“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 woman.
About a half an hour or so later they were all done eating and had paid the bill and left. The four of them were now standing outside in the parking lot. Erin and Daniel were sitting on her motorcycle talking about school and other things. Derrick and Thomas had wondered over to Thomas truck and were enjoying a much needed cigarette and chatting.
Thomas glanced over at Erin and his son who were talking and looked back at his friend Derrick and said, “She is so ready to have a kid for real, Bro.”
“I know, man. She talks about it more and more since her birthday,” Derrick replied.
Derrick’s girlfriend Erin had turned 30 years old the previous November. She had taken it hard by all accounts but most people tend to freak out when they turn 30. Erin had a younger brother who was 28 and an older sister who was 32, both of who were married. The older sister had two children also. To make matters worse Erin had parents who were pushing for more grandchildren. Erin had quite the adventurous time during her 20’s and her parents nicknamed her the wild child, but Erin now was feeling her biological clock ticking. She wanted the normal life that she had been putting off for a while now. It was something that Thomas and Derrick understood because they both did the same thing. She and Derrick had been together for over a year and a half. Thomas knew from talks with Tracie that Erin had wondered if Derrick would ever ask her to marry him. It was something Thomas had wondered about especially, since his friend was not getting any younger.
“So what about you man, you thinking you might want a little Derrick running wild around town?” Thomas said, staring at his friend out of the corner of his eye trying to gauge his Derrick’s reaction to the question.
Derrick slowly inhaled his cigarette as he looked over at his girlfriend who was playing with Daniel and answered with, “Someday…maybe.”
“Well from me to you Derrick, I think you would make a great dad. I’ve seen how you are with Daniel, and you’re great with him. But you’re right, maybe someday,” Thomas said.
“Thanks man. You and I will talk about it later,” Derrick said coolly.
After a few minutes later of light chatting Thomas and Derrick walked back over to the bikes where Erin and Daniel were.
“Hey baby I think we should let these two guys get on their way to finish their day,” Derrick said as he went up to Erin, pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
“Okay sounds good, Daniel seemed pretty excited about what they’re off to do,” Erin said as she let go of Derrick and turned around to hug Thomas goodbye. Derrick bent down and gave Daniel a big hug. Daniel then turned around and looked at the Derrick’s motorcycle again with his back to the adults.
“So what are you two going to do with the rest of your day?” Thomas asked Derrick and Erin.
“Oh, I don’t know. I think we may go do some shopping in town, then go home and relax for a bit before I head up to The Whaleback tonight,” Derrick said.
“All right, sounds good. I’ll see you later then. You two have fun with your day,” Thomas said and then continued, “Erin don’t be a stranger Hun, stop by the coffee shop some time. I miss your pretty face. Oh, and Erin, I’m supposed to tell you that Tracie is gunna call you tonight.”
“Great, I need to talk to her about a couple things anyway. When did you see her?” Erin asked
With his back still to the grownups, in his squeaky 7-year-old boy voice, Daniel piped up out of nowhere and said, “We saw her at the coffee shop this morning. And she stayed over last night; she had breakfast with us…it was pretty cool.”
As soon as the boy said that, Derrick and Erin’s jaws dropped, and their eyes widened and quickly shot back toward Thomas. He instantly felt unsure about what to say or do.
“Oh really?” Derrick said, trying not to laugh.
Erin added a simple, “Hmm…interesting,” and a knowing smile.
“It’s not that big of a deal, you two, so knock it off. She had dinner with me and Mr. Bigmouth here last night. It got late and she was tired. I didn’t want her driving all the way home so she stayed over,” Thomas quickly said trying to explain and then said, “And I slept on the couch.” But suddenly he wasn’t sure why he felt the need to clarify that part.
“Oh…I see” Erin said with a smile on her face.
“Stop…” Thomas said trying not to smile.
Derrick and Erin were trying their best not to laugh or make things awkward in front of Daniel. Thomas thought to himself that he was very glad his son was only a few feet away, because who knew what his friends would say if he wasn’t.
“Well then, I’m going to be sure to call Ms. Adams as soon as I get the chance. It seems we may have a lot to talk about,” Erin said in a mischievous tone and smiling.
