“They don’t start running for another half an hour, Dad. You’re gonna have to listen to Don and Ted wax on about their love for Terry McDougal.”
I curled my lip and reached for the glass of water Mave had brought me. Fuck Terry McDougal. The guy was a prick who won with luck most of the time.
I sipped on my water and heard Susan hollering for Mave. Mave jogged past the TV and into the living room. When I had first seen Mave out by the truck, I hadn’t even realized who she was. She looked completely different from when I had seen her in the hospital. Her long, reddish brown hair hung to her shoulders, and she was wearing a pair of white shorts and a pale purple shirt. She looked like she was ready to go for a stroll rather than take care of me.
Susan had taken the reins of getting everything set up on the lower level of the house and had Delaney, Christy, and Mave running around doing her bidding.
“You could take a nap before the race starts,” Harlyn suggested.
I glared at her. I hated that she could tell that I was tired. All I had done was get rolled into the house to sit on the couch.
“I’m sick of sleeping all of the time,” I grumbled.
“Sleep is good. You heal while you sleep.”
I laid my head back on the couch and sighed. “You better wake me up when qualifying starts,” I ordered.
“Will do,” Harlyn chuckled.
I closed my eyes and slept.
That was the only damn thing I could do.
*
Mave
“Your mom really doesn’t need to go to the store.”
Delaney sat at the kitchen island next to Harlyn. “You try telling her that.”
I leaned against the counter and sipped on my lemonade. “Good point.” Delaney’s mom was amazing to help get Roc’s house set up, but I also found out you didn’t really tell Susan what to do. “At least she took my money to pay for everything.”
Delaney laughed. “She’s bossy, not stupid.”
“You should have just given her Dad’s credit card.” Harlyn grabbed the bottle of open wine and refilled her glass. “He’s going to be mad when he finds out you gave Susan your money.”
“Well, if he wasn’t passed out on the couch then I would have asked him.”
Harlyn had volunteered to sit with her dad while we got the house situated, and of course, he had fallen asleep.
“Are you sure it’s okay that he’s sleeping so much?” Harlyn asked.
Delany and I both nodded. “His body has a lot of healing to do. Sleep really is the best thing for him right now,” I reassured Harlyn.
“But isn’t he going to get weak?” Harlyn sipped her wine. “The man drives me crazy so him not being all up in my shit at the shop is great right now, but honestly. In all honesty it’s kind of crazy to see my dad, who is always on the go, taking a nap in the middle of the day.”
“I promise there isn’t anything more wrong with your dad. His body went through some traumatic stuff and just needs to reset and heal.” I glanced at him in the living room.
I could understand why Harlyn was so concerned. I remember when my parents started declining in their health. It was a bitter pill to swallow. Though, my parents were in their seventies when I started noticing their age.
Harlyn needed to understand this was just temporary for Roc right now. He was in good shape before the accident, and he just needed a good bit of time to heal.
“I am surprised he isn’t watching qualifying.”
Harlyn turned to look at the TV. “It just started. I was going to wake him when they mention King Racing. Remy told me they won’t be running for about an hour. They’re going through pro stock right now.”
“Swear you two speak a different language.” I shook my head and looked at the TV.
Roc’s house was absolutely amazing.
The lower level was basically all open except for a bedroom and bathroom that were off the left of the kitchen. Susan had led the charge of moving everything into the downstairs bedroom and making everything as accessible as we could for Roc.
Bathing wasn’t even going to be too hard for him since the shower was large enough for a shower chair and no ledge to step into. I should be able to just roll him in and give him a decent sponge bath.
“Well, you’re about to spend a considerable amount of time with Roc so you’ll start understanding what we are talking about in no time.” Harlyn winked and tipped her glass toward me.
“I’m just learning all of this stuff, too. I swear, when Jay first talked about the race crew and everything, it felt like he lived in an alternate universe.” Delaney shook her head and laughed. “Hell, sometimes when I talk to Frankie, I still get lost on what she is all saying.”
Harlyn raised her hand. “Girl, that woman is on a different level. Sometimes, I think she knows more about that car than Brooks does.”
“She probably does,” Delaney laughed.
“Cummings Racing. Or King Racing as they go by now.” The asshole chuckled. “Now there is a race team that takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”
Harlyn jumped up and sprinted into the living as the announcer started talking about the race team.
She woke up Roc and plopped down on the couch next to him. “Wake up, old man. They’re talking about the team.”
“After Brooks and his dad, legendary dragster Roger Cummings, split ways, things seemed to be looking up for the rookie.”
“He’s not a fucking rookie,” Roc grunted. “How the fuck long does one need to race before they stop calling him that?”
“Apparently, longer than he has been,” Harlyn snickered.
“You’re right, Don. After winning two races, Brooks seemed to be unstoppable.”
“But then tragedy struck last week when the whole race team was involved in an accident that left everyone banged up and Roc Krinston with two broken legs. King Racing is here this weekend continuing to fight for the AC Cola Series cup with their Car Chief Frankie Jensen leading the way.”
“Whoop!” Harlyn shouted.
