Running Northwest (19 page)

“Oh yeah, see you soon” Derric
k said then laughing and hung
up the phone.

Thomas set the phone down and walked over to Daniel who was still plugging away at his game and tapped on his sons shoulder. Daniel took the ear phones out and looked up at his dad and smiled and asked, “Hey, what’s up Dad?”

“Hey big man, how’s the game going”

“Fine I guess. I’m winning if that’s what you mean,” Daniel said as if Thomas should have just assumed that he was winning already.

“Well good for you, hot shot. Are you getting hungry yet or what?” Thomas asked.

Daniel leaned back in his chair, put his hands on his stomach and said, “I am starving Dad, seriously. Where are we going for food? Are we still meeting Uncle Derrick and Erin for lunch?”

“Yep, we sure are. I just talked to your uncle on the phone about it. It looks like we’re going to meet them at that little diner you like a bit down the coast. I think it’s the place with the good chicken,” Thomas answered.

“Sweet…I love Doxey’s chicken,” was the only reply Thomas got from his son who was still half involved in his game.

“Who’s Doxey?” Thomas asked his son, not sure who he was talking about.

“Duh, Dad…you know…Doxey,” the boy said looking up at his father like he was an insane person.

“She’s the owner Dad, that one older lady” the boy added. “She always tells me how much I remind her of you and how handsome you and I are and stuff. I think she likes you kind of, but she’s way too old for you.”

“Oh yeah, I remember now and yes she is a very nice lady. But why is she too old for me?” Thomas asked his son and trying not to laugh at the boy’s attitude.

“Dad, I go to school with her grandsons! They’re in the grade above me. That means she’s too old for you – way too old for you,” the boy said.

“Well darn, but I suppose if you say so. Give me about five minutes and then we can take off for lunch,” Thomas said to his son as he turned around and headed into the back of the shop.

He found Tracie sitting on the edge of his desk waiting for him, her legs crossed. When he walked through the office door Tracie stood up and jumped into his arms. Thomas pulled her close to him and they kissed like they hadn’t kissed each other in weeks. Thomas thought silently about how much he loved kissing her. After a minute or so of kissing they stopped. But he held her tight in his arms, her fingers rubbing the hair on the back off his head.

“I think I kind of missed you,” he said smiling down at her.

“Really…well that’s good handsome because I missed you too, at least kind of. That was for the goodbye kiss we didn’t get this morning when we left your house.”

“Well, I’m not gunna lie, I kind of liked it,” he said smiling.

“Is everything okay with Derrick and stuff?” she asked.

“I don’t know, I’ll find out later tonight and let you know when I pick up Daniel at your place. Are you sure you don’t mind watching him for a bit? I feel bad. I know you don’t like me asking you last minute to watch him,” he asked her.

“Hun,
its
fine. Seriously. I don’t mind at all. You better let me know what’s up, at least if you can,” she said as she poked Thomas in the chest.

Tracie had been around long enough to know that occasionally, some things that Thomas and Derrick did would not be talked about. She had gotten used to it from both of them over time. It was something she and Erin Bowens had long talks about when it came to both Derrick and Thomas. It was sometimes very frustrating for the women.

“If I can I will, I promise Tracie” he said smiling and adding, “I think I got everything ready for you so you can just open up.”

“Well hopefully you can. I noticed you got everything done, thank you so much. I’m sorry about being in late,” she said as she ran a finger over Thomas shoulder.

“Is everything okay at home, with your cousin and stuff?” he asked.

“Yeah, more or less; I’ll fill you in later on,” she replied.

“Okay, well if we are okay here then me and the boy are gunna go meet Derrick and Erin for lunch,” he said.

“We’re good stud; go have fun with Danny today. Tell Derrick and Erin I said hello. And tell Erin I’ll call her tonight,” Tracie said as she moved her arms from around Thomas.

“Will do, I’ll text you later when we are on our way to your house okay?” Thomas said.

“Sounds good,” she replied.

