“They actually came in one afternoon for an inspection,” I admit. “And the client rolled with it, said he was my cousin and was helping me get my apprenticeship hours. Since everything else was in order, the inspector gave Uncle Mack a small ding for me not actually being licensed yet.”
“Damn,” he mutters.
I’m about to expound a little bit more when the waitress comes back, her tray full of our meals. “Here y’all go. Let me know if you need anything else, I’ll be back by to check on your drinks in a few,” she says.
“Thanks,” Abyss replies.
Once she leaves, we both unwrap our silverware and begin eating. While tacos are a finger food, based on the flavors that are hitting my tongue, I’ll be using my fork to scoop up everything that’s currently falling out of the shell and onto my plate.
“You were right, these are really good,” I mumble after I’ve chewed what’s in my mouth and swallowed. “I usually just get ground beef.”
He chuckles then says, “They season their ground beef with stuff that doesn’t come from a packet, so they’re pretty good as well. I’ve tried every one they make, and while they’re all awesome, these are my absolute favorite which is why I recommended them.”
“Well, based on your recommendation, I’d say you were right,” I reply.
Mexican food may not be the best thing to eat for a first date, but I know things are going to be at my pace, so I feel relatively safe ingesting food that typically tends to tear up folks’ guts. Thankfully, I’ve got a cast iron stomach, although the most I am willing to do is maybe a kiss at the end of the night.
Hell, who am I kidding? I kind of want the whole enchilada at this point. I may have been somewhat hesitant about moving forward with a relationship of any kind, but despite only knowing him for such a short time, he’s shown me the kind of man he is beneath the surface.
“I feel like a blood-filled tick,” I murmur as we finally leave the restaurant to head back home. “Hopefully, the added weight of all the chips and tacos won’t unbalance your bike,” I tease.
He looks down at me, a grin curving his lips up. “You’re prettier than a tick, Shelly, and you could gain a hundred pounds, and my Elvira would still ride steady.”
“Elvira? You named your bike Elvira? That’s so cool!” I exclaim, doing a skip hop that has him chuckling outright.
“I’ll deny it if asked, but grew up listening to the Oak Ridge Boys, and the bass singer doing the mm-bop during the chorus had me paying attention. When I heard ‘Elvira’ I decided that if I ever got a touring bike, that would be her name. I’ve named them all, actually,” he confesses.
“Nothing wrong with that,” I reply, “my Jeep’s name is Maleficent.”
He bursts out laughing then says, “Seems we both like the villains, because of course, while I loved the song, I fell in love with the character on those late-night movies.”
“I think villains get a bad rap, sometimes,” I confess. “Not all of them, of course, but a lot of them had tragic back stories that turned them into something they probably would’ve never become.”
He helps me with my helmet after unlocking them from his bike and after he climbs on, I get on behind him before he fires up Elvira. Once we’re on the road, he asks, “But what about theheroes who also had awful shit happen to them who kept on the straight and narrow? Or mostly, anyhow, since a few became vigilantes for justice and shit.”
“Never really thought of it that way, but you’re right. Bruce Wayne could’ve gone to the dark side after his folks were murdered, instead, he became Batman. But Joker took his horrible past and became, well, Joker, a psychotic hot mess,” I reply.
While I’ll never compare James to Abyss since that would be like night and day, the fact that we’re having an actual conversation about heroes and villains like it’s normal is something that me and James would’ve done. I know I don’t know all there is to know about him yet, but I suspect he’ll let me in as I indicate I’m ready.
“Will you tell me about your daughter?” he asks through the mic. My arms briefly tighten at his request, but Iwantto share her with him, especially if he’s going to be part of my future. And since I want that with every part of me, despite my stupid fears about how I look, I decide to share.
“God, I was only nineteen, just barely turned it no less, when I took a test because my period was late. When those lines showed up, I was kind of scared, but not about James’ reaction. I was worried that we’d become a statistic,I’dbecome one, dropping out of college, ending up on state aid, all those things, you know?”
“I can understand that,” he says.
“But James was great, he was so excited, Abyss. We both had jobs plus school, so it wasn’t easy navigating any of that, especially during the first few months. I was so sick, butsomehow, we paved our way. He managed to stay on the Dean’s List while working sixty plus hours a week so that we’d have money saved up for when she was born. Originally, we were going to wait to find out our little one's gender, because we both wanted the baby to be born healthy, so whether they were a boy or a girl didn’t matter, but then we figured we should find out so we could decorate accordingly.”
A slight sob erupts and his hand clasps my calf. “You don’t have to keep going if it’s too hard, sweetheart.”
“No, it’s okay. Sometimes memories wanna leak out of my eyes is all,” I reply. “A lot of our friends were young and broke, but some were a bit older and already had kids. So, they decided to throw us a baby shower and invited everyone we knew, plus their families. We had so much stuff for her that the truck was packed to the gills. It was a good day, Abyss,” I whisper, my eyes closed as the memories swarm my mind. Taking a deep breath in, I continue, “It had been a great day, lots of laughter and smiles, and we were on our way home, trying to figure out where we were going to put everything. We had a small place, only two bedrooms, but they were tiny, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, babe, kind of like a closet with a bathroom and kitchen,” he replies. “Had myself one of those years ago.”
“Exactly. Still, it was going to work for us until Uncle Mack and Marcella finished converting their basement into an apartment. Unfortunately, the accident happened just a few minutes later. I… I don’t remember a lot about that, mostly just fragments of memories if that makes sense.”
“I think our brains tend to block stuff out when it’s extremely painful and traumatic,” he replies.
I love that he’s not trying to downplay anything right now. He’s simply listening and while it’s somewhat unconventional that we’re doing this while zipping down the road, it’s easier for me to tell him when I’m not looking him in his eyes.