“I hope someone is recording this for Frankie,” Delaney laughed.
“I’m sure her brothers are.” Harlyn cleared her throat. “I am too.”
“Shut it,” Roc grunted. “I wanna hear what else these assholes have to say.”
“You have to wonder if this team really has what it takes to make it the long haul. We’re halfway through the season and the team seems to be falling apart.”
“Falling apart?” Harlyn scoffed. “They’re talking like the accident was something we wanted to happen.”
“Well, today will be the first step to see if King Racing actually has what it takes to bring home the AC Cola Cup.”
“Terry McDougal and the Plot Line Crew might have something else to say about that.”
The TV faded to an oil commercial, and Harlyn pointed the remote at the TV to mute it.
“Thanks for waking me up for that shit-show,” Roc grunted.
“The best part of that is the team is going to win this weekend and prove that King Racing is not falling apart.” Delaney walked back into the kitchen and sat down at the island.
“It’s nice that you are so optimistic, but one of the things with drag racing is you never really know who is going to win if everyone is running in tip-top shape.” Harlyn folded her arms over her chest and sat back into the couch.
“But not everyone runs tip-top?” I asked.
Roc and Harlyn turned around to look at me.
“Ideally, everyone will be,” Harlyn replied.
“The top five teams ideally do run great.” Roc curled his lip. “McDougal is our biggest competition, and the only reason we’ve been beating him is because we have that car running the best it has ever ran before.”
“So, we need to pray McDougal pops a tire and Brooks beats him?”
Harlyn tapped her nose then pointed at me. “Now that is the kind of thinking we need.”
Roc shook his head and turned back around
. He apparently didn’t appreciate my sense of humor as much as Harlyn did. “McDougal hasn’t made it to the finals in the last two races. Right now, he is the one who is falling apart, not us.”
The front door opened and slammed shut. “We’re back!”
“Back?” Roc asked.
“Susan and Christy went to the store to get stuff for stuffed peppers.” Harlyn tossed the remote to Roc. “We figured we needed to feed you.”
“I had food in the fridge,” Roc argued.
“Yeah, about that. Do you really need to have that much ketchup? You got two bottles in the fridge and three in your pantry.” Harlyn stood and walked to the front door to help Susan and Christy. “You make ketchup milkshakes or something?”
I cringed at the thought of ketchup and ice cream. God, please don’t let that be why Roc has so much ketchup.
“They had a good deal on it at the wholesale store. Ketchup goes bad in like ten years.” Roc turned the volume back on the TV.
“You have twelve gallons of ketchup, twenty pounds of ground beef, and thirteen containers of lemonade mix,” Harlyn called.
“And?” Roc mumbled.
Harlyn, Susan, and Christy walked into the house with plastic bags hanging from their hands and arms. “We got you some stuff to go with that ketchup and hamburger, Roc,” Susan called. “You really had me thinking about what I could cook with all of that ketchup.”
“It’s for hot dogs and hamburgers,” Roc grumbled. “You don’t need to cook it with anything.”
Susan cackled and dropped the bags she was carrying onto the kitchen counter. “I like a challenge.”
I helped unload all of the groceries and was glad to see they had bought a good variety of everything, though I’m sure my credit card had a pretty good dent in it.
Harlyn stayed with Roc while the rest of us worked on putting everything away and making dinner.
“So how are you feeling?” Delaney asked.
I grabbed the cutting board from under the counter and a knife from the drawer. Susan had put me in charge of cutting onions and garlic. “Uh, I think good.”
I hadn’t been left alone with Roc at all so I couldn’t really say one way or the other.
“I think you’ll be okay. At least you’ll have enough space here that if you want to get away from him, you’ll just need to go upstairs.”
“Cause he can’t follow me there?” I laughed.
“Exactly.”
“So, that’s my plan. Things get crazy, I run upstairs.”
Delaney and I looked at each and burst into laughter.
I guess a crap plan was better than no plan at all.
*
Chapter Six
Roc
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you get him into bed?”
I rolled my eyes and turned up the TV.
“I got it. I need to get used to doing it anyway. You’re not going to be here all of the time, Harlyn.”
I couldn’t hear what Harlyn said, but ten seconds later, the front door shut and the lock clicked into place.
“She actually decided to leave me alone with you?”
Mave walked into the living room and stood next to the couch. “Pretty sure she was going to stay. I basically pushed her out the door and threw the lock.”
“She’s got her own life to deal with right now. She shouldn’t be so worried about me.”
Mave plopped down on the opposite end of the couch. “She’s your daughter. Can you really blame her for worrying about you?”
I scoffed and flipped through the channels. “You can go to bed, if you want. I’m not tired at all right now.”
Basically only sleeping for the past week had caught up to me. At least, for the time being.
“It’s only nine thirty. I’m not quite ready for bed yet either.”
“You get all settled in?” Not like I could help her if she wasn’t.
“Uh, yeah. I took the spare bedroom at the top of the stairs. We also hooked up walkie talkies so if you need me in the middle of the night, all you have to do is holler.”
