Page 9 of The Legend
“Youshould probably join the witness protection program for a while Aunt Emma,” Iheard Arie tell her, “When dad finds out you organized his motor coach he’sgonna go apeshit.”
“Don’ttell him,” Emma said, “it’s not like he has to know. I’ll just say that Swaydid it.”
“Oh,yeah,” Sway laughed when she saw me standing in the doorway, my arms crossedover my chest, listening to them at the kitchen island, “I usually organize hismotor coach.”
Swaydidn’t organize anything. She could cook a mean fried spaghetti dinner but whenit came to organization.Nope, not a clue.That’s whatEmma was for as far as Sway was concerned. Usually she knew to stay out of mymotor coach. Apparently, this year it’d slipped her mind.
“Don’ttell—”
I clearedmy throat, “don’t tell me what?”
Arie andEmma looked at each other as Sway continued to laugh, her hand clamped over hermouth trying to suppress her giggles.
“He’s beenstanding there the whole time, hasn’t he?” Emma asked Sway.
My wifecouldn’t take it and burst into laughter nodding her head, Shit like this madeher day.
Emmalooked behind her. “Jameson,” I knew she was going to change subjects, “nexttime you dump bleach on my lawn, remember to put the bottle away.
“I have noidea what you’re talking about.”
We wentabout our morning, arguing, laughing and trying to decide on what we were doingfor mom’s birthday. None of us agreed on anything and in turn, we left it up toEmma since she’d get her way anyway.
Beforeheading to the shop for the morning, Sway asked that I find a few boxes shethought she forgot at the other house. We recently sold it to another driver inthe Nationwide Series, TravisGurd. He seemed like anice kid and recently started a family so I knew the house would be perfect forhim.
Sway didn’t like moving and actually was against it but we needed more room.The house on Lake Norman was only around ten acres and with three kids andtheir cousins, we needed more land and less nosy neighbors.
I gathered the boxes that were left, loaded them into my truck and then took awalk out to the dock where we used to spend a lot of time. Sometimes, like now,when Sway had some mixed emotions about moving, I wondered if it was the rightthing to do. Our kids grew up here. We spent nearly every Monday night on thisvery dock watching them grow, swimming, barbeques, throwing them by their legsinto the water. Sway told me she was pregnant with Casten on this dock. I shotmy brother in the ass with a potato gun from this dock. Arie broke her arm whenshe was ten on this dock.
Taking adeep breath, I turned and walked up the dock looking over the markings thatmade this place a home for us for so long. Burn marks from where the boys triedto water ski threw a fire strip. Chipped wood from where I tried to carve ournames and ended up slicing my hand. It’s like changes made to your car duringthe race, what once worked earlier in the race doesn’t always work half waythrough. We’d outgrown this place and there was nothing wrong with that.
I took offto the shop and found my sister’s twin boys, Noah and Charlie, cleaning. Afterthey drove our parts van into Lake Norman, they owed me some free labor so Ihad them cleaning engine parts, toilets and anything else I thought was a shitjob. Emma and Aiden’s twins were assholes and had been since the day they wereborn. Every set of twins I’d ever known were jerks. Even Sway’s half-brotherswere assholes. Even though they were grown up now, they were still a pain in myass at times.
“HeyJameson, are you in here?” Grady called out pushing open the door to the shopand carrying two coffees in his hand. I knew I liked him right then.
“Yeah, I’min here.”
His darkeyes met mine and he smiled as he drew closer. Grady Andrews was a hungrytwenty-one year old racer out of Kannapolis looking for a start. He’d grown uparound the short tracks of North Carolina and came to me a couple months backlooking for a job during the week. With the way the sprint tour was heating up,we needed all the help we could get with JARRacingsoI offered him a job in fabrication. Usually I never hired anyone withoutpersonally knowing them for years or from a family recommendation, but I took achance on Grady.
“I needyou to get those two cars ready go this morning.” With a nod over my shoulder,I gestured to the two bodies next to the bay doors. Both cars were strippeddown to bars.
“Allright,” Grady nodded and looked over the cars for a moment, “Anything else?”
Usually myinteractions with the guys around the shop were kept professional. That wasunless it was with Tommy and Willie, two people who were not by any meansprofessional. I didn’t know Grady all that well so I kept it professional.
“I thinkthat’ll do it for today. I need them ready before you leave.”
“Will do,”he replied quickly and that was the last I saw of him. He went to work andnever asked questions. Something I appreciated these days.
I didn’t spendmuch time at the shop that morning. I mainly went there to make sure the boyshad everything loaded and ready for the start of the season along with theengines for sprint car team and cup teams.
When mydad arrived, I left. Since he had retired, we couldn’t be around each other fortoo long before an argument broke out.
He did askabout Grady which I thought was strange. “Who’s the kid?”
“He’s aracer who needed a job. That’s all.”
Jimiwatched him through the large windows that overlooked the twenty four thousandsquare foot shop, “How well do you know him?”
