Chapter 32 – Answer It
I only let myself sit for a minute before I got up and turned back to the car.
"You're gonna work on that thing some more huh?"
"Damn thing's not gonna fix itself. I've tried waiting for it to do that for a while and no go."
Fiona actually giggled. Oh man. She giggles. Great. I have to live with her for the foreseeable future and she giggles. What next?
"Anything I can do?" She asked me, almost nervous of my answer.
"Not really. To be honest I'm just triple checking all the connections before I call the engine finished. I don't want anything to go wrong with this."
"So it's done?" She asked incredulously, like she thought I'd fail too.
"Well, obviously it'd drive better with shocks and springs and brakes...And wheels." I added then smiled at her to let her know I was kidding. She giggled again.
"Yeah, I can be kinda stupid about cars." She admitted. "Brian taught me to drive and not much else."
"We can't all know cars. I wouldn't have a job if everyone was a mechanic."
"True enough." She looked at me like she was in shock I was being civil to her.
In truth I don't know what possessed me to be civil to her anyway. It wasn't my style at all. But then again here was a girl who was very nice. She was almost like a female version of Brian, and I liked Brian. I thought he was great. So here was a slightly younger, a lot more female version of him. What wasn't to like?
At home it would be the fact she was a strange girl and therefore could be after Dom. I'd have to watch her all the time to make sure she wasn't and it would make me suspicious of her, she'd pick up on it and think I just plain didn't like her. And then since she'd be being nasty to me I'd return the favour. I couldn't have many female friends back home.
I had Mia, and all the guys, and maybe I never knew I was missing out on have friends who were girls before. There might be something to this whole girlfriends thing that I never picked up on before.
I continued working on the car and Fiona hung around and we chatted. It was sorta nice. I started to put the undercarriage back together and she handed me stuff and tools I needed. I had the back end of it back together at the end of the day.
Only the front end to go and its done. Good thing too since tomorrow is the last day of my week. I wanted to be cocky. I wanted to gloat. No one save Brian thought I could do it but I was gonna do it. I was so close there was no way I could lose. But that is where I stopped myself.
Because nothing in the car industry was ever that certain. And that was why I couldn't let myself get cocky or gloat. Or assume it was all gonna go to plan tomorrow and I'd be done. There were no guarantees in life. And that was doubly true with bitchy race cars.
"When do you think Bri will come home now that he's safe from getting his face kicked in?" I asked Fiona later, over supper. She cooked, I ate. It was a good arrangement. I don't know if I give off please-don't-let-her-cook vibes or if Brian ratted me out but she sat me down with some veggies to peel and chop and more or less forbid me from helping further. Kinda like me and not letting her do much more then pass me stuff when we were working on the car.
"I think Brian could have held his own against your friend I'll have you know. But I think he'll come home soon now that he doesn't have to worry about upsetting you by fighting with your friend."
"Very diplomatic." I chuckled. "Have you been talking to him at all?" She added the carrots I'd peeled and cut up to the pot of soup she was making.
"Yeah, last night. He and dad fought a lot but Brian says they're making progress on being in the same room together and not yelling or throwing punches. It's a big deal. They couldn't even talk on the phone before without a screaming match starting."
"What's the big deal there anyway?" Fiona gave me a puzzled look so I continued. "You know, why does your dad have such a big problem with Brian?"
"Well, because he gave up his career over some criminal." She held up a hand to stop my ready protest. "Don't bother Letty. I like you, I really do. You're pretty cool I've been coming to see, but you and your friends were criminals. Brian was supposed to do his job and send you to jail. He didn't and I maybe even see why, but that doesn't change the fact that he didn't do the right thing, he did the wrong thing. And our dad is a stickler for doing the right thing. Plus dad can't stand Rome. He never could, not since Rommie got into a lot of trouble as a teen. And now here Brian is breaking the rules, doing the wrong thing and living and working with Rome. It didn't go over well. Dad didn't talk to me for days after the first time I came home from visiting. And he really flipped when I came home with the 7. He was livid."
"Why? Lot's of people own RX-7's. They're a nice car, but not that rare."
"Yeah, but Dad knew that it was one of 'those' cars that Brian used for his illegal racing. He hated that I had a car made for breaking the law."
