"If you don't know, tell me," Leo said. "If you make a mistake, we stop, make it safe, and figure out why. What we don't do is hide something that could hurt a customer." Daniel studied him suspiciously.
"And you won't throw me out for asking dumb questions?" Leo shook his head. "I ask them every week. Sometimes they're the questions that keep people alive."
He gave Daniel one of the blue-handled screwdrivers from Patrick's old roll, explaining that it was not a prize and not a debt. It was a tool that had helped him learn, and he wanted Daniel to use it until he could buy a better one of his own. Daniel held it carefully, turning the faded blue paint toward the light. "Why are you giving me this?" he asked. Leo smiled. "Because somebody gave me a chance to work before I knew how much I needed one."
The relationship with Sully changed as Leo grew older. At seventeen he had seen the huge biker as the man who could stand between him and danger. At twenty-one he saw the impatience, the dry humor, the bad habits, and the stubborn loyalty that made Sully both difficult and worth knowing. They argued over repairs and sometimes over decisions unrelated to motorcycles. The difference was that Leo no longer expected disagreement to end with someone leaving or raising a hand.
One winter evening Sully arrived at the shop with a motorcycle he wanted checked before a long ride. Leo inspected it and told him the tires needed replacing before the trip. Sully frowned at the cost. "They've got another thousand miles," he claimed.
Leo shook his head. "Not the way you're planning to ride. We can argue about the invoice all afternoon, or we can do the right job."
Sully folded his arms. "You getting bossy, kid?" Leo met his eyes. "I learned from a guy who told me not to promise a repair I hadn't made." For a heartbeat Sully looked ready to argue.
Then he grinned. "Your father must've been a remarkable pain in the neck." Leo laughed. "Probably. You two would've gotten along."
They stopped talking for a moment, each aware of the father who was missing from the room. Sully never tried to replace Patrick, and Leo was grateful for that. He could love the memory of one man without diminishing the affection he had grown for another. The two relationships occupied different places in his life, like tools designed for different purposes and valued because neither could do the other's job. Sully paid for the tires without another complaint.
Leo kept in touch with Miguel, Tessa, and Ben as their lives settled into safer arrangements. They did not all share a home, and their recoveries followed different paths. Miguel grew into a thoughtful teenager who wanted to study environmental science and still remembered the first drawer he had been allowed to call his own. Tessa discovered a talent for drawing and began making detailed sketches of engines even though she insisted she had no desire to become a mechanic. Ben became a loud, curious boy who liked basketball and occasionally called Leo for help with homework.