“Not guilty,” she mumbled. “I guess this whole accident made me realize that even though my dad and I have our issues, he's still my dad at the end of the day.”
“Then come on over for breakfast. I’m working on the sausage right now and the eggs will be done in a little bit.” The doorbell rang, and I dropped the spatula next to the pan. “Who the heck could that be?” I mumbled.
It was eight thirty on a Saturday morning. Too early for anyone to be ringing the doorbell. I swung open the front door and was surprised to see Harlyn standing there with a box of donuts and three coffees.
“Surprise,” she laughed.
“Good thing I told you to come over, otherwise you would have been stuck with half a dozen donuts and three coffees.”
She laughed and stepped into the house. “If anything, I would have ding dong ditched them on the front step.”
“Mave!” Roc hollered.
Harlyn cringed. “He sounds happy.”
I wasn’t sure what kind of mood Roc was in. “I’m thinking the doorbell woke him up. Can you keep an eye on the sausage and I’ll see what he needs?”
“Can do.”
Harlyn moved into the kitchen, and I beelined to Roc’s door.
“Morning, sleeping beauty.”
Roc was sitting up in bed looking grumpy and pissed off. “Who the hell is at the door?” he demanded.
“Your daughter. She brought donuts and coffee over.”
Roc humphed. “She didn’t need to do that.”
I helped swing his legs out of bed, and he lifted himself into the wheelchair. “She wanted to. I think she misses her dad not being at work with her.”
“Right,” Roc drawled. “And I’m the queen of fucking England.”
“You’ve got gray hair, she’s got white. I don’t think anyone would confuse the two of you.” I pointed to the dresser. “You want a shirt?” I asked.
He grunted and nodded. “Try to find me something that isn't brighter than the damn sun.”
“Can do, sunshine.” I moved to the dresser and saw I wasn’t going to have a problem fulfilling her request. “They’re all black or blue,” I laughed.
“As they fucking should be,” Roc grunted.
I grabbed one from the top and slid the drawer shut. “Black it is.”
I could see why Harlyn had gone with bright blue and yellow for the clothes she bought. The man needed a little color in his life.
Roc snatched it from my hands and tugged it over his head. “Qualifying starts in a bit.”
“Uh, okay?” I thought qualifying had been last night but I knew absolutely nothing about drag racing.
“You may not know what the hell I’m talking about right now, but by the of end two weeks, you’ll be more well-versed in drag racing than you are being a doctor.”
I laughed. “I sure hope not. I’ll be trying to change my patient’s oil rather than actually heal them. Bathroom?”
“Yeah,” he grunted.
I understood that all of this had to be difficult for Roc. I didn’t know him before the accident, but from everything I observed and Harlyn told me, I knew being in a wheelchair had to be hard as hell. He could stand to smile maybe once though. The only time he showed any real emotion was when racing was mentioned.
“Hey, Dad!” Harlyn called after Roc did his business in the bathroom. She was standing in front of the kitchen island, cracking eggs into a bowl.
“You talk to Remy today yet?” he gruffed.
Harlyn rolled her eyes and grabbed a fork from the drawer. “Yes, Dad. I talked to him on the way over here.”
“What times does qualifying start?”
“Funny car is around two.” She beat the eggs, and I grabbed a pan from under the counter.
“What time does coverage start on TV?” Roc rolled into the living room and grabbed the remote.
“Eleven. Must be odd to be on the flip side of the team,” she laughed.
I sprayed the fry pan with oil and set it on the stove. “Pan is ready for you, Harlyn.”
I turned the burner on medium and stepped to the side of the stove. If Harlyn wanted to help make breakfast, I wasn’t going to stop her. I knew I was going to be the one doing this for the next couple of weeks so her taking cooking duties for a day was good for me.
“Help yourself to coffee, Mave. They’re all French vanilla. I didn’t add any cream or sugar because I know Dad takes his black and I wasn’t sure how you took your coffee.”
“Black is good.” I grabbed a cup for myself and grabbed one for Roc. “I should have known you took your coffee black.” I held the cup out to him.
“Just like my soul,” he growled. He grabbed the cup and took a drink. “You really had to get French vanilla? Whatever happened to coffee flavored coffee?”
“Coffee flavored coffee?” I laughed. “Careful, you might have just came up with the latest coffee craze.”
“If anyone is dumb enough to buy coffee flavored coffee then the purge needs to start,” Harlyn laughed.
“Amen to that,” Roc agreed.
Harlyn may be younger and much happier than Roc, but you could tell that they were father and daughter.
Roc flipped through the channels ‘til he ended up on the one qualifying would be on.
“You wanna do the toast?” Harlyn called to me.
Roc was watching two announcers talk about all the sports events of the past week.
“Gladly!” I hopped off the couch and grabbed the loaf of bread. “I can safely say that I am just not a girl who is into sports.”
I would much rather be curled up on the couch watching a movie or reading a good book. I didn’t get too much time to do either since work was so crazy or I was always exhausted by the time I got home.
“Neither am I,” Harlyn laughed. “The only reason I’m into racing is because of Remy and my dad.”
“Come on,” Rock chided. “Drag racing is the most exciting sport there is. Guys strap themselves to a piece of metal and hurtle themselves down a quarter mile going over three hundred miles an hour. Drag racing is the only sport that matters.”
“Then why are you watching two guys talk about soccer right now?” Harlyn laughed.
“‘Cause they can’t have drag racing on all of the time.”
I placed two slices of bread in the toaster. “You have like three hours until the race starts. Are you really going to watch these two talk the whole time?”
I grabbed the butter and jelly from the fridge.
“Pre-race shit will start in an hour,” Roc replied.
“Oh goodie,” I mumbled.
“You’re in a house that racing built,” Harlyn laughed. “You might as well as embrace the smell of nitro and burning rubber.”
I sniffed the air. “Is that what that smell is?”
Roc bellowed with laughter.
Harlyn shook the spatula in her hand at me. “You’re going to fit in just fine around here.”
It was my first full day of being here with Roc and I wasn’t so sure about that. I got that Roc’s life was racing, but maybe I could show him there was more to life than cars.
For the next couple of weeks, that was exactly what I was going to do.