Ride Steady(75)

But only for a moment.

Then I woodenly turned my head his way.

He had a bike. That I knew.

But that day he had a date with a single mom who had a baby with a car seat.

So now he had a dual-cab truck.

Joker stopped at a red light and looked at me.

And when he did, I watched by the lights of a Denver city night as his face got soft.

It was a vision of beauty.

“Like a whole lot the way you’re lookin’ at me, Butterfly,” he said softly. “But I got a bike and we don’t live in Arizona. We can get weather. Used to be, weather was bad, I needed to get somewhere, I had to borrow someone else’s vehicle. That gets old. I had to get you and your boy to dinner, but that doesn’t mean the time wasn’t ripe.”

I heard it all, but most especially the I had to get your and your boy to dinner part, so I just smiled at him brightly.

He shook his head looked forward, and we went when the light was green.

He drove and, while he did, I wanted to hold his hand. I wasn’t sure we were at that place but I was sure I wanted to do it and badly.

The problem was, he drove with his wrist, that wrist being the right one draped over the steering wheel. Therefore, I couldn’t grab his hand.

Also, I had some concerns about this since the truck was large and probably more easily maneuvered if his fingers were wrapped around the steering wheel.

I didn’t say anything since he promptly wrapped them around said wheel in order to parallel park outside Las Delicias.

We went in. We got one of their side half-oval booths. They gave us a high chair. We ordered. I gave Travis his pears then some Cheerios for him to play with, eat, and toss around. Finally, Joker and I ate.

All day, I’d been looking forward to this like it was Christmas Eve.

But I hadn’t been on a first date since Aaron took me miniature golfing over a decade ago.

And Joker was so not Aaron it wasn’t funny.

So all day I was also nervous like crazy.

But I shouldn’t have been. Somehow, things between Joker and me were just easy. Conversation flowed.

And I wasn’t the one making it flow.

He talked. Mostly about the Club, and that was mostly about his brothers, who he clearly respected and even cared a lot for.

He told me all their Club names. He told me all their real names (the only weird spot was when I asked his, he didn’t answer, and it seemed he was acting like he didn’t hear me but then again, he probably just didn’t hear me). He told me about their old ladies. How long they’d been in the Club. About Ride, the store, the garage, and the new store they were opening in Grand Junction, which meant they were already looking for new recruits since all Chaos members did their “time” in Denver before they moved on to other branches, like Fort Collins, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and soon-to-be Grand Junction. He also told me he designed and built some of their custom builds.

“Workin’ on one,” he’d muttered. “Show it to you and Travis next time you’re on Chaos.”

I wasn’t really into cars.

But I couldn’t wait to see his.

At my gently probing questions, he also told me about himself and he did that easy too.

No hesitation.

He shared that he was an only child (which, with his parents, was probably good, though for him in that mess, it was sad he didn’t have at least one person to love and love him back). I found out he was only a few months older than me. He explained that he did live at the Compound because “no reason to pay for some crib when I got a life where all I need is a room” (I also found this sad, but didn’t have time to dwell).

I liked that he was easy. It wasn’t like he went on and on, sharing deeply, opening a window to his soul, trusting me with his hopes and dreams.

But it was a first date and I didn’t think that was what you got on a first date. However, he wasn’t closed and secretive like his eyes made it seem like he would be.

I’d take easy. In fact, I ate it up because I found I wanted to know everything about Joker. So when he gave me easy, I didn’t push for more. I let him say what he had to say and didn’t probe further. With as easy as he gave me, I knew it would come, so there wasn’t a reason to push.

This meant (in my mind) that by the time we were finished eating, the date was a smashing success.

Or I thought it was.

Joker finished his meal before I did since I’d spent quite a bit of time during the meal seeing to my baby. So I took my last few bites of my burrito chicharrones while Joker had a drowsy Travis against his chest, Travis’s head drooping on his shoulder.