Gravel's Road (12 page)

“Shut the hell up!’ Meg yelled. ‘She’s seen enough today. No need to scare her away.”

Demon pulled up on his bike and killed it, shaking his head. “First time I ever got a phone call to bring eighteen hundred dollars to a furniture store right away before the prez’s ol’ lady got hauled away by the cops.” Demon laughed.

“Ugh! I was testing it out!’ Meg yelled, tossing her hands up in the air.

“You and Cyn must have really had that bed rocking for it to break the way it did,” Rigid chimed in, laughing.

“Let’s go,’ King said to Demon, sticking his head out the door. ‘I thought I told you to go home?” his eyes shifting to Meg.

“I’m going!” Meg called, walking over to her truck.

Demon walked into the store, still laughing and shaking his head and followed King.

“I guess I better follow her, she’s my ride,” Marley said, watching Meg climb into her truck.

“Have a good night, Marley. Gravel and I will come over tomorrow and help you get everything set up in your new place,” Ethel said, walking up to Marley and giving her a hug.

I stood there awkwardly, knowing I should give Marley a hug or something, but I didn’t know if she would want me to. “Come hug your daughter goodbye,” Ethel told me, stepping away from Marley.

I shook my head at Ethel. She always knew what I was thinking. Marley and I awkwardly hugged, and she said her goodbyes to Cyn and Rigid and walked over to Meg’s truck.

Meg cranked it up, and they headed in the direction of the hotel. “I’d say she’s got about half an hour before King gets home,” I said.

“Huh, if that.” Rigid laughed.

I rotated my shoulder, loosening it up. The ten-minute ride from the shop to here had been pretty rough. Thank God Ethel only lived five minutes away.

“You ok to drive?” Ethel asked, watching me.

“I’ll be fine, darlin’,” I replied.

“We’re going to head out. See ya’ll later,” Rigid said, throwing a two fingered wave at us and pulled Cyn over to his bike where he handed her a helmet. She strapped it on, and they both climbed on. Rigid fired up his bike, and they rocketed down the street.

“This day definitely ended differently than I thought it would,” Ethel said, digging her keys out of her purse.

“It sure did,” I agreed.

“I’ll follow you home.”

“You don’t need to follow me, Ethel. I swear I’m fine,” I promised.

“Yeah, well, then you won’t care if I follow you. Now, hop on your bike and let’s head home. I’m hungry, and I can bet you are too,” Ethel ordered, walking to the driver’s side of her car and got in.

She sat there, staring at me, waiting for me to get on my bike. I shook my head, knowing she would wait all night.

I walked over to my bike, threw my leg over her and cranked it up. I glanced behind me, seeing Ethel tapping her fingers on her steering wheel.

I shook my head, when she shooed her fingers at me, motioning for me to get going. Twisting the accelerator, I revved the engine and rocketed out of the parking lot.

I would show Ethel how fine I was riding my bike. Then I would really show her how fine I was once we got home, and I convince her to order pizza and meet me in the bedroom.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Chapter 15

Ethel

“Fill mine up.” Gravel said, handing his cup to me as I walked past his chair.

We were sitting out on the side deck off his old room eating breakfast. It was a week after the whole bed fiasco and Marley was settled into her new house.

My new, beautiful chair had arrived, and Gravel hassled me every day to ‘break it in’. Then he would wiggle his eyebrows at me and chase me around the house trying to get me in the chair with him.

I hadn’t let him win, yet.

“The kids should be here soon,” I said, sliding the door shut behind me.

Meg, Lo, and Remy were coming over to finish picking up all the wood from the tree. Lo had called last night and said Cyn and Rigid were going to be over also.

I was filling up our cups with the last of the coffee when I heard two doors slam and a dog baying. Meg had brought Blue.

“She brought that damn dog with her,” Gravel said as he walked into the kitchen and took his cup from me.

“He’s a good boy. It’s not his fault you scare him,” I joked, blowing on my coffee.

“I stepped on his damn paw one time, and now the damn thing will never let me forget it. I swear he barks for ten minutes before he lets me pet him,” he said, leaning against the counter and sipped his coffee.

“Maybe you should line your pockets with treats. I bet he would like you then,” I said, winking at him.

“Ma!” Lo shouted walking through the front door.

“In the kitchen,” I called back.

“You had to bring that damn mutt with you?” Gravel said in way of greeting when they walked into the kitchen with Blue following behind. He stopped by my new chair, sniffing it, and I was worried he was thinking of ‘watering’ it.

“You two are going to have to learn to get along, he is your grandchild, you know,” Meg said, her hands on her hips, talking to Gravel.

“That mutt is not my grandchild,” Gravel shot back.

“How’s the first few weeks back to school been, Remy?” I asked, ignoring Meg and Gravel bickering back and forth.

