Chapter 2

I had just gotten started when I heard,"Goddammit Tori! Your dad is gonna have my ass if he finds out you were down here by yourself. How come you didn’t knock on my door?"

"Jesus, Joey, you scared the crap outta me. Be quiet and have some coffee. I just put on a fresh pot. And to answer your question, I just wanted to be by myself. I am so tired of being baby-sat. Not that I don’t enjoy your company, Cuz, but sometimes I think dad is too overprotective," I said, still a little bit irritated at being scared half to death.

Joey was a good man and my best friend. He was tall and broad shouldered with unruly brown hair and cocoa colored eyes that twinkled with good humor. But he could be a pain in the tuchus with his watch dogging."He has every right to be after what happened. He is afraid it will happen again. You need a man. If you had a man, a lot of these men would back off," Joey said in exasperation, running a hand through his hair, making his hair even messier.

I was well aware of that, as I got hit on all the time. "Joey, drop it. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s over and done with. Aaannnddd..I don’t need a man," I said, walking over to Joey with his coffee, since he didn’t go get it, punching him in the arm, "because I have you."

"Tori, you know what I mean," he said softly.

"I know, Joey," I said soberly, "And you still know why." 

It was the same sore subject and after all this time, it was still hard to talk about it.

"So," Joey asked, finally changing the subject, "Where is Little Joe?" He leaned his hip against the workbench, sipping his coffee, watching his cousin’s face light up, as it always did when she talked about Little Joe.

Smiling, I said, "Little Joe is still at the house with his grandpa, sleeping. They will be down later. Come on, let’s get this stuff done before people start showing up."

Getting back to work, Joey and I worked in silence for the next couple of hours.I had just finished putting the carburetor back on and completed the diagnostics when I heard the patter of running feet and a barking dog. I straightened up and walked up to the door of the garage, looking out towards the open area in front of the garage. 

There he came, running pel mel towards me, our rottweiler, Rufus, loping along side the little boy, and the older man walking behind the two.

"Mommy! Mommy!" The little boy yelled.

I bent down to catch him as he threw himself into my arms, wrapping his little boy arms around my neck. I stood up, hugging him and twirled him around once, and asked, "How is my big boy doing this morning?"

"I’m good mommy," Joey said giving me another hug. Then pulling back a bit and putting his little hands on my face and said excitedly, his eyes all big, "Mommy, guess what?"

"What, Baby?" I asked in mock wonderment, looking into his cherubic face.

"Grandpa’s taking me to the parts store," he said happily.

I looked over at my dad who had finally caught up to his grandson and he said, "I told him if he ate his breakfast I would take him into town with me."

I leaned over and gave my dad a peck on the cheek and said, "Thank you." Looking back at Little Joey, I asked, "So did you eat all your breakfast?"

"Uh huh," he replied, shaking his head up and down.

Kissing him on the forehead, I said, "Good boy." I set him down, so I could talk to my dad, when Little Joe spotted Big Joe coming from the back room, exclaiming, "BIG JOE!"

"LITTLE JOE!" My cousin yelled, swinging Joey up and putting him on his shoulders.

"Look mommy, I am taller than you."

"Yes, I see," I said, "You be careful up there."

"Ahh, mom," he said rolling his little green eyes.

Smiling, I shook my head. He was too cute and growing up so fast.

"Well sport," my dad said, "let’s get going."

"Ok. Can Big Joe come too?" He asked.

They all looked at me for an answer. "Go. All of you," I said, "I’ll be fine. I have Rufus here."

Dad, looking reluctant to go, but blessedly didn’t comment, said, "OK. We’ll be back before the races this afternoon."

"OK, Dad, thanks for taking Joey with you. I’ll be fine," I said, again, giving him a hug and a kiss. Then watched the three of them drive off in the truck.