There was a lump in Elec’s throat as he listened to the matter-of-fact tone in the boy’s voice, and he fought to keep his own tone casual. “You’re lucky to have those memories.
I’m guessing Hunter doesn’t have those.”
In his pocket, his phone beeped again. Lord, Crystal had lousy timing. Elec pulled it out to silence it.
“Who keeps calling you?” Petey asked, glancing over curiously.
“It’s a girl who likes me.”
“Do you like her?”
“Not that way. And I told her we couldn’t be anything but friends, and she won’t take the hint. She’s been calling me every day.”
“So she’s stalking you?” he asked with the morbid curiosity of a nine-year-old.
“You know, it just might be considered that, Petey.”
“Could you call me Pete?” he asked. “I don’t like being Petey anymore, but my mom won’t stop.”
“Sure. No problem.” Elec nudged Pete with his elbow, knocking him off balance and making the boy grin. The kid was clearly experiencing some growing pains and Elec wanted to reassure him. “If you promise not to tell your mom I’m being stalked.”
“Sure.” Pete glanced over at him. “Do you like my mom?”
“Yeah. I like her a lot.”
“Like like her, like her?”
They were heading into dicey territory with that question. Elec knew Tamara didn’t want her kids to know they were in any way dating. “How would you feel about that?”
“That would be cool.” Pete tapped the plastic side of the ant farm. “Geoffrey was gross. I met him at the Christmas thing at my mom’s work and he was old and bossy. I know my mom thinks I didn’t know she was going on dates with him, but I’m not stupid.”
“No, you’re clearly not that. So where are you going to keep this ant farm?”
“In my room. Want to see it?”
“Sure.” Elec couldn’t resist. He reached over and ruffled Pete’s short brown hair. “Next time I’ll get you a tarantula.”
Pete laughed. “My mom would freak out.”
“Might be kind of funny, huh?” The image of Tamara’s face if he strolled in with a giant fuzzy spider made Elec laugh, too. Probably not the best strategy to convince her they should be spending more time together.
When Elec laughed, Pete laughed harder, and Elec lay on the porch floor and just enjoyed the moment.
CHAPTER I E
TAMARA opened the front door to let Elec know she had Hunter’s race program and her daughter was anxiously waiting for him to sign it. What she saw when she put one foot outside and looked down literally ripped the breath right out of her lungs.
Her son was lying on his stomach next to Elec, who was similarly sprawled out on the wooden floorboards, and they were laughing together. The ant farm was set up in front of them and they were watching it as they cracked up to whatever private joke they’d just shared. It was so normal, so masculine, so casual, that damned if she didn’t have tears in her eyes.
This was what her son had lost when Pete had spun out and hit the wall at Talladega. Easy, comfortable moments like this. Rolling around on the floor. Bugs. Guy stuff. Something she could never give him no matter how much she wanted to. Partly because, well, she wasn’t a guy, but also because there was only so much time in a day, and she was responsible for everything. There just hadn’t been a lot of spare time for lolling around and enjoying the moment.
Petey spotted her, and he nudged Elec. “Shhh,” he said in a stage whisper. “Mom’s here.”
That brought an unexpected stab of pain. Her son was cutting her out, preferring Elec’s company over hers. Maybe that wasn’t entirely rational, because Petey had just spent an entire week at home with her, but it still tweaked her.
Elec nodded to Petey then gave Tamara a sheepish smile. “We’re going to check out Pete’s room and give the ants a permanent home there.”
And now Elec had taken it upon himself to shorten her son’s name. Pete was her husband, Petey was her son, and it bothered her, but she wasn’t about to say something in front of Petey.
“Petey, hold up a minute on taking Elec to your room. Hunter wants her program signed, and I’m not sure how much longer she can stay awake. The fever is wearing her out.” She addressed Elec. “Do you mind?”
“No, of course not.” He had stood up and was holding the ant farm carefully in one hand.
When he walked past her, he murmured in her ear, “You changed.”
Tamara blushed. “No, I didn’t.” It was still the same pajama pants and pink T-shirt.
“You added something to the outfit,” he said, pulling the racing program out of her hand and continuing on to the family room.
Yeah, a bra, and damn him for noticing. Though of course he had noticed she wasn’t wearing one before. They had both been aware of that fact, which was why she’d been walking around with her arms crossed. When she’d dashed upstairs for the program, she’d tossed a bra on since her arm muscles were tired from the effort to cover her ni**les jutting out in the cotton shirt.
Mixing her kids and Elec and all her sexual wants was not at all enjoyable. She really wanted him to just go home and she would catch up with him later, alone, when she was feeling at least marginally sexy.
But there was no hope for him leaving anytime soon. Hunter was chatting his ear off while he signed her program, asking him questions about his driving history and where he hoped to place for the season. Sometimes it was downright frightening to listen to her daughter—she was like a miniature female version of her grandfather, Pete’s father. Even Hunter’s hand gestures were straight from Johnny, the way her index finger came out to tick off points she was making.
It was interesting that Petey was more her child, with her interests in science and sociology, and Hunter was a Briggs through and through.
Hunter held up her program, with Elec’s sprawling signature across the front. “He signed it!”
“I see that. That’s awesome. Did you say thank you?”
“Yeah,” Hunter said, with eye-rolling annoyance.
“She was very polite about it,” Elec said. “And I’m sure she’ll be equally polite when I show her what I brought for her.”
Her daughter’s eyes lit up. “You brought something for me?”
“Of course. I brought Pete an ant farm. You didn’t think I’d leave you out in the cold, did you?”