Mom waited until I opened the beer and rested back on my elbows before she spoke.
“So, son, there are rumors about you and a certain new mechanic,” she said.
I sighed, letting my head fall back for a second, then looked over at Mom, taking a swig of the beer.
“I’m assuming you’re talking about Kelly. We met three years ago, then she left the country,” I told her.
There wasn’t any need to go into further detail than that. It was enough for her to figure out what happened. Mom was a smart cookie. And she was also an adult who hadn’t lived a cloistered life before becoming a wife and mother of four sons. It was futile to pretend she was clueless.
“So, she was the girl you met at the bar that night,” Quentin said from the blanket where he was cuddled up with Merry. “I thought she looked familiar.”
“She seriously left the country?” Nick asked. “You’re sure that wasn’t just a line she used?”
“You know, you’re the second person who’s asked me that,” I said.
“Who was the other one?” Nick asked.
“Colby,” Quentin and I said at the same time.
I looked over at him, and he shrugged.
“Sounds like something he’d say,” he said.
“It is and, yes, I am sure she left the country. She’s from Canada. That was her last night in town, and she left for home the next morning,” I told them.
“Did she really not know you worked here?” Dad asked.
“I’m pretty sure she didn’t,” I said. “We didn’t talk about our jobs, so I didn’t even know she’s a mechanic, and I didn’t mention racing. I guess she could have looked it up and seen a picture of me, but she looked really surprised when she saw me in the garage. Then she offered to leave if it made me uncomfortable for her to be here. I really think it was as much a shock to her as it was to me.”
I fielded a few more questions from my brothers and father but didn’t elaborate anymore. I stuck to the same details, not wanting to drift too far into anything personal or give them more information than they needed. I knew full well my brothers knew exactly who she was. They were there the night I met Kelly and again on my birthday a few days ago when I saw her again. What really mattered was they all seemed to be fine with the idea of her working there, and I was glad for that.
I was happy when the conversation finally detoured to another topic, and I could relax away from the hot seat. I ended up eating another sandwich along with potato salad and a cheese wafer, finishing the meal up with one of the restaurant’s pineapple cupcakes. Mom was a fantastic baker and created most of my favorite things to eat, but there was something special about the pineapple cupcakes from Belle’s. Whatever it was, I could probably eat a dozen of them by myself.
After dinner, I headed home. Now that I knew she had officially been hired, I wanted to call her. Everything was out in the open, so it wouldn’t have been that hard to ask Mom for her number. I could call and check in with her, to congratulate her for her new job. But I stopped myself before I did. I didn’t want to overstep. Mom let me know her first day was Monday. I could wait until then when she was in my space and we were at the beginning of our new normal.
10 Kelly
Choosing where we were going to live wasn’t easy before leaving Canada. I had to try it to find the perfect spot for Willa and me from a different country and trust it was going to be as good in person as it was online. It was a major risk, a leap of faith I was nervous about making. When I first started talking about making the big move, Kira pointed out going to visit Charlotte in the first place had been my idea. I already knew it, and loved it, so why not go back?
Fortunately, I was able to find the little apartment and had spoken to the wonderful landlord several times before committing to the place.
I was still a bit anxious when we arrived, but I found the apartment to be even better than I thought. And it wasn’t just the place itself that made me happy. One of the reasons I was interested in the apartment to begin with was the adorable little park not far away. We could easily walk there and enjoy not only the elaborate play area, but the splash pad. That would be a fantastic respite during the intense hot weather of the summer.
The park was where Willa and I went to spend the day after I found out about getting the job at Freeman. As excited as I was about getting back into a garage and working on bikes again, it wasn’t lost on me that going back to working outside the home would mean less time with my little girl. It had been the two of us since the day she was born, and I was already starting to feel the pangs of missing her. It was a few days until I started work, so I wanted to savor every minute before then.
We got to the park a little while after breakfast, and there were already several families there. I brought Willa over to the sandbox, and she immediately wriggled over to another cute little girl sitting in the sand. She picked up a purple shovel and started digging while the other little girl moved it into a bucket.
“They seem very intent on whatever they’re doing,” a young woman with a short, dark bob said, gesturing to the girls.
“Yes, they do,” I said with a slight laugh. “It is very serious work.”
She smiled at me. “I’m
