Help Wanted (4 page)

“Yes, Trevor, I hear you,” Jim answered. “Like I told you before, I’m not getting back with your mother. We got a divorce and she has a new boyfriend. Don’t you like Cameron?”  God, he hoped that he had the right name. Kathy was forever changing the men in her life and bed.

Trevor shrugged his little shoulder. “I guess he’s okay, but he isn’t you. I want to spend more time with you, but I’m always at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Why can’t I come and live with you? I know you have to be so lonely being here all by yourself. We would have so much fun together if I lived with you.”

Jim was stunned that Trevor was so worried about him. He didn’t want his son to miss out on being a kid because of him. He was the parent, not his seven-year-old son. From now on, he had to make sure that he kept his fights with Kathy away from Trevor. It would be hard but he was going to try his best. Kathy may not care about what Trevor was feeling but he did.

“Hey, do you want to go for a ride on my bike? I’ll take you over to Clinton’s house and you can see the new baby.”

Trevor’s face lit up at his suggestion. “Will Kevan and Evan be there?”

His son loved playing with Hayward and Clinton’s children because he was older than them and they followed him around the house like he was their big brother. He could keep them entertained for hours and True liked that her sons had an older boy to play with instead of each other all the time.

“Yes, they are still here and I know Dylan will be excited to see you too.”

“Okay, let me grab my backpack off the bed,” Trevor said rushing back towards his bedroom. “I want to show them the new video game that man got for me.”

Jim laughed at his son’s excitement as he grabbed his keys off the coffee table. He didn’t know how much True was going to like Kevan and Evan playing video games at five years old, but he didn’t have to heart to break Trevor’s bubble.

 He would let Hayward or True make the decisions about the video game since they were staying with Clinton and Jenisha for a while. Since they had so many children now, Hayward was building on to their house in Montana. Hayward was even considering buying a place here in Los Angeles too as a vacation home during the colder months in Montana.

  I don’t know how Hayward can handle having four children under the age of six years old. Trevor is more than enough for me and he’s seven.

“Daddy, I’m ready.” Trevor rushed back into the room with his backpack on. “Do you think Mrs. Campbell will let me hold one of the new babies?”

“I’m not sure. Why don’t you ask her when we get there?  Now, if she doesn’t let you I don’t want you to get upset, okay?” Jim turned and headed for the front door.

“All right,” his son mumbled as he followed behind him. “Daddy, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“When are you going to have another kid so I can be a big brother? Most of the kids in my class have younger brothers or sisters. I want to be a big brother.” Jim stopped in his tracks as Trevor’s words hit him. Great! It wasn’t like he didn’t already have enough on his plate with dealing with Kathy, fighting with Keira about who really owned the bike shop, now he had a request from his son to make him a big brother. Damn! Was it possible for his life to get any more hectic?

“How about we discuss this after we come back from Clinton’s house?”

“Are we really going to talk about it when we get back home?” Trevor asked.

“Yes, I promise you we will talk about why you aren’t a big brother yet.” Jim opened the front door and went out with Trevor behind him.

Chapter Six

“Isn’t that the cutest sight you’ve ever seen?”

Keira glanced at True who joined her at the kitchen table and handed her a cup of coffee.  She still couldn’t believe that her friend had already lost most of the baby weight she’d gained having My’kael and Kyle. No one would ever know that True was the mother of four boys. She looked amazing, like she was in her early twenties instead of early thirties. Keira noticed Charisma coming into the room behind True carrying a plate of cinnamon rolls.

“What are you talking about?” she asked taking a sip of her French Roast coffee while not taking her eyes off the guys.

“Trevor, Jim’s little boy asked me could he feed Kyle since My’kael was taking a nap and I let him. He looks so cute doing it. He’s over there sitting beside Hayward on the couch in the family room.”

Glancing across the room, she smiled at how adorable Trevor did look feeding the baby. “Sorry, I didn’t see him at first. He does look very cute doing that. You should take a picture for Kyle’s baby book,” Keira suggested.

