Miracle Cream Ch. 04

"Wow, what brought that on?" Jairo asked, pressing his wife tight against his chest.

"He said it," Celeste mouthed, so Cory didn't hear or see it as she kept her back to him. Burying her face in her husband's chest as he hugged her hard as her tears reamed her eyes.

"Hello, Cory; I didn't expect to see you here? Thought you be home since you have school tomorrow," Jairo stated as they walked up to their son as his hand rested along Celeste's shoulders as she carried one of his bags in her right hand.

"You think I'm let her go off alone in my car?" Cory asked, repeating the same question to his father as he did his mother.

"Your car?!" Jairo called out, a little excited as he watched his son walking off towards it.               "Yeah, so, come on, like to get home before eleven; welcome back, by the way," Cory said in a friendly tone as he waved for them to follow. He ignored how sweetly the two of them were talking as they followed a few feet behind, pulling out his keys, hitting the key fob, and listening to that familiar chirp. His keys jingled as his fingers took hold of the trunk key as he neared his car. Waving for his father to stow his bags. "Don't wreck my car," Cory teased, watching the glee in his father's eyes as his keys flew in the air.

"You sure?" Jairo asked, eager to feel the power of that car back beneath his hands.

"Yeah, Mom and I worked out an arrangement, didn't we?" Cory asked, grinning at his mother when she noted he was serious about that rule when his mother just latched onto his father's lips. Taking his keys back when his father was distracted and unlocked the passenger door.

"So wrong you're doing this to your own mother," Celeste whispered as Cory gestured for her to climb in the back.

"You could have just taken your own car, could you not?" Cory retorted, keeping his chuckle contained as she climbed into the back of his car. Folding the seat back up, sliding into it, reaching over, and unlocking the driver's door.

******

That Saturday...

Jairo had the blueprint he had his office make for him after he had sent them the design of it that his children and Cassy had agreed to yesterday as he, along with his children and Cassy, were currently in the basement of his home with the plumber his company had worked with along with one of his assistants. Seeing the man nodding along when he showed how they wanted it to look and pointing out where they could tie into the old line to run the new ones. Ignoring how the young man with the man that was Brycen as he came to know the man as tried not to ogle his daughters and Cassy as they ambled around the area. Speaking about how such and such will look.

"Yeah, see if we run pex pipe from here to here," Brycen said, pointing out along the space and the blueprint. "We can run your water lines and then use the walls you frame up for the bathroom to run the rest of it. The only pipe that will be in there will be for the sewage line for these two toilets, tub, shower, and sinks, so we don't have to dig up your whole slab. Just some jackhammering, prep the bed, lay the pipe, then once their laid and you get the framing up, my crew and I would be glad to come back out and run the rest of the pipe for you."

"How long?" Jairo asked the man, hoping to finish the work while his wife and kids were out of the house.

"Two... maybe three days, depending on how much prep work we have to do before we lay the pipe in," Brycen estimated after a moment of thought, knowing this would give him some reason to be out of his house at the moment.

"How soon could you start?"

"Well, the hammering work is going to be rather noisy even on your top floor, so I'm assuming you want to get this done when your kids and wife are out, at least for that part of it," seeing Jairo nod to that, "I can have me, Charles, here," waving to his assistant, "one other here the day after you get the permits from the city. We can come in early in the morning, just about when they're about to leave, and work the eight hours or so while they're out if need be, come back the next day and do it again. Depending on what kind of rebar they used in the slab and how quick the saw and hammer can cut through it, that's going to take most of the time,"

"Ah, yeah, already put the paperwork in, so just waiting on them to approve the permit; I know how slow they are, too," Jairo said, rubbing his chin as he nodded along.

"Then we'll have to get an inspector out here before we cover the pipes; that might take a few days for them to get around to you. Then once we do, then shouldn't take more than a few hours to fill with concrete. But I'm sure you can handle that."

"Hey," Charles sweet-talked as he zeroed in on the girls when Cory had went up the stairs for something. "I'm Charles," he introduced himself to them, noting how they were eyeing him, waiting for him to get to the reason for the interruption. "Listen, you three look like you could use some relaxation; I know this party. How about the four of us...." Glancing at his hands when Dayana and Cassy brushed them off.

