Chapter Eleven: New Livelihood
Chalk
“Are you enjoying working at the hospital? You seem to have stepped right into your dream job. All your hard work has paid off.” Lucy and I had walked down the block to sit at the wharf to watch the ferry boat take the passengers out around the bay. Her hair was billowing around her face from the wind coming off the water making her even more beautiful to me. She just seemed like a new woman, someone I wanted to rediscover.
“I love it. The patients are a real hoot, there are so many lovable characters there. I’m always a little sad when they leave. Originally, I applied for the emergency ward, but they didn’t want me to be too overtaxed.”
“I think that speaks to your nurturing spirit, and the whole thing seems like it was meant to be. You can even walk to work, right?” I wanted to know about her life and all the smaller details. We had years’ worth of catching up to do and I enjoyed hearing her talk.
“I get in my daily exercise, that’s a definite bonus.”
The heartbeat of our foundation as friends was still there, and we were picking up right where we left off. The stroll down memory lane brought up all the nostalgic moments, but we were in the hangman position romantically and I had these other background issues at the club, keeping me up at night.
Lucy picked up on my thoughts. “Seems like there’s something bothering you. Can you tell me about it?”
She’d always been able to pick up on my moods and I didn’t know if telling her about club business right now was a good idea. “A couple of things, but nothing the Rebels can’t deal with. I don’t want to bore you with the details.” Keeping it light was the best thing to do.
“I want to be bored with the details. I want to know about your life too. Not just mine.” She kept pressing.
Angie and Lucy couldn’t be more different. The strength of my feelings for Lucy were deeper than I realized. A hissing sound blew through my teeth as I wrestled with telling her the real deal at the club. “Okay, I do want someone to talk to about it. I’m running this pool competition at Wheelz and it’s bringing in pretty good revenue for us as a club. We take walk-ins sometimes, and there’s this guy, Rocky.” I raised my arms, stretching them out behind my head and dropping them down again. “I found out through Angie that he’s not what he seems.” My eyes drifted to Lucy.
She registered what I was telling her right away. “Okay, so does that mean he’s a danger to your club?”
“He’s a problem because he seems to be with the Devil Riders. It’s a long ass story that involves Ink’s girlfriend and an unpaid casino debt. Anyway, that’s raised the alarm, and now the Road Warriors are sending in their spies.” Tiredness over the situation rang through my voice. She would have to know because regardless of how distant we seemed to be, she could be in danger.
“Can’t you get rid of him and tell him he’s not able to play or make up something?” she suggested.
Whirring thoughts about Sarah’s safety came to my mind as Lucy’s questions triggered me. “Better we keep him close, so we can assess his next move. We’re hoping he slips up and gives us some new information that may be useful.” My fingers pressed into the back of my neck to relieve the tension. Just talking about the scumbag made my skin crawl.
“I’m concerned about Sarah. How can we protect her if this is going on? How can you and the guys be around him knowing what you know? Isn’t that creepy?” Lucy stared at me, waiting for a clarity.
I couldn’t exactly provide that, but I wanted to. “I feel better that we can keep an eye on him actually. It’s better if you can see your enemy.” My eyes drifted to the water to calm my own frazzled nerves and to stop Lucy from seeing that these thoughts of Sarah’s safety crossed my mind as well.
“Is there anything else? That doesn’t explain how Sarah is going to be kept safe, especially if he knows where you go and when you leave the club.” Shaky panic projected in her voice.
I felt like I was in the hot seat. “That’s enough. We do have some overhang from the cartel we used to deal with, but that’s a price we’re living with. We are a legitimate club, we run community bike workshops for youth, and that’s been amazing for all of the guys. The bars, the real estate, all of it is putting us on the right path. You should come down to the club and meet some of the old ladies and you’ll see how normal we really are. We’re a strong unit. A lot of the others have families too. They don’t wanna risk anything happening to their kids either. Trust me.”
“I would like that. I can see for myself. I’m free tomorrow night,” she added.
To break up the strained conversation, I made a little joke. “Damn. That’s not the right day for me to show off my pool skills. The pool competition is on Wednesdays.” I grinned. I couldn’t stop thinking if I had to defend my family, it would to the death.
She didn’t exactly appear in the mood to grin with the news, but the etchings of a smile touched her lips. “I can’t believe you’re still playing after all these years. I remember your skills, I wonder if I can still play.” She mused. When we were dating, we used to go to pool halls a lot. Lucy ended up being a pretty good player because of it too. I taught her a lot of trick shots and wondered if she remembered them.
Seagulls squawked above our heads, and the irrational fear of them pooping in my drink made me move my cup under my chair. I gave her a smile. “We can always find out tomorrow night. We can play a couple of games if you want.” I felt excited at the possibility of spending more time with her.
“What about Sarah? Who is taking care of her while we go out?” The worry-wart part of Lucy floated back in, letting me know she wasn't 100% in the trust zone with me to handle things with our daughter – or maybe it was a mom thing.
“I’ll get Teresa to take care of her for the night. I’ll text her in a little bit. Don’t worry, she’s in good hands,” I reassured her.
“Then I know she’s safe. Sounds like everything is sorted out. Wheelz, here I come.” Her smile was forced.
Well, I hoped to make it genuine in the future.
I shaved up in the mirror with my electric razor, making sure I got the extra hairs underneath my chin.
The story with Angie didn’t help either, I was kicking myself that I didn’t just come out and tell Lucy the truth about it. That there was nothing there to tell. Not on my part anyway. And why didn’t I? Truth be told maybe I didn’t want to risk my heart again. Just like my worry over Sarah having her heart broken by her mother going away all over again. Maybe I was still too gun shy. When Lucy got sick and then faded away to almost nothing, it about killed me. Then one day, she slipped away to another place geographically. Years had gone by. I kept busy raising my daughter and being a part of Wheelz, being a Rebel Saint.
I’d never gotten over her and even the striking momentary attraction to Angie Carmichael couldn't dampen that. I ran my hand over the close shave I managed with a self-satisfied smirk and dabbed some cologne on my neck.