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The driveto Texas goes by quickly, despite the many hours we’d spent on the road. With Harrison, we had to make more stops than I would’ve made on my bike, but I didn’t mind. Seeing his face light up at some of the roadside attractions we’d stopped at along the way was worth every extra hour.
The Austin skyline comes into view, just as the sun starts to set. My weary eyes are damn glad to see familiar buildings on the horizon.
It takes another forty minutes until we pull onto the quiet road where my house sits. The brick exterior of my ranch style home stands out against the more traditional two-story cookie cutter homes on the other side of the street in the new subdivision that had been built just last year.
“Is this our house?” Harrison asks excitedly from the back seat of our rented truck.
“It is.”
“Whoa!”
Cora reaches out and grabs my arm. “Did you buy this house while we were driving down here?”
“It takes a little bit longer than that to buy a house, darlin’,” I tell her, holding in my laughter. “I’ve lived here for about four years now.”
“Alone?”
“Just me. And before you start asking a billion and one questions, I bought it from one of our old club members. He and his wife decided to transfer out east to be closer to their kids. He didn’t want the place to sit on the market, so we worked out a deal since it needed some updating. Ten more years of payments, it’ll be all ours.”
“Baby, I love it.”
“Wait till you see the inside. Plenty of room for all that entertaining you want to do.” I chuckle when I pull up and see the acre of land surrounding my home filled with motorcycles. “Looks like we’ll be doing that sooner rather than later.”
I find a spot next to my garage and park. Helping Cora out of the lifted truck, she moves to the back passenger seat to get Harrison from his booster. The bass of rock music booms from the back yard.
“I was hoping to get settled in before we had people over,” she admits, adjusting Harrison in her arms.
“That’s the funny thing about our club. We’re always looking for a good excuse to have a party. If I had to bet, the ladies were behind this one. Come on, let’s not keep our unexpected guests waiting.”
Cora sets Harrison down, and the little guy takes a hand from each of us.
“Come on, everyone!”
We let him lead us toward the sound of the party. We round the back corner of the house when someone shouts, “welcome home!” The place is decked out. Smoke from two grills that I don’t own fog the place up. Patio tables dot the yard with groups of people sitting around them.
Judge waves from the crowd, and with Grace and the kids in tow, they come over to greet us.
“Welcome to Texas,” he booms. “Cora, you remember Grace.” Grace nods and waves a polite hello. “These are our kids, Kevin and Natalie.”
“It’s so good to see you again, Grace, and you two as well.” Cora smiles, tugging on Harrison's hand with a swing. “This is my son, Harrison. Can you say hi, buddy?”
“Hi,” he says bashfully.
“He’s normally not shy.”
“It’s no problem,” Grace tells her. “He’s been on a long trip, and all this is new territory for him, and for you too.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” I chime in. “Wasn’t expecting a party, Prez.”
“You know how the women get when a new lady joins the fray.” Grace elbows him in the ribs. “What? It’s the truth. Any excuse to throw a party.”
“It might be the truth, but you don’t have to say it out loud.”
“Have I told you how much I like you lately, Grace?” I say, teasing the now scowling Judge. “Ah, there’s the grump ass Judge I remember.”
The rest of the crowd funnel in to introduce themselves to Cora and Harrison. If Cora was nervous or overwhelmed, she didn’t show it. Harrison, on the other hand, took to hiding behind my legs after the three sets of introductions, which I couldn’t fault him for. He’s probably never been to something like this before.
“You hungry, buddy?” Harrison peeks out from around my leg, bobbing his head. Reaching down, I pick him up and bring him into my arms. “Let’s go see what they have to eat.”
