Page 54 of Reno

He jumped up and rubbed his palm against his left bicep, which, incidentally, was the size of my thigh.

“See those little scars?” he asked. “The light spots?”

I didn’t, but I nodded, nevertheless. “Uh huh.”

“Well, that’s where the gravel imbedded itself into my arm. I was picking it out of there for six months. So, I got up, dusted the rocks out of my arm, and turned around. There’s this dark-haired chick with her mouth gapped open, standing about half a mile back.”

I looked at Tegan. “Of all the time to open your door, huh?”

“My air conditioning didn’t work, and it was so hot that day. My left window was on the fritz and wouldn’t roll down. I just opened the door for a second, and WHAM! he took the door right out of my hand. It was the scariest thing ever.”

I shifted my eyes back to Pee Bee. “So, that’s how you met?”

He shook his head. “Not really.”

“Oh.”

“I cussed her out, called her a bitch, and hopped on my bike. After getting her insurance info, I hauled ass, thinking she’s going to pay for the ten grand in damage on my bike.” He brushed his hair away from his eyes. “Well, guess what?”

“What?”

“She gave me a fake insurance number.”

I choked on a laugh. “Really?”

He nodded. “Really.” He glared playfully at Tegan and then looked at me. “So, I’m a few weeks into calling her and leaving shitty messages, and one day she decides to answer. She confesses that she doesn’t have insurance, because she doesn’t have a job, and her insurance lapsed. She says she’s got a lead on a job, and she’s going to pay me installments. I’m mad as fuck, but anything beats nothing, right?”

“I suppose so.”

“Well, at the time, my Pops was in bad health. He was under the care of one of those in-home caregivers. One day, he fell out of his chair and she left him on the floor for four hours, so I fired her ass. I called the provider and asked for another nurse. Guess fucking what?”

My hand shot to my mouth. “Oh. My God. Tegan showed up? Seriously? That’s destiny, if I ever heard it.”

“Not yet, it ain’t,” he argued. “I’m at my Pop’s place, talking shit and eating sandwiches, and the doorbell rings. My Pops looks out the window, and says, some cute chick just pulled up, and her car only has one door on it, she’s driving the fucker without a door. Knowing there’s not a whole bunch of people driving around without doors on their cars, I jump up and run to the door. Bigger’n shit, it’s her.”

“So, you hit it off, right then and there?”

“No,” Tegan said. “He called me a tiny bitch. He said I was too small to get his father in and out of his chair. I warned him about calling me a bitch, because it was the second time he’d done it. Once on the day of the wreck, and that time. I said, if you call me a bitch again, I’ll drop you right where you stand. What’s he do? He says, you can’t fight your way out of a wet paper bag, bitch.”

“Oh my,” I said. “So, you didn’t hit it off. At least not right then, huh?”

“I kicked his ass,” Tegan said. “Right on the front porch.”

She weighed a hundred pounds, and Pee Bee was as big as a horse. I couldn’t see her beating him in a fight.

I gave her a side-eyed look. “Really?”

She nodded. “I kicked him in the shin, then in each knee. While he was trying to stand up, I kneed him in the balls. After that, he gave me the job to look after his father. His father encouraged us to be together. That’s the rest of the story.”

I glanced at Pee Bee, expecting him to argue Tegan’s ass-kicking claim. “Did she really do that?”

He nodded. “She kicked the shit out of me, fair and square. I had to beg her to stop. Truthfully, that’s why I hired her. I felt like she had the guts to stand up to my Pops. So, I hired her.”

I loved hearing the stories of how everyone met. I hoped that one day I could tell them of how Reno and I met, and how he ultimately saved me from a monster.

I grinned. “That’s an awesome story.”

The rumble from motorcycles caught my attention. Excited about Reno joining the fun, I stood and walked toward the window. Two motorcycles pulled into the driveway, followed by a Red SUV.