Flat-Out Sexy(50)

But Elec and Tammy were beaming at each other, and he wished them happy.

Having her stand with him at driver's intro was a good strategy. It was a  gauge of how serious a driver was about his girlfriend. She only walked  across that stage with him if she was around for the long haul, and for  Tammy to choose today, of all days, to walk and wave with Elec, was  good timing. It would show they were standing tall in the face of what  would ultimately turn out to be just false accusations.

When the dust settled and the blonde was proven to be a liar, Elec would  be in a better position with his image than he had been before. He'd be  seen as decent, hardworking, a family man taking on a couple of kids  that weren't his, all at the somewhat tender age of twenty-five.

And what would Ryder be doing?

He'd be winning races.





TAMARA tried not to squirm as Hunter bounced in her seat and told her  grandfather, "Elec made a fire and we roasted marshmallows. He helped us  catch fireflies. And look, did you see that? He just moved into tenth  place. Bet he wins. He's an amazing driver."

It seemed that since Hunter had been given the green light to talk about  Elec, she was trying to make up for lost time. She had peppered Johnny  with Elec stories all day, and Tamara was just waiting for her  father-in-law to blow. Even Petey, who usually paid more attention to  what was going in his mouth than the race, kept making comments about  Elec's driving.

"Mom, can we fly back home with Elec?" Petey asked.

That was the last straw for Johnny. Tamara saw his jaw lock and she hastily stood up.

"Let's go for a walk, guys. I could use a little snack. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah," Petey said immediately, which she knew he would. He was always hungry.

"Okay," Hunter said.

"We'll be back," Tamara said with a smile at Johnny, who ignored her.  Beth shrugged her shoulders and gave her a sympathetic look.

She had her hands filled with popcorn and hot dogs and soft drinks when  her cell phone rang. Passing most of the food off to the kids, she  pulled out her phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tamara, it's Elliot, Elec's father. My wife and I heard you have  your kids here at the track and we were hoping you could drop by the  suite with them so we could meet them since they are going to be our  step-grandchildren."

Touched by the gesture, Tamara said, "Sure. We're at the snack bar right now. When they're done eating, I can bring them by."

"Oh, bring the munchies with you. That way they can sit down and eat."

"Okay, great, I'll see you in a few minutes."

Tamara hung up and looked at her kids. "We're going over to meet Elec's  parents. Best manners, okay?" She hadn't told them yet that she and Elec  were getting married. She had wanted a private moment with them to  discuss it and she hadn't had one yet. She would have to pull Elec's  parents aside and give them the heads-up not to say anything just yet.

When they got to the suite, Hunter was true to form, marching in and  settling herself outside the box with the best view of the track,  inviting Elliot to join her. Petey hung back munching on his hot dog and  running his fingers along the impressive selection of soft drinks  sitting on the bar.

Kathy, Elec's mom, gave Tamara a big hug. "I knew you were something  special weeks ago when he was mooning over you," she said with a smile.

"He was mooning over me?" That was awfully nice to know.

"Oh, yeah. He went around and around on whether or not he should stop by  when your kids had the chicken pox. Took him the better part of an hour  and lots of coaxing from me to decide to go for it."

Now that was just damn cute to know Elec had put that much thought into  it. "Well, thank you. And while I have a quick second, I just wanted you  to know that Elec just proposed to me, but my kids don't know yet, so  if you could not mention it in front of them for a few days, I'd  appreciate it. I need to tell them alone."

"Of course, sweetie. I understand. And then I can't wait to dive into wedding plans with you. Where is your mother?"

"She's in Seattle." And needless to say, when Tamara had called her the  night before, she had been stunned to hear her daughter was marrying yet  another race car driver. "She only gets out here about once a year."

Kathy opened her mouth to say something but stopped short when they  heard a shriek from the seats by the track. Tamara didn't wait to turn  all the way around before she was running. That was Hunter and that had  been a bloodcurdling scream of terror.

"What? What is it?" she said, frantically moving toward her daughter and expecting blood, a broken arm, something.                       
       
           



       

Elliot was already carrying a white-faced Hunter into the suite on his  hip. "Turn up the TV," he demanded. "Elec got caught in a pileup."

Tamara felt the fear for her daughter shift to Elec. Oh, Lord.

Elec's uncle had the remote and he turned the volume up while she prayed  it was just a dustup, nothing serious. But she knew it had to be, given  Hunter's scream of terror. Hunter was a race fan. She knew all about  bumps and spinouts and they wouldn't upset her.

"Wow, what happened there, Rick?" the announcer said. "Let's get a rollback on that clip."

It happened so fast, that Tamara had a hard time following which car was  which. She spotted Elec's 56 car and tracked it as one car bumped  another and they spun out, hitting a third car. The hood of the first  car collided with Elec, who was trying to avoid the wreck on the apron,  and in a split second his car went from in control to a full-out roll  into the grass.

He turned twice before coming to a stop right side up, engine dead. The  caution flag went up, and the announcers started the clip all over again  as they dissected what had happened.

She didn't care what had happened. She did not give a damn who did what  and why. All she cared about was that the man she loved was in that  smashed car and she wasn't sure she could survive losing him when she  had just found him.

"It looked to me like the lead car started out slow when they lifted the  caution flag, and when you have all these cars sitting in tenth,  eleventh, twelfth place, they jam up on top of each other when they  can't get enough speed. Wow, what an accident for the fifty-six car.

Let's hope rookie Elec Monroe is okay. They've had no radio contact with him but they're pulling him out of the car now."

There was bile in Tamara's throat and she struggled against the need to throw up.

Elec's mother tucked her arm through Tamara's and whispered, "It's okay,  sweetie. Wrecks happen. He's fine. Put on a brave face for your kids."

Tamara blinked and nodded. Kathy was right. She could see that Hunter  and Petey were scared. "It's alright," she told them, even if her voice  was shaky. "Just a little wreck, happens all the time." She reached out  and took Hunter from Elliot. Her daughter was too heavy for her to  carry, but she gave her a hug before setting her back on her feet. She  reached for Petey and squeezed his shoulder.

Glancing back at the TV, she saw paramedics were pulling Elec out of his  car. The camera panned in as they were removing his helmet. His lips  were moving, though he was clutching his ribs with his right arm.

Relief flooded her.

"He looks just fine," Elliot said and the relief was evident in his  voice as well. "Talking and everything. They'll have to take him down to  the medical center, per the rules. What do you say we all go down and  check on him and let him know that next time he shouldn't be daydreaming  behind the wheel?"

"I don't think it was his fault at all," Hunter said, some of the color restored to her face.

Petey hadn't said a word at all and that worried Tamara. "It's okay," she told him. "Elec is fine."

He just nodded and crammed a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

The wide eyes and white faces of her children hit Tamara hard. They  cared about Elec. He had filled a void in their life and they would be  devastated if something happened to him.

That scared her.

All of a sudden a lot of things scared her.





ELEC rested his hand on the tape binding his ribs as he sat on the  gurney, and tried not to be annoyed. He hated, absolutely hated, not  being able to finish a race. It was one, a matter of pride, and two, a  matter of losing points in the cup race. He had considered going back  out there and running his last eighty laps since finishing last still  gave you points, whereas not finishing gave you none. Then he had tried  to stand up and walk across the room and nixed that idea. It felt like  he had a bear on his chest, and he didn't think he could climb into his  seat.

Next week, though. The doctor said it would take six weeks for his four  cracked ribs to heal completely but he figured he would be pretty  pain-free by the following week and all he was doing was sitting. He  could handle a few hours in the car, no problem.