Crash and Burn (14 page)

She shook her head. “What? He’s your coworker, a fellow racecar driver.”

“No. I’m not going.”

“Is it because he stopped you from winning the race?”

He crossed his arms. “No. We don’t visit one another.”

“We could get flowers.”

“You’re not listening to me. I’m not going to the hospital unless I’m taken there in an ambulance. Jon knows no one from the circuit is coming to see him, that’s what he has a family for, and a team.”

Grace stopped talking. She didn’t understand completely, but from the tone of Stone’s voice, he was done discussing it.

“Maybe you shouldn’t go to the event,” he said.

“I’m going,” she stated matter-of-factly. “I’m going to shower and get ready.” Not giving him time to protest, she went upstairs.

* * * *

Wegman’s was mobbed when they arrived. Stone’s promo car was already there by a display of baby products. Stone parked away from the entrance and they walked side by side to the car.

“Mr. Adams,” a man called to him with his hand outstretched. “I’m the store manager. We’re so glad to have you here. You have quite a following. Our store isn’t usually this busy on a Monday afternoon.”

His nametag read
Marvin
. He wore a white striped shirt with a loud blue tie over his large belly. He turned to her and she saw his genuine smile and kind blue eyes, the color of his tie.

“You must be Mrs. Adams,” he said, holding his hand out again.

“I am. I like your tie.”

“Thanks,” he said, flushing. “My wife gave it to me because she said it matched my eyes.” He rolled them on cue.

“She has good taste.”

“Okay, well, we have a table set up over by the car. Your agent is here and he has pictures of you to sign. We’ll have a chair for you in a minute, Mrs. Adams. I didn’t realize you would be here.”

“Thank you, Marvin.”

Stone hadn’t been half as pleasant on the ride over as Marvin had been in the first two minutes. She probably shouldn’t have pushed the Jon visit so hard, but how was she to know it was an issue? She shook her head. She and Stone were supposed to be in love, not heading to divorce court.

“You could at least smile. The fans don’t want to see a grumpy racecar driver,” she whispered in his ear.

“You do your job, I’ll do mine,” he hissed back.

“What exactly is my job?”

“Look gorgeous and make me look good. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

She looked up at him, but didn’t see any trace of humor. Was he serious? Of course he was. She looked like her sister, the knock-out.

“I’m ready.”

They sat at a long table, probably used for staff meetings and cookouts. An organized line formed and women waited to get an autographed picture or to have a photo taken with Stone. Grace found herself taking a lot of pictures. She started considering cutting the heads off the women who stuffed their numbers into Stone’s jeans pocket when she took their picture.

There were a few local newspaper photographers taking pictures of them. One pushy man kept getting back in line to get close-up photos of them.

“Divina! How come we haven’t seen you at any races?” he asked on one pass.

Walt stepped in. “There was a family emergency, she was detained.” Grace smiled at Walt for saving her butt. She wasn’t ready to answer questions. The people were supposed to be here to see Stone, not her.

On his next pass, the photographer stopped in front of her and spoke loud enough for the whole crowd to hear. “Divina, show us the ring. Everyone always wants to see what the stars get for jewelry.”

The crowd pressed in, with a collective gasp. They wanted to see the damn ring too.

Grace stuffed her hands under the table. She ran her right hand over her bare left hand. “Stone?” she muttered under her breath. Panic stopped her brain from processing a reason why she wasn’t wearing a ring.

“Funny story,” Stone started. “What’s your name?” he asked the reporter.

“Bill.”

“Well, Bill. You know it was a whirlwind courtship. We fell in love at first sight and, well, I didn’t have time to get... Well, the ring needed resizing. I wasn’t good at judging ring sizes. I haven’t bought many engagement rings or wedding bands,” Stone laughed, trying to get the crowd involved.

“I hope you get your ring back soon, Divina,” Bill said.

“Bill, if you wouldn’t mind, I would prefer you call my wife Mrs. Adams,” Stone said. “She deserves respect for having to deal with people who ask personal questions and make a pest of themselves.”

Walt stood again. “Let’s get the line moving again. Thanks for stopping by, Bill. I think you have everything you need for now.”

Bill snapped a few more shots before leaving the area. Grace released a breath before greeting the next person in line.

* * * *

Later that night, in the darkness of their room laughter tickled Grace’s chest and then when she couldn’t contain it anymore, she started giggling. “When that reporter asked me about the ring, I almost passed out,” she told Stone from across the room.

“I wish he’d caught your face when you glanced over at me,” Stone said.

“You were quick with an excuse and a follow-up. So, you’ve never been engaged before? No string of broken hearts?”

“You almost sound interested in my past. No, never engaged. Never close, actually. My parents have this great relationship where they do everything together–golf, vacations, watching television. They’re inseparable. I always wanted that for myself.”

“That train jumped the track,” Grace said.

He chuckled. “You think?” He sat up. “Can I come over there to talk to you?”

Grace nodded, though he probably couldn’t see her. “Sure.” Her heart kicked up a notch. She’d never been close to him, all their barriers down. She was beginning to understand him and found she liked some of what she was discovering. Darkness was dangerous.

The bed dipped under his weight. He sat back against the wall, his feet hanging off the side. She scrunched her feet up under the covers.

“What do you want to talk about?” she asked. Did he have something in particular on his mind?

“Whatever. It seemed silly to talk across the room.”

“Tell me more about why you never got married before the drunken night with my sister.”

“I hadn’t been drinking, actually. For many years, I’ve had my pick of women. It sounds worse than it is. Women have shoved room keys in my pocket, paid for drinks and have thrown themselves at me by sticking their tongues in my mouth. It’s just not the type of woman a man wants to bring home to meet mom.”

