Chapter 16

Dean

"Hey, it's Dean from Precision," I said as Roger answered the phone in Indianapolis. "Any news on the Wagoneer?"

"Hey, Deano," Roger answered. "Sorry, man. I haven't tracked one down yet. I've got a Blazer though. And a Bronco."

I shook my head. Serra would probably take the Blazer, but the idea of bringing a Ford home to Winchester Ranch rubbed me the wrong way. "Nah, keep looking for the Wagoneer. She'll just yell at me if I don't bring home what she wants."

"Will do," Roger said. "How's the Suburban?"

I smiled, "It's awesome." I pictured the three baby seats in the back with Grace driving. She looked like a bad ass in the lifted Chevy. She was still matte green, like when she came to us, but her motor was completely rebuilt and solid. "I think she's staying Army green."

Roger chuckled, "She looks good like that," he said. "It'll keep your babies safe, that's for sure. Thing's a tank."

A customer made the bell above the door jingle and I glanced up and smiled, holding up a finger. "You guessed her name," I said. "I gotta go, Rodge. Call me if you catch wind of the Wagoneer."

"No problem, Deano," he said, hanging up.

I hung up the phone and smiled at the woman standing in front of the counter. "Morning," I greeted. "What can I help you with?" Laying my hands on the counter, palms down, she eyed my wedding ring and made a face. Typical, I thought, smiling internally.

"My dad has a 1966 Chevy Nova Wagon," she began, smiling flirtatiously, "and we wanted to get it fixed and painted."

"A Nova Wagon?" I repeated, getting out the pad of paper behind the counter, taking notes. "Sounds like a car that belongs in California."

She smiled broadly, slapping her hands together, "That's where we're from!" she exclaimed, a little too excitedly. "We just moved here from San Diego."

I couldn't help myself, "Why?"

She giggled, "My brother is in the Army and was transferred here. We tend to follow where he goes. We're kind of a close-knit family."

"I know the feeling," I said, smiling lightly.

She reached out to touch my hand and I eyed it, unmoving. "I do love a family man," she said.

I pulled my hand out from under hers and picked up my pen again, ready to write. "Alright, so when do you want to bring it in?" I asked, getting down to business and ignoring her advances. I glanced out the window and saw The Tank pull into the parking lot. Smiling I continued, "Hold on a sec, will you?"

The young woman watched, narrow-eyed, as I headed outside to my kids and Grace. I helped her load the twins into the stroller and carried Liberty inside. The young woman scowled at me as I held the door open for my family. I knew that Grace was planning on coming by with everyone for lunch, but her timing couldn't have been better. I smiled at the woman next to the counter and pointed to my bay. "Go ahead and get comfy, babe," I said. "I'll finish up here and grab Eric to cover the front so we can have burgers."

Grace stared at the woman as she walked by, giving her a wide berth and pushing the stroller back to the Buick I had on the lift. She threw me a look and I furrowed my eyebrows as her. She shook her head and walked towards the back without a word.

I turned back to my newest customer and smiled broadly. "Now, you wanna gimme some details and we can get this started?"

A few minutes later, I joined Grace on the floor of my bay like I had so many times before. "Hey, gorgeous," I said, dropping down beside her. Libby ran over to me and plopped into my lap, touching my face behind her, holding her arms up, and sending my brain pictures as she did so often now. I watched as my eldest daughter showed me Levi's face, drooling all over Serra's shoulder and Everett crying in his crib. She showed me the field with Johnny running through, sending birds into the air and the curve of Grace's hips as she ran back inside to see her.

Smiling as she brought her hands down into her own lap, I wrapped my arms around my daughter and then I stared at Grace as she turned to watch over her shoulder, listening. "What's up?" I asked, realizing that she didn't respond with her normal greeting when I sat next to her.

"That woman," she began, and I rolled my eyes, thinking that she was about to be jealous. "She wasn't human."

I choked on the soda I was pouring into my mouth, coughing and gagging as I struggled for breath. "What?" I finally managed. "What was she?"

