Chapter 13 - The Bike Came Back Different
The repair took six weeks.
Battery housing replaced.
New bars.
New foot peg.
Front wheel inspected.
Fork alignment checked.
Electronics tested.
The dealer refused to release it until the damaged battery enclosure was fully replaced.
Good.
Safety over shortcuts.
Jude went with me to pick it up.
He walked around the bike twice.
Then noticed a scrape on the frame that cosmetic repair had not fully removed.
The dealer apologized.
“We can order another panel.”
Jude touched the mark.
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
On the drive home, I asked why.
He shrugged.
“It’s still mine.”
That sentence felt important.
Damage had changed the bike.
Not ownership.
Not the three years that came before it.
Not what the saving meant.
Cliff asked if he could contribute to protective gear.
Jude said no.
Dad was beginning to understand that money was not the universal repair tool he thought it was.
Eventually he came to our house without Renee.
He brought nothing.
No check.
No gift.
No speech about family.
He told Jude:
“I gave permission for something I didn’t own.”
Jude nodded.
“That was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I treated your work like it mattered less because Sasha’s scholarship cost more.”
Jude looked at him.
“Did Mom make you say that?”
“No.”
“Therapist?”
Cliff looked offended.
I laughed from the kitchen.
Dad had started counseling after my mother’s absence came up in conversations he could no longer avoid.
He looked back at Jude.
“No.”
Then:
“Your mother explained it approximately forty times.”
Jude smiled slightly.
“Okay.”
He did not forgive Cliff on command.
May you like
But two weeks later, he invited him to watch him ride.
That was more than I expected.