“Hayward already took one with his phone. I think he’s going to email it back to our home computer, so he can print it out when we get back,” True replied.

“I know why Keira didn’t see Trevor,” Charisma chimed in setting the plate of sticky goodness on the table next to Jenisha. “She was too busy looking at Jim. I saw how he looked at you when he first walked in. I think we might have a love connection in the works.”

“More like a match made in hell.” Keira frowned. “I can’t stand him. He won’t let me have my father’s bike shop back. I can’t believe anyone would be so cruel and unfeeling.”

“Keira, why are you complaining about that motorcycle shop? You never showed  real interest in it while your father was alive. You were gone most of the year because of your job anyway. Why are you fighting him so hard on it? It’s not like you’re going to learn how to build a custom bike anytime soon,” Jenisha said. “Jim has talked about owning a bike shop for years. He knows his way around a bike. Any time Clinton’s motorcycle needs something done, Jim is the only person he lets touch it.”

Keira couldn’t believe this. Why was everyone on Jim’s side?  The motorcycle business had been in her family ever since she was a child. She had a right to fight the ownership of it if she wanted to. She wished that her best girlfriends would be a little more understanding.

“I don’t know why the three of you are so upset. It’s not like Jim doesn’t have the shop.  He’s going to be working there while I figure out what I’m going to do about the papers my dad signed.”

“Are you trying to say that your father wasn’t in his right mind when the business deal took place?” True asked. “I thought all of the important documents had been taken care of and looked over by a lawyer a year before your father got sick.”

“They were, but I still don’t like the fact a stranger is the one my father went to instead of me. Why didn’t he have any faith in me?”

“I think you’re looking at it the wrong way. I think your father thought he was helping you out by taking care of getting the shop sold before he got any sicker. He knew how much you loved being a flight attendant and he didn’t want to take away from that.” Charisma tapped Keira on her arm. “Now, why don’t you just let Jim work there and the two of you try to find an equal playing field. I like Jim and I believe you will too once you get to know him.”

“I will never like his arrogant ass,” Keira said glancing over at Jim. “He thinks he can say anything he likes to me and I shouldn’t comment back to him. I’m not going to be one of those women who think he has that sexy bad boy look to fall all over.”

“Which one of us at this table said Jim had a sexy bad boy look?” True asked, grinning at her. “I believe you were the one who brought that up.”

Keira bit her lip and mentally kicked herself for her slip. She wasn’t interested in dating him at all. She only wanted to get over the airplane crash and move on with her life. She wasn’t thinking about finding a man and having babies like the women around her. She had always been career minded and that hadn’t changed over the years.

“I was just calling it as I saw it,” Keira said correcting True. “You have to agree that Jim does have an attitude problem.”

“I think you’re just mad at him because he told you to stay out of my relationship with Dave when he had that huge argument. If the two of you had met under different circumstances I know you wouldn’t be bad mouthing him right now,” Charisma said.

“I agree. Jim is coming out of a bad marriage, so his opinion is a bit jaded when it comes to females. Take some time to get to know him and you will like him as much as we do,” Jenisha said before she checked on Parker in the car seat next to her. “You have been single for way too long. It’s time you started dating again.”

“I just got out of a relationship with Bradley.” Keira wasn’t much of a dater, but Jenisha was acting like she was an old maid or something.

“Bradley…isn’t he the one that wanted you to be his woman on the weekends while he still living with his wife? I thought he was an asshole the first time I met him at the airport. I didn’t like his toothpaste smile. It was very phony to me.” Charisma sat back and crossed her arms. “If I had known he had a wife then I would have given him a piece of my mind.”

“I ended things as soon as I found out he was married,” Keira said. ‘I’m just glad that I didn’t sleep with him. I would hate to think of myself as someone’s mistress.”

“I’m glad that I’m happily married and don’t have to do the dating scene anymore,” True chimed in. “I couldn’t ask for a better husband than Hayward.”

“You got lucky. I’m pretty sure that I won’t luck out like the three of you did,” Keira said smiling at the women sitting at the table with her.

