“What’s up with you, kid? I haven’t seen you in ages.”
“Roberta,” I growl.
“Don’t be using my government name,Colin.”
I snort.
“Fine,Bertha.What can I do for you?”
“I can’t want to call and chat with my only baby brother?”
“I swear if you keep calling me that, I will punch you.”
She gasps. “You would hit a woman? Now, brother, that isn’t nice.”
“No, I wouldn’t hit any woman, but my sister? Absolutely. How many times have you nut checked me growing up? I figure I still have a few owed paybacks yet.”
She laughs, making me smile. I might not talk to her much, but fuck if I don’t love the girl.
“Maybe a couple,” she reluctantly admits.
Sensing she won’t come out and say what she wants, I play her game.
“How’s life on the road? Find anyone special?”
She sighs. “Nope. The road isn’t a place for love. You know that. What about you? Settling down with any of those…what do you call them? Sweetbutts?”
“I don’t mess with club girls. You know that. I don’t like being tunnel buddies with my brothers.”
“God forbid,” she says, over exaggerating.
“Not that I don’t love to hear from you, but what the fuck do you want? It’s like two a.m. here, so it can’t be much earlier, no matter where you are.”
“Why do you always want to rush to business?” she asks.
“Because every single time you call me, you need something. So did you get in trouble? Do I need to send a club to come help you out? Is some asshole trying to swindle you out of your money again?” I ask.
“It’s not like that. Jesus, make a girl feel like a burden.”
I rub my hand down my face. “Never. You are never a burden, and I will always take care of you. You know this. I’m only worried. The longer you hesitate, the worse I think it is. Tell me, so I can fix it for you.”
“Always a kind man.” She takes a deep breath. “Do you still have that rental property?”
I frown. Last year, I bought the house next door to me. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but I have been fixing it up to rent out. It’s almost done, but not quite yet.
“Yeah. Why? Do you need a place to stay? Are you tired of the road?” I tease.
“Never. You know I am a traveler at heart. No, I was wondering if you would rent it to a single mom and her two kids.”
“I mean, I could, but why? What have you gotten yourself mixed up in?” I ask, skeptical now.
“I’m not in anything. There’s this kind woman who was abused by her ex. She needed to get out and has been using the trucker network to travel around the country. She needs a place to lie low off the books, if you get what I mean. Somewhere safe.”
I groan. “I don’t want to get caught up in some domestic bullshit.”
“Colin, she’s not even thirty yet and looks like she has aged significantly in the last two months. Her children are eight and five and are more used to being on the road than in a real bed. They play so quietly in the back most of the time, I don’t even realize they are there. They never fight. Never make a peep without me prompting them. They are only children.”
My heart hurts at the image she has painted. We never had the best childhood, but we had parents who cared. We fought like cats and dogs. We were always rowdy, even when our parents were yelling at us to keep it down.
