The Driving Force to Love (MXM) ✔

Chapter 4

Dean Axle Lance

I finished strapping the motorcycle onto the trailer. The former owner stood nearby even though all the paperwork had been signed and he had been paid. It was clear in the short time that I had been here that he liked to talk.

"I didn't think I would sell this until next spring," he said. He put a hand on trailer. It was the third time he told me that, but I pretended it was the first. "It's not the time of year people usually buy motorcycles."

"Guess you're lucky that I have an eccentric buyer," I said. "It works out for everyone."

"Yep," John said.

I had to go a few towns over to purchase it, but it was going to make Frank happy. Hopefully it would make his wife happy too. I did not want to be there when Frank gave it to Sarah if she ended up hating it. I didn't know a lot about her. Hopefully, Frank knew her well enough to know if she was going to like a motorcycle for a gift or not.

"I hate this cold weather," John said. He had already said that before too.

I looked up at the cloud filled sky. It was colder, but it didn't bother me. I didn't really understand why people complained so much about the weather, unless they had arthritis or something that physically hurt when the weather got colder. I could understand for health reasons, but most of the time, people just complained. They would complain that it was too cold, or too hot, or too windy or whatever it was. Sometimes people said, 'Nice weather we're having,' but most of the time it was just complaining.

"Yeah," I said. It was easier than explaining all my thoughts and then having him be offended to what I had to say or worse, have him try to explain why my opinion was wrong.

"Are you doing anything special for Thanksgiving?" he asked as I hopped out of the trailer.

"Not really," I said. I triple checked the chords just to make sure they were tight and safe. I closed the back of the trailer and made sure it was secure. "How about you?" I asked just to be polite. I knew it meant I was going to be there for at least another fifteen minutes, possibly a half hour by the way this guy talked. I was okay with that. I did want to start working on the bike, but John seemed like a lonely old man and taking a few minutes out of my day to talk to him wasn't going to hurt me. I knew what it was like to be lonely.

"My daughter invited me to have dinner with her family. I thought about just staying home and not doing anything since my wife died, but I want to see my grandkids so I guess I'll go."

I was reminded once again that my son hadn't returned my call. I had to tell myself over and over that it was all right. I had no idea what his family told him about me or what he was thinking. It would be strange if some strange man I'd never met and was my biological father called me and wanted to meet.

John was going on now about his oldest grandson. I checked the tires on the trailer as he spoke and then checked the power cable. I double checked the coupler was latched and locked. John was now talking about his granddaughter.

My phone rang. I immediately dug it out of my pocket. Despite knowing it wasn't going to be my son, I still hoped it was going to be Vincent. It wasn't. It was Antonio.

"Sorry," I said to John. "This is about work. I've got to take it."

"Go ahead," John said. "You should get going. I'm sure you have other things to do than to talk with this old man. Thanks for listening to me though."

"Thanks," I said. "Have a good day."

I answered the phone as he started to walk away. "This is Dean," I answered.