Page 60 of Moonshine Lullabies

I took them and looked down at them in my hand.

“You hate me drivin’ that thing,” I said.

“Almost as much as you hate drivin’ it when you have to,” he agreed, and I laughed.

“I ain’t hate drivin’ it as much as you think. I just hated how much shit you give me.”

“Well, now – ain’t gonna give you any shit no more. I mean it. I’m glad you’re okay. Scared my soul right out my body when that radio call come into the boat last night.”

“I figured y’all would be worried about Tate,” I said.

He knocked his shoulder into mine and said, “You’re irreplaceable too.”

“Didn’t think y’all would miss me much until it came to cookin’ your food and washin’ your clothes.”

His shoulders dropped, and I looked away afore I started cryin’.

“Shit, Jess… I ain’t got no one on this planet to keep me in line but you,” he said. “You go, and my conscience might as well go with you.” He sniffed and looked away and said, “You’re the only thing I think that’s ever made me a decent man.”

“Man?” I joked. “I dunno if I’d go that far but the rest? Yeah, that sounds about right.”

He laughed then and leaned over into me, pushin’ me over, and I laughed too.

“I love you, too, little sister.”

Yeah. I needed the reminder.

* * *

Collier’s bike was fucked.Like, absolutely fucked. As in probably needed an entire engine tear down and rebuild and that wasn’t even to mention a new gas tank and some other cosmetic repairs. It was gonna be laid up for weeks.

“Good think we got the rat bike for you to use until you got yours up an’ runnin,” La Croix said and jerked his head against a back wall of the garage. We all followed his gesture and Tate was the one to say it, “Ugh, that thing’s ugly.”

The men around us laughed and chuckled. “That’s your first bike, little man,” Chainsaw declared and Tate looked indignant.

“Nuh-uh! Nuckie, can we start buildin’ one now so when I turn eighteen I can ride with you?”

“You can get your driver’s license when you’re sixteen,” Hex said.

Tate said, “Yeah, but my mom says I can’t ride anythin’ but a dirt bike or four-wheeler until I’m eighteen.”

“That’s right,” I declared.

The guys all looked at me like I’d said something gross, and I shrugged ‘em off.

“I’ll work on her,” Collier said casually, and he winked at me.

“Gonna take a lot of convincing when it comes to my baby,” I told him coolly. “He’s the only one I got an’ the only one I’m gettin’,” I reminded him.

“I’m takin’ my nephew and my sister out to lunch, maybe walk around the Quarter, you feel like comin’?” he asked.

Collier looked surprised.

“Uh, yeah,” he said. “Ain’t much I can do here without parts an’ I’d wanna start at the bone yard for that.”

“Tomorrow,” J.P. declared.

“Sure,” Collier nodded.

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