Part 77 (1/2)
”You bet,” Craig said, nodding softly to music that wasn't playing.
”Is that how all your business goes?”
”Not all of it,” he said with a shrug.
”Who was that, even?”
”Oh, you know,” Craig said. Evading the question again. ”I met him around.”
”Around, huh?”
”What is this, twenty questions? Yeah. Around.”
”Sorry I asked.” Someone finally came around, a guy who looked like he could serve double-duty as a bulldozer if the need arose, and Craig ordered them both beers. They'd take a basket of fries, as well, and make it snappy.
Apparently the deal the day before had set him off. Well, she wasn't going to complain if it meant better service, but it told her something about the man across the table from her. All of it did.
Whatever he was getting paid for, it was worth more than the bike he was sitting on. Time rebuilding an engine might add up to ten grand, but that wasn't the kind of atmosphere that surrounded a mechanic getting paid, and this wasn't the sort of place a mechanic hung out at noon.
”You said you knew my sister.”
”Yeah, I said that. Knew her voice, from over the phone, anyway. Saw a few pictures. We tried a video chat one time, but it didn't work out.”
”You don't seem like the computer type.”
”No?” Craig shrugged. ”You have to keep up with the times, don't you?”
”I guess so,” Erin agreed. The fries came out with the beer, steaming hot and overfull for the basket they came in. Craig dumped some salt on and took one.
”So. Between jobs, huh?”
”For now,” she said, mildly. ”They come and go. I could have a contract tomorrow, or I could be another few weeks.”
”For real?”
”Sure,” she said.
”How do you manage to pay for it?”
”My mom left me a little money.” It was a lie. After Dad left, she'd been a wreck. Barely able to keep herself together. Erin wondered how bad Dad had taken it, but then she decided that she didn't need to worry about that. He probably took it as badly as he took everything. It would make a great excuse to drink, but not a great excuse to change anything about himself.
”We should all be so lucky.”
”It is what it is.”
”I hear that,” Craig said, another tug of a smile at the corners of his lips. ”But hey. We all do what we have to in this life, right?”
”Exactly.”
Craig didn't know how true that was for her. She would do whatever she had to do, and if that meant spending time with this b.a.s.t.a.r.d until he slipped up and gave himself away, she'd wait all year if she had to.
He took a french fry between his fingers and moved over to her side of the booth, wrapped his free hand around her shoulder and pulled her in.
”I think something happened to your sister. You heard from her?”
”No,” she said. ”Not in years.”
”See, that's a shame, darlin'. Family's family.”
”I know.”
”I watch out for my family, and they watch out for me. We fight, sure. Who doesn't? But we at least got that much figured out. We're responsible for each other. n.o.body gets off, and n.o.body walks away.”
”What's that supposed to mean? Like-you have brothers?”
”Brothers and brothers. I was the youngest, and my brothers looked out for me. Now I'm older, I look out for them.”
”I don't know what that's like. My sister and I split up a long time ago.”
”That's how it is, sometimes. But I'm telling you, it's not good. You need to reforge those bonds.”
”Well, if I get any word on her...” Erin forced herself to swallow the anger that was threatening to spill out. ”Then I'll do just that. You're right. It's too precious to waste time on petty little fights.”
”See what I mean?”
”Yeah, I see what you mean.”
He smiled and stood up. Pulled another fry and put it between his lips. Like a cigarette or something. Then he went over to an old jukebox, old enough to still be using C.D.s, and thumbed a couple quarters in. A minute later it started playing something and he slid back into the booth opposite her.
”Of course, sometimes you have to take a hard line with them, too, you know?”
”What?”
”With family. I heard a little about your parents' situation. A year, it's a long time, you get to talking, and that sort of thing comes up. Bad stuff.”
”Well, sometimes you have to deal with bad stuff.”
”Oh, no, I ain't doubting that. But what I am saying is, I know your dad didn't do your mom right. As much as I care about family, as much as I'd do anything to keep my brothers safe-” he sucked in a breath through his nose and let it out like a bull about to charge. ”-Someone did my momma like that, and they wouldn't be in no position to do it to n.o.body else. Not ever again.”
Twenty.
It wasn't the first time that she'd thought it. It wasn't going to be the last time. Dad would have deserved it, if either of his daughters had decided to take that route. But hearing someone else dropping a not-so-veiled threat had been jarring, to say the very least.
Erin forced herself to focus again for a moment. On the bike, with him driving, riding was easy. Painless. She could forget about the whole world, just let him control her weight and let him take her wherever she was going. But that wasn't the life she wanted, and it wasn't the life she was going to have for herself.