“Insubordination.”
“Say what? How is kissing and dating Harlyn insubordination?” I questioned.
“It is because I say it is.” Roc stormed into his office and slammed the door shut behind him.
“Well,” I sighed, “I had hoped that would have gone a little better than that.”
“I’m sorry, Remy. I really didn’t think he was going to go off the deep end like that.”
“I think your dad went past the deep end, Harlyn.” I hung my head.
“He can’t suspend you. I’ll talk to him. He’s going to have to accept the fact that you and I are dating.” Harlyn was adamant about that, but I didn’t know what to think.
“Grain, you have five minutes to get your ass off this property,” Roc yelled from his office.
“Sweet Jesus,” Harlyn mumbled. “Maybe you should just leave for the rest of the day, and I’ll try to talk to him tonight.” Harlyn ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “He’s got to see how irrational he is being about all of this.”
I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her waist. “I’m leaving, baby, but I’ll be the one to talk to him.” I couldn’t send Harlyn to fight my fights for me.
“Remy, he’s my dad.”
“And I get where he is coming from.”
“Where he is coming from makes absolutely no sense. He thinks you’re just like him, when you’re not.”
I brushed her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I know, baby. Just let me handle this, okay?”
“It’s not okay, Remy, because what if he doesn’t listen to you, and then he fires you? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you lose your job over dating me. You love working here. It’s always been your dream.”
I sighed and rested my forehead against hers. “It is my dream, baby, and no one is going to take it away from me. If Roc and I can’t see eye-to-eye about me and you dating, then maybe Cummings Racing isn’t the place for me. There are twenty other race teams I can get a job at.”
“But then we’ll just be giving into his whacked-out idea you’re just like him.”
I chuckled. “He wants me to stop dating you, Harlyn. Nowhere did I say that was going to happen. I’ll get a new job with a different race team, but there is no way in hell I am going to give you up.”
“Oh, Remy,” she sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t have been right about my dad freaking out about us, but it looks like you were.”
“Me being right happens every now and then,” I chuckled.
“I don’t know how you can have a smile on your face right now.”
I shrugged. “Because I know freaking out and worrying isn’t going to help. I’m gonna let your dad cool down, and then I’ll talk with him.”
“And what happens with us?” she asked.
“The same thing that has been happening with us.”
“And that is?”
I pressed a kiss to her lips. “If you gotta ask what it is, then maybe it’s only happening on my end.”
I stepped away, but she reached out and grabbed my hand. “Wait. Are you coming over tonight?”
“Nothing could keep me away, baby.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead and ducked out the front door.
I sent off a quick text to Jay letting him know I was gone for the day and walked to my Challenger.
Roc may think he knew me, but he was dead wrong. I may be on the road a lot with the team, but I wasn’t like him. Harlyn meant everything to me, and the only person I had to prove that to was Harlyn.
Although, convincing Roc of that would help me keep my job.
I need to figure this shit out, and quick.
*
Chapter 30
Harlyn
I glared at the closed office door and tapped my pen on my hand.
He was being ridiculous. He couldn’t suspend Remy like he had. There wasn’t a reason to. I had spent the past two hours combing over the employee manual and the contract Remy signed to see if it said anything about coworkers dating. There wasn’t a damn thing about it.
Roc didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Now I just needed to get the guts to walk into his office and tell him just that. Or, I could always go to Brooks about it. Although, I knew going over Roc’s head was not going to help the situation at all.
Jay had tiptoed into the office to let me know the pizza was in the shop an hour ago, but I didn’t want to eat. I wanted Remy to have his job back and for Roc not to be such a bonehead.
I tossed my pen down on the desk and marched over to Roc’s door. I rapped twice on the door and didn’t wait for his response. I pushed open the door and was surprised to see him standing at the window behind his desk.
“I’m not in the mood to talk, Harlyn.”
I closed the door behind me. “Good. Then you can just listen.”
He sighed but didn’t tell me to get out.
“I like Remy. He’s a good man.”
“They always start out as good men, Harlyn. Your mother used to say the same thing about me.”
He was right. Mom had always said things were great when they first started dating. It was after he got his job as a crew chief things started going south. “That’s your story, Dad. Not Remy’s.”
Roc turned around. “No, Harlyn. The way Remy is right now is the exact same way I was. Hungry. Ready for his shot. I got that shot and messed everything up in my life. I ignored your mother, forgot about you, and only cared about racing. I don’t want that for you, Harlyn. He may say he’s there for you now, but there is going to come a time where he can’t keep the promises he made, and then you’re alone. I’m not letting that happen to you.”
“So instead, you’d rather me give up something that makes me happy because you made the wrong decisions over twenty years ago? That’s bull-crap, Roc. I get to make the decisions about my life. Not you or anyone else.” I wasn’t going to back down about this. After spending the weekend with Remy and his family, I knew that he was the type of man I wanted.
He was the man I was hopelessly falling in love with.
“You can’t see it right now, Harlyn, but I’m right. I may have been a shit father the past twenty-seven years, but I’m here now, and I won’t let you make a mistake that can be prevented.”
I shook my head. “You’re wrong, Dad. You are so wrong.” I wiped a stray tear from my face. “I’m going to be with Remy. His job doesn’t define him. He may be gone physically sometimes, but he’s always with me. He calls because he misses me. He texts when he has a few spare seconds. He cares about me, and I’m falling in love with him.” A hiccup escaped my lips. “And you wanna know what's truly crazy about all of this? He doesn’t even know I love him, but I just told you.”
He shook his head. “Harlyn. Just please think about what I’m saying. He may be good now, but what happens when the work goes late, and he’d rather sleep than talk on the phone? Or when those few spare seconds he has disappear and you’re left wondering what he’s doing instead of texting you? He may not mean to hurt you then, but it’s still going to hurt.”