"Listen, you might be a nice guy and whatnot, but if you can't tell we're busy right now, then please get your eyes checked because the only person I go to parties with is my boyfriend," Dayana said politely, turning him down.

"And you best keep your hand off my girlfriend, get me?" Zoe said sternly.

"My mistake," Charles said, raising his hands in surrender before returning to his boss' side.

"You finally going to do some work, or should I wait for you to get shot down again?" Brycen asked, a little disappointed at his unprofessionalism while on the job and in front of a new client, no less.

"Sorry, boss," Charles muttered, red-faced.

"Take that end and go stand by the old toilet drain," Brycen ordered, holding out the end of his measuring tape so he could quote Jairo a price for the work he was looking to do for his home. He, too, had a daughter at home, Lexi, and he didn't like how some men acted around her as he noted Jairo's restrained demeanor when Charles returned to his side. He, like him, knew when to hold back since his daughters appeared to be of college age. Kneeling down, marking where the first toilet closest to the drain would be, then having Charles moved to about a foot out from him so they could mark the junction of the tee for the PVC pipe. Trying to keep the image of his daughter greeting him naked when he got home a few days ago and what came afterwards from his mind. Having Charles stay there after he marked it, Brycen proceeded to move to the next tee junction that would lead to the sink and to the part of the bath room where the shower and tub would be, marking out all those, then moved off to mark the places for Cory's and Dayana's side of the shared bathroom. "Your father tells me that's your Mustang sitting out there," Brycen spoke as Cory bounded back down the stairs with a book of samples. Dayana and Zoe had spent all day yesterday on in his left hand, making nice with the client.

"It is," Cory nodded as he handed the binder over to Zoe. Who was quickly forgotten about once Dayana and Cassy closed ranks around her as they debated on how to decorate their apartments.

"Nice car."

"Thanks," Cory said, being friendly.

"How fast have you gotten it up to?" Brycen asked, pointing to Charles where the toilet would be so he could mark it.

"Oh, I'm not falling for that one," Cory muttered, seeing his father's interest peaking.

"That fast, huh?" Brycen chuckled, knowing what that response was about.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Cory said, sticking to his innocent act. "But my mother has gotten it over a hundred once," he uttered offhandedly. "Thought I was going to die, no lie."

"Oh?" Brycen muttered, looking back at Jairo and seeing the man trying not to crack up.

"Oh yeah, drives like a bloody moonshiner on the run from the law," Cory stated with all seriousness while fighting back his smile.

"You know I can hear you?!" Celeste shouted from the ground floor.

"What?! It's the truth. Do you want me to lie to this good man? Didn't know you raised me like that!" Cory called back, getting a snort out of his father.              

"Jairo, you better not be laughing?!"

"Nope, swear it wasn't me," Jairo said as evenly as he could as he laughed inwardly as he shoulder-bumped his son.

"So, what's he doing?" Cory asked, nodding down to Charles.

"Measuring out the feet of the trench we're going to cut into the slab so I can calculate the cubic feet of it to give your father the quote of the work that's going to be done and the amount of rubble that will have to be hauled away and disposed of, plus the cost of running new water lines to this area," Brycen informed him.

"Oh, you can give that to me," Cory said, speaking up since he and Dayana were financing the bathroom and the remodel once the sheetrock was hung.

"I didn't..." Brycen stammered, looking to Jairo, who nodded.

"It's cool," shrugging his shoulders, "it's normally the correct assumption in most cases, just not this one," Cory said with a friendly smile.

"Ah, well, it's not going to be cheap..."

"Yeah, kind of figured that," Cory nodded.

"Just so your aware," Brycen spoke, not to berate Cory. Writing down figures, punching numbers in his calculator app, doing some quick addition, some subtraction, "It will come out to be sixty-five hundred, that includes the handling of the rubble and its disposal," he said, once his calculations added up.

"You take a card or..." Looking intently at the man as he pulled something out of the pocket of his pants and connected it to his phone. Seeing him opening up another app as Cory pulled out his wallet. Watching how he slid his card through the reader before handing it back to him.

"I'll have your invoice mailed to you in one to three business days," Brycen said in a business-like voice.

Chapter eight

September 12...

"Hey?! Was hoping to see you hear?!" Cory said, happy to see Greg strolling up the rows of Ford cars were he was assigned to park.