"He sounds like a real blast to live with." I said sarcastically, thinking of Dom's dad the whole time. He was so the opposite of Fiona and Brian's dad.
"He wasn't so bad till his kids got too old and he couldn't control us anymore, couldn't dictate our lives, couldn't make sure we never stepped out of line. What about your dad?"
"Didn't really have one." I answered her. I know it sounds dismissive but it's true. My own dad wasn't much of a dad, and I hardly ever saw him anyway. Dom's dad was the only real steady male influence in my life.
"What, he left you and your mom?" Fiona looked indignant on my behalf.
"I only wish!" I laughed without any humour. "No, he stuck around and then when he got pissed off he took it out first on my mom then on me if I wasn't smart enough to get out of the house before he found me. As soon as him and mom started to get into it was my cue to get the hell out."
"That's rough." Fiona was sincere, but like most kids from a stable home she had no idea what it was like or how to respond.
"It was life. I met Dom and Mia when I was 10 and that was it anyway. I practically moved into their house by the time I was 11. I guess Van Toretto was more like a dad then my own ever was."
"What was he like?"
"Great. So awesome. He took me in without a question because he somehow knew how it was at home without being told. I mean, my birthday was a few days before his own daughter, Mia's, and he had two separate birthday parties for us each year because he knew I wasn't going to get a party out of my fokes, but he still didn't want Mia and I to have to share."
"He sounds great."
"He was so great. He took us everywhere with him too. We all got to work in his garage and he taught me mechanics. He knew Vince only had it slightly better then I did at home so he included him in everything too. He took us racing with him every time he went and let us be on his pit crew. He just assumed I was sleeping over and eating at his house every day."
"One in a million huh?"
"Oh yeah. They'll never be another Van. He didn't hesitate to discipline me either, not after the first 6 months or so. And I had to take all my school report cards to him and I got the same punishments as Dom when my marks were poor."
"Not like Mia?"
"Mia never got a bad report card in her life. She's so smart it's scary. She's gonna be a doctor. I've never been apart from her this long before. We got lucky that she can drive to UCLA every day and she didn't have to move away to do med school."
"If I had to pick one thing about my dad that I loved best about him it would be the fact that he always stood up for me, he was always my protector. What would you pick about Van?" Fiona asked. I thought about it for a few seconds. It was all it took for me to decide what it was about Van I appreciated most.
"The fact that he approved of me and Dom. He didn't care Dom was what most people would consider too old for me. He didn't think I wasn't good enough for his son. It was almost like he knew we were supposed to be together and he helped push us together. He was never pleased with any other girl Dom took home."
"So other then his charisma what is it about Dom that makes him so special to you. No offence but from what Brian's told me about how he treats you I don't think he deserves you."
"It wasn't always like that, for one thing. It got worse when his dad died and worse again when he went to jail. Dom use to be my best supporter. Even before we were officially going out he use to take care of me. He use to make sure that anyone who picked on me got what they had coming to them. And when I was a bit older and able to hand out what they had coming to them on their own he made sure I didn't go too far. There were a lot of times him dragging me out of a fight was the only reason I didn't get kicked out of school or worse even put in Jeuvie."
"So where does this Vince guy fit into the whole thing?"
"Vince was always Dom's friend. They were almost as inseparable as me'n Mia. They always had their big plans of opening up a garage together, letting Van work on the little old lady from Pasadena's mustang while they tuned up the import 'rice rockets'. We all got our training from Van but we didn't want to work on the cars that Van saw. So many of 'em were junk and we wanted to work on the cars of people who had money. We did not want to try and get rust buckets past emissions year after year."
"Oh god, don't even talk about it. I don't know how you guys manage. I don't know if the 7 will pass. It's registered in Barstow so it has to pass California emissions. I have so much of the emissions stuff ripped off thanks to Brian and Jimmy I don't know what I'll do in a years time."
"You'll do what we do in L.A. Come to Dom's and he'll 'fix' your emissions issues right up. Being a mechanic who's licensed to do the tests has some advantages." I laughed at the look on her face.
"You lie?"
"Of course. There's no way that Leon's car could be on the road at all if we didn't. He couldn't make that rb26dett emissions legal if he did everything they require he do. So we lie. Who'll ever know?"
