Page 135 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

“I hope so, too.” He kissed her again, then called upstairs, “Almost ready, Rodeo?”

Lucas came out of his bedroom wearing a baseball cap. “I changed my mind. I don’t want to go driving today.”

Doc and Juliette exchanged a knowing glance. They’d known he might say that. “Come on, bud. It’ll be good to get out of the house.”

“I’m getting out later for Thanksgiving dinner,” he complained.

Earlier he’d tried to get out of going to dinner tonight. Nothing tasted good to him anymore, and he’d lost weight. Doc had a feeling he was self-conscious about that, too.

“A’right. If you don’t want to pick out a color for Rebel to paint your truck, I guess I’ll let him know.” Doc walked away.

“Wait! What?” Lucas ran downstairs. “What truck?”

“It’s just my old truck. It’s not a big deal.”

“Are you kidding?” Lucas asked. “Mom, is he kidding?”

“No, he’s not. You’re getting your license in the spring, and we know you want to learn to work on cars and trucks. We thought you might enjoy working on your own.”

“We’re going to set it up in Dare’s garage over the winter,” Doc explained. “He and I will teach you how to work on it.”

“But it was Tiny’s,” Lucas said incredulously. “You said you’d never get rid of it.”

“I’m not getting rid of it. I’m giving it to my son.”

His eyes brightened. “Seriously? Like, for real?”

“For real,” Doc said with a laugh.

“I can’t believe this!” He hugged each of them. “Thank you!”

“Before you get too carried away, there’re some things you need to know,” Doc said. “That truck is not to be driven like a hot rod. It’s part of Tiny’s legacy, and I hope you’ll treat it as such.”

“I will. I promise. It was yours. That means as much to me as it does that it was Tiny’s.”

Juliette put her hand over her heart. “That makes me so happy.”

“That makes two of us,” Doc said, overwhelmed by Lucas’s sentiment.

“Can we still go see Rebel?” Lucas asked.

“The truck’s already warming up.”

LUCAS SPENT AN hour looking through colors with Rebel in the office of his auto shop before finally announcing, “I know what I want.”

“Great. What color?” Doc asked.

The rumble and roar of motorcycles sounded outside, drawing Lucas’s attention.

“That sounds like a hundred bikes,” Lucas said with awe. “Is it always like this around here?”

“No,” Rebel said. “Something must be going on.”

“Like what?” Lucas’s eyes widened. “Turf war?”

Rebel laughed. “You’ve been watching too much TV, Rodeo.”

“We’d’ve gotten a heads-up if things were going south like that,” Doc explained. “We’ll check it out in a minute. Let’s finish up with Rebel first. What colors did you choose?”