Thomas turned around and picked up a backpack that was sitting on the floor. Then walked out to the front of the coffee shop where his son and the two dogs were waiting impatiently.

“Dad, seriously man, I am so hungry,” Daniel said to his dad in a very serious voice.

“Oh yeah, well then get your tail in gear Chief; you’re slowing up the party. I’m waiting on you slowpoke,” Thomas said.

“Oh yeah, I’m the slow one,” Daniel said sarcastically as he stood up, grabbed his own backpack and headed towards the door.

“Hey chief tell Tracie goodbye” Thomas said.

Daniel turned and saw Tracie standing behind the counter.

“Bye Tracie,” he said as he smiled and waved to her.

“Bye Daniel! I’ll see you tonight,” she yelled as the boy went out the door, with a look of confusion on his face.

Thomas and Daniel got the dogs and their stuff loaded into their pickup truck and pulled away from the shop then headed south. It didn’t take long for Layla and Harley to get their heads out the partially rolled down back windows. Daniel spent first ten minutes of the drive playing around with his
dad’s
cell phone and the radio. The drive to the restaurant would take about twenty minutes or so, it was a good day to get out of town for a while. After a little bit Daniel looked over and said “hey Dad, I got a question”

“Of course, what’s up?” Thomas said.

“What did Tracie mean when she said that she would see me tonight?” the boy asked from the passenger seat.

“Well buddy, I have to go and meet Derrick later tonight. Your uncle Derrick and I have some important things to talk about that came up today. Tracie is going to watch you for a little bit over at her house. Is that okay with you
?
It’s just for a little while. You do have to get some sleep since you have school tomorrow,” Thomas said to his son.

“Yeah, that’s fine Dad, but is everything okay?” the boy asked, looking somewhat concerned.

“Everything is fine buddy. I promise it’s just work stuff,” Thomas said and silently wondered what was really going on and what was so urgent.

He hated having his son out that late on a school night. Derrick was well aware of that fact so it had to be something relatively big.

“Okay, good,” Daniel said as he looked over at his father, studying him.

“But thanks for worrying about your old man buddy, I appreciate it” Thomas said as he smiled over at his son.

“Well someone has to Dad; it’s just you and me ya know,” Thomas’ son said smiling at his dad and then asking, “You know I got your back right Dad?”

Thomas almost laughed at what his son had just said. But at the same time he thought it was one of the sweetest things he heard come out from the boy’s mouth.

“Trust me buddy, I know you got my back. And I got yours, you know that right?” Thomas said.

“Oh yeah, Dad I know that,” Daniel said smiling.

Thomas, Daniel and the two dogs continued down the road. About 30 minutes later they pulled into the diner’s small side parking lot. When they pulled in they saw Derrick and Erin sitting on their motorcycles in the parking lot. Thomas and Daniel had to make a pit stop at a road side park along the way and let the two dogs do their business. Thomas wasn’t sure how long they would be driving until they stopped again after they got done eating. When they pulled in the parking lot, Thomas barely got the truck into park before his son was out and running over to his uncle and his girlfriend Erin. Thomas left the windows down half way for the dogs and walked over to the other three. Thomas went up to Erin and gave her a big hug, lifting her off the ground as he did.

Before Thomas knew it Daniel was sitting on Derrick’s motorcycle with his fingers wrapped around the handle bars. Derrick was leaning on the back of bike making sure the boy didn’t tip it over.

“Hey old man, put that hot girl down and shake my hand,” Derrick said smiling.

“I don’t know, Bro; I kind of like hugging her more,” Thomas said, laughing as he set Erin down and walked over to shake his best friend’s hand.

Erin walked over to Daniel who was now getting off the bike. He said, “Hi Erin!” and ran over, and throwing himself into her open arms as she bent down to one knee.

“My goodness, you are getting so handsome Daniel! Are you getting bigger? I swear you are,” she said to the boy making him blush.

“I don’t know, maybe just a little bit I suppose. My dad says my muscles are getting bigger though,” he said with a huge grin on his face.

