Tamara laughed. "You're a race car driver! You don't get carsick."
"I just might if I had to ride that yellow bus for half an hour." Elec pulled his shoes on and stood up. "Be back in ten. Five if I open up my engine and see what it can do."
"Very funny. Make Petey sit in the back. He'll angle for the front, but I'm sure you have an air bag and it's not safe for him to sit there. And make him buckle his seat belt, which he should do automatically because I've never let him ride without one."
"Okay and okay. I've got it covered."
"Okay, and thank you. I really do appreciate this." It was hard not to worry, but she forced herself to relax. She just wasn't used to having help, and she wasn't used to not being the one who had to handle everything. It felt strange. Nice, but a little unnerving.
"I'm happy to," Elec said.
Tamara believed him. She should be feeling guilty that this was further involving Elec in her children's lives, but it was just a ride, and she needed help.
It was fortuitous that he was there to help her.
Almost like it was meant to be.
CHAPTER THIRTEE
ELEC drove up the road, seriously glad that Tamara had allowed him to help. He knew that wasn't easy for her, giving up control, and it showed that she trusted him implicitly. Which made him all sorts of giddy.
He was definitely falling fast and hard, and while he wanted to be involved in all facets of her life, he didn't want to push her. But this opportunity had fallen into his lap and he intended to use it to spend more time with her and her kids.
It was odd walking into an elementary school for the first time in fifteen years, bringing back memories of disgusting cafeteria food, pulling pigtails, and sweating his way through timed math tests. He had only been an average student, and he had been quiet. No chicks had been digging on him in the fourth grade, and he remembered a particularly painful crush on a girl named Katie Sweeney who had dark brown hair and dimples. It had gotten around that he had the grade school hots for her, and she had walked up to him and informed him, in front of a whole crowd of his buddies, that she'd rather eat dead worms covered in snot than kiss him.
Everyone else had seemed to find that hilarious, but he had pretty much wanted to die. He'd actually faked a stomachache for two days to get out of school before his mom caught on and sent him back.
Elec rubbed his stomach as he pulled open the office door. He almost had an imaginary pain in his gut just from remembering the incident.
Petey was sitting on a chair talking to a brunette in her twenties who was wearing a badge dangling from her neck that indicated she was a staff member. Giving him a wave, Petey bent over and started to gather up his backpack and an awkward green-painted tube.
Elec said, "Hey, Pete, what's up?"
"I'm sorry I missed the bus."
"That's okay. It happens." Elec turned to the woman. "Hi, I'm Elec Monroe, I'm here to pick Pete up. Do I need to do anything or can I just grab him and go?"
The brunette's mouth dropped open. "Elec Monroe? Oh, my gosh! We went to grade school together. Do you remember me? I'm Katie Sweeney."
Well, no shit. How was that for a coincidence? Elec eyed Katie Sweeney and saw a faint resemblance to the little girl he'd fancied himself in love with. She was attractive enough, he supposed, but he thought her face looked a little pinched and she was a bit skinny for his taste. Then again, his taste seemed to be Tamara and no one else at the moment.
"Wow, no kidding? Good to see you again, Katie," he said mildly, wondering if it was petty to still hate her.
He decided it wasn't. Nine-year-old egos were a fragile thing and she had crushed his.
"I hear you're a driver now," she said, smiling and flipping her hair back.
"Yep. And you're a teacher?"
"Yes." Another smile, and this time she leaned into him. "So you're picking Pete up? Is he your nephew?"
"No." Elec took the green tube Pete was shoving at him and said, "Hey, buddy, what's this?
It's very cool."
"My art project. It's supposed to be our ant farm with the glowing gel." He pointed to the black spots. "Those are the ants."
"Hey, that's awesome." And Elec was oddly touched.
"So what have you been up to these days?" Katie Sweeney asked. "You're making a splash in racing, but how is everything else? You ever get married?"
"No." And he'd be damned if he asked her the same in return. He was getting the "nail a driver" vibe from good old Katie Sweeney and he wanted no part of that.
"He's dating my mom," Pete said, not so subtly inserting himself between them. "We're going home to play video games while my mom cooks us dinner."
Elec grinned. He liked the way the kid thought. It was clear Pete was feeling territorial and that pleased Elec a whole hell of a lot. "Yep," he said to both Pete and Katie Sweeney.
"That's what we're going to do."
"Oh. That's nice." Katie Sweeney faked a smile.
It wasn't quite telling her to eat a snot-covered worm, but it still left Elec feeling mighty satisfied.
TAMARA wasn't sure how she had wound up cooking dinner for both her children and Elec, or how the man who was supposed to be her sexual fling managed to fit so readily into her household, but she was and he did. Elec and Petey were playing video games in the family room while Hunter sat behind them on the couch and gave advice whenever she looked up from her race car coloring book. Tamara was in the kitchen whipping up some chicken and a salad, after being informed by her son that he had invited Elec to dinner.
To be fair to Elec, he had taken her aside and offered to go home if she wasn't comfortable with it, but Tamara couldn't bring herself to do that to Petey, nor did she really want Elec to go home. It was good, really good, to have him around. He was easy, and entertaining, and their dynamic was comfortable. It made everything just a little less stressful, a little better, to have another adult to talk to, to exchange a look with, or seek advice from, especially one as calm and pleasant as Elec. Nothing rattled him, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy her kids' company.
He had offered to help her with dinner, but she was content to let him keep the chattering kids out of the kitchen. She could accomplish amazing feats in short periods of time when she wasn't answering Hunter's endless questions or fielding Petey's requests for different meals.
When she called them in to eat, and Elec matter-of-factly had the kids wash their hands before sitting down, she knew she was strolling into some dangerous territory. Sometimes, Elec quite literally stole her breath away. It was getting harder and harder to remember why they couldn't do this.
Tamara turned and placed the salad bowl on the table.
There was their age difference.
Elec handed Hunter her napkin with a flourish. "Your napkin, my lady."
Her daughter giggled.
Despite what his age on his driver's license might indicate, there was nothing immature about Elec. He was hardworking, responsible, caring.
Yet there was still her concern over her kids' being upset by her relationship with Elec.
Petey turned to Elec. "Next time you're here, will you bring your Wii?"
"And your brother's autograph?" Hunter added.
Yeah, they didn't exactly seem stressed out by the whole thing. They were both assuming Elec would be back.
But even with those two concerns out of the way, though, for the most part, that didn't resolve the big doozies. Her in-laws. Her and Elec's insane schedules. Her fear for his safety. And the concern over what it would do to her children if she and Elec couldn't make a go of it.
Those were all big enough to make her wonder what the hell she was doing.
She had a platterful of chicken and Elec stood up and took it from her and set it on the table.
He smiled at her and kissed her forehead. "Have a seat, gorgeous."
That was why she was doing what she was doing. He was making her feel absolutely and utterly wonderful.
When he took her kids outside after dinner and played Frisbee with them, Tamara sat on the porch in a rocker and just watched, all sorts of conflicting emotions running through her. It was fabulous to see her babies enjoying themselves so much, and it was doing all sorts of interesting things to her heart to see Elec laughing and smiling and proving himself just an all-around great guy, but it also scared her.
It would be worse to gain this again, only to lose it.
She wasn't sure she could survive that.
"Tamara, come on and join us," Elec called from the backyard. He grinned. "Show us your moves."
"Mom doesn't have any moves," Petey said, clearly astonished.