“Don’t worry, your time will come and when it does don’t fight it. I swear you will be so thrilled that you didn’t,” Jenisha told her.  “In addition, be honest with him. Lies almost cost me my marriage and I wouldn’t want that to happen to anymore else.”

“Clinton forgave you for not telling him your secret and now look, the two of you have two beautiful children,” True pointed out. “People go through stuff before they end up happily married. It doesn’t matter as long as it turns out in the end.”

“So, the three of you are thinking my Prince Charming is right around the corner,” Keira joked.

“No, I would say he’s right across the room,” Charisma said looking over her shoulder at Jim sitting next to Dave.

Keira started to tell Charisma that she was wrong, but decided to keep her mouth shut. It wouldn’t do her any good anyway because when the trio got their minds set on something nothing was ever going to change them.

Chapter Seven

 Early the next morning, Jim parked his motorcycle in front of
Choppers
hoping Keira was in a better mood than she had been yesterday. He had waited and saved up for too many years to let her take his dreams away from him.  Why in the hell did she want to stay with a business she truly had no interest in?

Maybe Keira’s attitude yesterday was partially his fault. He had already been in a bad mood after worrying if Kathy was going to be a pain in his ass and he took some of that out on Keira.  Yet, he still thought sixty percent of their argument yesterday came from her being so stubborn.

Shit!

She couldn’t even name the different bikes. How in the hell would she know how to repair one? It would be only a matter of time before she would have a lawsuit against her for destroying someone’s prize motorcycle.

“I guess I need to go on in. There’s no telling what kind of trouble Ms. Winters has already gotten herself into.”

 Getting off the bike, Jim took off his helmet and ran his fingers through his long hair. He had toyed with the idea of cutting it for the last couple of months, but he wasn’t ready to give in to the thought yet. He loved how it drew female attention to him despite the fact he wasn’t interested in dating anyone.

Jim took one last glance at his bike to make sure it was parked correctly before he went inside the shop. He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Keira standing in front of him. He couldn’t believe what his eyes were seeing.

“What in the fuck are you doing?” Rushing over to her, he snapped the open-ended spanner wrench out of her hand and tossed it back into the tool box on the floor. Lord, she was working on someone’s bike! He didn’t know if she had already done some damage and was making it worst.

“Where did you get this bike from? Who would be crazy enough to leave it with you?”

Narrowing her eyes, Keira took a step closer to him. “Don’t you ever take something out of my hand like that again,” she yelled. “I know what I’m doing.”

Jim seriously doubted that Keira knew what she was doing. Damn it! She was going to ruin his shop before he even got it off the ground. Well, he might as well forget thinking that today was going to start off on a good foot. He was about to piss off Keira and right at this second he didn’t care!

“Okay, Little Ms. Mechanic, what exactly did the customer want you to do?”

“An hour ago a guy came in and he wanted his bike cleaned and for me to check for leaks.”

“You were going to do what!” Jim couldn’t believe Keira had enough gall to tell a customer that she knew how to do something so complicated. Without a doubt, she didn’t know the different leaks to even check for. “You could have destroyed this motorcycle by not knowing what to look for. Have you lost your mind?”

“I don’t know what side of the bed you rolled out of this morning, but you need to readjust your attitude,” Keira warned. “I won’t have you talking to me like that. I’m not dumb enough to try to fix this bike without instructions, Mr. Russell.” Moving away from him, Keira snapped a sheet of paper off the floor and then brought it back over to him.

“See, here are step by step instructions at how to check for leaks.”

Taking the paper from Keira, he read over it before balling it up and tossing into a trash can a few feet away from them. “That only tells you how to check for one certain kind of leak. What about the other four?”

“I didn’t know I had to check for more than one,” Keira admitted, clearly stunned by the news.

“Yes, there are several fluid carrying components on bikes and I know how to check for every single one of them,” Jim said. “You know how much your father cared about this shop. You have to realize that he wouldn’t just sign it over to just anyone.”