Rough Ride (8 page)

“Gretchen is his daughter right?” she asked.  She had heard Tommy mention her over the course of the week.

“Yea, she’s almost five.” Dickie replied.  “She’s a great kid, real smart and cute.  Tommy will make sure she has plenty of things to keep her busy during the drive, once we get there and during the rally.”

“I don’t know… I’ve never been to a motorcycle rally before and I’ve never driven anything as big as an RV especially with such a small passenger.” She began.

“Told ya.” Bobby said to Dickie as he turned and headed back towards the door.

As nervous as the whole idea made her, part of her wanted to go.  If she were there she could easily keep track of sales without fear of the invoices being either lost or messed up and she could begin booking customers.  Many of the phone calls she had taken throughout the week were from customers wanting to know either when they could pick up their bikes or when they could get their bikes into the shop. 

That was one area that was not very organized yet.  It seemed that other than the custom bike they were working on for the competition, they jumped from job to job rather than finishing one and moving on to the next.  She had hoped to learn a little bit more about what they actually did in the garage so that she could better assist customers when they called instead of having to hand them off to Dickie.

This trip would give her an idea of just what this industry entailed.  She could gain perspective on marketing strategies as it appeared that between the disorganization and lack of marketing the business was not growing.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t declining but it wasn’t growing either from what she could tell as she’d steadily worked on getting things entered into the computer.

“Wait!  I didn’t say I wouldn’t go…but maybe we should make sure I can at least drive the camper safely first?” She said.

“That’s my girl!” Dickie smiled and at her.  Turning to where Bobby stood with his hand on the office door he smiled even bigger.

Shrugging and giving Dickie an exasperated look, Bobby said “Have fun with that...” as he exited the office.

“I’m going to be working this weekend getting everything ready to be packed up.  If you can come by in the morning we’ll take the camper out for a test drive… what do you say?” Dickie smiled at her. 

“We will pack up and leave out first thing Monday morning and drive as far as possible each day.  The goal is to get there by Wednesday night or Thursday morning so we can get the booth setup and the bike all squared away before Friday.  The rally runs Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Then we will pack up that Monday night and leave out first thing Tuesday morning and hope to be back that following Thursday night or Friday.  We get the weekend off and then, hopefully, the real fun will start.” He finished as he rubbed his fingers together like he had money.

“That would be fine, how about nine in the morning?” She asked.

“Works for me.” Dickie said as he handed off the mail he still held and then headed back out to the garage.

The following morning she met Dickie at the shop and was a little taken aback by the size of the camper.  The back of it opened up to store bikes and even had an overhead compartment to store all the merchandise, the tent and tables for the booth.  It was more like a bus than a camper, even though a good third of it was for storage and hauling.  If Chuck could drive this being only twenty two, she could do this.

After driving around the block several times, and getting the feel for the back end of the camper and having to swing wide for turns, Dickie had her take it out on the highway and then into a parking lot to practice parking.  After more than an hour, she felt much more comfortable with the large vehicle so they headed back to the shop.

As they neared the shop, Dickie convinced her to try backing in so that he could work on getting things loaded up.  After having successfully backed into the shop’s lot and climbing out of the camper, she heard the rumble of bikes and looked to see Bobby and Tommy pulling into the lot.  Her heart seemed to beat faster at the sight of him.  Tommy’s bike had some sort of booster type seat on the back and a small girl with a helmet as big as she was rode behind him.  Her sunglasses were the shape of stars and covered both her eyes and part of her face.

As they shut off the bikes the small girl squealed “Come and get me my Dickie!”

Setting down the box he carried, the large man made his way over to the bike and lifted the small girl into his arms.  “You rode all the way out here, just to see me squirt?” He asked setting her down on the ground and helping her to remove her helmet.

Looking way up the small girl smiled and said “Yep!  That bitch left us so I get to work with Daddy today!”

Lilly was shocked by the words that came from the tiny girl.  Dickie laughed and said “Do you kiss your daddy with that mouth Missy?”

“Hey! We talked about that kind of language.” Tommy admonished seeing the look of horror on Lilly’s face.

“Yea but I ain’t in school
yet
.” The tiny girl argued.

“Well you won’t get to
stay
in school if you talk like that so you better practice your manners now.” He said, then looking towards Lilly “Sorry about that.” He finished with a grin.

“Come meet Miss Lilly… if you use your manners maybe she’ll show you what she’s done with the office.” Dickie said grasping the girl’s small hand in his and guiding her to where Lilly stood gaping at her.

This was the smart, cute child that Dickie had told her about?
  She had a Harley Davidson t-shirt on with jeans and flip flops.  Her blond hair was pulled back into a pony tail.  Lilly had pictured a lovely little girl in a sundress with pigtails and white Mary Jane shoes.  This was a far cry from any child she had ever met or seen.

Stopping in front of her the child stuck her hand out “Nice to meet you Miss Lilly.  Gran says it’s about time Uncle Bobby hired someone with a brain and not just big boobs.”

She was shocked by the stream of inappropriate content that seemed to filter out of the child’s mouth.  Unable to stop herself from responding to the child she said “She said that?”