“It’s been good. Being a senior is pretty easy. I took all my hard classes’ junior year. I only go to school for half a day and the other half I get to do a work study at the garage with Lo, so that’s cool,” Remy said, sitting down at the kitchen counter.

“Did you decide what school you are going to go to?” I asked, walking to the fridge and grabbing out the iced tea and set it in front of Remy.

“I’m going to go to tech school for small engine repair and take some body painting classes too. Lo said if I get better, I can get a job at the garage.” I set a glass in front of Remy, who poured himself a drink.

I looked at Lo, who just shrugged his shoulders. “He’s good and knowledgeable now; I can only imagine how he’ll be after he goes to school.”

“Did Mom tell you what happened at the college mixer thing we went to last week?” Remy asked me.

“No, that was right after the bed incident, and I forgot about it,” I said, sitting on the other side of the table.

“Remy, do you really have to go into this again?” Meg asked. Apparently her bickering with Gravel was over.

“Mom, it was hilarious.’ Remy turned his head to me and smiled big. “Dad tried hitting on Mom.”

“Wait, you’re ex hit on you? With Lo there?” I asked, unbelieving. Meg’s ex must be a new kind of stupid.

“Yeah. It was freaking awesome,” Remy said, rubbing his hands together.

“Your father getting punched is not funny, Remy,” Meg scolded.

“No, it was
you
punching dad that was funny.” Remy laughed.

“You punched Hunter?” I asked, shocked.

“Yeah,’ Meg said, wiping her hands on her jeans and crouched down to pet Blue, who had wandered into the kitchen. ‘Remy, go watch TV.” Meg ordered.

“Aw, come one! Why won’t you tell me what he said? You always tell me to leave the room whenever you talk about it,” Remy whined, standing up.

“Because it’s something you don’t need to know, now go,” Meg ordered.

Remy walked out the kitchen and out the front door.

“Spill, firecracker. Why did you go all Ali on his ass?” Gravel asked.

“Cause the asshole told me he had been hearing around town how I liked it rough and dirty from the new motorcycle club in town. He wondered if he could take me out for a ride
for old times’ sake.”

“What an ass!” I said, outraged. Meg’s ex definitely was a new kind of stupid.

“Tell them what happened next, babe,” Lo ordered.

“That’s when I…um… punched him in the junk and said ‘Ride that,’” Meg said, her face turning red and burying her face in Blue’s bug ears.

“That a girl,” Gravel said, his voice laced with pride.

“And where was Lo when all of this was happening?” I asked, wondering how Lo didn’t get a hit in, too.

“I was looking at some of the displays they had set up with Remy. When Remy and I turned around, we saw Meg wind up and lay out dickhead. If I had hit him anymore, it would have been inhuman,” Lo said, smirking.

“What the hell happened after that?” Gravel asked.

“Well, after Hunter pulled himself off the floor, he decided it was time to go, and him and Remy left. It was thankfully the end of the tour, so it wasn’t a big deal that they left,” Meg said, standing up.

“Where the hell did he hear about you and the club like that? I doubt Remy would say anything like that,” I said.

“Cherry,” Lo growled.

“She’s a part of this? What the hell isn’t that chick a part of?” Gravel asked.

“Who’s Cherry?” I asked, not knowing what they were talking about.

“Nick’s sister,” Meg said.

“Oh no. Well, how would she tell that to Hunter?” I asked.

“Apparently, Cherry is in the process of trying to make mine and Cyn’s life hell, and Hunter was the first stop on her trip.”

“You talking about that bitch Cherry?” Cyn said as she walked through the front door and into the kitchen.

I hadn’t even heard them pull up; I was so into the conversation we were having.

“Yup. She also told them the junk punch story,” Lo said, laughing.

“Fuck, I wish I would have been there to see it,” Rigid said from behind Cyn.

“Me too. I bet it was fucking awesome.”

“It was definitely something,” Meg said, a shit eating grin on her face.

“Oh! I almost forgot, what are we doing for Troy’s birthday next week?” Cyn asked Meg.

“We should totally throw him a party!” Meg shouted.

“Hell yeah, where should we have it, your house?” Cyn asked.

“We could, or,’ Meg said, turning to look at Lo batting her eyelashes, ‘we could always have it at the clubhouse.”

“Babe, he’s not part of the club,” Lo stated, folding his arms over his chest.

“So what! Cyn and I aren’t part of the club either, but you let us go there.”

“Meg, think of somewhere else,” Lo ordered.

“No,’ she said, crossing her arms over her chest. ‘The clubhouse is the best solution. All the guys can come and then I can invite some of Troy’s friends.”

“Troy has friends other than us?” Cyn joked.

Meg laughed, rolling her eyes. “I know, it’s hard to believe.”

“Have it in our back yard,” Lo said.

“No, what if it rains? The clubhouse is perfect. Please say yes,” Meg said, leaning into Lo and wrapping her arms around him.

