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“Having my way? What happened to you? You sound different.” I grazed my thumb across her cheek and grinned.
“Oh, it’s the South. I’ll go back to normal when we get home.”
“Home. I like the sound of that.” I turned her from the doorway and kissed her with everything I had.
“So,you’ve already watched this race?” I asked, sitting in the basement TV room with Jo’s dad and her two brothers-in-law. Jo was upstairsbondingwith her mom and sisters, her dad said.
“Yeah, this was last year’s NASCAR cup series race at Nashville Superspeedway. This year’s race is comin’ up in a couple weeks, and Billy’s goin’. He’s doin’ a little homework.”
I learned at dinner that Billy was a sought-after mechanic with dreams of working in a race pit someday. Ellen did a little bookkeeping for him but was mostly a full-time mom. Scott and Loretta were both engineers at Nissan, headquartered here. This was definitely a car family, Jo’s former Subaru notwithstanding.
A commercial break started, and Jo’s dad hit the fast-forward. Though he kept his receding hair cut short, I could see Jo got her curls from him.
“So, you and Jo, huh?” Billy jumped in.
Okay. I’d seen a movie. I knew this was the boyfriend shakedown where I had to prove my worth. I was actually kinda excited about it. It was something I never thought I’d need to do. No girlfriend, no boyfriend shakedown. But I was a hawk, a changer. I could do this.
“We’ve been together for a few months. I met her in January when she started cooking lunch twice a month for our farm crews.”
“What did you do to run her off? You better not say cheat … just laying that out there,” Billy said.
“No, when you know me better, you’ll understand that’s not my thing. I’ve never felt this way before. I was stupid, and I … I’m trying to fix it.”
“What makes you think we’ll get to know you better?” Scott grinned above his beer, pilfered from a mini-fridge by the TV, before taking another sip.
“You guys seem to love your wives and aren’t going anywhere. I love Jo, and I’m not going anywhere either. I predict more NASCAR viewing parties in our future.”
Jo’s dad didn’t speak, just held a knowing smile.
“So uh, what kinda car you drive?” Billy asked. “Tesla?”
“A Mercedes S 560 Cabriolet.”
“You’re shittin’ me. That’s like a hundred and fifty grand. You rich or somethin’?”
“I’ve got enough.”
“Yeah, that’s what rich people say.” Billy shook his head and chuckled.
“I had some luck selling apps and things like that a few years ago. It’s not that uncommon in Seattle. My family’s normal, hardworking. I’m not some spoiled jackass out to prove something. My car’s the most over-the-top thing I ever did.” Emergency private plane expenses didn’t count.
“Any apps I would recognize?” Scott sat forward, his elbows on his knees.
“Probably not. Companies mostly bought them for the code to enhance other apps. One was purchased by a company that was eventually bought out by Facebook, though.”
“That’s cool,” Scott said.
“But can you work? I’ve known Sammy Jo for a lot of years, and she does the work.” Billy sat forward, mirroring Scott.
I had the feeling Billy was talking about more than employment. “I can do the work too, maybe differently than she does, but I can work.”
“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you boys. I need some help cuttin’ up that big oak that fell in the storm over the winter,” Jo’s dad interjected. “You think you can give me a hand after church tomorrow? Lucas, you too.”
The other two men looked me over and grinned.
“Sure,” I said. Whatever this was, if it meant belonging in Jo’s family, I’d figure it out.
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