“Yea, I heard her tellin’ Daddy this morning when he picked me up.” The child replied.

Looking around for help in how to handle the child, it seemed the guys had disappeared into the garage leaving Gretchen with her.  After realizing she was completely on her own and would be alone with her starting Monday morning anyway, she looked at the child.

“Want to come in the office with me?  I have a few things I need to do for the trip.  Maybe I can find some paper and markers for you to color with.” She said.

“Nah, I’m gonna ride my trike, Uncle Bobby made for me.” She said and took off at a run behind the shop.

Following the child around to the rear of the shop where she’d never been before she watched as the child let herself in through the chain link gate and headed for the door to a small shed at the back of the lot.

After several minutes inside, the door re-opened and Gretchen dragged a small three wheeled motorcycle out.  Lilly marveled at it, she had seen a customer on an adult sized one this past week, but the one that Gretchen had was a miniature sized one.  It was painted a shiny speckled blue color with yellow and white flowers here and there.  The seat was leather just like a normal motorcycle.

Lilly stood and watched as Gretchen opened the gas tank and looked inside.  Satisfied with what she saw in the tank she lifted the seat and pulled out a helmet which she put on her head.  Then she sat down on the seat and using a button on one of the handle bars started it up and began riding it around the fenced in yard.

“Pretty sweet isn’t it?” Bobby said.

She jumped at his voice, she had been so intrigued by the tiny replica motorcycle that she hadn’t heard him approach.

“It’s amazing I’ve never seen anything like it.” She replied.  “You made that?”

“Yea, out of an old riding lawnmower engine and a custom made frame.  Dickie did the seat and Tommy helped me hook up the push button starter.” He said

“I’m impressed, you should sell them.  I’m sure there are indulgent parents out there that would buy one for their child.” She said

“It’s gas powered and I don’t want some kid getting hurt and the parents suing me.  Besides, they have battery operated ones at Wal-Mart that would be much cheaper.” He said

“How would that be any more dangerous than a motorized scooter?  It doesn’t look like it goes very fast.” She asked.

“I don’t know… I guess I never really thought about it.  We just made that one for Gretchen because well… she’s pretty hard core already and don’t turn five until this summer.” He said with a laugh.

“Is there room in the camper or even any place for her to ride it where we are going?” She asked.

“She could ride it at the campsite I guess and yea, we can find some space for it.  I wanted to say thanks for doing this before we leave out so you will hopefully remember that I did when we get back.” He said with a grin.

Bobby headed back to the garage and she watched Gretchen riding her bike around the yard for a while until it finally ran out of gas.  Then together they headed for the garage.  She packed up some office supplies, a calendar, and business cards and then setup remote access on the computer in the office.

She would take her laptop with her and hopefully be able to keep up on things while they were away.  After finishing up packing what she needed from the office she and Gretchen headed for the garage.

As the guys loaded the storage area of the camper, she went inside to look around.  She took note of things she would need to get for the trip as she went through the cupboards and storage areas.  She was excited about the trip but was still a little leery of the drive, especially now that she had met Gretchen.

As she exited the camper and went into the garage area where the guys stood around talking about the trip and planning out stopping points, she noticed Bobby staring at her.  The look in his eyes was hard to read as he wore his sexy dark scowl.  She decided to call it a day so she would have time to pack for the trip tonight so she could shop tomorrow.

“You should bring your things by tomorrow evening around seven so we can load them in the camper.  I will pick you up Monday morning and we will all meet up here and leave out as soon as possible.” Bobby said to her.

“Sure, no problem.” She smiled at them and then headed to her car.

As she pulled out of the parking lot, she could tell they were talking about her because all three adults looked at her as did Gretchen.  The child was like a sponge, soaking up everything this bunch of bikers said.  She couldn’t help but wonder about the child’s mother.  Something told her this would be a trip she would never forget.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the shop early on Monday morning, she was shocked at the amount of bikes and riders that were there.  She had thought it would just be the guys from the shop and her but parked along the street were three other RVs.  Along with Tommy, Dickie and Chuck’s bikes were about ten other bikes.

The bikes were all parked in a row and men and even a few women were standing around in the parking lot talking to Tommy and Chuck.  Dickie was walking around with Gretchen on his shoulders.  The child wore jean shorts and a tank top along with her star sunglasses and ponytail. 

Most of the men wore leather jackets or vests, some of which were obviously from the same motorcycle club as their jackets had matching patches.  She was surprised to see the shop’s logo and name on the backs of each employee’s vest and wondered why Bobby didn’t wear one.  He pulled alongside the other bikes and killed the engine.

Suddenly shy as the entire group seemed to collectively look at Bobby and then her, she got off the bike and headed towards Dickie.  He lifted Gretchen down from his shoulders and stood her on the ground near where she stood.

Turning to Bobby he said “The camper is all filled up and ready to go.  I put a walkie-talkie in the cab of the RV for Miss Lilly if she needs anything or for when she gets low on fuel.  I double checked that everything is secure in the front and back so we’re ready to roll when you are.”