Miguel laughed.
"How many?"
"That's between me and the state."
Miguel kept laughing.
Tom smiled.
"Your dad was fair."
Miguel quieted.
"You remember him?"
"I met him twice."
Miguel looked surprised.
"When?"
"Traffic stops."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"What was he like?"
Tom thought.
"He didn't talk down to me."
Miguel listened closely.
"First time he stopped me, I was annoyed before he even got to the bike."
Tom smiled.
"Your dad walked up and said, 'Afternoon, sir. You know why I stopped you?'"
Miguel smiled.
"That sounds like him."
"I said, 'Because you've got nothing better to do.'"
Miguel laughed.
"What did he say?"
Tom imitated Marcus.
"'Maybe. But you were still doing seventy-eight.'"
Miguel laughed harder.
Tom continued.
"He wrote the ticket."
"Of course."
"Then told me about road construction ahead because gravel was loose."
Miguel's smile softened.
"That also sounds like him."
Tom nodded.
"He didn't need to like me."
He looked toward the bikes.
"He just treated me like a person."
Miguel touched the badge around his neck.
Tom continued.
"That's harder than people think."
Elena had quietly approached behind them.
She heard the last sentence.
"Marcus believed everybody deserved one clean chance."
Tom looked at her.
"Sounds about right."
She sat beside Miguel.
"He used to come home angry after people cursed at him."
Miguel looked at her.
"You never told me that."
"You were five."
She smiled.
"He'd complain for ten minutes."
Then her eyes turned toward Tom.
"And then he'd say, 'Maybe they were having the worst day of their life.'"
Tom looked down.
Elena continued.
"He always left room for people to surprise him."
Tom nodded.
"That boy got that from him."
Miguel looked embarrassed.
Tom ignored it.
"Five years old, walking into a diner full of strangers."
Elena smiled.
"I nearly fainted when I realized where he'd gone."
Miguel looked at her.
"You were crying."
"I was grieving."
"I was helping."
"You were terrifying me."
They all laughed.
Elena looked toward the clubhouse wall.
"That funeral changed things for me too."
Tom waited.
"For months afterward, officers from Marcus's department checked on us."
She looked toward the motorcycles.
"So did riders."
Tom nodded.
Elena continued.
"Christmas gifts appeared."
"Wasn't us."
"Groceries."
"No idea."
"Someone paid Miguel's youth baseball registration."
Tom studied the parking lot.
"Must've been angels."
Miguel laughed.
Elena looked at him.