Dog Days of Summer (10 page)

“Only with you, baby. Only you.”

He leaned down and kissed her and swatted her on the ass.
“Are you hungry? I thought we could go eat somewhere.”

“
Breakfast sounds great.”

Jeremiah got on the bike and kicked up the kickstand; Joci climbed on behind him. He had removed the backrest behind him so he could lean into her. He didn
’t ride with a woman behind him; he always put the solo seat on his bike and took the tour pack off, so he didn’t have room for anyone else. If he took this bike and didn’t have the time to change the seat and take the tour pack off, he would put a backpack or something back there so no one would ask to ride with him. He hated the women who milled about looking for a ride. He was so excited for Joci to ride with him today he couldn’t wait to get on the road. They rolled slowly out of the garage. Jeremiah hit the garage door button to close the door and off they went.

Riding to the restaurant, Jeremiah
often took his left hand off the handlebars and rubbed Joci’s left leg. It was beautiful riding in the morning. The sun was up and the weather was mild. The temperature today was supposed to be eighty-two degrees, great for May in Wisconsin. Jeremiah took some back roads, loving the curvy, quiet pace. Joci leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Jeremiah’s waist and rested her chin on his left shoulder. This was really, very nice. She hadn’t ridden on back of a bike for more than twenty-five years. That was before Keith left her. Back then, all she had was a tiny little seat to perch on and no backrest. If she wanted to go, those were the terms. Keith didn’t give a crap if she was comfortable or not.

They stopped at a nice little restaurant for breakfast and talked about t
he day and how many bikes they thought they would have. Already one hundred and twenty-six bikes had preregistered. They hadn’t had that before. And, that was because Joci developed the website attached to Rolling Thunder’s website for bikers to pre-register.

“
Next year, we’ll have more,” Joci said.

Jeremiah smiled that she would talk about next year like she was sure they would be doing this together again. If he had his way, they certainly would.

“You’ll be meeting my whole family today. They always participate in this ride. They’re all veterans, so it’s important to them. My dad and mom will be driving one of the chaser trucks. Dad is in his early seventies and just doesn’t feel comfortable on a bike in large crowds any more, though he still rides by himself once in a while.”

Jeremiah told her a little about each brother—he had three. Jeremiah was the second son. Dayton, the oldest, was two years older than Jeremiah. Thomas was two years younger than Jeremiah, and then Bryce, who was five years Jeremiah
’s junior. They were close, although Jeremiah was the only one in the bike business. His siblings all rode motorcycles, but worked elsewhere.

Dayton worked as a manager in the IT department at a local company. Thomas, or Tommy, was a cop in Green Bay, and Bryce and Angie owned apartments.

When they pulled into the parking lot of Rolling Thunder, a few people were already there. And tongues started wagging as soon as they saw Jeremiah and Joci together. Yup, it was going to be an interesting day.

As soon as they parked and got off the bike, LuAnn walked over. Of course, she was wearing jeans that were skintight
; her Rolling Thunder Veteran’s Ride t-shirt pulled tight and knotted to show off her breasts and belly. She wore high-heeled boots, and her bleached blonde hair was a messy do of some sort. And yes, jewelry on every surface she could accessorize. She walked up to Jeremiah and hugged him.

“
I’m so happy to see you. Today is going to be a great day. I’ll ride with you today.”

Jeremiah put his hands on LuAnn
’s shoulders and set her aside.

“
LuAnn, you didn’t say good morning to Joci.”

LuAnn gave Joci the once
-over and snorted, “Hi.”

Joci looked at Jeremiah, and raised her brows in an
‘I told you so,’ look.

“
Joci’s riding with me today.”

LuAnn looked at Joci again and then back at Jeremiah.

“Why doesn’t she ride her own bike?”

Jeremiah took a deep breath and put his arm around Joci.

“Because I asked her to ride with me. Joci and I are together, LuAnn.”

