Gas or Ass (25 page)

When I got to the den, Dale settled his ball cap on his head. “I can take her, Dad,” Caine offered, looking up from his bowl of corn flakes.

“Nope. You can take her tomorrow.” He strode through the den and out the door. I had no idea why, but Caine smirked. I hurried to brush my teeth, rinsed, and dashed outside.

He didn’t say anything on the short drive, just whistled along with the radio. He didn’t take the shortcut road, either, but I figured he knew it was there, so I didn’t say anything. But when he turned into the parking lot on the far side of the school, I said, “Dale, this is the—

“Teacher’s lot. I know.”

He backed into a spot near the road and tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel.

“Uh, I can walk, I guess.”

“Stay put.”

Puzzled because I knew he’d be late to work if he didn’t let me out and go, I leaned against the headrest and watched teachers pull in, mindlessly judging their rides. An older truck turned down the aisle. Dale shifted into first and followed the vehicle.

The truck pulled through two spaces. Dale took the space behind and lowered his window.

“Gene.”

I recognized Coach Tindall. He peered through the windshield and approached on Dale’s side. “’Sup Dale? Long time, no see.”

Dale flipped his visor down and tugged a business card from underneath the flap. “You wanna see me, Gene? Here’s the address where I work. I still live over on Arlee Circle, too, if that’s too far to drive. But the next time you call my daughter a cat in heat, you better believe, I’ll be seeing you. And I don’t give a damn that she weighs ninety pounds, and that’s if you weigh her with pocketbook over her shoulder. She needs to go to the office, you let her get there under her own power, unless she needs a stretcher. We straight now?”

The coach seemed to see me for the first time. “Didn’t realize Shelby Roberts was your kid, Dale.”

“She is, seein’ as how me and her mama got married a few months back. See, here’s the problem, Gene. Things have changed a bit since me and you went to school here. If you wouldn’t say it to my boys, you sure as hell better not say it to my daughter. Got that?”

The coach lifted his arm. Thin, red scratches peeked from underneath dark hair. “She damn near clawed me bloody, Dale. And she sure as shootin’ started that fight. She’s lucky she didn’t get expelled.”

“Touch her again, Gene. Call her anything I find offensive and it’ll be me and you. Count on that.”

“Right. Whatever, Dale.” The coach started to move away. Dale slammed the door open, clipping the coach in the side.

“And not standin’ up for Caroline? That’s just pathetic, asshole. What’s the matter? You still ain’t over the fact Robyn wouldn’t spit on you, back in the day?”

“You mean, back in the day, before she turned out to be the biggest whore in Cabarrus County?”

Dale pulled the door in and slammed it open again. The coach let out an ‘oof!’ when the door connected a second time, but he stuck his head through the window. Veins stood out on his forehead. “Let me get this straight, Dale? You came on school property just to threaten me? To attack me over something I never heard that was supposedly said to Robyn Mason’s kid? This is assault, dumbass.”

“Shelby, did you see an assault?” Dale drummed the steering wheel with one stained thumb.

I shook my head. Scanning the lot, I doubted anyone else saw the door strike the coach, either.

“And what I said was a promise, not a threat. Now, you want to see an assault? Get in that truck and follow me. I’ll fucking show you an assault. But first, you need to man up and apologize to my daughter.”

The man shook his head, but he met my eyes. “Shelby, I said that in the heat of the moment. I apologize if I offended you. And, I’m sorry I hurt your pride by haulin’ you to the office.”

He backed away, but glared at Dale. “You better get your facts, straight, Dale. Caroline? She’s just like her mama. Whatever those girls said, she probably deserved.”

“I swear to God, I wanna slash his tires.” I scowled, unable to even enjoy how fast the man scuttled away. Had Dale come to defend me or his ex-girlfriend’s child?

“Shelby, these days, Robyn’s a burden no kid should have to bear, but she wasn’t always that way. It took a bunch of bitches to make that happen. Sanctimonious little cunts who thought that because I got her pregnant, me and her should be stuck together at the hip. You know, just to punish us for fornicatin’, I reckon. Robyn used to be beautiful, but they never let her see herself as worth nothin’. It wasn’t hard for them to tear her down, since they ran in a pack and Robyn was a loner until me and her hooked up. But, buildin’ her up got to be too damn much for me. I was just a kid myself.”

He put the truck in gear. “I was honest-to-God happy for her when she hooked up with Jesse Hancock, even though, when I had to drop out of NASCAR to raise Colt, he took my damn spot. But when his racing buddy died in an accident on the track, Jesse vowed he’d look after his friend’s widow. And to make a real long story short, they fell in love. Robyn saw it comin’ a mile away, I reckon, and she started drinkin’. Never stopped. But none of that’s got any bearing on what you did. I wanna say I’m real proud of you. I had to take the car, though. I’m too goddamn old to sleep on the couch.”

I
jerked my tassel off and tossed my mortarboard into the air. Jumping to my feet, I found Caroline and threw my arms around her. “You should’ve been valedictorian. It just about killed me to listen to that evil witch talk about friendship and all the good things she learned here.”

“Nah, it’s okay. I hate talkin’ in front of a crowd. That’s how I lost those two points, on an English assignment where we had to read our paper to the class, freshman year.” She returned my hug. “But, girlfriend, you get your car keys back tonight.”

“Just in time to drive to your wedding tomorrow.”

She looked away. “Yeah. We’re gonna wait till the baby’s born, I guess. Brandon wants a DNA test first.”

