Page 30 of Truck

Finger and Cilla are here tonight, and they are laughing and enjoying time with the brothers. Everyone loves Cilla. She’s a little on the crazy side, apart from speaking to ghosts that is. Tracker seems to like her because she is not quite normal. But then, he’s not quite normal himself.

Ayla is in the crib that we’ve placed on one side of the common room. It is ideal as we can all monitor her if Cilla has to nip to the restroom, or she gets caught up speaking with Bono, which happens more than you can imagine.

Finishing one beer, I get another and lean back on the bar while I watch the room. When Cilla gets to her feet and walks over to me, but is looking over my shoulder, I have this icy feeling something is about to happen.

“Um, Truck…” Cilla says warily.

“Yeah, Cilla, what can I do for you?” I ask, but notice Finger is shaking his head as he watches what is happening.

“Um…you have someone who wants to give you a message,” Cilla again speaks warily.

“Who is it, Cilla? Spit it out, don’t be shy.” I roll my eyes because who the fuck on the other side as Cilla calls it, would want or need to speak with me.

Cilla swallows hard, and now I’m frowning at her, and I look at Finger, showing I’m getting annoyed. “You have a gentleman here who died suddenly. He’s called Terrence, and he’s the late husband of Aurora Walker.”

Now she has my attention. My full attention. “What does he want?”

“He is saying that Aurora has been sad for too long, and it’s time she moved on. He would be happy for you to be with her, but you have to love her fully and not hold back any feelings. He wants to see her have children and be happy once more.” Cilla is studying my face as she speaks.

“Well, you can tell Terrence I haven’t even been on a fucking date with her yet, so he needs to butt the fuck out of my business for now, and come back again at a later date.”

Cilla lets out a small giggle before getting herself under control. “He said okay, but he’s watching you. When the time comes, he’ll be back again, and if he has to, he’ll bring Bono, Pyro, and Tank with him.”

“What the fuck!” I snarl, because how does he even know the three assholes, never mind bringing them back with him?

“They are all on the other side, Truck. So, you know, they can meet up,” Cilla giggles and walks away before I can say more.

Chapter 16

RORY

It is Wednesday already, and the week is thankfully passing with no major issues happening at the diner. My life in general is quiet and at times lonely. But I am grateful for my job and the customers who have become familiar and friendly.

I turn to look at Grady who happily greets me when I pick him up from school. He could catch the bus now that it passes closer to my house, but he keeps telling me he likes me picking him up, and he looks forward to seeing me.

We started his math lessons for a few minutes each day when we either went to my home or to the diner. I make sure he understands the basics of what he needs, and on Saturday I will push him that bit further. I can’t wait to see what his next test results show because I have seen an improvement in his understanding already. I’m not sure his teacher, Miss O’Grady, is suitable for teaching math, if I’m being honest. She seems to gloss over the basic understanding, which leaves the class wondering what the heck they are doing. I’ve checked the results from Grady’s previous tests, and I’m going to challenge any further results if I see that they're not what they should be.

“I got a B in math today, Rory. I was excited about it, but Miss O’Grady just said, “Oh, you have a long way to go yet, so don’t get too excited.” But I didn’t care. I know it was better than my last test and you’ve only been helping me a week,” Grady is smiling from one ear to the other, and I’m happy about that, but not happy with her comments.

“Well done, Grady. Next time we’ll get a B+ I’m sure.” I reach over and squeeze his hand, and when he squeezes back, I know we’ve made a connection. Pupil and tutor. But I sincerely hope we will become friends who resemble family.

“Where are we going?” Grady asks, and I give him a huge smile before answering.

“We, my clever little friend are going to pick up a pizza, garlic bread, and anything else you fancy as a reward,” I reply quickly, and the smile he gives me along with the delighted laughter makes it all worthwhile.

Back at the house we work through another math problem as we eat pizza. For me it’s a great forty minutes of companionship. We don’t have long before we have to be leaving for my shift at the diner. But an hour is better than no time at all.

“Do you fancy going to the ice skating rink next week, Grady? You are on break soon though, aren’t you?” I ask while trying to think how long summer break is since it’s been such a long time since I was at school.

“Yes, two weeks and we’ll be on summer break. Not sure what Jill is going to do with me while she’s at work. Momma isn’t getting better, and I don’t think she’ll be coming home again.”

I squeeze Grady’s shoulder because I’m not sure what to say, but I won’t lie to him. “No, it doesn’t seem like she’s getting better. How about you have Jill drop you here when she goes to work, and then we can put extra work in on your math, and have some time out, like skating, or going to the cinema?”

“You would do that?” Grady looks at me carefully.

Shrugging, I easily answer, “Of course I would. I never had siblings and would have liked a brother. I could adopt you as my unofficial brother figure.” I laugh at the shocked look on his face, but then he throws out a warm smile which tells me he’s thinking about it, and although I was teasing, I don’t think he is.

With a giggle, Grady blurts out, "That means Jill's your sister too now!"