Fuck.
Chapter Twenty-Seven - Gunnar
The clubhouse was a fucking hive of activity when Lex and I got back from the store. As the designated gophers we were at the beck and call of Jana, Mandy and Kat, who were busy preparing for Thanksgiving. “Who in the hell starts cooking two days before the holiday?” I hefted two big ass turkeys onto the metal slab that Mandy insisted was a table but looked more like something you’d find at the morgue.
Jana turned to me with her hands on her hips and a gleam in her eye. “People who are cooking for a small army that includes at least a dozen men with hollow legs.” Her arched blonde brows dared me to question her more but, wisely, I kept my mouth shut. “You didn’t forget the hams did you, because we need ham.”
“No, Jana, I didn’t forget. But seriously, is all this necessary?”
Lex groaned as he dropped five canvas bags onto the floor beside the table. “A more important question is, is this everything you need to get through the holiday? The store was a fucking madhouse!”
Jana grinned. “The only upside to this lockdown is having someone else do the shopping.” She turned and pulled two wrapped packages from the fridge. “Pastrami and mustard for you Lex and roast beef and horseradish for you Gunnar. Thanks for your shopping skills boys.”
Lex grinned and stepped up to accept his sandwich, wrapping Jana in a one armed hug. “If this is my reward, all you have to do is ask Jana.” He winked and vanished like he was afraid they might ask him to chop or peel something.
“You okay Gunnar? You look a little, I don’t know, dazed.”
That was part of it. “Just trying to make it through the day, same as everybody else.” I grunted.
“Only it’s different when you have a little one counting on you, right?” I nodded but kept quiet because I wasn’t really the confiding type. “All you can do is enjoy the time you have. It could be a cartel or a drunk driver, you never know.” Jana’s lips twitched and I shook my head.
“You’re not a very good motivational speaker,” I told her, which only made her laugh.
“No, I’m not. I’m a realist and I also happen to be right.”
“Yeah, thanks for the sandwich anyway.” I left the kitchen before Jana tried to rope me into a conversation about my feelings because that shit wasn’t happening. “Anyone seen Maisie?” There were kids everywhere, something that still surprised me every time I walked into the clubhouse. It wasn’t all that long ago that we were all just a bunch of hard partying ex-military men who made money any way we could. Now, half the club was filled with family men.
What a difference a couple of years makes.
“She’s outside.” Black pointed to the rear exit where the playground had been set up and I frowned because it was too damn cold for any of the kids to be outside and it looked like Maisie was the only one.
Unease settled deep in my gut and I picked up my speed, pushing through the glass door that would take me to my sister. My kid. “Maisie!” The playground was empty but the sound of her familiar laughter sounded in the distance. “Maisie, where are you?”
“Here, Gunny!” I relaxed just a little at the sound of her happy tone and followed it. She knew better than to come out here alone so I hoped she had adult supervision. “Gunny!”
Around the giant slide I stopped dead in my tracks. Maisie stood with her little hands tucked into the pockets of her hot pink jacket, that Peaches woman next to her.
“What’s going on back here?”
Maisie turned at the sound of my voice, her big blue eyes excited as she ran to me. “Peaches said girls can do anything.” My sister who sounded more like an adult than I’d ever heard her sound, looked up at the woman for confirmation.
Peaches winked. “That’s right, Gunny. Your sister said she likes cars.”
That explained the giant race track that had been set up in the mulch at the free end of the play area. “Cars, huh?”
Maisie ran back to Peaches and grabbed her hand, nodding her head with more energy than I’d had in the last decade. “Fast cars,” she clarified.
“I like fast cars,” I insisted. Why in the hell I felt the need to justify my hobbies, I had no fucking clue, only that there was something about this Peaches woman that put me on edge. On the defensive.
“No one said you didn’t. We were talking about Maisie.” Peaches sent me an amused look like I was some jokester and that only pissed me off more. She ignored me and bent down with a hand on my sister’s shoulder. “Okay Maze, this is the remote. Press it in the direction you want the car to go. Like this.” She gave the excited little girl a quick lesson on remote control cars and then left her in control. “Ready?”
“Yeah!”
“Okay, then. Three, two, one…go!” Peaches stepped away, smiling as she watched my sister learn how to navigate the car. It took a few times before she got the hang of it but when she did, Maisie proved to be quite the speed demon.
A few times the car went off the track and I watched, amazed at how patient Peaches was with Maisie’s exuberance. She exhausted me every single day and I wondered what motive Peaches had for being so kind. So nice to my little girl. “Oops. Sorry Peaches!” Maisie looked up at her with what I imagined were her best puppy dog eyes after she sent the car flying off the track and smacking against the leg of the slide.
Peaches looked down at her with wide eyes. “Holy crap Maze, did you see that? You made it flip like nine or ten times! How cool was that?” She laughed and whooped, loudly, until Maisie began to jump up and down excitedly.