Page 41 of Truck

Rum grins, “Try the honey mustard spinach salad with it. I tried it last week and Truck, it’s the bomb.”

Rory steps up to the table, her pad in hand, ready to take our order. “What can I get for you both?”

I mumble under my breath about something she can give me, but it’s not food. Rum chuckles. Rory frowns because she didn’t hear, but I cough as I answer, you know, to cover up what I said. “I’ll have the chicken pot pie, and the honey mustard spinach salad Rum tells me is to die for,” I reply with a grin on my face.

“Me as well please, Rory.”

“Okay, coffee?” Rory asks as she looks up from her notepad.

“Yes, please,” Rum responds.

I give her a wink. “No, I’ll have a sparkling water, please.”

I watch as Rory walks away, and I admit openly that I was watching her cute ass in the black pants she wears. Rum clears his throat, getting my attention back.

“Are you ready for tomorrow, Truck?”

“I am ready, and relieved that we have gotten it done. We’ve been lucky to get Xero, Collins, and Mitchell on board. They’ve been a massive help.”

Rum nods, and as Rory brings our drinks, we pause speaking. “Here you go, gentlemen.” We both thank her and watch her walk away again before we return to our conversation.

“We have everything ready to go. The gas pumps are at maximum capacity, they won’t run out of gas soon. We have the store area fully stocked, and a stockroom at the ready to refill any shelving that needs it. We have the security running smoothly. We also have Bull at the rear of the gas station working on the vehicle recovery setup. They are close to being ready to open the operation from the office, and the area for their vehicles to be ready for their next call or fixed is fully operational. All-in-all, the way that the vehicle recovery runs, there will always be someone on site behind the gas station. It’s all good for security, and can you see any of the brothers being an easy target if some shit comes along thinking he can break in?” Rum is sitting back in his seat with all signs of having thought things through.

A plate is placed in front of me, taking me by surprise. I’d been so busy concentrating on what Rum had been saying I’d stopped watching Rory.

“Two pot pies with a side order. Enjoy the meal.” Rory walks away quickly as she clears away dishes from a table that had been vacated.

We continue discussing this and that, not all about the gas station. Rum talks about his late wife, and I think having someone to talk to about her helps him remember some of the things he loved about her.

The meal is damn good and Rum is right, the spinach salad is something I will have again. I’ll make sure Rory knows how to make it and then we can have it at home. Holy shit, I’m already thinking we are going to be together!

The door opens to the diner, and Pres walks in, with Ayla in a front carrier strapped to his body. She is looking outward and not toward him, and she’s kicking her legs and baby-talking with excitement. Of course, Cap, Finger, and Rides are with him.

We are able to overhear Finger speaking. “You know Cilla is going to set the ‘boys’ on you, Pres. She said you weren’t to fuck off with Ayla again without her permission.”

“She’ll be fine. She knows Ayla is safe with me, and you are here, so what is her problem? I’m her Godfather…” Pres says the father part with a lot of force.

Finger rolls his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, we know, God and Father…” which he follows with a snort.

Once they are settled at a table close to us Rory quickly gets their drinks and takes their order. Ayla is pointing to things we are not seeing. She is definitely Cilla’s daughter. She keeps giggling at something we can’t see, but we all presume it’s Bono as she gabbles, Ono every now and again.

Now, I’m not sure how shocked we should be, but Cilla storms into the diner, points her finger at Pres and snarls. “This is the last time. I’m setting my ghosts on you until you learn to ASK! I don’t care that you take her Tracker, but you need to tell me and not just disappear with her. Finger, you and I are having a discussion tonight!”

Taking Ayla from Pres, who looks like he wants to laugh his ass off at her indignation, we watch her storm out with Ayla giggling all the way.

What we didn’t expect next was the salt shaker on the table to move towards Tracker. He is the only one at the table who doesn’t jump. He reaches out and places a finger on the top of the shaker and states in his deep, and president voice. “Don’t fuck with me!”

I look at Rum when he laughs loudly. “Wow, that was cool. Take your finger off and let's see if it moves again.”

Tracker looks at Rum and smirks. Slowly moving his hand away, and you know? That fuckin’ salt shaker doesn’t move again.

“Only Pres could order a fuckin’ ghost around. Do you reckon it’s Bono? Or some other spook we don’t know about?” Rides asks as he’s still staring at the shaker.

“Who cares?” Finger responds. “If it gets lively, I’ll sweet-talk Cilla into telling it to fuck off.”

Now we all know what sweet talk Finger is thinking about, and as he’s been speaking about having another kid, we are all waiting for the inevitable screech from Cilla about it. I would not be surprised if Finger gets what he wants.

After eating, I grab Rory around the waist and lift her off her feet. I wink at Shelby who shakes her head at me as I walk into the staff area. I lean into Rory and kiss her soundly, I do it before she can complain I’ve walked away with her.