believe her own father did that to her! I know my old man wasn’t all that great, but at least until I turned eighteen, I always had access to food.

“I’m sorry, Baby Belle,” Sleeper says. “I try not to remember those times, because I let you down, but I understand better why you are the way you are, and I promise I won’t make fun again.”

“Yeah, you will, Tony, because it’s just who you are. You don’t mean anything by it, but sometimes, it gets old is all,” she replies. “Now, are you driving the truck with my stuff down or what?”

“I guess so, but I’ll be coming back home because I’ve got a run with the club. However, I’ll be there in time for Christmas. Actually, a week before since your ol’ man has organized a toy run for the community. The Cleveland chapter plans to represent.”

I chuckle since knowing Ghoul, Wiley, Sleeper, and the rest of the Cleveland brothers, the truck he’s bringing down to Roanoke with Belle’s things will return full of toys for our community’s kids. What has me most excited about the run is Brick found a huge store that was vacant and bought it, and the brothers have been putting in shelves and shit. We’re going to let the low-income families come in and shop for their kids for Christmas, as well as the local foster care parents.

“Fine, fine. Tony?” Belle asks.

“Yeah, Baby Belle?”

“You know I love you, right?” she replies, her voice kind of small, probably because she fussed at him, although in my mind it was well-deserved.

“Without a doubt,” he says, picking her up and swinging her around. “Now, Jingles will be in the front, you’re in the middle, and I’ll be bringing up the rear. If you have to stop for any fucking reason, flash your lights at him and tap your brakes at me.”

“Okay, I got it,” she says. “Now, we gonna hit the streets or what?”

Belle

My music is blaring and I’m singing along while keeping a close eye on the back of Jingles when my phone rings, scaring the hell out of me.

“Hello?”

“Hey, babe, wanted to let you know we’re going to pull off at the next exit, fill up, then grab something to eat so we can stretch,” Jingles says.

“It hasn’t been all that long ago that we stopped,” I reply.

“It’s partly for you and also for me,” he admits. “Even with my leathers on, it’s getting fucking cold out here, Belle. I need to warm up.”

“Maybe we should have put your bike on one of those things,” I muse, now worried that he’s going to end up sick because he caught a chill moving me from Cleveland to Virginia. “I mean, itisNovember, after all.”

“I’ll be good once I get some coffee in me,” he states.

“Well, I want some hot cocoa,” I say, giggling. “I like the smell of coffee but not the taste.”

“You can have whatever you want, babe,” he advises, chuckling. “Just wanted to let you know since we didn’t cover that eventuality.”

True to their word, any time I flashed my headlights and then lightly braked, we would stop at the next available exit. Sometimes, Jingles would go ahead and top off my car while I ran inside to go to the bathroom, others, it was Tony doing it while Jingles went inside with me. We were about halfway done with our trip, and I was ready to be there, so I figured he probably wanted to be through too.

Once we pull off the exit, I grin because Jingles found a Buc-ee’s, which means I can stock up on some of my favorite snacks. Not like my front seat isn’t already carrying a small cooler with drinks to add to my cute cup, or a bag of things I’ve been steadily eating while singing to the Christmas station I found on my subscription service. It’s expensive, but my brother insisted on adding it to my car’s package because of all the trips Mo and I love to take.

“I hope she’ll still want to travel when she’s all better,” I mumble as I pull in and park. After grabbing my purse, I cut my car off, pocket the key fob, then get out and lock it while I wait for Jingles and Tony to get to me.

“Figured you would want to top off,” Tony says once they get to me.

“I still have a little more than three quarters of a tank,” I reply, sighing in pleasure as we walk in. “I’m going to go to the bathroom.”

It’s another reason I like this place; their restrooms are always clean and even when it’s really busy, there’s never a very long wait. After I finish up and wash my hands, I go in search of my ol’ man and brother and grin when I see them both perusing the various coffee flavors.

Both of them prefer their coffee strong and black, so the fact they’ve got a lot of choices has me giggling when I make my way to the hot chocolate machine. It’s nothing more than steaminghot water with cocoa mix, yet the ratio of each is perfect, plus I can add some whipped cream.

“Go grab your snacks, Belle,” Jingles instructs. “Once we cash out, pull your car over to the pumps so I can clean the windows and top you off.” I go to protest when he says, “We’re heading into some wintry weather, babe, and I’d feel better knowing you have a full tank of gas.”

“You can’t ride in that!” I exclaim. “You’re going to freeze!”

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