Page 16 of Truck

“Okay, thank you. I'd best get moving as it’s nearly my time to finish for the day,” I state because I really don’t know what else to say to the man. I’m finding him overwhelmingly stunning, and it’s something I don’t want to think about right now.

Rum gives me the brightest smile. “I’ll see you at the diner I’m sure, Rory. I come into the place regularly because I don’t like cooking, and when I do it’s hardly edible.”

I can’t help the giggle that leaves me. “Oh well, I’ll see you in the diner soon. I’m on late shifts after today, so if you are in the diner for an evening meal, I’ll make sure you have your coffee topped off.”

“See you, Rory,” Truck calls as I get into my vehicle. I give him a smile and wave as I drive away. I’m not sure what that look on his face was, but I’m not going to think about it either.

Later in the evening, I’m sitting in the living room staring into space. The TV is on, but I’m not watching or listening to it. It is basically background noise, so the house doesn’t feel so empty.

I realize I’ve not thought about Terrence much lately. It has a tightness occurring across my chest. Am I losing him again? Is my heart forgetting the love? I don’t want to lose him more than I already have. I know I have to move on with my life, but I’m not sure I want to if that means I forget him.

My phone rings, and picking it up from the chair arm I see it's my old boss. I take the call and before I can speak, he blurts out what he has contacted me about.

“Rory, it’s Thomas and I need you to consider what I am asking of you.” Thomas, I hear takes a deep breath before continuing. “Would you work for me remotely, Rory? I have two clients I can’t cover. I don’t have the time. They are two clients you have worked with previously, and nobody else is able to work with them as you have. Would you work with them remotely, Rory? I’ll pay you handsomely if you will.”

“Who are the clients, Thomas?” I ask quietly because if it is Mrs. Godworth he can take a hike, because there is no chance of me working with her again.

“Mr. Bush of Bush & Son. You have worked with him before. The other is Mrs. Silvermaine, and I remember you got along with her extremely well.”

“Email me a contract to work with ONLY these two clients, and I’ll read it and if I’m happy, I’ll sign it and work with them remotely. I won’t work with anyone else, Thomas. I have a job now and I have not missed money management at all. I may continue in this line of work, but then again, I may not. I’ll deal with these because you have always been so kind to me. When I lost Terrence, you were a rock and I’ll never forget that.”

“I did nothing that any decent person wouldn’t do, Rory. I knew Terrence and liked him very much. His death is a loss to the world because we don’t get many who are as kind as he was.”

Sniffling, because talking about Terrence after I had only realized a few minutes earlier that I’d not thought about him for quite a few days has my heart hurting. “I have to go, Thomas, but send the information, and I will look at it.”

“Thank you, Rory. If you need anything, or you want to come back I’ll do whatever is needed to help you.” Thomas closes the call, and I take a deep breath.

Life is so unfair, and I would be a rich woman if I had a dime for every time I have thought that.

Chapter 9

TRUCK

Finishing the setup behind the counter, I look up when Xero walks over to me. “Are you going to ask her out on a date?”

Christ, I shouldn’t have watched her drive away. “Who?” I ask, trying to sound as if I don’t know who he is talking about.

“You know. Rory. You liked the look of her, and we all could see it. You need to step up and ask her out. Not a biker night out either, a proper date. Take her out somewhere and get to know her. Not a quick grab and bed her, then move on. She’s not that sort of woman,” Xero is leaning on the counter, smirking at me.

I know he’s taking the piss and I’m not falling for it. “Yeah, I may just do that. First, I want to see what she’s like at the diner. See if she’s as sweet as she appeared to be.”

“Yeah, well…hmm, maybe another brother will want to step up and invite her out…” Xero starts to say.

I growl as I turn to him and give him a hard enough look that he takes a step back, holding both his hands up. But the fucker has a huge smirk on his face.

I watch as he walks away, and I mumble to myself. “Not happenin’, asshole.” I need to find out if Rory is what my gut tells me.

A slap on my back takes me by surprise. “Take no notice of him, Truck. The fucker only wishes he could find and get himself a woman worth having,” Mitchell says with humor in his voice.

I don’t respond because I don’t want to get into any banter about Rory, or my intentions. I use the moment to change the subject. “Do you think we should have two registers, but only one linked to the pumps? That would leave one entirely for the store area.”

“Yeah, that way if two people are serving one can deal with customers who only have things they want from the store. Grab and go snack things I would think. The other can make sure customers who are here for gas only can quickly get gas and go. You have an area at the side where you could offer truckers a place to stay overnight. There is a shower area around the back of the building, so maybe at one time there was that availability?”

“Is that the building on the side, around the back? I haven’t even looked in that building as yet,” I ask, as I think this is a good idea if the shower block is there and in working order.

“Yeah. I went into the building and there are three showers, each having a slot for some kind of token to open them. It is in decent condition, too. But it needs a good cleaning. There are companies that will give that a clean with commercial-grade cleaners. It would bring in an extra income, plus somewhere long-haul truckers can clean up before getting back in their trucks to rest or move on.” Mitchell waits for me to reply, showing how patient he can be.

“I’ll leave that in your hands, Mitchell. You can organize it with Rum because at the moment he is doing more in the office than I am. He will speak to Coin if needed, too.”