Mourn my plight was more the way I saw it.
This attempt to get me out of the house was just a continuation of that. Serena thrust a leather jacket at me. “You can use one of my jackets, and you said you brought boots, so all you need is jeans.”
Duke waited outside while I changed into my jeans and Serena talked a mile a minute about clean air and sunshine. “I mean, it’s always so cloudy there. I had no idea how good we had it in California until I left.”
This cousin was a keeper. When we got downstairs, there were two bikes in the drive.
“This is my old bike,” Serena said proudly as she put her hand on the smaller and lower of the two Harleys. “I’ve got a newer Triumph in England. Fits in better over there.”
“A Sportster?” I asked. I’d looked up the pictures soon after Luke had suggested it was the bike I should start with when I got my own. But I wouldn’t have picked the pink she had on hers. The bright gas tank and fenders shouted girl, and looked out of place on the mean machine.
Serena noticed my face. “Yeah, the pink is a bit much, huh?”
I shrugged to be polite.
“You take this one, and I’ll ride with Duke,” she said.
Duke just grinned and nodded. If he was anything like Luke, having his woman behind him was perfect.
I cocked my head. “It’s kind of big. All I’ve ridden is a little Honda.”
They wouldn’t take no for an answer, and a few minutes later, the big V-twin was rumbling between my legs.
“Where to?” I yelled with my visor still up.
“A place by the ocean,” Duke yelled back. “Just follow me.” He started off.
I flipped down my visor and followed them out onto the street. The acceleration available with such a short twist of the throttle made me smile. This was small by Harley standards, but still a giant step up from what Luke had started me on.
With this machine under me, people had to take me seriously—even if it was pink.
The ride to the restaurant in Malibu on the Pacific Coast Highway had made me the happiest I’d been since I got to California—the wind, the sunshine, the noise of the bike under me as it reacted to every input I gave it. It all reminded me of my time with Luke, my happy time.
Serena’s eyes left the ocean, and she lifted a calamari ring. “So what’d you think of Benson Galactic HQ?”
I didn’t want to insult her. “It was big.”
Duke laughed.
“Daddy means well,” Serena said with sincerity in her eyes.
“But I’m not sure it’s for me,” I ventured. I was actually quite sure it wasn’t for me, but I hadn’t figured out how to say anything close to that to Uncle Lloyd, after all he’d done for me.
Serena finished chewing. “I’m sure he’ll pay you well, if you’re worried about that.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need the money.” I’d learned since coming here that Dad, my real one, had set up a trust for me. I didn’t know who knew about it besides my aunt and uncle. “I don’t think I’m cut out for corporate work. I never went to college or any of that.”
Duke nodded. He was in my corner.
I grabbed a ring of calamari.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought at one time too,” Serena said. “But look at me now—running all of Benson Corp. Europe.”
She was an accomplished woman who’d grown up in this environment, not someone I could compare myself to.
“Really?”
“Yeah, when the opportunity came up, I decided why not? If my brothers can do it, so can I.”
Duke’s big arm came around behind his girl. “And now she’s showing ’em.”
Serena smiled.
“Look, if you don’t want it, just tell Daddy what you do want. Ignore the face he makes and go for it. After all you’ve been through, you deserve to get what you want.”
Her words reminded me of my dad’s letter in my pocket. I could do anything I set my mind to. All I had to do was decide what made me happy and set that goal as my North Star. I took another ring and started chewing.
Serena pointed her calamari at me. “I can see the gears turning. What is it you want?”
Remembering the happiest time in my life, I knew exactly what I wanted.
“Come on,” Serena urged. “Spit it out.”
I sipped my Coke before I took the leap. “Duke, I need a referral.”
His brows rose.
With the money in my trust, getting it all done would be a cinch. “For a tattoo parlor,” I added.
Chapter 46
Luke
“Hey, Luke,” Nell said when I answered the phone.
I wouldn’t have predicted a call from her in a million years. “What’s up?”
“I need your help.”
“What with?” It didn’t really matter; I’d help Nell with anything she asked.
“A customer of mine is stuck downtown. Motorcycle won’t start, so I thought of you.”
With anyone else, I might have started with a simple question like, Is it out of gas? But not with her. “Where?”
“Four thirty-one Second Street.” The address sounded familiar. “I’m out front.”
“You’re there with him?”
“Please hurry. I have to get back to the diner soon.”
Why didn’t she just leave? “Sure thing.” I had all the tools I’d need already in the van, and a ramp if I had to load it in the back. “I’ll be right over.”
When I arrived, Nell was out in front of the storefront with a nice custom Sportster parked next to her car. It was the building I’d had my eye on for later, when I got my own shop, and it was still empty.
As soon as I was out, Nell said, “I have to get going. Can you get it running?”
“Sure. Let me get my tools.” I pulled both satchels out of the back. “Where’s the owner?”
“Staying cool inside,” Nell replied. She climbed into her car and left.
I admired the eagle painted on the bike’s tank on my way to the door.
Debbie
I’d chosen a tank top to best show off the first of my three tattoos.
The door opened.
“Surprise,” I yelled.
Luke’s jaw dropped as he saw me. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
Not exactly the response I’d been hoping for.
I pulled the tarp off the sign that lay on the floor—the one I’d commissioned and planned to have hung on the building later this morning. It was a stylized neon sign that read The Wrench Works. “I’m getting ready to mount this.”
His brow creased, still not the reaction I was hoping for.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I’m back to stay.” I walked toward him. “With you.”
His expression should have been improving, but it wasn’t.
“Is this a joke?” he asked.
My face fell to match his. “What’s wrong?” I moved closer.
He stood still. “I told you, there’s no future for us.”