Page 41 of Unveiled Wishes

“Can I borrow you this afternoon?” I asked her. “Pretty opened his mouth, and now Flo won’t make him potato salad for Christmas. I was thinking I could do it, but I don’t know how, and I don’t want to ask Flo. She holds a grudge.”

“She does,” Aunt E laughed, but then her eyes lost focus again, and she drifted away.

“It’ll take her a few minutes. She’s getting better, but this still occurs a couple times an hour. They’re not sure if it will ever completely disappear,” Thunder explained.

“Will she remember we’re here? She had a hard time with my name,” I asked him.

“Yeah, I noticed that, but I am wondering if it’s because of the letters and not actually remembering your face. When we play Scrabble, she has a hard time with Ws.”

“What are you doing, Thunder?” I should have minded my own business, but I didn’t want to see Aunt E hurt. She was too fragile to make relationship decisions.

“The same thing you are. Let it go.” We stared each other down.

“Let what...go?” Aunt E asked, returning to the present.

“Letting you out of this game. Think you’re up for making potato salad?” Thunder asked her, his tone gentle. My gaze shifted between them. How had this started? Was it really mutual?

“Do I have…to get…dressed?” She wiggled her fuzzy slippers at me.

“Not if you’re going to help me. I can deal with dog slippers.” I smirked at her as she smiled at me. She slid one slipper onto the floor and shifted until her feet dangled off the bed.

“You got it, Liz?” Thunder asked her, but she waved her good arm at him.

“I am fine.” She sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes. When she was ready, she reached out and held onto the nightstand that was next to the bed. Thunder’s eyes never left her back.

“You’re so fucked,” I whispered to him. He just shot me a look that said I shouldn’t throw stones in glass houses.

She slid her ass to the edge of the bed and stood, rocking until she regained her balance.

“One day, you’ll be back to normal, and we’re all going to have to watch out.” I tried to joke with her as she hobbled towards me.

“I don’t know…normal is.” She lifted her good hand and gave me a sad wave.

Thunder and I let her walk out the door first, and while I was watching to make sure she didn’t fall, he was clearly checking her out.

She turned into the kitchen and was out of earshot when he said to me, “I am old, not dead.”

“Yeah, but she’s not well. You going to use the club girls?” I needed him to say yes to ease my guilt.

“Why?”

“You’ve been a biker for longer than I’ve been alive. You really think you can go without while she heals? There’s a chance she may never fulfill your needs.”

“Are you using the club girls?” Disappointment came over his face.

“You’re not my father.” I didn’t need a lecture. I already knew I had fucked up, and I was going to have to fix it or let him go.

“I know, but let me give you a little piece of advice. When you find the one you’re supposed to be with, nothing else compares. If all I get with her is hours of TV and board games, it’ll be enough. I know what a prize she is. If there ever comes a time when it’s not, I’ll use my hand or walk away from her. I won’t hurt her.” He patted me on the arm and walked away.

***

Gerry

I stood at my kitchen counter, drinking my morning cup of coffee. I was delaying the inevitable, but the more I tried to psych myself up, the more I thought about just staying home.My girls wouldn’t understand, but there was a lot of animosity floating in the air.

“Dad, I wanted to make sure you were coming for Christmas.” Grace had called two weeks ago. I had been feeling sorry for myself, so when her name came across my phone, I picked up, hopeful that she was leaving Sabre.

My heart had sunk at the invitation. “I don’t know, Grace. I am not really a welcomed guest at the clubhouse. Maybe you should bring the baby and spend Christmas here.”

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