"You know."
"Yeah, but it's not like it's killing anyone for a car to put out slightly more ppm of hydrocarbons then it should. Besides I guarantee you that it's not hydrocarbons that our cars put out, no way there's any way there's unburned fuel coming out of our beasts. And rotaries are next to impossible to pass if they're not in stock condition emissions wise. They need all that crap to pass."
"I was raised that you don't pick and chose which laws you follow. They're all there for a reason."
"Yeah, well a wise man once said 'rules are made to be broken, it's just that you can't make a broken rule'. When you really love something, you're willing to break all the rules to have it. Racing and a fast race car is the something I love enough to break all the rules for it."
"I think I do too."
"I know Brian does, so it must run in the family."
"Yeah that's it." With that she put a big bowl of home made chicken soup in front of me along with fresh rolls.
We ate in companionable silence then I helped her tidy the kitchen. We were just sitting down to read together, her a fluffy romance and me a tech book on wheel alignments when my cellular link to the team went off. I looked at the phone with something that might have been bordering on panic singing in my veins.
"I'm sure he's fine Letty, but you better answer it." Fiona pushed me on.
"Hello?" I answered, trying to keep my voice level, to keep my fear out of my tone.
"Hey Lett." Vince answered my greeting. "How are things?"
"Fine, other then I'm worried about you and things there."
"Things are ok here. Leon's being kept over night but he's fine, it's just for observation."
"How's Kimi?"
"Who?" Vince sounded genuinely confused. He figured it out on his own though. "Oh you mean the damn car. It's a write off. Totalled beyond repair."
"Oh man. You told me it could be rebuilt. Does Leon know yet?"
"Nope. I thought it would be rebuildable. He'll be lucky if he doesn't go to jail Letty. I think he's got bigger worries then the damn car being wrecked."
"Would you see it that way if it was your car? Not only that but a car you couldn't easily replace either. I mean it's not like Leon has enough money lying around to just go buy another skyline."
"He can't drive in jail."
"He's not going to jail Vince. He might get a big fine but I don't think he'll go to jail."
"Hard to say. If they get him for reckless endangerment or something then it'll be worse then a fine Letty."
"Are you trying to get me to come home or something? I mean not only is his car wrecked he could go to jail? I'm coming home."
"No Letty. We can handle it."
"I'm gonna look like the biggest heartless bitch ever if I don't come home for this."
"They're not gonna know I told you or that you know Letty. You won't look like a bitch over this."
"I'll know Vince. I'll know that my friend was in the hospital and I stayed here instead of coming back to see him."
"You need to finish that car Letty. He'll never not be able to take you seriously again if you finish that car Letty. There's nothing you could do for Leon if you were here anyway girl. You might as well stay put."
"I guess. But I miss you and I feel really bad about Leon and his car."
"I know you do."
The door to the boat flew open and Brian walked in. "Hey. How are my favourite girls?" Brian asked with a smile.
"I gotta go Vince. Bye." I hung up on him before he could question me who was home. I'm sure he's staring at the phone right now and pissed at me. I also bet he's about to call me back. I turned off the phone and turned to Brian.
As soon as I looked into his kind blue eyes the whole story came out as I sobbed on him. He just rubbed my back through the whole thing and shushed me while Fiona got up and left us alone.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here Letty."
"You couldn't have known. But what the fuck am I supposed to do?"
"What Vince told you to do. Stay here and finish your car."
"But what about Leon?"
"What about him? You couldn't do anything for him there that you can't do for him on the phone from here. Just find out what hospital he's in and give him a call."
"Brian, you're smarter then you look."
"I've never heard that one before." Brian grinned. "Go, go call Vince back and get the number so you can give the ol Dawg a call."
"Ok. Thanks Bri."
I did what he said. I got the number from a very irate at me for hanging up on him Vince and gave Leon a call. We talked for awhile and it was clear he was gonna be ok. I didn't tell him about his car and perhaps he had some idea all was not well because he didn't ask about the car either.
But he did set my mind at ease over not coming back. He didn't want me to do that either. It was very kind of him to give me absolution from my guilt the way he did. I went to bed early feeling much better about not going back to California then I did before I called. Tomorrow is the big day. The car is finished and we test it out. I can't wait.