“Babe.” Was Lo’s only response.

She was definitely weakening Lo. She stood on her tiptoes and whispered into his ear.

“Fine!” He said, throwing his arms up in the air.

“Woo!” Cyn said, throwing up devil’s horns.

“You are so easy,” Meg replied, laying a kiss on his lips.

“Yeah, you better live up to your fucking promise,” Lo said and kissed her back.

“Alright, fuckers, let’s go get the yard picked up,” Rigid said, walking out the front door. Lo followed behind with Gravel leaning down, kissing me on the lips and walked out the door.

“Alright, spill,’ Cyn said as soon as the door slapped shut behind Gravel. ‘What did you promise King? Blowjobs for life, sixty-nine, or, you know?” Cyn asked, winking at Meg.

“Knock it off you perv!” Meg yelled, throwing my dish towel at Cyn. “I told him I would think about a question he asked me the other night that I didn’t answer, and also that we would have tacos for the party.”

“Well, what the hell was the question? Oh my god, does he want you to have his baby?!” Cyn asked, her eyes bugging out of her head. I think some of Meg’s crazy was wearing off on Cyn.

“Huh, no. I would have answered that right away. My baby factory has been shut down permanently,” Meg said, horrified at the idea of having a baby.

“Tell me now,” Cyn demanded.

“Fine, he asked me if I would evrmerryeh,” Meg said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand while she talked.

“Bitch, you know I didn’t understand that!” Cyn said, walking over to Meg and grabbing her by the shoulders and shook her.

“Ok, ok.’ Meg surrendered, knocking Cyn’s hands off of her. ‘He asked me if I would ever marry him,” Meg said and turned around to look out the window over the sink.

“What?!’ Cyn yelled, jumping up and down. ‘I
so
get to be your maid of honor!”

“I didn’t answer the question, Cyn, because I don’t think I want to get married again. I like things the way they are right now. Why do we have to get married?” Meg said, her voice not the usual happy tone she had.

“Meg, honey,’ I called, standing up and walking over to the sink and stood next to her. ‘You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“I know. It’s not that I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with Lo, it’s just that I did the whole marriage thing, and it didn’t work. Maybe I’m not cut out for it. Lo and I are perfect the way we are now.”

“Then what difference would a piece of paper make, stating to the state of Wisconsin, hell the whole world that you and Lo are forever. Honey, I think you are going back to punishing Lo for Hunter’s mistakes,” Cyn said, wrapping her arms around Meg from behind.

“I’m not trying to. I’m just terrified, that that piece of paper is somehow going to change everything, and my life will go back to being miserable.” Meg cried, tears streaming down her face.

“Honey, not all marriages are bad. Lo’s dad and I had a wonderful marriage. I would marry that man again in a heartbeat,” I said, reaching over and wiping the tears off her cheeks.

“Yeah, but would you marry Gravel?” Meg asked, turning her head to look at me.

“Yes, absolutely,” I replied instantly.

“Well, at least I won’t have to be nervous when I ask you that down the road,” Gravel said.

Meg, Cyn, and I jumped at his voice, and I whipped my head around to see him smirking in the doorway. “Please tell me you didn’t hear that,” I said, panicked that I had just said I would marry Gravel after only being with him for a little over a month.

“Loud and clear, darlin’. I promise to act surprised when you say yes,” he said, winking at me. He walked over to the fridge, grabbing a case of beer out and headed back out the door.

We all stood there with our mouths hanging open. “Please tell me that did not just happen,” I said.

“That totally just happened,” Cyn said, laughing.

Meg threw her head back laughing too, and they broke down into a fit of giggles.

“What the hell am I going to do?” I asked them.

“Say yes when he asks?” Cyn said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

“He’s not going to ask me to marry him; we’re too old.”

“Oh my god, you are not too old! You have at least twenty-five good years left in you, if not a hell of a lot more,” Meg yelled.

“You both better say yes. I’m going to be your maid of honor, Meg, and Ethel, I get to be your flower girl,” Cyn said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Flower girl?” Meg asked, laughing.

“Hell yeah, flower girl. I never got to do that when I was little; this might be my last chance.”

“Alright, Cyn,’ I said, smiling. ‘
If
Gravel asks me to marry him and
if
I say yes, you can be my flower girl.” I laughed. I think I might be the first bride to have a twenty-eight-year-old flower girl.

“Ok, now that that is settled, we have to plan Troy’s birthday party,” Meg said, glazing over the fact that she didn’t mention anything more about Lo asking her to marry him.

“His birthday is next Sunday, right?” Cyn asked.

“Yeah, so I guess we should do it either next Friday or Saturday. I don’t have any plans, so either day works for me,” Meg said.

“Let’s do Saturday. That way we can have all day on Friday to get everything ready without you girls having to run off at three to go to work.” I reached into my junk drawer and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen.