“I give her a week before she runs for the hills.” Harlyn swung her arm from behind her back and slapped a pair of shoes on the bed.
“You took my shoes too?” I growled.
Harlyn beamed down at me. “Sure did. I got these amazing slides for you, though.”
“I’ll go barefoot. You are not putting those fucking things on my feet.”
She scoffed. “As if you can actually do anything about it.”
“I’m not a fucking doll you can dress up, Harlyn. I will roll out of this damn hospital naked before you put those fucking shoes on me.”
“Whoa, whoa. There will be no naked rolling around here.” The nurse who had given me a bath walked in with a clipboard and a small stack of papers. “What’s all of the ruckus about?”
Harlyn plopped down in the chair next to the bed. “He’s being a bear, but at least I got him into the shirt so I guess I’ll relent on the shoes.”
“And what a…bright shirt it is,” the nurse snickered. “Let’s get your also-bright shorts on, and then we’ll go over all of this paperwork.”
Half an hour later, I was sitting by the curb of the hospital entrance waiting for Harlyn to pull the car around.
“Try not to give your daughter too much hell, Roc.”
I tipped my head back and looked up at the nurse. “If you ask her, you should be saying a prayer for my nurse.”
She shook her head and laughed. “She’ll be in my prayers.”
Harlyn pulled up in front of me and rounded the front of the SUV with a smirk on her lips. “Did I forget to mention I raided your garage and borrowed a car?”
“Think you failed to mention it.”
Of course, she had helped herself to my new Range Rover. The Range Rover I had just bought last week and had only driven home from the dealership.
“It drives like a dream. I can drive it around for you while you recover so she doesn’t have to sit in the garage, lonely.”
I wheeled over to the passenger door. “It’s a fucking car, Harlyn. It doesn’t get lonely.”
She opened the door. “No, but I might get lonely without it.”
“I probably should have told you to bring a car if possible. They’re much easier to get into than higher up vehicles,” the nurse murmured.
After a good five minutes of fumbling, grunting, and a shit-ton of cursing, Harlyn and the nurse managed to get me in the car and the door shut.
Harlyn started the truck then pulled her phone out.
“Who the hell are you calling?”
She glared at me. “Remy. There isn’t any way in hell that Mave and I are going to be able to get you out of this car.”
Her phone rang though the car as she pulled out onto the road.
“Hey, babe.”
I cringed at Remy calling her “babe.” I was still dealing with the fact that my daughter was dating one of the crew.
“I’ve got the package, but I’m going to need help getting it out of the car.” She looked over at me. “It’s heavy and disagreeable.”
“Babe, we’re on the road.”
“Oh, shit. How the heck did I forget that?”
“You got a lot going on. Hold on.” The phone was muffled but I could hear Remy talking to someone.
“You hungry?” Harlyn asked.
“Burger. Fries. Milkshake.” A few days of shitty hospital food was a week too much for me.
She rolled her eyes and flipped on her blinker. “Burger and fries, no shake,” she countered.
At least she had agreed to the burger and fries and hadn’t tried to talk me into a salad or some shit. “Fine. Hit the drive thru.”
“Har?” Remy called.
“Still here.”
“Brooks said he’ll give Christy a call and see if Susan can come over and help you out. Between you, Mave, and Susan, you should be able to get Roc into the house.”
“Again, why the heck didn’t I think of that?” Harlyn laughed. “I’ll call you after I get Roc settled.”
“Sounds good. Love you.”
I cringed and turned my head to look out the window.
Harlyn laughed. “Love you, too.” She ended the call and reached over to nudge me. “I saw that look.”
“I don’t ever need to hear that again. Just so you know.”
“One day, you’ll get used to Remy and me being together.”
“Right,” I drawled. And pigs could fly.
Harlyn pulled into the drive thru, ordered me a greasy cheeseburger and large fries. “Don’t get used to this,” she warned as she handed me the bag of food.
I pulled out the chicken sandwich she had ordered for herself and handed it to her. “You aren’t going to be around, little girl. I’ll eat what I want.”
“That’s what you think.”
We ate our food in silence, and about two minutes after I finished, my eyes got heavy, and I dropped the empty bag on the floor.
“Sick of being fucking tired,” I grumbled.
“Sleep, Dad. We still have about half an hour until we get to your house.”
My head hit the headrest, and I closed my eyes. Hopefully, when I woke up, this would all have been a dream, and I wouldn’t be a helpless cripple.
*
Chapter Four
Mave
“I’m Susan.” She hitched her thumb over her shoulder. “That’s Christy, and you know Delaney. I’m her mom.”
Delaney waved at me with a huge smile on her lips.
“Uh, hi?” I was already a bit out of my comfort zone trying to get used to Roc’s huge house, and now, Delaney was here with her mom and friend.
“Harlyn called. She had a bit of a problem getting Roc into the truck so she asked me to come over and give a hand to get him in the house.”
I stepped to the side, and Susan walked in.
“Oh, I guess I hadn’t really thought about transferring him into the car and house.”
Harlyn had said she would pick up Roc, and I had been more than okay with that. I wasn’t really sure I wanted the hospital to know that on my vacation, I was caring for a patient.
Delaney walked into the house and shut the door behind her. She leaned toward me and lowered her voice. “I am so sorry. I was with my mom when she got the call from Harlyn, and I thought coming with was the best.”
I patted her on the shoulder. “You’re good. It’s actually nice to have you here.”
It was nice to see a familiar face. I had seen and talked to Harlyn a few times at the hospital, but we were still basically strangers. Hell, Roc was still a stranger to me.
“I’ll try to get my mom out of here as soon as possible, but I know how she is. She talks, talks, and talks.” Her hand mimicked someone talking. “She wanted to stop at the store on the way over to grab something for dinner, but I managed to talk her out of it.”
“This place is as huge as Brooks’,” Susan hollered. “Swear to God, I need to get me on one of those race teams. Shoot.”
Susan and Christy were wandering around the kitchen and living room. “You basically live with me at Brooks’, Susan. We get all of the perks without actually having to do anything.”