“Didn’t you say Divina stuck her tongue in your ear?”

“True enough. I was in a different place when I went to Vegas. I met a girl at a race the week before. We went out to dinner and then she came back to my apartment in Orlando.”

“You have an apartment in Orlando?”

“Stay with me, Grace. She asked for money, threatened to tell the press she was pregnant with my baby, or tell them I hit her. When I refused, she went ballistic, throwing stuff, and left. I called Walt right away, looking for damage control. George Halkins also placed a call that afternoon, telling Walt to make me fly straight or Halkins would pull the funding. A driver is nothing without the sponsor’s money. Walt wasn’t serious about me getting married to avoid these kinds of scandals. I figured making it easy on everyone was my responsibility, so I pushed aside my attitude about marriage and you know the rest.”

Grace sat in the darkness letting the quiet of the house seep around them. “You didn’t want to get married to Divina?” she asked after a few minutes.

“I wouldn’t have married her if I felt there was another choice, but I’m glad I married her because I’ve gotten to know you.”

Warmth infused her body and the corners of her lips curled up. Her eyes fluttered closed. She almost pleaded for him to kiss her, but when he shifted his weight, it was to stand up and return to his side of the room rather than move closer to her.

Disappointment flowed like a river through her veins, cooling her ardor. She’d wanted him, imagined him touching her, caressing her bare skin, forgetting about all other women and think only of her, of them. She sighed and snuggled under her covers.

“Oh, I have two more events this week, if you want to come. Also, on Friday morning I have a special surprise for you. Are you free?”

“I think so. I’ll check tomorrow. The only thing would be if my dad relapsed, but no matter what I’ll be at the race on Saturday, if you want me.”

The end of her sentence hung between them. She hadn’t intentionally meant it to sound sexual, and she panicked at the implication.

“I’ll be leaving at seven if you want to ride there with me. It’s a local race, or as local as they get.”

* * * *

Grace accompanied him to each event like a trooper. She smiled, took pictures and even answered some questions. Bill the photographer came back to fish and get a few more pictures of Grace, but occasionally Stone would be in them too. When Bill would ask something Grace didn’t want to answer or couldn’t, Walt or Grace, herself, would call out “next,” ending Bill’s turn.

After each event, Stone respected her more. Between autographs, he’d taken to holding her hand, squeezing it gently. He noticed it made her more jumpy and he liked to think he had an effect on her. She always seemed so composed when they were together. If she hadn’t been so collected the other night when they were talking in their room, he might have taken her in his arms. He wanted to tell her and show her how he was feeling about her, but for some reason he was content to draft her, rather than take the lead.

He’d never been cautious before, but with Grace he wanted to be. She wasn’t like the other women he’d dated. She was a breed unto herself.

Friday morning started with sun streaming in through the window right into his eyes. He stretched and looked over at Grace’s made bed. She was already up. Hopefully she remembered he had a surprise for her today.

He’d called ahead and made arrangements with a local jewelry store. He’d asked for total privacy and secrecy. It would be bad if someone blabbed that he’d bought his wife an engagement ring after the wedding. With the promise of a hefty tip, they agreed to open the store late and keep their mouths closed.

“We’re here.” Stone looked over at Grace, sitting in his passenger seat with a black silk blindfold over her eyes.

“Now can you take this scarf off my eyes before I throw up from your driving?”

“What a baby,” he said, chuckling. He reached over and swept the blindfold up and off her head. “Surprise.” He gestured to the store front.

“A jewelry store?” she questioned.

“You need a ring.”

“Anything is fine. You didn’t have to go to any trouble.” Although her words said
no
, her eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Let’s check them out. I picked out a few the other day I’d like you to see.”

She agreed and met him on the sidewalk before he got around to opening the door. A sign said
Closed
, exactly as they’d planned. Three employees stood behind the three long counters. “It says they’re closed,” she protested.

“For regular folks it’s closed. For you, Mrs. Adams, it’s wide open.” He smiled and ushered her through the door.

The lights illuminated the glass cases and the sparkling jewels in them. Stone was like the proud husband spoiling his devoted wife. He tried not to look quite so impressed with himself, but he couldn’t help it when he watched Grace’s face. She went from joy to elation to surprise. Ooohing and aahing over everything, she pointed to the ones sparkly enough to catch her eye.

“See anything you like?”

“They’re all so beautiful.”

“Try some rings on. See what you like.”

She hugged him. “Thank you. This is amazing. I’ve never had free run in a jewelry store before. I haven’t even been in a jewelry store other than in a department store at the mall.”

Stone sensed some of the clerks might pass out because of this admission. “What would you like to try on, Mrs. Adams?”

“Oh, please call me Gr– Nevermind, Mrs. Adams is fine.” She shot him a look, worried about her obvious slip.

He shrugged it off and gestured to her to pick something to try on. After a half-an-hour, Stone found a chair in the corner and watched her acting like a lottery winner in a store. She flittered from one case to the next trying on rings, earrings and necklaces that would probably cost more than all the money he’d made this year. She modeled the items for the clerks and then for him. He gave a thumbs up or raised one side of his lip in a grimace if he didn’t care for whatever she displayed.

After an hour, he started to check his watch. Seriously. How long did it take a woman to pick something she liked?

“Mr. Adams. I think it’s time for you to show your wife the choices you picked out yesterday,” the owner said. Behind his hand he added, “I think she’s tried on everything else we have already.”

Stone stood and walked up behind Grace. She wore tan pants, a white sweater that grazed her mid-thighs and a belt cinched around her waist. He slid his hands around her hips and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Hello, love.”