Page 45 of Rhodes

"Yeah, they were, weren't they? We might have to pull those back out."

"What are you doing out there today?"

"Put a new pipe on my dirt bike and I want to shake it down."

"Dare I ask what 'shake it down' means?"

I laugh at that. "I want to open the throttle and hear it."

"Can I come?"

I stop. That one I didn't have loaded. "You want to ride?"

"I've always wanted to ride with y'all since I was about nine." She drops the book flat. "Mama always put the kibosh on it. You and Coop used to just vanish on those things and I'd sit on the porch and watch the dust. Girl. Little. Whatever."

"It's not a rambler. You've got a clutch and you've got to shift."

"I've been ripping around Wadmalaw on a four-wheeler since I could walk. I know how to throttle and shift. Do not insult me, Stone."

That takes the legs out from under most of what I was about to say. She can. I've watched her do it.

"Hand clutch is different than a foot brake and a thumb throttle."

"I'm a fast learner."

"You know your brother will kick my ass if you get hurt"

"Tell me you didn't just say that. I'm going to act like you didn't bring Coop into this."

"If you come, you listen to me. Every word."

"Not a problem."

I catch it a second too late, the way you catch that you've already stepped off a curb. Looks like I'm teaching a girl how to ride my dirt bike, breaking one of my cardinal rules.

By the time I've got both bikes strapped down in the trailer, and she climbs in the truck, my empty Sunday's got Tallulah in it.

She's got her boots up on my dashboard before we're out of the neighborhood.

"Off."

"You wax this thing?" She wiggles her toes against the glass. "It's shiny."

"I don't wax my dash. Off, or you walk."

She drops her feet, reaches for the radio, flips through the Sirius stations in about a second and a half, landing on The Tens Spot.

"You realize you talked about that exhaust for four minutes in the driveway," she says. "I timed it. That's four minutes about a metal tube."

"It's not just a tube."

"It's a tube, Rhodes."

"It changes how the whole engine breathes." I glance over. She's got her chin propped on her fist, grinning at me like she's already won. "You'll hear it when I open it up. Then you'll understand my excitement."

"I doubt that highly, but I'm keeping my mind open."

"Buckle up," I tell her. "Might hit a bump. You'd scratch your precious tube."