Author's Note: Mr Toretto helps Letty work on her car.
Chapter 6
Another year went by before Letty took Mr. Toretto up on his offer. She was 13 and though she had gotten a little taller (still not as tall as Mia) she felt like she was firmly in the 'awkward' stage of development where she was all arms and legs. None of her clothes seemed to fit right and everything they made for girls seemed too tiny and too pink, so she mostly wore boys clothing. It just felt more comfortable. And the pants had real pockets. Damned if she was carrying around something as lame as a purse.
It was a Saturday evening and her mother was at work, so Letty put on one of her father's old work shirts over her jeans and went out to the garage. She was up to her elbows in grease, hair falling over her sweaty brow when she heard an engine rumbling into the driveway.
Looking up, she wiped her hands on a rag and straightened as Mr. Toretto parked and walked up.
"Saw the garage light from the road," he said. "Thought I'd come see how you were managing."
She shrugged her slim shoulders. "Allright, I guess," she muttered. "Need a few parts."
"Why don't you make me a list," he said. "I can see what we have laying around at the shop." When she went to protest he held up his hands. "Hey we got used parts from wrecks just collecting dust. Just give me a list and I'll see what I can find. No promises."
"Okay…" she said, going to the little table against one wall. She scrawled up a quick list in her sloppy handwriting, but he didn't comment when he took it from her.
"I'll get back to you on this," he told her with a smile, then went back to his car to drive home.
00
It was another two weeks before he came through with most of the parts she'd written down. And if some of them looked a bit newer or less dusty than expected, she didn't say a word.
She also didn't protest when Mr. Toretto hung around after the delivery to help her install the new parts and soon she found herself enjoying his companionship. He was very fatherly, perhaps more so than her own dad had been, she could admit. It might be because he was always around, or because he had to be both parents to his own children, but he just had this easy way of talking to you.
When he showed Letty how to do something he explained it simply and without being condescending. She was learning, but she wasn't hating it, and she wasn't resenting the fact that she didn't know something. He told her stories of working on the Charger with his son, and about how he got into racing.
She talked to him about her dad, and the places they'd lived before her - Georgia, Virginia, a brief two years in Hawaii.
"I've always been into cars, ever since I was little," she told him. "They were the only toys I wanted. I think my mom was disappointed I didn't like to play with dolls."
"Hmmm," Mr. Toretto considered. "Maybe she just didn't understand it. But I think she loves you very much, even if you're different."
"Maybe," Letty muttered. She wasn't so sure her mother loved anything more than alcohol.
"Dominic was the same way," he said, changing the subject as he tightened a bolt. "I think cars were his first love." He laughed.
"What about Mia?"
"Oh she likes them too but I think that's more just because she's been surrounded by them all her life. She is a little more varied in her tastes." He smiled. "But I think she'll be hooked once she gets behind the wheel," he looked at her, swiping a streak of grease from her nose. "And you too."
"I can't wait to drive."
"A couple years yet. Gives you time to get this lady into driving shape," he said, closing the hood slowly. "We should call it a night. It's pretty late. Your mom working closing again?"
She nodded. "Yeah… I guess," she said. She couldn't tell him that sometimes when her mom was 'working closing' she was really just at a bar until closing.
"She leave you some dinner?"
"Yeah," Letty lied easily, feeling a little twinge of guilt when she did. But she didn't want Mr. Toretto to worry about her, or to report her mother's neglect. She could fix herself a sandwich or a bowl of cereal anyway.
"Okay well, goodnight Letty. We're just down the street if you need anything. Give a call." He waved and got back into his car. She wished she could have told him the truth. He would have invited her over for dinner, that's just how he was. Then she could sit at the table with him and Dom and Mia and it would be kind of like having a normal family. Instead she bit down on that desire and gave him a smile and a wave before heading back inside.
It was the best evening she'd had in a long time. It made her fiercely miss her own father. It made her envious of Mia and Dom. At least the parent they had left actually gave a shit about them. But in the end she couldn't be anything other than grateful. Because maybe her family was gone and falling apart, but here she wasn't being offered another one without a single expectation.