"Hello, Cory, young Miss," Greg greeted, running his eyes over the car that once would have been his son's if he hadn't been taken from him in the cruelest of ways. "Your dad said something about you coming today; I was hoping to catch you."

"Yeah, asked Dad, too, but he said he didn't know if you were or not," Cory replied, shaking Greg's hand as they stood in front of his car. "So, did you bring one of your cars?"

"That I did," Greg nodded. "Showing off my '67 Chevelle."

"Really, I got to see it; I only had a peak at it the last time I was over, so you didn't enter it in the contest?" Cory asked, noting how his sister was keeping her distance.

"Nope, don't feel like staying that long just to wait on them; what about you? I see you've taken good care of the car," Greg stated, noting the fresh wax on the car.

"Yeah, I'm in the same boat; I went down to the Mustang car show in Myrtle Beach back in July," seeing the interest pegged in Greg's eyes when he said that, "didn't place well in the category I was in, so I'm just here to show off the car like you are," Cory said, "You want to check it out?"

"If you don't mind," Greg spoke, knowing this was about as close as he could still be to his son.

"Nah, go on, give it a good poking through," Cory said with a friendly smile. Standing off with Dayana, watching the man just take his time noting the little things he had added over the months to make the car his own. Nodding when his sister whispered that he had done a good thing for him as Cory tried not to notice how Greg was lost in his memories.

"Interesting choice of rims; where did you get them?" Grey asked, studying the ones that were currently on the car, seeing how they weren't the factory ones that were on them when he had given Cory the car. Squatting down, reaching in, running his finger along the inside of the rim to see what kind of paint it was since it matched the blue of the paint he had put on for him. Now that both his mother and Alice were in their two months of pregnancy, he could understand how Greg felt about his own son. Whispering to Dayana the question that was on his mind when he nodded to Greg when he held up the plug for the interior lights. Who answered as quickly and as low as he had asked of her, seeing Greg just smiling as he shook his head as the lights came on when he inserted the plug.

"Oh, I got them at this little shop in Bartons Creek; heard of the place?" Cory asked, seeing Greg nod as he got out of his car. "Then had your paint guy powder coat the rims for me, so it makes it go pop, know what I mean?" he asked, with a boyish smile.

"Yeah," standing back as far as he could, which wasn't all that far, "I totally get what you mean," Greg muttered, noting how the black matched the second color of the two-tone of Cory's car, causing the viewer's eyes to be drawn to the glacial blue of the insides. "Got to say, Cory, I can understand why you placed so poorly in it, but that's because I'm an old gear head, love the classics as they were, yet not my sort of thing I put on or in my cars, there's no denying the modifications you made only enhances its beauty," he said proudly.

"I know right?! This thing is just awesome," Cory stated, soaking up the praise.

"So, want to go peek at the car that can outshine this one?" Greg said in a challenging voice.

"And I say all those people who think it can are just sore Chevy guys that got their butts handed to them," Cory joked, getting a laugh out of Greg as they walked off towards the Chevy section while Dayana went to go see Alice since they hadn't spoken in two weeks. Agreeing to meet back up at the frozen lemonade stand in about thirty minutes due to the walk between the two groups.

"Okay, that's a big motor," Cory admitted as he stared down at the 427 engine of Greg's '67 Chevrolet Chevelle SS. "I can see it winning a few races," he teased.

"Go on, feel how it is when you start up a real car," Greg joked, holding out his keys to Cory.

"Hey, did they come with this shifter?" Cory called out to Greg once he had slid into the driver's seat.

"A few of them did," Greg nodded, smiling down at Cory from over the top of his open driver's side door.

"Okay, that thing just looks neat," Cory stated, getting a smile out of Greg as he inserted the key. "See..." Giving it two revs, "I don't hear that growl like my pony does," he teased Greg, who was turning out to be his mentor when it came to the classic car world.

"You want to race for pink slips?" Greg challenged.

"Nah, don't want to deprive you of this beauty," Cory mused, knowing it would smoke his car. Cory didn't know why since he had a slightly bigger motor, just what the interwebs told him when he looked up information on his car. "Greg? Can I ask without bringing up any painful memories for you?" he spoke, peering up at Greg as he shut off his car.

