AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Will you please eat a slice of toast?”
“If I’m still hungry after all this.” I won’t be, but the best way to get someone to stop asking you to eat more is to tell them you will and then “get full”.
Most people, anyway. Merc’s never satisfied with that, but he’s just going to have to suck it on that one.
They eat a lot more than I do. Especially Jack. He’s a big guy. Like Rhett. Smaller though. I’m not sure anyone’s as big as Rhett. They also pass the baby back and forth and feed each other bits from whichever plate is closest at the time. “Why bother with so many plates? Just use one.”
“You’re just sore because you’re doing the dishes,” Jack says.
“It’s a fair reason.”
“I have to make you special food, the least you can do is clean an extra plate,” Merc says. His expression’s light so I know he’s teasing, but he’s not wrong, I guess.
It’s a whole process from the moment I get home from practice. The pre-breakfast banter while food is made, interspersed between crying baby, eating the food, and then there’s the post-breakfast clean-up. The routine’s soothing.
Things were different with Mom. When I was younger, she had to be at work by eight, so she was up by seven, which only left time for making coffee and grabbing a protein bar if I didn’t want to eat sugary cereals. If I wanted a better breakfast than that, I had to get up to make it myself. I went to YouTube University and learned how to make some healthy meals as I got serious about skating. My coach at the time said I had to be small if I wanted to be lifted, and doing lifts is kinda my specialty.
I’m well aware that I don’t eat much. Lack of proper nutrition through my teens probably stunted my growth in some way. I don’t care. Skating is the only thing that matters to me.
After Merc kisses Jack like he’s never going to see him again, we step outside to head down to the garage. “Shit,” he says. “Feel that?”
Drip. Drop. Drip, drip. Drop.Cool wetness falls in that pattern on my skin. “Rain?”
“Yep. Run!”
By the time we make it across the property to the detached garage, it’s fucking pouring as if the sky just decided to rip open. We’re both drenched. Rain pounds the roof like we pissed it off. “How does it do that?”
Merc shrugs.
It goes from nothing to a tap turned on full blast in seconds around here. Not the first time. “Vancouver’s weird,” I say.
He shrugs, switching on the light.
It’s a nice space. Large. We could fit a couple of cars in here and work on a couple more in the driveway. The driveway is attached to a paved road that leads back to and joins with the house’s driveway. The walls are filled with tools and lights. There’s even a lift.
But then I notice the piece de resistance. A Harley. “You have a freaking Harley, and you didn’t think to tell me?”
My bike is kept in the house’s garage.
He raises an amused brow. “I wanted you to see it when you learned about it for the first time.”
“Poor thing. In the weeks I’ve been here, it’s been sitting here all alone?”
“It’s been sitting here longer than that. Not much time for riding bikes with a baby in the house.”
“Right. Babies ruin everything. That’s a life lesson you don’t have to teach me, Merc.”
“I’ve had more babies that aren’t mine than most people and that’s still not a lesson I’d ever teach you, but they do take up your time.”
And it’s time worth taking up. Blah, blah, blah. Tell that to Mom. I was the chore she did when she had the energy for it.
I don’t say any of this out loud, of course. It’s time for me to have a bit of fun. Finally. Before we get the chance, my phone goes off. “Sorry,” I say to Merc since I doubt he’s the “let you have your phone on during the job” kind of boss.
“It’s all right. I’ve got to get some tools out anyway. We don’t have customers today so I thought I could teach you about each tool.”
How long should I keep my secret for? As long as I can. It seems like the kind of prank Merc would do. I can’t see him being too mad when he finds out, only mad that he didn’t figure it out. “Yeah. It might take us some time to go through those. I didn’t have to change a lightbulb, let alone use tools.”
He shakes his head. “You’re at least learning how to change the oil before the next time you trek across Canada on your bike by yourself.”
