Little Daisy

Tim's Dad

Days pass, of nothing but tutoring and studying, without mention of the breakdown in the driveway. Rae is half convinced that he is avoiding talking to her about personal things until one day he comes into the house, grabs her lemonade and storms outside. Carden raises his eyebrows and looks at her. Rae throws her hands up and follows Tim.

"That was my lemonade." She says, sitting next to the empty glass.

"Had my court date today." He reveals, in his typical blunt attitude.

"And how was that?" She asks evenly, taking it in stride.

"My dad has to sign the ticket. I haven't seen him in two years, Rae. Both of our moms are gone, which sucks. But at least your dad is around to sign your shit." He says darkly.

"When he's sobered up enough to lift a pen." Carden calls from inside. Rae rolls her eyes.

"Ok, simple enough solution. Find your dad." She tells him.

"If it was that simple, would I have fucking done that already?" He points out, annoyed.

"No, because you don't do shit till the last possible second. Go find your dad and then we're working on your chemistry homework." She calls, as he walks back through the house, rubbing Carden's head.

"He's weird." Carden comments. Rae rubs her face, nodding in acknowledgement of his point. "I like him."

The next day, Rae hears the now familiar rumble of Tim's truck and looks up at Carden, who grabs his glass of milk protectively. Tim walks in and nods to Carden, who's clutching his milk.

"Rae, I'm gonna go find my dad." He announces. She raises an eyebrow.

"Thank you for the update?" She asks, nonplussed.

"Well I wanted to let you know so you don't worry." He says, flustered. She smiles, getting up and crossing the room to hug him.

"If you need anything, just call." She promises him. "And Car and I will drive to get you."

"Correction, she will drive, I will sleep in the backseat." Carden inputs. Tim shakes his head, grinning.

"Bye Rae! Bye Car!" He calls, leaving. Rae waves then drops her hand and looks at Carden in shock.

"This is gonna be a disaster." She mutters.

"It's Tim Riggins, what could go wrong?" He asks, laughing. Rae rolls her eyes and throws a pillow at him.

A couple days later, Rae takes a deep breath and knocks on Coach Taylor's doorframe. He looks up, surprised.

"Rae? Come in." He insists, waving her in.

"Uh, Coach Taylor, I uh..." She hesitates, unsure of how this is going to sound. He waits patiently. "Do you know where Tim is?" She blurts out. He's taken aback, but he does a good job of covering it. "I mean, I know he went to look for his dad, but he said it was only for a signature, and now he's been gone for a couple days and I just got worried." She rambles.

"Rae, Rae. Calm down. He's with his dad. Apparently, they're catching up." He says, making a face at the last part. Rae breathes a sigh of relief.

"Do you know when he'll be back?" She asks. He gives her an amused look, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but something tells me you'll know a hell of a lot sooner than I do." He informs her then grows stern. "And you tell him to get his ass to practice so I can kick it for missing two practices." He orders and she grins, nodding.

"I'll be sure he gets that part." She promises.

Rae wakes up to the rumble of Tim's truck. She crawls out of bed and hoists the window open, gingerly making her way out, half asleep.