Chapter Sixteen
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One week before the wedding
For Axel, time sped by like water through a leaky colander. As each day went by, more of the wedding plans locked into place. Each time Axel saw Lucy, either near or far away, he was reminded of the dwindling time he had left with her. After the wedding, she’d go back to Alpha-Prime and he’d only see her at family events or when he and Francine visited their former home planet. Would she avoid him in the future? Would he avoid her? Space potatoes.
His heartbeat sped as Lucy walked into the Celestial Barbeque Shack and spotted him waiting for her. Valene was coming later to discuss more wedding stuff, but for now, he and Lucy could discuss all of the Dirk Crusher books she’d been reading.
She dropped into the chair across from him and took a big gulp of the sweet tea he’d ordered for her. Her evident pleasure made him want to laugh. “Okay, what was your favorite book?”
“All of them,” she said with genuine glee in her expression.
“Good answer. I share it.”
“I loved the first book I read, Just Die Already, as much as all the rest of the series.”
“I agree. I’ve gone back and read the others a couple of times now and I enjoy them just as much a second or third time through.”
She mentioned a few plot points she loved that he’d forgotten about and they both agreed Dirk Crusher was very cool.
Lucy grew serious. “I guess you’ll have to send me the next one by interstellar mail.”
Axel sobered up, too. Only seven days until he married someone else. Someone who was not Lucy, the love of his life. Someone he still couldn’t bring himself to hurt or refuse to marry. Francine. Lucy’s favorite sister. His bride-to-be. A good soul who didn’t deserve any animosity from him whatsoever.
“I’ll send it, I promise.” She nodded, but didn’t smile. It had become the way most of their conversations ended, with no smiling as they realized the gravity of the life they wouldn’t share together forever.
He looked at his watch. His sister would arrive any minute and change the dynamic of the discussion. That was fine, but he valued each second with Lucy, resented each moment he had to share her. Every day he found ways to love her more, if that was possible. Their mutual love of all things Dirk Crusher was yet another reason.
“Hey, you two,” Valene called out as she approached their little table. “Have you been here long?” She glanced at their mostly finished glasses of sweet tea.
“We met a little early to discuss the latest Dirk Crusher book,” he said.
Valene rolled her eyes. “You and Dirk Crusher.”
“Dirk Crusher is awesome,” Lucy said.
“Oh no. Not another convert. What have you done, Axel?” Valene asked with a laugh. “I saw Diesel and Cam earlier reading the exact same paperback, something dreadful called Just Die Already. It’s like the zombie apocalypse with everyone reading the same thing.”
“Oh, it is not. Besides, I haven’t talked you into it yet.” Axel waggled his eyebrows at Valene.
“That would take quite some doing. Besides, I’m busy. I don’t have time for leisure reading these days.”
“What are you busy with that takes so much time?” Axel asked. He meant it as a teasing jab at his little sister and got a totally unexpected reaction.
“Lots of things…plus, other stuff…” Vivid color came up in her cheeks and she looked to be at a loss for words. She didn’t stay stymied for long. “And I’m very involved in a big Earther wedding for my brother, who obviously doesn’t appreciate me nearly as much as he should.”
Axel thought of Valene and Wyatt and lovers’ lane. He’d tried to discuss it with his sister a few times since the incident with the sand-claw beast, but she wasn’t having it. She avoided being alone with him and made it very clear she did not want to discuss that day anytime soon.
He had also contacted Wyatt to ensure he didn’t remember anything about fetching Axel and Lucy from the Cosmos Café. The sheriff acted like they hadn’t seen each other in a while, so he was relieved on that front.
Axel decided to let his sister keep her secrets—for now. Eventually he’d catch her off guard and extract all the information he could.
“Whatever. One of these days, Valvoline, I’ll get you to read Dirk Crusher and you’ll be one of us. A Dirk Crusher fan zombie.” He made his best monster face, but his sister was unimpressed.
“Yeah. Good luck with that. And stop using my real name, you know I hate it.” She rolled her eyes yet again, but Axel could tell she was not truly mad. “Listen. I know we were going to discuss the wedding today and tie up more details with the food, but we don’t have time.”
“Why, what’s up?”
Valene glanced at her wristwatch. “I invited your future bride and your future in-laws to your garage so they can see the muscle car you’ve been restoring.”
Axel sat up. “What? Why would you do that?”
“I think it would be good for them to see you doing something you excel at, you know?” Valene grinned. She had always been fascinated with his work on engines and the like, but not everyone thought working on a greasy motor was exciting or impressive.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea.” Axel frowned.
“Well, you’re the only one that thinks that. Francine thought it was the perfect idea to help her parents like you even more.”
“They don’t like me at all, especially not her mother.”
“Then anything will help, right?”
“I don’t know about that,” he said under his breath.
“Well, I do. Now, get up and let’s get going.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, now.” She motioned for Lucy to stand. “Lucy, you’re invited. Also, I have some ideas to show you for the food at the reception after the wedding ceremony. Francine picked out a few things already. I’d like to see what you think. We need to finalize the menu by tonight. The rehearsal dinner will have to be two nights before the wedding, instead of the night before, because the local bowling team secured the venue months ago for their tournament presentation.” She huffed. “I don’t anticipate a problem, though. We’ll do a partial run-through of the ceremony in plainclothes and then head over to the restaurant.”
