Crash and Burn (12 page)

Here comes the wall.

Chapter 9

Race day came around again, and to Stone it felt like he’d raced a minute ago. He pulled out of pit road to get a feel for the track. It had been a good week. Divina and Hank were wrapped up in more wedding plans, something about bows and flowers. He tried to avoid them when they were deep in conversation about color schemes and music.

To his surprise, Grace had been more willing to talk to him after their dinner out. Although nothing had happened once they’d arrived home, Grace’s flirtatious playing bolstered Stone’s spirits. He’d taken time to sit with her, touch her whenever it was convenient and she’d let him hold her hand when they went grocery shopping together.

It was going so well, he told himself, and believed it.

Grace agreed to put in an appearance at today’s race–actually she’d promised. Mrs. Halkins, his sponsor’s wife, was bringing her later, so he was sure she’d show. Grace knew how important it was to him to keep the sponsor happy. And he hoped making him happy was part of her decision to come today, too.

He clutched the wheel taking the corner tight. “Feels good,” he told his crew chief. “I think we’ve got it today.”

He hated to admit he was mostly psyched because Grace would be in the audience, not because his car was running well. His crew made sure the car would do fine, but he was jacked to see Grace and have her experience race life. He hadn’t been this excited about a visitor since the first time his parents had come to watch him race.

He pulled off the track, unhooked his helmet and flexed his gloved hands. “Barry, is she here yet?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure she’ll be here. Halkins and his wife aren’t here either,” Barry told him though the headset.

Stone stopped at the number thirty-three sign. He pulled off the steering wheel, shimmied out the window and finally scanned the crowd. Barry walked up to him and patted him on the back.

“We’re due, man. Race like I know you can.”

Stone took a couple breaths to steady his nerves. He was never this anxious before a race. He shifted his weight from side to side. It wasn’t every day his fake wife came to see him race and, as much as he hated to admit it, he wanted her to think he was awesome. He wanted to show her that he was good at something other than messing up all of their lives.

“I feel like I’m in high school, waiting to pick up my prom date.”

Barry chuckled. “You really are in love, aren’t you? I’ve never see you like this over a woman.”

The cars speeding past on the track blurred into a bright steam of colors. Love? Was he? With Grace? Not possible. He wanted her to know he wasn’t a total screw up.

“I’m only excited to have a new fan watch me and that it’s my new wife, well, that’s simply a perk. I wouldn’t go so far to say I’m in love.”

Barry gave him a quizzical look. “I was just saying because usually when you marry someone, you love them.” He waved his hands in the air, looking like he was clearing smoke. “Anyway, get your head in the race. You’ll need to get into position in fifteen minutes.”

Stone clapped his arm around Barry hastily and started for the trailer. He should have been getting into the right mindset, not thinking about calling Grace to find out where she was. They should have been here by now. Even getting through traffic and security, they wouldn’t have been this late.

He picked up the phone, paused and set it back down. He didn’t know Grace’s cell phone number. Cursing, he went back out to the car. Leaning on the roof with both arms, he watched the final cars fly by on their last lap.

“Get in the race, Adams,” he scolded himself. He couldn’t go through what he had last week when she didn’t show up. Wrecking the car was an expense his sponsor hadn’t been happy about paying for. Since Halkins was the only sponsor Stone had at this point, pissing him off again wasn’t advisable.

He pounded on the roof of the car once with both hands. He had to get this race done. He slipped back into the car, jammed on his helmet, slid on the gloves and belted in. Barry put the safety net back on.

“Kick some as...phalt out there,” Barry said, adding his own pound on the roof of the car.

Stone gunned the engine, which purred loudly in response, and shifted her into gear. In his side view mirror he saw Barry talking to George Halkins. Grace must be here too.

Sitting at the starting line, cooling his heels, he looked at his opponents’ cars. He tried to distract himself, but everything made him think of Grace. Finally with a minute to spare, he spoke to Barry. “Is Grace, I mean... Is Divina here?”

There was a pause and then static. “Uh, yeah, sure she is,” Barry said.

Stone grinned.

Eat dust, boys.

* * * *

Grace reclined her seat and adjusted her earphones. When she’d received the call, she hadn’t wasted a minute dialing the airport to secure a seat on the next plane back to Connecticut. She tried to relax, but being out of contact for even a few hours wasn’t a good thing when her dad was clinging to life. That was the phrase her mother had used. She’d said the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him, only that his respiration was low and his blood pressure had bottomed out.

Fly faster
. Grace willed the plane to land already.

“The time in Connecticut is three in the afternoon. We will be landing in twenty minutes,” the pilot said over the intercom.

Grace felt the wave of shame and anxiety wash over her.

Three? Stone and the race. She glanced at her watch for confirmation.

Three. His race had started an hour ago and even though she’d promised she’d be there–she wasn’t. She should have called him to say “good luck” and to show she’d been thinking about him, but her dad had been her first priority in those first few minutes after the phone call from her mom. She knew Halkins would tell Stone why she wasn’t there, but it didn’t help appease the guilt she felt. She’d promised.

First chance she got when the race was over and she knew her dad was okay, she’d call him.

* * * *

Yale Medical Center was a huge hospital on the cutting edge of science, or so the brochure she’d picked up said. Grace had spent a few hours in the ER as a child, but she didn’t know how to find her father in the ICU. She stopped at the reception desk and asked for him.

After an elevator ride and a nurse’s station, she found his room.

“Mom,” Grace said, her voice barely a whisper.

“Oh, Gracie, I knew you’d come. Divina couldn’t get away. She said something about a meeting or some foolishness. Your father is doing a bit better. The doctor was in an hour ago, said he’d be back when you got here.”

