look at Nate and called, “Nathaniel, come here real quick.”
When he got there, I pointed to Lenny, saying, “Nate, this is Lenny, she’s Alex’s little sister.”
“Hey, your car is sweet! Alex did a burnout that was epic.”
She grinned conspiratorially and leaned in to tell him, “Wanna know a secret? I only borrowed his car so that I could do burnouts. I knew there was nothing wrong, but he won’t let me borrow his car for the heck of it.”
Nate hooted out a laugh, and Lenny looked proud of herself.
Coming back into the room, Alex moved to us before pulling his sister against his chest to hug her while saying, “Whatever Lenny’s saying is probably a lie.”
She jerked an elbow back, hitting him in the stomach, and replied, “You rat! I’m not a liar. I’m telling Dad.”
He grunted a laugh and said, “Quit being such a girl.”
“Whatever loser, I am a girl.”
A whistle rang out over the chatter, and all eyes went to the door where a man stood holding a baby; he shouted out, “Grub’s done, people. Get it while the gettin’s good.”
En masse, we moved to the door, forming a line and filling our plates. When we sat down, an older biker sat down with us but didn’t say much till Lenny sat down next to him and said, “Daddy, this is Nate. He belongs to Reagan, and she belongs to Alex.”
I pushed the hair out of my face and waved a small wave saying, “Hello.”
“I see where he came up with Sunshine. Nice to meet ya, darlin’.” He turned to Nate and said, “How’s it hangin’, Casanova?”
“Fine, sir. It’s, uh, hanging fine. Sir.” He finished, looking a little lost for words.
Scratch came by our table, turning Nate’s attention something which he was probably very thankful for. He bent and gave me a one-arm squeeze before moving down the line. When he got to Nate, he said, “Good to see you again, Casanova,” and that’s when it hit me that somehow that had become Nate’s nickname.
I would clutch my pearls and pray long and hard tonight that it was just a nickname and not a prediction.
We ate and mingled among the groups when Roxanne came and got Nate saying, “The chihuahua races are about to start, and you don’t want to miss this.”
Before she turned to take him back through the crowd, Alex stopped her, “Gypsy!”
She turned back to see what he needed. “Y’all gonna be here for a while?”
She nodded. “Yeah, we’re staying here tonight, so we aren’t going anywhere.”
“Cool. I’m going to take Reagan out for a ride. If you need to do something, will you let Dad or Lenny know to watch out for Nate till we get back?”
She gave him a thumbs up and said, “No worries! We’re about to bet the lunch money on some rat-dogs. That’s going to take a while. Y’all ride, have fun. If he gets tired, I’ll take him to your room.”
Nate looked at her like she was crazy, but Alex nodded and said, “Sweet. We’ll be back in a bit, Nate. Cool?”
“Cool!” Nate agreed, then looked at me and said, “Wear a helmet, Ma, and don’t fall off!” Then they were hurrying away.
“C’mon, Sunshine. Let me show you what it feels like to fly.”
As he led the way out to his bike, I met Nate’s eyes and waved. He didn’t wave back, but the curve of his lips and eye roll let me know he’d been watching for me to leave.
He drove us to the beach and parked, and together, with me wrapped around him, we watched the moon dance over the waves. It was beautiful and poignant all at once.
I spent the drive back lost in my thoughts, wondering how a year ago I’d thought I’d had my life together, and now, for the first time, I was living, and I was enjoying doing it. I no longer coasted through life, afraid to look for something more. I’d felt like such a failure, coming back home, working with my dad, and starting over from scratch, but really, I’d been living.
I’d had a good night with good people, and I was building something scary and fun and fulfilling and meaningful with this gorgeous man who wore a leather vest like God’s gift to women and rode a bike that looked like sex on wheels.
When we parked, I swung off the back while he held the bike steady, then he pulled me back to him, guiding me to straddle his