“Oh yeah? Let me see…show me your guns tough guy,” she said as the boy pulled his sleeve up and flexed his arms.

“Oh wow, they are getting huge! I don’t think I know another 7-year-old boy with muscles this big,” Erin said as she felt the boy’s tiny bicep, smiling and adding, “Maybe someday I’ll have a little boy and you can show him how to get big and strong too.”

The last comment made the boy’s face turn bright red. She stood up and walked with Daniel over to Thomas and Derrick who were watching them.

“You know what Thomas, if your son’s muscles keep getting bigger and he keeps getting as handsome as what he does. He’s gunna have the girls going crazy in a few years” she said as she gave the boy a little hug.

“What do you mean in a few years Erin? He already has the ladies all over town eating out of the palm of his hand,” Thomas laughed.

“Oh Dad, they do not…at least not that much. Stop trying to embarrass me. Jeez man,” Daniel said in his squeaky 7-year-old voice.

“Okay, well maybe just a little bit,” Thomas said then adding, “Are you guys ready to eat?”

“I am starving, Bro. We have been riding all morning. We just got back in town; we spent the day up in Astoria,” Derrick said.

“So are we man, so are we. It’s a great day for riding. How was traffic?” Thomas asked as the four of them walked up the steps and into the diner.

“It’s a perfect day for it. The cops are out all over though the farther north you get. Other than that it wasn’t too bad,” Derrick said.

The foursome entered the restaurant and spent the next hour and a half eating and catching up. It was nice being out with his son, Thomas thought at one point. With as busy as things have been with work they hadn’t gotten the chance to go and do a lot of father son stuff. Erin was busy doting on Daniel the whole time when she wasn’t telling embarrassing stories about Derrick. The conversation between Thomas and Derrick was light; they didn’t talk about business a whole lot at Erin’s request. They chatted about motorcycles and the possibility of taking a little road trip later in the summer. Thomas had a motorcycle also, but hadn’t been out on it in almost two months. Daniel was scared of riding on the back of it and it was something Thomas didn’t push to change, Thomas knew why. If, at some point Daniel was comfortable riding on it with Thomas or trying then they would give it shot, but not until then. But for now the little boy loved sitting on it as long as it wasn’t moving and helped Thomas wash and shine it up every chance he got.

The boys talked about the Seahawks schedule for the upcoming season when Erin was outside taking a phone call. Since the two grown men were both originally from Michigan they were lifelong Detroit Lions fans. But since being in Oregon they had adopted the Seattle Seahawks as their new home team. Seattle was relatively close to where they lived on the Oregon Coast and it didn’t take long to get there at all. And the upcoming season had the Lions coming to Seattle to play; it was something they were very excited about. Daniel was just starting to develop an interest in sports. Those interests varied for his son and were very much hit and miss. Thomas did as much as he could to show his son a wide variety of sports, even ones Thomas himself wasn’t a fan of…like soccer.

Thomas and Derrick were sitting next to each other and Daniel and Erin were sitting on the opposite side of the table. Daniel had an appetite like a boy twice his age when he ate chicken and was completely oblivious to the conversation around him. They had lucked out because it was “all you can eat” fried chicken day at the diner. Daniel was on his fifth piece of chicken already but appeared to be slowing down; the bites were getting farther apart. The three adults were mostly done eating and were just picking at what was left on their plates as they talked.

Doxey, the owner of the diner, had come over several times to make sure everything was up to snuff and they were happy. She did her usual thing of telling Daniel how handsome he was. And every time she came over she was very obviously trying to flirt with Thomas. It something he had never picked up on before until his son had mentioned it to him earlier in the day. Whenever the lady
who was in her late fifties
would come over she would direct most of the conversation towards Thomas, a few times she had even winked. At one point while this was going on Thomas looked over at his son whose eyes were locked on his father and was having a hard time not laughing. Thomas was polite to her but was very careful not do anything that could be taken as
flirting by the much older woma
n.