Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
We eventually wondered over to the bike that he was working on, and I sat on the seat while he worked on what looked like the engine. Most likely I was in his way, but that didn’t seem to bother him.
I was asking him about what he was doing when Janie woke up with a wail. I moved to get up when Max came from somewhere on the other side of my truck and got her out. I walked to the office to get the taco that we’d saved for her, and walked back out to Janie and handed it to her.
We all laughed when she bit into it and it fell to pieces, luckily she was on top of the tool box with a napkin spread out to catch any stray pieces. She ate the entire thing in less than two minutes, so I went to the truck to get her juice and a snack that had gotten at Target earlier.
I was eyeing a little VW Bug that he had in the corner.
“Does that have a 5-speed in it?” I asked.
“Yes. Why do you ask?” Sam said distractedly.
“Well I was going to ask if I could drive it, but since it’s a 5-speed I can’t.” I answered.
“Why can’t you?”
“I don’t know how to drive one.”
“What do you mean you don’t know how to drive a 5-speed? You’ve been working on cars since you were twelve you said.” Sam said.
“James got frustrated with me, and never finished teaching me. He said I was a bad learner and I needed to find someone else to teach me.” I confided.
He gave me a searching look, and then threw the wrench he was using on top of the tool box. He walked over to the Bug, started it, and drove it out of the garage bay. He got out.
“Get in.” He said to me, and then got in to the passenger side.
My heart was pounding. I didn’t want to look like a dumbass in front of him. I got Janie from the ground, walked her over to Max and left him to watch her. I turned around and headed to the Bug. I eased down in the seat, closed the door, and looked at him expectantly. He also looked quite funny, his big body scrunched up into this tiny space.
“Whose car is this?” I asked.
“It was my mom’s car.” He answered.
“Really? Why doesn’t she have it anymore?” I asked.
“She has a new Bug, and didn’t need this one any longer. Nowhere to put it either. Stop stalling. Put your foot down on the clutch, make sure your in neutral, and start it up.”
I pushed the clutch down to the floor, put it in neutral, and turned the key. The Bug fired up and idled like a dream.
“Now, the gas and the clutch are opposites. If you let off the clutch, you need to be pressing the gas. You can’t give it too much gas. Let off the clutch slowly.”
I followed his directions to the letter. And died. Fuck.
I tried again. And died. Motherfucker.
This went on for a while, Sam teaching me patiently. My mouth spouting off curse words, and finally I started to get the hang of it. I drove around the garage area, around the back, and made circles around the entire lot. Finally I came to a halt outside the bay doors again and shut the car off. I sat silent for a while, turned to Sam and gave him a big smile.
“You did well. I just think that maybe family members shouldn’t teach each other some things. Especially when both family members have tempers. James and you both have tempers from hell. And I’m sure y’all fight like cats and dogs.”
I smiled and agreed, leaned over and gave him a soft wet kiss.
“Thank you!” I whispered.
Sam parked the car back into the spot it was originally in, and walked over to where I was standing with Max and Janie.
“That is some miracle shit you just worked. Neither James nor I could teach the girls how to drive. They were awful. You should get a medal of honor.” Max teased.
The sun was setting when I decided it was time to leave. I gathered all of Janie’s crap and tossed it into the floor of the truck via the open window. I had just turned around when I found myself pinned to the door by Sam’s very hard body. He leaned down and kissed me. His tongue slipped into my mouth when I gasped and ours dueled for a few seconds before he pulled back. My lips were tingling, as well as a few other parts of my body when he leaned away from my body.
“Anything else you want to do that you never have?” he asked.
“I’ve never gone fishing.” I answered.
“We can do that sometime. I have a boat at Lake O’ the Pines. As soon as we both have some free time we can go.” He said.
“Yay! I’ve always wanted to go fishing! I don’t like swimming in lakes though, so don’t expect me to do that.”
“I’ll see you tonight.” He whispered, and then wandered back to the bike that he was working on.
After getting Janie into bed, I took a quick shower and headed to my room to get dressed. A low rumble of thunder shook the house. I loved thunderstorms, what I didn’t like was tornados, which were a likely possibility in the south in the spring months. The most relaxing thing in life was sitting on the porch watching it rain.
The power had gone out at the first gust of wind as usual. When I happened to glance out the window of my bedroom at just the right time, the lightening had flashed and lit up the sky and illuminated the entire back yard. Our house is set up in an L shape with the living room and kitchen and garage on one side, and the bedrooms were located in longer half of the L on the other. A man in a black trench coat and black cap was squatted down and messing with something beside the back door that led into the kitchen.