Page 21 of Ky
“Miss you too, Mom. How is the hot Florida weather treating you two?”
“It’s lovely. You know your dad, he’s so cold all the time, so this is perfect weather for him. He’s wearing shorts. Shorts, Chris. I mean, he still has his sweater on, but still.”
I laughed because I could just see it, my dad sitting out by their pool, drinking water through a straw and lounging around in swim shorts and his old man cardigan that made him look like a stuffy professor.
“You should come and visit,” she said and I could hear the softness in her tone. She really did miss me.
I knew my choice to move away from Moon Hill was going to be hard. Not just for me but for my family. I had a good idea that it was the same for my parents with their decision. It seemed so weird that we were all spread out now. If you’d asked me four years ago if I thought I’d ever leave Moon Hill, I would have told younowith confidence. Sometimes it was still strange to me to wake up and be able to look out my window as see the ocean. I might have picked this house because it reminded me of the one that I had back there. The fact that my bedroom took up the top floor like the one back home, wasn’t lost on me for a second.
“I’ll make time to come down there soon. Maybe after the summer when the tourist leave, yeah?” I really meant it.
“Okay. You have someone special to bring with you?”
Typical mom type question, always wanting to know when I was going to find my one and settle down. You’d think that I had plenty of options considering that I didn’t limit myself to one sex, but that was not the case. So far, I hadn’t found anyone I really wanted to spend a month with, let alone a lifetime.
“Not yet, Mom. Maybe by the time I get down there. We’ll see.” Even as I said that I had my doubts.
“Oh, your dad is getting in the pool. I need to go watch him and make sure he doesn’t over do it. I love you, Chris.”
“Love you too. Tell Dad I said hey.”
We hung up and I got ready to go to work.
My shift wasn’t very exciting but I was glad to have the semi-quiet time. I got the bar situated and ready for the weekend. One less thing that I’d have to worry about tomorrow. You just never knew with this place. Sometimes it would be packed at lunchtime with people that had already said ‘fuck it’ to the day. And then other times it was like this, a few guys hanging around doing some slow afternoon drinking. There was no rhyme or reason to any of it, but then again, it was bikers I was talking about. They didn’t exactly scream schedule and predictability to me.
“Alright, I’m out,” I called out to Tiffany and Brent who were taking the closing shift.
The smell of burgers on the grill hit my nose the moment the compound came into view. My mouth watered and I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. Damn. I was always getting on Brand for ‘forgetting to eat’ and here I was doing the same thing. I figured I’d better keep that tidbit to myself because I didn’t need to give him something else to razz me about.
“Chris.” Ingram’s eyes lit up with recognition as soon as she saw me. I chuckled thinking that she had just seen me this morning, but I also imagined that being surrounded by people she didn’t know would have been frightening for her. “A man named Mouse said he would get a burger for me,” she said as I walked up to where she was sitting.
“Oh, nice. Mouse is a cool dude,” I said noticing the strain in her tone as I plopped down on the chair beside her. “Where’s Ky?”
“Oh, he went to look at something in the garage, I think.”
“You hangin’ in there?” I asked her.
“Yes, I am doing alright,” she added then rolled her lips between her teeth and nodded a few times. “I have met a lot of Ky’s, um, brothers.”
I chuckled and patted her knee.
“They’re good guys, I promise. He wouldn’t have brought you here if he didn’t think it would be okay.”
“They take care of him?” Her tone was a mix of worry and concern. Even though they’d been apart a long time, I could tell that she’d thought about him the whole time. She wanted to know that he was doing good with his life.
I still didn’t know the specifics of everything. I had caught onto things here and there but it was more confusing than anything. I wanted to know, but I had a feeling that maybe I didn’t at the same time.
“Yes,” I answered, my eyes scanning the lot between the two buildings that made up the compound. “They all look out for one another. They pretty much consider each and every one of their brothers as family. I’ve been around this club long enough to know that when something happens to one of them, they all feel a part of it, no matter how small it is.”
“And you are not part of this?”
“Um, I don’t do the whole motorcycle thing. Honestly, they terrify me,” I said as I laughed.
“That is like their thing, huh?”
“Kinda has to be when you’re a motorcycle club.” I smiled at her to let her know I was joking around.
“Oh, yeah,” she giggled as her cheeks heated with embarrassment. “That was my bad. That means like my mistake, right?”
