The week with his mom and Rylan in his home was perfect. It finally felt like a home, and he didn’t want to lose that feeling. He never wanted Rylan to leave. He asked her to stay with him between races that season. Luckily, she agreed.
The next thing he had to do was call his father. Was he ready to hear his excuses? He wasn’t sure, but he was ready to move forward, and to be able to do that he had to start fixing things with his dad.
He paced the circular drive that was covered in pebbles, with his thumb hovering over the send button. You can do this, West! You’re a grown man. Taking a deep breath in before blowing it out, he closed his eyes and lowered his thumb before lifting the phone to his ear.
“Christopher Leadman.” His dad’s voice sounded older and tired.
Cole internally struggled with how to address the man. Should he call him “Dad” or “Father?” Maybe he should just address him as “Christopher.” He swallowed all fear about confronting his dad.
“Dad.”
“Chris, I’m glad you called. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Yeah, we do.” He admitted.
His dad let out a long sigh before starting in on their past. “Son, I want, no, I need you to understand why I gave you the ultimatum I did. When I turned twenty, my father forced my hand in staying and joining the company. I was in love with your mom. My father didn’t want me to race. He knew if he offered me the company and his permission to marry your mother, whom he didn’t like, that I would stay.
“I knew racing was your dream. I thought I knew that if you stayed for Rylan, you would have never followed your dream. Now, I can see that I was wrong. I apologize for that, for making you choose so young. If I had waited, I would have known nothing would have come between you and your dream or you and your girl.”
“I didn’t know that about you and mom. I didn’t know. You’re right though, nothing would have come between me and Rylan, especially not racing.”
“Once you left and changed your name I realized what a huge mistake I made. Things between your mom and I became difficult. She blamed me for your disappearing, and rightfully so. We rarely talk, until you called her we hadn’t said more than a handful of words to each other. I started searching for you and came up empty handed. You were gone. I stopped following racing, it hurt too much. I’m sorry son. I don’t expect you to forgive me right now, but I do hope we can fix this--fix us. I miss you, Chris.”
“It’s Cole now. I want to talk and fix us too. Since getting Ry back, I realized how much I miss you and mom. Why don’t you come here after the next race is finished?”
“That sounds good, son. I’ll be there when you guys get back. Your mom and I both will be.”
“Okay, Dad, I’ll see you then.” They both hung up, and Cole looked at his phone, not really sure what to do with what his dad said. He figured time would tell.
Epilogue
Present Day
RYLAN
Two years ago, I came back into Cole’s life, and it was a whirlwind of sex, fights, and racing. It was everything I missed over the five years we were apart. Not long after Cole and I reunited in Jacksonville, he started working on the relationship with his parents. He actually called his father, and as of today, they are together. We are a family.
That first year there was so many mountains we had to climb, lakes to swim across and mud to trudge through, to be together. We were lucky enough that word of our past had travelled through the racing scene, stopping not all, but most, rumors about me using Cole to get ahead in the scene. It was one more hurdle we had overcome. Was it worth it? To get where I am today? Absofuckinglutely!
It was my wedding day. I was marrying the man that I have loved since I was old enough to realize I was in love with him. I was marrying my teenage love Christopher Owen Leadman and the love of my life, Cole West. In exactly eight hours, I would become Mrs. Cole Leadman West. As I thought about the wonderful day ahead of me, I kicked my feet, screaming like a schoolgirl, and got my legs tangled in the sheets.
“Woo Hoo! You’re getting hitched, bitch!” Jamie squealed as she ran into my part of the presidential suite Cole put us in for the night. She flung herself on the bed, wrapping her arms around my body and rolling us back and forth. “Are you fucking excited?”
I wiggled free from her and started kicking and screaming again, Jamie laughed as she rolled on to her back and joined in. “Hell yeah! It’s my fucking wedding day!”
“Get your cute little ass up and in the shower, we have to get to the spa my darlin.” Jamie slapped my ass and climbed out of bed.