Jim almost smiled.
“Your dad was stubborn.”
Claire gave him a look.
Jim corrected himself.
“Very principled.”
Leo looked at the Harley.
“But he fixed his bike.”
Claire nodded.
“That came later.”
Jim spoke.
“The desert trip.”
Claire glanced at him.
“You told him?”
“Only the mechanical part.”
Leo said, “Dad was fifteen.”
Claire nodded.
“That repair changed things.”
“How?”
Jim leaned against the workbench.
“Dutch called Thomas because he knew Arthur had been learning engines from him.”
“Arthur didn’t want to come.”
“Thomas made him.”
Leo could almost picture it.
Jim continued.
“Dutch’s motorcycle broke.”
“Arthur fixed it.”
“But more happened that night.”
“What?”
Jim looked at Claire.
She nodded.
Jim said, “Dutch apologized.”
Leo frowned.
“For breaking the bike?”
“No.”
“For not being there.”
The boy stared.
Jim continued.
“I was sitting maybe twenty feet away.”
“Couldn’t hear every word.”
“But I saw your dad.”
“He was angry.”
“Dutch didn’t defend himself.”
“He didn’t say he was young.”
“Didn’t say the club kept him away.”
“Didn’t blame your grandmother.”
“He told Arthur he had failed him.”
Leo looked toward the old FXR.
Jim nodded at the tag.
“The next morning, Dutch made that.”
“My boy brought her home.”
Jim’s voice softened.
“He wasn’t talking only about the motorcycle.”
Leo waited.
“He meant Arthur brought something back that Dutch thought he’d lost.”
“What?”
Jim looked at him.
“The chance to know his son.”
Claire wiped her eyes.
Leo looked at the tag again.
“Did Dad forgive him?”
Claire answered carefully.
“Eventually.”
“Were they close?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t Dad tell me Dutch was my grandpa?”
That question hurt her.
Leo saw it.
Claire crouched.
“Because your father wanted to tell you himself.”
“But he got sick.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he tell me then?”
Claire’s voice broke.
“He thought he had more time.”
Leo looked away.
That was the sentence everybody around death seemed to eventually say.
More time.
Doctors thought they had more time.
Arthur thought he had more time.
Claire thought she had more time.
Leo hated time.
It was always pretending to exist until people needed it.
Claire continued.
“The last month was fast.”
“Your father was tired.”
“He was scared.”
“Not of dying.”
“He was scared of leaving too many things in your head at once.”
“So he asked me to wait.”
“Until when?”
Claire looked toward Jim.
“That part I don’t know.”
Jim suddenly straightened.
Leo noticed.
“What?”
Jim did not answer.
He walked toward the clubhouse side of the garage.