Page 17 of Fractured
Callie snickered, “Speak for yourself, Crunch.”
“Gah, am I ever going to live that name down?” I asked.
It was as if the entire scene had been choreographed. Callie, along with Caine, Briar, Brent, and Grant, said, “Not a chance.”
I had been learning about cars and things from Briar’s grandfather, Sawyer, ever since I was twelve years old.
See, I would have asked my father, but he died in a freak accident when a drunk driver ran into his car when he was on the way home from work when I was six.
And my ma, bless her heart, wanted to give me everything I wanted.
She had been used to having help, and then suddenly, she had to be both mom and dad.
When I had asked her about learning more about cars, she had called around and gotten Sawyer.
The old man was knowledgeable about everything, and I learned it all from him.
Now, as for the Crunch nickname... I said I could drive a manual, when I couldn’t... yep, ran that old truck right into the side of a building and it made a crunching sound.
Hence the nickname,Crunch.
I shook my head at them and asked, “So, what brings y’all by?”
Briar smiled, “We wanted to talk to you and Garrick. We found a rare car out in a field. We’d like y’all to restore it and make it into its former glory for a shop piece.”
Caine nodded, “We remodeled the shop about a year or so ago. We have been looking for the perfect piece to showcase there, but we were unable to find anything until Grant stumbled upon it.”
I nodded, then asked, “Well, what is it?”
Grant grinned, “A 1967 Chevy II Nova L79.”
At the description of the car, I whistled through my teeth.
Holy. Shit.
They only made six or seven of them that year.
“Damn good find,” I said.
Then I called Garrick over, and we hammered out the details.
After agreeing to bring the car to us in a few weeks, they left.
***
“Okay, Shorty. Where are we going?” I asked Sage as I buckled her into her booster seat.
She smiled, showing off two of the teeth she had lost over the course of the past two months. And said, “Frozen Tree.”
I nodded, then closed her door.
Once a week, I took Sage out for a little date.
I was her godfather after all.
The moment I climbed into the driver’s seat, I started my SUV, and we were off.
Just then, her favorite song came on, and before she could say,Turn it up, Uncle Dom, I turned it up.