“Okay,” Lucy said, but the excitement she’d shared with him while they talked about Dirk Crusher was gone. Talking about a wedding neither of them wanted to participate in had that effect. He didn’t want to be the groom and she likely didn’t want to have a ringside seat to the nuptials as the maid of honor.
“Cheer up, you two. I know nothing is as exciting as Dirk Crusher, but pretend to be excited about the wedding plans, okay?” His sister turned away without noticing Lucy’s melancholy look, or what he was certain was his own foul expression.
Axel stuck out his elbow and Lucy slipped her arm into his as they followed Valene out of the Celestial Barbeque Shack.
Lucy climbed into Valene’s two-seater sports car, telling Axel to go on ahead and get the car ready to show them at his oversized garage next to his home in Alienn.
Axel beat them there. He parked the truck and opened the garage door where his pride and joy, beyond Dirk Crusher novels, waited. He pulled the canvas car cover off the two-door ’67 Mustang he’d been restoring in his spare time. The car didn’t look like much yet, but he’d gotten the new engine installed and the tires were on. The interior needed a bit of love, and the final paint job remained in the distant future, but he’d enjoyed every greasy, dirty minute of working on it.
He’d done his first car restoration with Wyatt’s help. He loved the process so much that he built his own garage to continue it. As hobbies went, it was rather expensive and why it had taken him a year to get this far, but building and restoring the awesome classic car was immensely satisfying.
Axel popped the hood to look at the amazing engine. He grabbed a rag to clean up a spot of oil. He noticed another spot and wiped that up as well. He didn’t know how long he’d been puttering around. At some point, he flung his shirt off and managed to get grease stains all over his chest and belly. It didn’t help that the afternoon heat left him sweating up a storm.
He reached into the engine one-handed to tighten a bolt that had magically come loose, painstakingly turning the wrench until it was tightened up.
He ran his fingertips through his hair, felt beads of sweat at his temples and scratched an itchy spot at the back of his head. He pulled his hand back and realized he probably just put a wide grease stain in his hair. Whatever. He should grab a quick shower before anyone showed up.
Axel heard a sound behind him. He ducked out from under the hood and turned in time to see Francine’s surprised look, her mother’s horrified expression and Duvall’s demonstratively disapproving face.
None of them spoke as Valene and Lucy walked around the corner, Valene talking a mile a minute and not paying attention to the situation.
“We’re set, then, with the food, right?” she asked Lucy. By then, Lucy had spotted Axel and his sweaty, grease-stained bare chest. Unlike her family, she failed to exhibit surprise, horror or disapproval. She just looked hungry.
“Hey!” Axel said to the assembled crowd. “This here is my fav-o-rite hobby. Working on cars.” He took the wrench he held and casually used it to scratch a non-existent itch on his shoulder.
The reaction was as expected, a deeper version of whatever the initial assessment had been of his appearance. More surprise. More horror. More disapproval. A glance at Lucy yielded more hunger.
Francine stepped forward gamely. “Well, it’s certainly an interesting hobby.” Her mother grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back as if he might infect them all with his apparently startling hillbilly appearance and more disturbing redneck country boy pastime.
Axel looked at Lucy’s father, pointed beneath the hood and said, “Want to take a look?”
“No. I would rather not.”
“Suit yourself.”
Lucy took a step closer to Axel. She stared at his chest unblinkingly, mouth partially open, the tip of her sweet tongue resting just behind her teeth.
“Lucinda!” her mother said sharply. “Come over here, right now!”
She broke the stare and turned toward Francine and their mother as if she’d just woken from a dream. Swallowing hard, she moved a few steps toward her sister.
Francine asked Lucy, “What do you think of the car he’s working on?”
“Car?” Lucy looked at him again, and then at the vehicle as if it had been invisible until Francine mentioned it. Perhaps she hadn’t seen the car, only him.
Axel smiled at both sisters with sincere affection as Francine whispered something in Lucy’s ear that made her smile.
“This is a barbaric Earther display. I wish to leave now,” Adeline Duvall said in a tone that did not brook further discussion.
With one last look of contempt for Axel, the outraged parents swept Francine and Lucy away. Valene followed, trying to explain it wasn’t as bad as all that and lots of guys in the area worked on cars.
His sister shot him an apologetic look before she disappeared from sight, chasing after the Duvall family and their sizable contempt for his fav-o-rite hobby.
Axel basked in the fantasy that Lucy’s parents would call the wedding off after seeing this “barbaric” side of his character. Fat chance.
Besides, if he wasn’t good enough for Francine, he wasn’t going to be good enough for Lucy.
Axel tossed the wrench onto his workbench and closed the hood of his pride and joy, wondering what fresh purgatory he’d have to endure from the Duvalls for having the audacity to play with cars.
He already faced a lifetime married to a very nice woman he didn’t love.