I gritted my teeth and forced a smile, determined not to spoil this day for her. The night before, I’d heard Brandon and Colt yelling at each other outside. “Hey, I wanna meet your mom.”

Caroline dropped her gaze to her feet. “She didn’t come. She started talkin’ about how Dale would probably be here and she drank too much.”

I wanted to punch whoever had decreed that Caroline’s life could never be fair. I wanted Dale to punch that person, too, in case I didn’t get the job done.

Colt and Caine appeared through the crowd. “Hey, you.” Caroline elbowed Colt in the ribs. “Thanks for puttin’ a word in for me over at the cigarette plant. I start work Monday, on the line.”

“Sure.” He threw an arm around her shoulder. “You working swing shifts?”

“Yeah, but I’m trainin’ on first.”

“Let me know if you wanna ride together,” Colt offered.

She couldn’t take her eyes off Caine, but Caine turned to me. “Congrats, little sister. We could see you from way back there.” He pointed to the stadium end zone farthest from the platform. “Especially after you took off that stupid hat.”

I shoved my cell phone into his hand. “Take our picture and try not to talk anymore.”

A
tap on my bedroom door disturbed my reading. “Shelby, can you run some errands for me?”

“Sure, Mom.” I shut the case on my Kindle. Anything was better than hanging out at the house on my days off. The summer so far had been one boring day after another. NASCAR was on their West Coast swing. The team flew Dale out, but Mom decided to stay home so she and I could “spend some quality time together.”

Whenever he was gone for only a few days, she went to bed at her regular time, when the news came on at eleven. I’d sneak out after she went to sleep and Colt or Caine would pick me up at the end of the road. But Dale had been gone for two weeks. She’d taken to watching late-night television and waiting for him to call. The three-hour time difference meant she stayed up well past midnight. I was sure tonight would be no different. Yesterday, Colt said he thought I should just tell her I was going and walk out the door.

I thought she and I had argued enough. Then, Caroline texted me to say the races were off tonight because Colt and Brandon got in a fistfight. Everyone seemed in a foul mood.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside. I knew what the envelope in her hand was, even before I read the address.

“I’m so proud of you, Shelby, for going to college. And it’s a thrill for me and Dale to give you a chance we never had.”

I eyed the address. Undergraduate Admissions at UNC-Charlotte. I supposed the check for my first semester’s tuition was inside.

Half of me wanted to stay here and be with Colt. But I’d been watching the drama unfold between Brandon and Caroline. Now that she was pregnant, they fought all the time. I had to grit my teeth every time she brought up his name and I was sure that was the problem between Colt and Brandon. She didn’t want to race anymore, which made perfect sense to me. Brandon was being a jerk. Watching their relationship fall apart had made me question how I felt about Colt.

I realized Mom was waiting for a response. “Thanks. I guess you want me to drop it off at the post office?”

“Yes.” She looked around the room, probably to hide her disappointment at my unenthusiastic response. “It’s time we got rid of this hideous décor. Dale said you could do anything you like, Shelby. Why not go looking at paint and wallpaper while you’re out?” She handed me a debit card. A piece of paper was folded around it. “That’s my grocery list. If you decide to get paint or whatever, just charge it on that. I wrote down the PIN number.”

The timing on this remodeling idea felt too much like a bribe. I put the items in my purse and dug for my keys to the Barracuda. “Damn, I loaned the keys to Colt last night.”

“You’re welcome to take my car. Keys are on the board in the kitchen. I’m going to jump in the shower.”

I had no interest in driving her Volkswagen. “I guess I’ll look and see if Colt left my keys in his room.” I wrinkled my nose.

She rolled her eyes and shuddered. “If you’re not gone when I get out of the shower, I’ll call a Hazmat team to go in and rescue you.” Mom refused to darken his door, which suited Colt just fine. The few times I’d poked my head through the door, the place resembled the Lower Ninth Ward in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—if you could see the piles of dirty clothes as water and debris.

“What a slob.” I tiptoed over the mess to reach the desk. Scanning the clutter, I spied an envelope. The creamy stock had the look of... well, of nothing Colt might get in the mail. Unless a woman had sent it? Curiosity drove me to check out the return address.

I stared in disbelief at the elegant, raised letters in the top left-hand corner. The letter was from Converse College. With shaking hands, I withdrew the contents. On top was a letter. I shuffled through the other pages, scanning the checklist of things I needed to do, like sending a final copy of my transcript. There was a copy of an application we’d already filled out for a Pell grant. I returned to the letter.

Dear Shelby,

It’s my pleasure to say that, although your test scores won’t allow me to award you one of our coveted Braswell scholarships, our scholarship committee has asked me to offer you a partial scholarship. In combination with the Pell grant that you’d qualify for, one of our on-campus jobs would pay the rest of your tuition and housing. While you’d still be responsible for your books and incidental expenses, I hope to see you this fall, as a member of the class of 2019.

Sincerely,

I rubbed my thumb over the inked signature of the college president, Irena Jamison.

The letter was dated mid-April. Almost four months ago.

Colt was trying to stop me from going away to college? He never said a word when Mom and I fought over me going to school in Charlotte.

Because he knew Dale was backing Mom’s play. All he had to do was keep this letter out of my hands and let them do the dirty work.

I couldn’t decide if I was pissed because he’d betrayed me, or if I should view this as the act of a man desperate to keep me. It was like him to make such a backhanded gesture. I just couldn’t decide how I felt about him taking the decision out of my hands.