“Walkie talkies?” Lord.
“Yeah. Susan bought them when she was out getting groceries.”
I shook my head. “That woman is more than I can handle. I need to pay her for all of the food and also the walkie talkies.”
Mave laughed. “You owe me for all of that. Susan had no problem using my credit card.”
“I’ll get you back for it all. Though, I will say, those walkie talkies are probably a waste of money.”
Mave waved her hand at me. “You can keep them around for when you have grandkids. They’ll love to play with them.”
I turned and looked at her. “You know something I don’t know?”
A smile spread across her lips. “No, but you never know what will happen. She and Remy are in love and young.”
“Young is what worries me.”
I knew that Harlyn had a good head on her shoulders, but even smart people make bad decisions.
“You don’t like Remy?” Mave asked. “I only met him once, but he seemed like a good guy.”
“He is a good guy. I just don’t know if he is good enough for my Harlyn.”
“Don’t all dads think no one is good enough for their daughters?” she asked.
I looked over at her. “You tell me. Was your dad that way with you?”
She fidgeted under my gaze and pointed at the TV. “You wanna find a movie or something to watch?”
I’d rather find out why she avoided my question. “We’re watching Godzilla. It’s on commercial right now.”
It wasn’t the greatest thing to watch but there wasn’t anything else good on.
“All these channels and that is the best thing you can find to watch?”
I wanted to ask her about her dad. Why? I didn’t fucking know. I just needed to find any small tidbit of information I could about Mave. It bothered me that she was here and I knew absolutely nothing about her other than she was a doctor and her last name.
“You can try looking if you want. Though, I’m not into chick shit.”
She grabbed the remote and pointed it at the TV. “I have no idea what you mean by chick shit.”
“Sappy crap that makes you cry and regret all of your life choices.”
She flipped through the channels and laughed when she landed on the home shopping network. “Is this classified as chick shit?”
I rolled my eyes. “No. It’s ten times worse than chick shit.”
She kept flipping through the channels. “How is it that the only thing on to watch right now is Godzilla?” she complained. She ended back on Godzilla and tossed the remote on the couch between us. “I surrender. Godzilla it is, then.”
“Figured you would see things my way.”
She huffed and slouched down into the couch. She kicked her feet up onto the coffee table and folded her arms over her chest. “Shh. If we’re going to watch it, then I at least want to be able to hear it.”
We watched the movie for half an hour before the pain pill I had taken earlier in the afternoon started to wear off.
“What’s wrong?” Mave asked. She sat up and turned her body toward me.
I shifted my legs restlessly and grunted. “Fucking legs are hurting.”
It was the first time I had felt a pain like this. I didn’t know if it was because I had sat up for too long or if the hospital really was giving me a stronger pain pill than the ones I had gotten from the pharmacy.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I looked up at her and growled. “Pretty sure I just did.”
She rolled her eyes and hopped up from the couch. “I mean why didn’t you tell me when you started feeling the pain? Now we’re gonna be chasing the pain away instead of staying in front of it.”
“Well, I’m sorry, Doc. I don’t like to take pain pills unless I need to.”
She walked into the kitchen, and I leaned down to rub my thigh. This shit was fucking rid
iculous.
The bottles of pills rattled and then she walked back into the living room. She held out two pills to me. “Take these.”
She reached over and grabbed the glass of water I had sitting there.
I grabbed the pills and looked down at them. “You sure these are the ones I should be taking?”
She pushed the water toward me and growled, “Pretty sure I know what pills you should be taking. Take the pills or don’t take the pills, Roc. You’re the one who is in pain, not me.”
“Your bedside manner is lacking a little bit, Doc.” I tossed the pills in my mouth and grabbed the water from her. I washed them down and handed the water back to her.
“Well, I’m here to take care of you, not be sweet as candy.”
She walked back into the kitchen, and I listened to her move around. Move around my house.
I hadn’t heard the sounds of a woman in my house for years. Harlyn came over every now and then, but it wasn’t the same as Mave being there.
“Are you ready for bed yet?” she called.
I looked over my shoulder at her. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and the lights in the kitchen were all turned off. “Could be.”
I could always watch TV in bed. I knew Mave had to be exhausted from helping me get settled today.
“I’m taking that as a yes and rolling your ass to bed.” She grabbed the wheelchair that was parked next to the couch and rolled it next to me. “I’ll try not to drop you.”
I looked up at her. “Are you trying to instill trust in me? Cause if you are, I can tell you that it isn’t working for a second.”
“I have an idea.” She parked the wheelchair by the side of the couch, applied the brakes, then pushed back the coffee table. “You’re strong, right?”
She stood directly in front of me with her hands resting on her hips.
“Yeah.”
“Good. If you put your—”
I managed to twist, put my hands on the arms of the chair, and lift myself off the couch. Thankfully, Mave got what I was doing and lifted my legs. I raised myself off the couch, and Mave swung my legs as I plopped down in the chair.
“That what you wanted me to do, Doc?”
“Well, yeah,” she laughed. “Though, next time, give me a bit of a warning.”
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