"Depends on the question, Cory."

"Tell me to go fuck myself if this is too painful, but did your son ever get to ride in this thing?"

"Oh yes, this was the first car I restored; I would take him out in it whenever we just wanted to take off. I might not have been the best husband to my ex, but we raised one helluva son. Then I lost him; he went to the dark side," Greg said, bringing some levity to that tense moment.

"Nah, I'd say he saw the light, so how do you keep your interior that good after all this time, if you don't mind me asking?" Cory quired as he got out of the car and handed Greg his keys.

"Oh, lot of weekly care; I'll text you what I use," Greg said, seeing Cory nod as they explored the show for the next fifteen minutes towards the frozen lemonade stand. "So, how long are you two staying?"

"About another hour, I might get some fair food for lunch before heading home; the plumber should be done jackhammering the floor by then. What about you?" Cory asked, peering over at his friend.

"Oh, once I see some old friends, chat a bit. I'll be heading off. Got a sweet date; she's all over my 'Vette," Greg said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Sure... you know if you don't back off, Rosie is going to get that restraining order," Cory joked, getting a bark of laughter out of Greg along with a pat on the back.

"So you thinking about doing anything else to the car?"

"Nah, think I got it the way I want her, but going to have to change the brakes soon, they feel squishy, or at least starting to," Cory stated as they were within two hundred yards of the stand.

"Oh? Yeah... if you've been showing off, I can see that. Have you changed the oil in it?"

"Yep, I did, last week, been using that synthetic you told me about. Good thing the college had a shop they let me use... well the students did the oil change since they wouldn't allow me to do it, but they did let me drive the car in and out and start it. Knowing college kids, there be oil and grease all over my interior."

"So you planning to take it back to this shop of theirs?" Grey inquired, seeing Cory shaking his head.

"Oil change is one thing; not a whole lot can go wrong on an oil change, not leaving my fate in the hands of students when it comes to my brakes."

"Well, you probably don't have a lot of space at your house with all that construction going on," Greg said, tapping his chin and pondering if he had anything to do tomorrow. "You doing anything tomorrow?"

"Nah, just relaxing at home before class starts Monday," Cory answered.

"Say, one o'clock shouldn't take long to teach you how to change your own..."

"Oh, Dad's already taught me that," Cory interjected.

"Well, we'll just overlook his lack of control for now," Greg mused with a knowing smirk referencing the first time his father drove Cory's car. "Come over then, and we'll get those brakes changed out in a flash."

"Sure, appreciate the offer, Greg; it is a little tight over there at the moment. Got a feeling one of those guys on the plumber's crew would purposely mess up my car," Cory stated, shivering in horror of the sight in his mind.

"Oh? Why do you say that?"

"Because I turned them down when they tried to get me to talk to my sisters for them when they already turned them down and told them they weren't interested, so I told them... well, you can infer what I said, anywho they don't like me all that much right now," Cory stated, filling Greg in.

"I take it they're a little creepy?" Greg asked, knowing the reason behind Cory's injuries months ago when he had given Cory the car.

"Little bit," Cory nodded.

"You call me if you need an alibi," Greg said with a wicked grin, then a fatherly smile spread along his lips at Cory's mirthful laughter. Saying their goodbyes as the two parted ways.

"Got you one," Dayana said sweetly as she held out the cup to him.

"Want to go look at the pretty cars?" Cory asked, thanking her for the treat.

"Can we see if that woman entered this year? The one with that old coupe," Dayana said, moving to his side as she took a bite of her dessert.

"Sure, wasn't it like over that way or something?" Cory pointed before heading off in its direction.

******

The next day...

"Hey, Cory, on time as always," Greg greeted as he walked out of his house, as Cory was easing out of his car. Seeing Cory's confused look in his eyes as he noted the modern car sitting in his driveway.

"Guess what they say? Old dogs can learn new tricks," Cory joked as he caught on to why that car was there.

"Good one," Greg snorted, "You can pull your car on back around the house," he said, waving for Cory to follow him. His car just idled along as Grey led him to the far west end of his property. Pressing on his brakes, Cory just sat there in shock as Greg just pushed on his building, revealing a hoist lift as it rolled on the built-in tracks in the concrete slab. Walking around the front of it, and guided Cory onto the lift.