“I don’t know,” Hunter said with the honesty of a seven-year-old. “I didn’t even know you until today.”
“True. But the answer is yes, I brought something for you, too.”
Tamara watched Elec pull a box out of the bag and hand it to Hunter. Even from where she was standing, Tamara knew it was a die-cast stock car.
“Whoa!” Hunter said, turning the box around and around. “It’s your fifty-six car! Thank you!”
“Yep. Can’t get these in stores because, well, I’m a rookie, and I ain’t all that yet.” Elec grinned at Hunter. “But my father had a few of these made as a gift right before I hit the track in Daytona for my first cup race.”
“Your dad gave this to you?” Hunter said. “I should give it back then,” she added, even as she clutched it to her chest.
It did a mother proud to have Hunter say the right thing, even though she looked like she wanted to die at the mere thought of having to return it.
“He gave me ten. I don’t need ten of my own car lying around. One for my condo, one for my coach, and one for my office, then I’m out of display places. So I’m happy to give one to you.”
“Thanks.” Hunter studied the minicar. “I like your colors. Red and silver are good colors.”
“Yeah, I like them just fine. I lucked out with my sponsor.” He pointed to the car in Hunter’s hand. “The hood and trunk open and the engine has manufacturer specific details.”
“Cool.”
The doorbell rang again and Tamara went to answer it, wondering if she was ever going to get to eat the food Elec had brought for her. But all the distractions had certainly eliminated the whining. From the kids and from her.
The phone was ringing in the kitchen, but Tamara ignored it, figuring if it was important they’d leave a message. A quick glance through the peephole showed Ty and Ryder standing on her porch. Now that surprised her. They weren’t known for randomly showing up without a phone call. Actually, she couldn’t remember the last time they’d been over.
They were both good guys, remembering her kids’ birthdays, and sending her gifts or flowers from time to time to let her know they were thinking of her. Ty had even sent her roses on the first Valentine’s Day after Pete’s death with a card that had said, “Because Pete would have sent these if he could.”
They were definitely good guys, but they just didn’t show up at her house on a Monday, and being a worrier, she started to panic. Throwing the door open, she demanded, “Okay, what’s wrong?”
But they both looked startled. “Nothing, why would anything be wrong?” Ryder asked.
“Nice outfit,” Ty commented, gesturing to her pajamas.
“I just thought since you were both here . . . maybe Suzanne . . . I don’t know.” Tamara clutched her chest and let her heart rate return to normal.
“Nothing’s wrong with Suzanne that a little sex couldn’t fix,” Ty said with a grin.
“Hey, that’s my ex-wife you’re talking about,” Ryder said, giving Ty a punch on the bicep.
“That’s my point . . . I think she’d be a lot happier if you two were still sharing a bed. Why are you divorced anyway?”
Tamara figured that was an uncomfortable subject for Ryder, given that his face was turning a vivid eggplant shade.
“Well, I’m glad everything is fine and it’s so good to see you both. Come on in. Did you drop by for a specific reason or were you in the neighborhood?”
“We heard the kids have the chicken pox and that you’ve been stuck in the house, so we brought a crap-load of sugary candy.” Ty held up a large bag that definitely had more candy in it than Tamara ever wanted in her house at one time.
“Wow, well, that was sweet of you guys. The kids will be so glad to see you.” Tamara led them down the hallway to the family room. “They’re getting quite a lot of company today,”
she said, willing herself not to blush, unable to say Elec’s name out loud, knowing that Ty and Ryder both knew exactly what she had done at the dinner party.
“Look who’s here,” she said cheerfully to the room at large, noting that Hunter had now climbed onto Elec’s lap and was taking her car out of the box. Trust her daughter to not be even remotely shy.
Tamara knew the minute Ty and Ryder spotted Elec because Ty muttered, “Well, well, check out the rookie,” and Ryder responded right back, “Guess no grass grows under his feet.”
They were both grinning at her when she turned around and glared at them.
The men greeted each other. “Hey, guys, what’s up?” Elec said, Hunter snuggled into his arms.
“We brought candy for the kids.” Ty held up the potentially eight-pound bag of sugar and told Elec, “Maybe if you’re good, we’ll let you have a piece.”
“I’m always good,” Elec said.
“That true, Tammy?” Ryder asked her with a grin.
She refused to respond to that. Her kids were jittery with excitement at all the company and Hunter was already begging for candy. “Tomorrow, Hunter, when your fever breaks.”
Her daughter pouted, but got distracted by the tattoo she found on Elec’s inner wrist. She traced the numbers of his car over and over with her finger and he let her, clearly amused.
“What if you change cars?” Hunter asked. “Then this is stuck here.”
“Doesn’t matter. Fifty-six will always be my first cup car, so it’s special.”
And what Tamara was learning was that so was Elec. He was thoughtful, sentimental, loyal.
She appreciated all those things about him, even at the same time it scared the hell out of her. Watching her daughter with him was equal parts exhilarating and heartbreaking.
Petey came over and showed off both his ant farm and his various pox.
“That’s a good one right there,” Ryder said, pointing to a pock on Petey’s forearm. “It’s oozing like crazy.”
“Oh, Ryder,” Tamara said, grossed out by the glee with which he said it.
“What? It’s true. It will probably scar, kid, and you can tell all the chicks you got scratched wrestling a bear.”
“Yeah,” Petey said. “I’ll say I took him down with my bare hands and had him pinned when he swiped me.”
The words were accompanied by a visual demonstration by Petey, which Ryder took as an invitation to act out the part of the bear, and in the blink of an eye, Petey was upside down laughing, his T-shirt over his face.