Grace shrugged, turning back to Glory in the stroller, pouring tiny puffed snacks into the tray in front of her. "I don't know, but I couldn't hear her. She wasn't human."

It had been almost six months since the Glory and Everett had been born and we were deep into our rhythm of everyday life. I hadn't heard of something not being human in over two years, not since the vamps that attacked Grace and Serra. Bringing the girls home from Hell was the last time I even had my gun out, and that was almost a year ago as it was. Shaking my head, I stared at my wife. "What do you think she was?"

Grace shrugged as she handed some of the puffed snacks into Rhett's tray. "I don't know, babe," she said quietly, "but she wanted you."

I took a bite of the burger Grace handed me. "Yeah, I gathered that," I said, mouth full. "She kept touching me." I eyed my wife, who had the ability to know if something was dangerous or not purely on one interaction, but she didn't seem concerned, so I didn't press the matter. If the customer was someone I should be wary of, Grace would let me know.

We enjoyed each other's company for the next twenty minutes or so, talking and passing kids back and forth. My boss came in then, and seeing my kids lying on the floor of my bay, he chuckled. "Dean," he greeted me, "I would have never guessed you were such a family man."

"Hey, Doug," I said, looking up at him. I shrugged, "Can't help myself."

Doug chuckled, glancing at Liberty, inspecting a tire pressure gauge with intensity. "They're beautiful," he said, gesturing to the kids. "She's not so bad, either," he said, glancing at Grace.

I smiled, "Doug, this is my wife, Grace," I said. He extended his hand to Grace and she shook it, still sitting on the creeper with Everett on her lap.

"Nice to meet you, Grace. I've heard so much about you." Doug smiled and turned back to Dean. "When you've got a minute," he continued, "come on by my office."

I nodded at him, "Yeah, no problem," I said. "Gimmie about twenty more minutes."

"No rush," he said. "It was nice to meet you, Grace."

"You too," she said, allowing Everett to suck on her finger. Grace turned to stare at me and raise her eyebrows. "Do you know what he wants?" she asked, a grin spreading across her face.

"I'll bet you do," I said, taking a drink.

She leaned forward conspiratorially and lowered her voice to a whisper, "He's retiring, Dean. He wants you to buy him out!"

I stared at my wife, disbelieving. "What?" I said stupidly. "What about Eric?" I asked, thinking of Doug's son. Doug had chosen me to take House Manager over his own son about two years ago.

She was shaking her head, pulling the tire pressure gauge out of Liberty's mouth. "He doesn't even want him as house manager. He wants you to hire," she continued, still grinning. "Holy crap, Dean! He wants you to buy him out!"

I couldn't believe it. We would be business owners. I took Everett as he reached for me and then immediately let him go back to Grace as he changed his mind mid-pass, and allowed myself to consider the possibility of owning my own shop. Can we even afford that? Can we afford to buy him out with you not working?

"Hey," she said, shaking her head, "don't pin this on me. You wanted me to quit."

I nodded, smiling. "I know, but it's an honest question."

She shrugged, leaning against the Buick. "I'm sure the bank would finance us. We were able to put so much down on the Big House when we bought it; they've established a good line of credit for us. A business loan is something completely different. They'd give it to us."

I was already nodding, agreeing with Grace. "We should do it," I said, my eyes going wide. "This is the only other thing besides hunting that I'm good at. You could watch the accounting part, since me and math don't see eye to eye." She chuckled at that, and I continued. "And we'd be business owners." I paused, grinning, "Winchester Family Auto."

"The new family business?" she said smiling as she took a drink.

I shrugged, "I'd rather see Ev at the business end of a wrench than a sawed-off."

Grace laughed and nodded. "Oh, for sure. What about the girls?"

Leaning back and smiling, I glanced at my eldest daughter, picturing her in coveralls with grease on her face. "Ain't nothing better than a girl who knows her cars."

Winking at me, my wife grinned. "No, there ain't."