LuAnn looked pissed and snorted again.
“Well, that won’t last long. We all know you love a smorgasbord.”

She looked at Joci, gave her the up-and-down once
again and stated, “She isn’t going to keep you as happy as I can.”

With that, LuAnn turned and walked away. Joci instantly blanched at hearing that Jeremiah loved a smorgasbord.

Joci started to back away, but Jeremiah squeezed Joci and leaned down close to her ear, “I’m sorry. And, for the record, that’s not true. I don’t fuck around like she insinuated.”

Joci looked at Jeremiah with her brows furrowed.

“Hey, Bro!”

Jeremiah turned to see his brother Dayton and sister-in-law Staci walking toward them. As soon as they reached them Jeremiah, gave him a slap on the back, hugged a quick hug, and squeezed. Jeremiah leaned down and hugged his sister-in-law.

“Dayton, Staci, I’d like you to meet Joci. Joci, this is my older brother Dayton and his wife Staci.”

Joci
noticed how very similar they looked right away. Dayton didn’t look like a computer geek; he looked like Jeremiah with short hair. His was the same color as Jeremiah’s hair without the sun’s highlights in it. Dayton kept it short and cut around the ears and above the collar in the back with a little length on top. He had green eyes, although not as green as Jeremiah’s. He had a similar build, like he didn’t work out as much as Jeremiah did, but he was still in great shape. Dayton leaned down and hugged Joci, and Staci stepped forward and hugged Joci as well.

Staci was very pretty. She had long, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was about five-four and slender. Jeremiah told Joci they had two children, both girls. Emily Ann was twenty-eight and Debra Jean was twenty-four.

Staci whispered in Joci’s ear, “Did you like all the candles?”

Joci smiled,
“Yes, they were beautiful. Thank you for doing that.”

Staci smiled at Joci and then looked at Jeremiah.

“I was happy to do it. We all just want him happy. He was very excited and nervous about making sure you would appreciate it. He’s a great guy, Joci.”

Jeremiah gave Staci a slight nod
and a grin.

They
were chitchatting when Joci heard, “Mom!”

Joci turned to see Gunnar striding quickly toward them. Joci stepped over to hug her son.

“Good morning. Are you ready for today?”

Gunnar nodded and said hello to everyone. He shook Jeremiah and Dayton
’s hands and said hello to Staci. He had met them before so no introductions were needed. It seemed…normal.

Very soon, all the family members had arrived. Jeremiah
’s brothers and parents, Thomas and Emily, Joci’s sister Jackie and her husband David came in shortly after. Jeremiah made introductions.

As soon as Jackie and David showed up, Jeremiah put his arm around Joci and stated,
“Joci’s riding with me today.”

He had a smile stretched across his face. Everyone smiled. Jackie looked at Joci and winked.

Jeremiah’s brother, Tommy, looked at Joci and smiled, “Poor Joci. He’s a cranky bastard, Joci. I hope you can handle it.”

Joci smiled at him,
“I know. It’s awful.”

Jeremiah
’s family did this every year and seemed to know what to do to help out. They started putting up the ribbons that would guide riders to the parking and sign-in areas. The sisters-in-law walked to the tents set up to hold the clothing and Jeremiah’s parents strolled to the large tent had been erected last night for the drinks. The drink stand was being manned by a local veteran’s group, and all proceeds would go to that organization, separate from the Rolling Thunder donations from this ride.

The tables for the sign-up area were set up, and Joci and Jeremiah worked on organizing the area with the sign-up sheets, insurance waivers, and wristbands. He swatted her on the ass and she stifled a squeal.

“What was that for?”

“
You’re leaning over the table, setting out papers, and I couldn’t resist. If you don’t want me touching it, don’t stick it out in front of me.”

Joci smirked. She had some local tech school students showing up to keep the data entry rolling along. She set up their laptops, got them booted up, and was ready for them as they arrived. There were a couple of cash drawers at the sign-up table as well. Everything seemed ready to go.

