"Alright, but don't blame me when you have a headache." Evan walked back into the kitchen. "Tamara, how about you? Want a shot?"
Tamara gave Elec an amused smile. "No thanks, Evan, you'd be peeling me off the floor if I did a shot."
"Chances are we'll be peeling Eve off the floor," Elec told her. "But that doesn't stop her."
"Shut up," Eve said, with all the love of a sister.
There was a knock on the door, then it opened and Elec's father strolled in wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and a ball cap. Monroe men's uniform.
"Well, that does a man proud," he said by way of greeting. "Walking in and seeing my only daughter throwing back a shot in the middle of the day. Good Lord, Eve, what are you doing?"
She was choking, is what she was doing. Eve had tossed the shot and now her face was in horrible contortions, wincing and grimacing and shuddering, her eyes watering and her hand waving wildly. Elec and Evan started laughing. That was funny, Elec had to admit.
Eve finally caught her breath and said, "Damn, that's horrible. How do you drink that crap?"
"We have balls," Evan said. Then he glanced over at Tamara. "Sorry, Tamara, don't mean to be crass."
"Yes, you do," Eve said, wiping her eyes and sniffling.
"That's okay," Tamara said. "I've spent plenty of time in the company of drivers." She stood up and went over to his father. "I'm not sure if you remember me, but I'm Tamara Briggs."
"Of course I remember you," his father said, taking her hand in both of his. "It's good to see you again, sweetie. So how exactly did my youngest son manage to snag a beautiful woman like you?"
Elec unfurled himself from the couch and stretched. Every muscle in his body was sore from all the tension of the day. God, this wasn't how he wanted to spend the day after getting engaged. He had wanted to introduce Tamara to his parents under much better circumstances, not have them see her hovering behind him on camera. But then again, if Crystal hadn't gone to the media, Elec might not have actually proposed to Tamara, and he was so glad that he had.
That alone was what was getting him through the day. He was going to have Tamara as his wife. They were going to be married and share a bed and he could make love to her whenever he wasn't on the road.
"He gives a mean massage," Tamara told his father, which made Elec laugh.
Elec extracted his girlfriend's hand from his father's and said, "We're getting married, Dad." He knew he was grinning like a fool, but he couldn't help himself.
Evan threw his hands up in the air and shouted. "Yes! I am so good." He pointed to himself. "I rule."
"Does that mean you're happy for me?" Elec asked wryly.
"Of course." And Evan, his stupid, crazy-ass brother, actually came over and gave Tamara a kiss on the cheek. "Welcome to the family," he told her. "You make Elec happy and that makes me happy."
Wow, who knew Evan was capable of that?
His father said, "Getting married?" He took Tamara's left hand and studied it. "I don't see any ring on this girl's finger. Lord, Elec, didn't I teach you better than that?"
"There hasn't been time," he said defensively.
"Good cause to angle for a bigger ring," his father told Tamara. Then he gave her a big hug, actually lifting her off the ground. "We're glad you're going to be a part of the family, sweetie. Guess I need to call the wife and have her come over. She'll be pleased as punch."
"Congrats," Eve said, leaning forward to give Elec a kiss and misjudging the clearance around the end table and knocking into it. "Ow, damn it."
Elec and Evan laughed again. "You're drunk, aren't you?"
"I don't think so," Eve said with great dignity. But she ruined the regal pose by covering her mouth and burping. "Excuse me."
Their father rolled his eyes.
Evan laughed.
And Elec took advantage of the distraction to pull Tamara close to him and kiss her.
Crystal's accusations didn't matter anymore. He was deeply, truly happy.
CHAPTER SEVE TEE
TAMARA didn't think she could recall another weekend of so many ups and downs.
Having the special moments with Elec, hearing him say he was in love with her, his proposal, those were amazing and wonderful and everything she could have ever asked for.
The "Baby Daddy News in Daytona" story? She could have done without that, but she figured since it was all bald-faced lies, they'd survive it.
The phone call from her father-in-law? Not a good time.
Elec had just dropped her back at the hotel after meeting his family so he could go to the track for practice, and she was looking forward to a long, hot shower. Eve had invited her to go shopping and she had two hours before they were supposed to meet.
Her cell phone rang and she winced when she saw it was Johnny, not Beth, calling her.
That didn't bode well. Beth was fine with her relationship with Elec, but while Johnny had agreed to watch the kids and bring them to Daytona, Beth had warned Tamara he wasn't thrilled with her being with Elec.
"Hello?"
"Tammy, it's Johnny."
"Hi, how are you? How are the kids?" Tamara pulled clean clothes out of her suitcase and tried to sound chipper and nonchalant.
"The kids are fine. I've been better."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Tammy, you know that I care about you a great deal. You've been a part of my family for a long time and you were a good wife to my son."
Uh-oh. She could hear the big "but" on the end of this and she swallowed hard.
"I can appreciate that you have the right to date. It's been more than two years and you're a young woman. I get all of that, I do."
Tamara just waited for him to continue and he did.
"But why in the hell does it have to be Elec Monroe? Bad enough that you've been seeing him on the sly for months, knowing it would upset Beth and I, but for God's sake, standing behind the man when he does a press conference? What the hell are you thinking? No one even knows you're dating and now he's all caught up in a major scandal-with a lingerie model, for Chrissake! I don't think you realize what this does to your reputation, to the Briggs name, to your children."
Tamara tried to interject, knowing he wasn't going to understand, but having to try.
"Johnny, Elec is a good man. He didn't father that child, and he shouldn't have to even defend himself. But since this is a gossip-crazy world we live in, he does, and I need to show my support. I know you have a feud with Elliot Monroe, but the thing is, we can't control who we fall in love with. And I'm in love with Elec."
"That's all fine and good, except when it affects your children. For the first time since Petey's birth, I can honestly say I'm calling into question your mothering. I'm completely disappointed in you."
The insult of that hit Tamara hard, and she was equal parts furious and devastated. Her whole adult life had focused on what was best for her babies, and the one thing that had held her back from Elec had been her children. But she had realized that Elec only added to their lives, and they were all better off for knowing him, and to have Johnny accuse her of not taking their feelings into account, well, it shredded her. "I'm sorry you feel that way,"
she said.
Then she added, "I'll talk to you later," and hung up so she could sit down on the bed and cry in private.
RYDER took his place in the lineup at driver's introductions on Sunday and watched all the cameras focusing in on Elec Monroe, who was four down the line from him, Tammy standing with him. The rookie had qualified in the eighth position, despite having all the media distractions of the past few days. Elec's brother Evan was standing next to Ryder in the fifth position.
"So, your brother's marrying Tammy, huh?" Ryder said to him, not really surprised by the news buzzing all over the track. Elec and Tammy were both the marrying kind.
"Yep. I predicted that one."
"They look damn happy, despite all this lawsuit bullshit everyone's talking about. I'm almost jealous of them." Ryder shifted in his uniform, hot already. That was one thing he would never get used to-the heat inside his flame-retardant suit.
"Jealous of marriage?" Evan snorted. "Not me. But I think they'll be good at it."
That made Ryder frown. Apparently he hadn't been good at it, though he wasn't sure why not. Whenever he tried to talk to Suzanne about it, they just seemed to go around in circles until he got a pie in his face. It wasn't good.