Grace stood over her father, who was pale and fragile-looking. “Dad? I’m here.”

“Grace, I’m glad you’re here. I want to know everything about Divina and her racecar driver. You haven’t been around to tell us what’s happening.”

Grace smiled. “I don’t think you need to be bothered with that story right now. Divina’s fine.”

“And the driver? Stone...what’s his name? We watched him last weekend, saw him run into the other car. He wasn’t being a very safe driver.”

“Dad,” Grace scolded with a chuckle. “He drives at one-hundred-eighty miles per hour, I’d say safe driving isn’t high on his list of priorities.” She thought about what she’d said. He was a safe driver and he’d promised her everything the crew did was to make him more safe, or as safe as someone who did what he did could be.

“Is he racing this weekend? I want to see if Divina’s on. I read somewhere she was going to the race today. Maybe it was USA paper. Turn it on, Grace.”

She pushed the buttons to the station she knew was covering the race. She didn’t have the heart to tell her father that Divina wouldn’t be at the race today.

“What number is he?” her father asked.

“Thirty-three,” Grace said immediately.

“Stone Adams in the thirty-three car has led this race almost since the start. I haven’t seen him race this well ever,” the announcer said. “It’s like he’s a different driver, careful, but taking advantage of every opportunity out there.”

Grace felt her cheeks flame. Was he racing well because he thought she was there rooting him on? Maybe she was flattering herself and he was having a lucky day because he was a good driver. She brushed hair out of her face.

“Tell me about you, Dad. How are you feeling? Are they taking good care of you?” She sat on the side of the bed, clutching his hand.

“I’m fine, Gracie.”

“I could have helped you, so this wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “If you’d let me come live with you instead of buffering for Divina, I could have taken some of your burden.” A tear ran down her face.

She never should have gone to live with Divina and Stone.

Stone.

Heaving a sigh, she thought about their time together. There was no regret in her memories. Guilt, confusion and passion, yes, but never regret. She looked back at her dad. He must have forgotten about the newspaper article with the kiss from a few weeks ago. She wasn’t going to bring it up. Maybe he wouldn’t recognize it was her in the new pictures surfacing every so often.

When she went out now, she made sure she dressed her part. Makeup, shoes and matching bag and her hair meticulously styled. She still hadn’t made a race and now that her father was watching closely, getting there seemed like a dangerous proposition. Her father knew his daughters. There was no way to fool him.

“Mom, why don’t you find the cafe and get something to eat, or maybe go to the chapel.”

Her mother nodded and left the room. Grace leaned in and kissed her father. “I love you, Dad. I hope you know I wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt you.”

“I know, sweetie. You’re my girl and nothing you can do will disappoint me.”

She hugged him and switched to the chair next to the bed. Together they watched the race.

“It looks like Stone Adams will have his first win this season. Wait. Here comes Jon Logan, another newbie on the circuit, in the eighty-nine car.”

Grace held her breath.
Go, Stone
, she chanted under her breath. The rest of the race was a blur. Rubber flew up from under the eighty-nine car, sending the vehicle flipping sideways toward the fencing. Stone’s car hit some shrapnel and spun around on all four tires in a flat spin, not flipping over. His car came to rest in the middle of the track with the pack of racecars heading straight for him.

Grace’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest.

I should be there.

Chapter 10

Stone slammed on the accelerator.

“Get off the track, now!” Barry screamed into the headset. “The pack is coming.”

The car slowed when it hit the grass of the infield.

“Son-of-a-bitch!” he yelled, slamming the steering wheel. “I had them.”

He flipped off his helmet as the med-techs arrived at the car.

“Mr. Adams, you okay? We need to check you out.”

It was standard procedure to check out a driver who had been in an accident, but it still irritated him. “I’m fine. I just spun out.”

“Don’t give them a hard time, Stone,” Barry said through the headset.

“Sure thing, Mom. Whatever. I had that race. It was mine. If that jerk hadn’t pushed his car over its limits, I would have won. She would have seen me win.” He slammed his wheel again, before jerking it out of place and smiling up at the med-tech.

After he got the okay, he walked over to his pit, receiving a clap on the back from Barry. “Don’t worry about it, dude. It wasn’t your fault. You had him.”

“I know.” Stone kept moving. “Where’s my wife?” He scanned the crowd milling around his trailer.

“About that–” Barry started.

“Stone!” Mr. Halkins boomed, striding toward him. “Rough break. Glad to see you’re okay.”

“Thank you, sir. Have you seen Divina?” Stone almost choked on the name. He didn’t want to think about his spoiled wife. He only wanted to see Grace’s smiling face. He wanted to hug her and inhale the sunshine and summer flower scent that was solely hers.

“She’s not here,” Barry said from behind him.

Stone felt his blood pressure rise. He gritted his teeth. He’d better have heard wrong. She’d promised to be at his race. He’d thought they had shared something special, something she wouldn’t throw away like it meant nothing. Obviously, he had been mistaken.

She was making a fool of him and he was pissed. He’d have to call the deal off and come clean. He’d tell everyone the marriage was a huge mistake. He’d set her free and then it wouldn’t matter if she was there or not.

He took a long look around at his team. Sympathy and sadness shown on every face from the guys who changed his tires to George Halkins, himself. He saw the door to his trailer open and he knew he had to escape the hype. Blood pounded in his ears.

“There was an emergency,” George Halkins said.

“What? Did her nails need painting? Or was it her friend, who got divorced three years ago, needed a shoulder to cry on? There’s no excuse,” he said. “I could have been killed and she wasn’t even here for support or to see if I was alive.”