Jeremiah’s family was available to answer questions and direct traffic. They knew the drill and everyone worked well together. Just before the first bikers started arriving, Jeremiah walked over to Joci and gave her a big hug.

“
It looks like we’re ready. Do you need anything before the bikers all start rolling in?”

Joci pointed at the drink tent.
“I thought I would go and get a bottle of water. Do you want one?”

Jeremiah smiled,
“Yeah, I’ll come with you.”

Jeremiah and Joci walked around the parking lot and spoke with everyone working at each area. His brothers were standing around in the parking areas waiting for the bikers to roll in. Jeremiah
’s parents were talking to the guys in the drink tent. When they got to the clothing tent, LuAnn was there, shooting daggers at them. Jeremiah didn’t pay her any attention. Joci was wary and watched LuAnn to make sure a knife didn’t find its way to her back.

Jeremiah
’s sisters-in-law were working the clothing tent with LuAnn and Angel from Rolling Thunder. LuAnn made some comment that was off-color and louder than necessary, and Angie and Erin, Jeremiah’s sisters-in-law, looked at Joci, rolled their eyes, then winked at her. So, they were aware of LuAnn’s interest in Jeremiah as well.

P
hotographers were also getting set up. Jeremiah had hired a local studio, which in turn had to hire in freelancers due to the size and nature of the job. The bikes and bikers would be spread out most of the day, so they would need photographers all over the place.

“
Joci, is that you?”

Joci looked over and saw Molly Bates, an independent photographer Joci had met at a seminar.

“Molly! Yes, it’s me. It’s great to see you here. Let me introduce you to Jeremiah Sheppard. Jeremiah, this is Molly Bates, a friend I met a couple of years ago at a seminar for us ‘artsy types’,” Joci said with air quotes.

Molly smiled and shook hands with Jeremiah.

“It’s nice meeting you, Molly.”

“
It’s nice meeting you, too. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.”

“Good to hear. This is my pet project each year. Thank you for taking part.”

“
You’re welcome. Joci, we should catch up. I have a couple ideas I’m working on that you would be perfect for. How about lunch next week?”

“
Sounds great. Email me a couple of days that work for you and we can plan on it. See you around today.”

With that, Jeremiah and Joci continued making the rounds. Gunnar was working with the other Sheppards in the parking lot. As Joci and Dog approached Gunnar, he smiled and met them halfway.

“I’m so damned excited for today. Mom, you’re going to love this ride.”

“
I’m looking forward to it. Thanks again for introducing me to it.”

“
Sooo, what did you guys do last night?”

Joci
’s face turned bright red. Jeremiah snickered just as JT and Ryder came walking over. “We went back to my house and talked.”

Gunnar looked over at the twins and they all
chuckled. 

“
Talked?” JT said with air quotes.

“
Never mind, guys.  If you don’t have enough to do, I can find some things for you.”

The boys all turned to go back to work, laughing at Jeremiah and Joci. Joci covered her face with her hands, but Jeremiah quickly pulled them away and kissed her forehead. 
“Hey. They’re young men; they know what we were doing last night. For the record, I would love to shout it from the roof. Maybe I’ll go do that right now.”

Joci
’s eyes grew huge, and she opened her mouth to tell him he had better not, but the first bikes had started rolling in.

Jeremiah slapped her ass,
“Come on, babe, we have bikers to take care of.” He grinned as he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the sign-up tent.

For the next two and a half hours, it was a steady stream of bikers and passengers rolling in and signing up.

People came in groups and by themselves, hoping to meet up with friends. The weather was great, and by the looks of it, they were in for a record turnout. There are people of all shapes and sizes who ride motorcycles. You could see a thousand Harley shirts and not see the same one twice. Some people wore leather vests with patches and pins signifying their affiliation with a HOG Chapter or club or group of some sort. There were tall people, short people, heavy people, skinny people, doctors, lawyers, clerical workers, mill workers, presidents of companies and their employees, but they all had this ride in common.