“Yes, it would seem we do also,” Derrick said as he looked directly at Thomas.
“Oh jeez, all right; we will see you two nosey kids later. You ready to go Kiddo?” Thomas said, backing away nervously and putting his hand on his son’s shoulder.
“I’m ready Dad,” the boy said.
“Well let’s get out of here, things are getting deep buddy,” Thomas said as he and his son started towards the truck.
As he walked away he could hear Derrick and Erin making kissing noises behind him. He waved his hand in the air trying to get them to stop, which they did not.
A short time later Thomas and his son were in the truck and heading south down the road, the dogs quietly sitting in the back seat. When they had left the diner, Thomas had noticed that the skies were beginning to cloud up. The breeze off the Pacific started to pick up again and it was periodically blowing the truck with light gusts. Thomas wondered briefly if it was going to rain while they were out. Periodic rain was something he had grown used to though being out in Oregon as long as what he had been. In many of the seasons on the Oregon coast it would rain at some point of the day, several days of the week. Or it would be very misty usually in the mornings, which to visitors would seem like rain even though it wasn’t. A long time ago Thomas had begun bringing a light rain coat for his son when they went out of their excursions. He wasn’t as much concerned about himself, but the last thing he wanted was for Daniel to get sick
At some point while he was driving Thomas decided to roll down the windows to blow some fresh air through the cab of the truck. He loved driving down the coast road he always saw something new, it seemed.
As Thomas drove, he remembered the first time he had come to Oregon almost fifteen years prior. He was much younger then, in his early twenties. It was the first time he had been that far away from Michigan alone, and that far from his family. Everything was new and perfect and amazing to him then, it was a whole new life and world and he loved it. This beach had changed a lot since then; so had he.
As the ocean breeze blew through the trees and into the truck it brought him back to where he was and how amazing that smell was the very first time it reached his nose. The way the wind and ocean spray from the Pacific blended with the Douglas fir, red cedar, and spruce trees among the others that lined the coast made the smell intoxicating. The wild lilacs that grew along the roads on the coast added to the natural outdoor perfume. And as the father and son continued down the road they both took huge deep breaths of the air.
Occasionally a few drops of rain would hit the windshield but Thomas still wasn’t concerned. It wasn’t quite the busy tourism season yet, but even if it was the rain usually ke
pt the less hardcore tourists indoors for a while. Thomas was thinking the beach they were heading to would be fairly empty with the weather like this, he didn’t mind at all.
About twenty minutes later they got to the beach they were heading for. It was actually inside a state park and was surrounded by a thick coastal forest. When they pulled in Thomas noticed it was nearly empty which made him happy, because they could let dogs run and not worry about it. They parked their truck, grabbed their backpacks and put the dogs temporarily on their leashes and headed towards the beach. The beach itself was large and open with a steep rocky cliff at one end that was more than two hundred feet tall. The tall jagged cliff extended out into the ocean another several hundred feet. And at the bottom of it the ocean surf slammed against the rock in large thunderous crashes, the spray drifting towards the sandy beach and then disappearing.
In the middle of the beach was a large reddish rocky mass that was actually the start of the cliff. Thomas and Daniel had climbed on, around and over it more times than he could count. At high tide the ocean swelled up around the rocky mass and the water was either too rough or deep to wade around. The only option was to go over which wasn’t easy for some, especially for kids but Daniel was good at it. The large mound of rocks acted as a natural barrier in a way because on the other side of it was another large sandy beach. It was private and quiet and was one of Thomas’ favorite places in the entire world. This is where Thomas would come to be alone and just think when the stress of his life started to get to him. This particular beach also had a lot of very good memories attached to it. It was where he and Daniel’s mother Sarah had kissed for the first time; it was also where Sarah first told Thomas that she was in love with him. He would come here when he needed to remember her and find some sort of direction.
One side of the beach was lined with large spruce and fir trees on that hung awkwardly over the sand and rocks. In many places it looked as though they may fall over at any minute. The air smelled cleaner, their noses were battered with the smell of the ocean and the scents of the forest. Thomas and his son left a paved pathway and walked down a small ledge that went down to the beach. As they did, large smiles came across their faces; this was their special place and would always be their place.
Running Northwest Page 14