Polished Rust (Wilkins Brothers Book #4)

Chapter 18

TATE

“Fire it up, Nico!” 

Nico and I finished his model airplane and it is time to take it for its first official flight. I’ve never done a model airplane before so I’m hoping that we didn’t totally fuck this up. The engine works and all the pieces work, but neither of us knows what this first flight may look like. We’re both just hoping it isn’t the last flight as well.”

“It turns on, Uncle Tate, you ready?”

“Get your ass over here and do it!”

I hold up the remote and he runs across the yard with a huge smile on his face, taking the remote from me. “What if it crashes and burns?”

“Then we rebuild it, just the same as when we crash the cars.”

“This could actually burst into flames though.”

“Yeah, but I have a fire extinguisher over there and if we can’t repair it, we’ll just ask your dad to buy you a new one.”

“You think he will?”

I chuckle, “Nico, you could ask your dad for a damn puppy and he’d probably get you one. It is mostly your mom that has the ground rules.”

“He still won’t build a pool in the backyard though,” he mumbles under his breath.

“I can’t help you there. We have to think positively though. We followed the directions to a T and everything should work. I want you to try though, this is yours.”

“You helped.”

“I helped, but it is yours. Come on, Nico, stop procrastinating.”

He takes a deep breath and presses the two buttons on the remote that begins the propeller. The plane moves forward and then he engages the secondary motor and the plane takes off into the air. It is a rough flight, but the plane is in the air. The smile and laugh coming from Nico are contagious. I wrap my arms around him to give him a huge hug. “You’re doing it, Nico! Holy shit, look at that!”

“It flies! Uncle Tate, it really flies!”

“I know! You did it. You built an airplane and made it fly!”

It isn’t a smooth flight by any means and when he brings it down for the landing, the plane does more of a crash than a land. We run over to the landing site, thankful that the plane seems to be fully intact still.

“It took a bit of body damage, do you think you can repair this, Uncle Tate?”

“I don’t see why not. Shouldn’t affect the flying at all. You’ll have to show your mom and dad later.”

“That was the coolest thing ever. Thank you for helping me with it.”

I throw my arm around his shoulder again, “Don’t thank you, Nico. I just read some of the directions for you and dealt with the difficult parts, you did this on your own. This is your plane.”

“Next time I need to videotape it.”

“Ahh, I’m sorry I totally forgot. I was too excited for you.”

“It’s fine. Next time.”

“For sure. I should be getting you home though, ready?”

“Yep!”

I grab the plane and Nico grabs the remote. We get into my truck and take the route back to his place. When this shop was first opened, Gruff lived about the shop as his bachelor pad. Camila and the kids moved in there as well, but they needed a bit more space. The house they bought is only about a five-minute drive from the shop and it is in the same neighborhood that Bellamy and Maverick live in. The houses are older, mid-century modern ranch styles, but the two houses my brothers live in have been updated and remodeled.