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Dad was still on his back, snoring, and the pillow had once again slipped out from under his head.
I turned on the kettle and went to grab Dad’s stained mug from the dish drainer, but it wasn’t there. It was hanging on the hook below the upper cupboards. Huh, Tyler must have cleaned up and put them away. Frowning, I plucked that mug and mine down.
A tiny smile teased my lips. Annoyed with myself, I spooned the instant coffee and sugar into our mugs.
“You’re thinking about that cop, aren’t you?”
Flinching, I turned to Dad. “No.”
The word cop was like a bitter pill, reminding me that those bastards gave up on finding justice for Mom.
“I’m gonna miss his coffee.”
“What?” I bulged my eyes at Dad. “You tried some?”
“He made me.” Groaning like an old boat, Dad swung his legs over the lounge.
“Traitor,” I joked.
I tried to discard the image of Tyler hugging his coffee machine like it was his prized possession. How could I be drawn to Tyler when every fiber of my being rejected what he stood for?
“Indy,” Dad started.
“Dad, if you’re gonna talk about him, don’t.” I gestured to the black cloud on the horizon. “We have more important things to worry about.”
The kettle finished boiling and I filled our mugs. I plonked his coffee mug on the table. “Here.”
“Boy, he really has you riled.”
I scowled at him. “I’m angry at the weather. Have you even noticed?”
“I noticed.” He slurped his coffee like he did every morning, and for some reason, the sound scraped right through me today. “No diving today.”
Heaving a sigh, I said, “We might as well go through the stuff we salvaged yesterday and see what we can sell.”
Dad groaned.
“What?” I glared at him.
“You know it’s okay to take a day off, right?”
I eyeballed him. “Tell that to the debt collectors.”
His shoulders sagged.
“We need to sell some of that stuff, Dad, or . . .” I had no idea what the ‘or’ was. Would they take Rhino? I had borrowed against Rhino to pay for an overhaul of my diesel engine that I hoped would make it last another two years or so. The cost of fuel had skyrocketed, and it seemed that every spare cent went to parts for this damn rust bucket.
I hadn’t been able to meet the last five payments on the loan. I wouldn’t be able to keep the loan shark hounds away for much longer.
Dad didn’t know any of that. And I didn’t want him to know.
The silly bastard would blame himself for our situation.
But it wasn’t his fault. I owned Rhino, not him. It was up to me to keep us afloat.
I drank the last of my coffee. “Come on, let’s check out what we scored.”
As Dad grumbled, I marched to the secret room where Dad had stored all the items from our salvage cage. Except the alcohol.
