He was wrong.
“Now or never,” I mumbled. I pulled the keys from the ignition and pushed open my door.
I made the short walk to the front door and pulled it open to see Harlyn’s smiling face. “I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to get out of the car.”
“It was touch-and-go for a second there. I considered kidnapping you and running off to Mexico where I could work on dirt track cars while you sunbathed all day.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I kind of like the changing seasons, although margaritas all day, every day sound pretty good.”
“I’ll just take you out for Mexican tonight, and you can get drunk off margaritas.”
She nodded. “Sounds like a good plan. I’ll make sure to grab my sombrero when I get home.”
I opened my mouth and then shut it. Her crazy was showing a bit. “I feel like I should know if you’re joking or not, but I don’t.”
She winked and sat back in her chair. “I guess you’re just going to have to wait and see tonight.” She nodded at Roc’s door. “He’s in there. His mood is debatable right now. He brought donuts for the guys.”
“He never does that.” At least, the never bought donuts for everyone part.
She shrugged. “I know. That’s why I have no idea what you’re about to walk into.”
That wasn’t helpful. I took a deep breath and walked the ten steps to Roc’s office. I rapped two times on the door, and he barked for me to come in.
“Good luck,” Harlyn whispered.
I pushed open the door and shut it behind me without looking in the direction of Roc’s desk.
“Grain. What the hell are you doing here?” he growled.
I straightened my shoulders and looked Roc in the eye. He was sitting behind his desk, papers strewn all over it. He looked pissed off like he was ready to spit glass.
“I want to talk.”
“There isn’t much to say. You’re suspended. Get out.”
“No, sir. I’m not here to talk about that. I want to talk about Harlyn and me.”
He scoffed and shook his head. “There is no you and Harlyn.”
“With all due respect, sir, there is a Harlyn and me.”
“Then there isn’t a you and Cummings Racing. You’re fired.”
I knew he was going to do this. I wasn’t going to give up Harlyn, so he was going to make me give up Cummings Racing. “No, sir. I can’t accept that. I love your daughter, and I love working here. I shouldn’t have to give up one to have the other.”
“You’re not good enough for my daughter, Grain. You’re going to break her heart, and I’m not going to let that happen. You’re living the same life I did. You find a pretty girl, make her fall in love with you, but then realize you can’t have racing and her. The two can’t coexist.”
“That was you, Roc. I’m not going to make the same mistake you did.”
He sat back in his chair. “Sit down,” he ordered.
This was a good step. He was at least telling me to sit down and not get out of his office.
I sat down in the chair in front of his desk and crossed my legs.
He pointed in the direction of Harlyn. “I loved her mother. Loved her more than anything in my life. I didn’t want to choose racing over her, but it happened before I even knew I was doing it. Before we had Harlyn, it wasn’t a big deal if I would be gone for two three weeks at a time. She had her family and friends to hang out with, and I had my pit crew. But as soon as Harlyn came screaming into this world, everything changed. She didn’t want me gone for weeks at a time. She expected me to be home for birthdays and holidays. You know how demanding this job can be, Grain. You worked for two NHRA teams before this. It isn’t a nine-to-five job where you get to go home every night.”
“I know that, sir.”
“Then what makes you think you are going to be any different than I was?”
I leaned forward and rest my elbows on my knees. “Because I know you won’t let me do that to Harlyn.”
“You’re fucking right, I won’t. That’s why you need to choose either her or Cummings.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to do that. You can’t fire me for the simple reason I’m dating your daughter.”
“I run this team, Grain. You can bet your ass I can suspend or fire whoever the hell I want.”
“You fire me for dating your daughter, you’re just going to put an even bigger wedge between the two of you.”
“My relationship with my daughter has nothing to do with you.”
“It does when I’m the one she cries to about it.”
He sighed and turned to look out the window behind him. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, Grain. Marrying Harlyn’s mom was not one of them. That was probably the only good thing I did in my life. I was a shit husband and an even worse father. I know I can’t make up for the past twenty-seven years, but I can do my damnedest to see that she doesn’t hitch her wagon to a guy who is going to end up leaving her.”
“How can you sit there and tell me what I’m going to do? You don’t know me, Roc. You don’t know how I was raised, or the life I’ve had. For the past ten years, I have watched my mother be loved by a man. A man that is not my father, but became like a father to me. I know what love is, and I know the power it has. My mother was broken by my father, but this gruff-talking MC guy who is nothing like my dad, came into her life and he loved my mother in a way no one ever had before.” I sighed and shook my head. “I love Harlyn more than anything in this world. More than racing. So, you can suspend me, you can fire me, but you can’t make me stop loving Harlyn.”
Roc slowly spun his chair around and leveled his gaze on me. “If you break her heart, I will break every single one of your fingers and blacklist you so fast, you’ll never be able to get another job on a pit crew. The only job you’ll get is at the go kart track servicing the busted go-karts.”
He listened. He finally listened to me. “I love your daughter, and I like my fingers the way they are.”
“Then you better treat her like the fucking princess she is and we won’t have any problems when it comes to you two.” He spun his chair back around to face the window, ending our conversation.
I had to take what I was given. He was going to let me keep working at Cummings and still be with Harlyn. I made my way to the door but stopped. “Just one more thing, Roc. Are you still going to give me hell all of the time at work?”
“It’s gonna get ten times worse, Grain.”
A slow smile spread across my lips. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Roc.”
I opened the door and ran straight into Harlyn and Jay gathered at the door. I pushed them back and shut the door behind me.
“Please tell me you’re not fired. If both you and Frankie are gone, that means I’m going to actually have to start working,” Jay complained.
I clapped him on the shoulder and stepped toward Harlyn’s desk. “I’m still here, Jay, but who the hell knows about Frankie. If she doesn’t come back, you might have to start working a little bit.”
Jay rubbed his chin. “I can handle working a little bit.” Jay walked into the shop, and Harlyn looked at me expectantly.