Old Flame, New Sparks

by Day Leclaire

  The instant he left, she burst into tears. She’d known this day was coming and had dreaded it, had dreaded the moment when the sparks that had ignited between them would be doused before they could fully flame anew. She’d waited too long to tell him the truth. Had waited too long to explain it to her son. And now she’d pay a hard price for what the two men in her life viewed as a betrayal.

  A light tap sounded at the door and her housekeeper stepped in. “Excuse me, Kellie, but your lawyer is on the phone.”

  She swiped at her damp cheeks and struggled to regain her composure. “Could you take a message please?”

  “It’s the third time Mr. Leroy has called.” The housekeeper held out the cordless phone. “He says it’s urgent and won’t take no for an answer.”

  Concerned, Kellie took the phone. “Fred? What’s the problem?”

  “I’m sorry to bother you when you have so much to deal with right now.” She gave him full points for his tactful way of referring to the events from the night before. “It’s about the contract between Jinx and Mr. Boyce.”

  She shifted without thinking and fought back a gasp of pain when the movement jarred her ankle. “What about it?”

  “After I heard last night’s news report, I decided I should pull out the contract and go over it, in case you needed specifics about any of the clauses.”

  “Delicately put, Fred,” she said drily. “I assume you found something in one of the clauses I should know about?”

  “Not exactly. I discovered that Jinx never signed the final version. I think it was during that last episode that put him in the hospital. I don’t know how it got overlooked,” he fussed. “It’s never happened in the thirty years I’ve been practicing law. But rest assured the person responsible will be dealt with most severely.”

  “Wait a minute. I don’t understand. Are you saying the contract is invalid?” she asked in disbelief.

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS passed with everyone maintaining a wary distance. The teams made a point of avoiding each other, as did the drivers. The fallout from Richmond had seriously affected all their performances. Lucas had dipped to a dismal eighth in the points, and for the first time ever, he struggled with his focus.

  He could also tell that Kellie and Jamie hadn’t worked through their issues. Of course, four weeks wasn’t nearly long enough for something of this magnitude. But it was obvious to even the most casual observer that the teenager was struggling to come to terms with what he’d learned.

  Although he didn’t attack each race the way he had at Richmond, Jamie picked up a reckless aggressiveness that hadn’t been there before, both on and off the track. The only good that came out of the entire situation was that some of the older drivers, who’d accused Jamie of a certain arrogance and disrespect, had changed their tunes, no doubt sympathizing with the emotional upheaval the boy was experiencing.

  To Lucas’s surprise, Cole chose to approach him at the Charlotte race, in full view of the cameras. Up until then, the two of them had been careful to keep as far away from each other as possible. Over the weeks, their anger had cooled, but Lucas suspected it wouldn’t take much to push it into the danger zone again.

  “Yeah, yeah. I know,” Cole said as he approached. “What the hell am I doing here?”

  Lucas folded his arms across his chest. “That would be my first question.”

  Cole leaned his hip against Lucas’s car. “And my answer is, I felt you deserved a warning.”

  “A warning.” Lucas cocked an eyebrow. “What sort of warning?”

  “It’s about your contract with Jinx.”

  There was a sly, calculating look in his teammate’s gaze, one that made Lucas want to rip the dimples right out of the other man’s face. “Last time I checked that was none of your business.”

  Cole shrugged. “Still isn’t. But that won’t stop me from telling you that there’s a loophole in your contract somewhere that your lawyers apparently overlooked.”

  How the hell could he know that? “Bull.”

  “I’m serious, man. According to my sources, Kellie can negate the contract and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

  “And I’m supposed to believe you…why?” He snapped his fingers. “I know. It’s because you’re so honorable and trustworthy.”

  Cole shrugged. “Believe me or not, I don’t particularly care. I just felt I should give you the heads-up.”

  “Out of the goodness of your heart.”

  “Hell, no. It’s a win-win situation for me.” Cole ticked off on his fingers. “If Kellie uses the loophole, you’re out on your butt, which means I win. And if Kellie doesn’t use the loophole, I still win.”

  Lucas chewed on that one for a moment. “How is that a win for you?”

  “It’s a win because I get to be the one to tell you that your contract’s invalid.” Cole grinned. “I gotta say, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself here. And since NASCAR’s watching you can’t even deck me.”

  “Watch me.”

  “Don’t forget the NASCAR Championship, bubba. You’ve already dropped to eighth. You wouldn’t want to lose any points, would you? Especially not because of me.”

  Lucas ground his teeth together. “When this is over—”

  “Yeah, yeah. Send me the memo.” Cole scratched the side of his nose with his middle finger. “And here’s mine right back at you.”

  Lucas saw red, and it took every ounce of control not to punch the other driver. “One last question.”

  “Shoot.”

  “How do you know about the contract? Did Kellie tell you?”

  That earned him another dimpled grin. “I guess I could really try and rattle you and claim she did.”

  Relief shot through Lucas. “But she didn’t.”

  “Nope.”

  “Then how—”

  Cole winked. “I’m no dummy, despite my image. I’m banging fenders with the law firm’s legal secretary.”

  TWILIGHT SETTLED OVER the Hammond compound, bringing with it a fall crispness to the late-October air. They’d just come off Atlanta with a season-defining win that had catapulted Lucas back up into the top five in the championship hunt. After gathering to celebrate and plan their strategy for Texas, his team had all gone home, while Lucas had taken the hour of solitude to clear up a few business matters.

  As he headed toward his Jag, a small sound caught his attention and he paused, peering into the dark. “That you, Jamie?”

  “Yeah.”

  Lucas caught the dejected tone of the boy’s voice and didn’t hesitate. He altered his course and found Jamie sitting on the fence that separated the shops from the Hammond homestead. “I thought I’d find you celebrating after that finish you pulled off in Atlanta. Where does that put you in the points? Thirteenth?”

  “Fourteenth. One behind Cole.”

  “Three races still to go. You can take him.”

  “I plan to.” A hint of anger rippled through Jamie’s voice. “I’d stuff it down his sorry throat if I could.”

  “I’m right there with you.” Lucas vaulted onto the fence next to his…son. He was still struggling to get used to their true relationship. “We haven’t taken time to talk since Richmond.”

  “Nothing much to say.”

  “I’m not sure I agree.” He needed to go slow, feel his way carefully. If he screwed this up now, it might be years before he had another chance to bond with his son—if ever. “I wanted to give you some space and let you come to terms with all this before I approached you.”

  “All this,” Jamie repeated. A hint of bitterness underscored his words. “Interesting way of putting it.”

  “How would you like me to put it?”

  Jamie dropped his head. “I’d like it to all go away,” he muttered. “I’d like to pretend it never happened.”

  “But it did. And we’re going to have to deal with it.”

  Jamie turned to look at Lucas. His eyes were
hauntingly identical to his mother’s, the color the same shade of Texas bluebonnet, with the same burning intensity. “You’re not my father,” he stated with painful directness.

  “I understand you feeling that way. And I’m not trying to replace Jinx. I couldn’t.” He nearly winced at the sheer misery he read in the teen’s face. “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to have a relationship with you. As adults.”

  It all hung in the balance for an endless moment, swaying between acceptance and rejection. Until that instant, Lucas didn’t realize how desperately he wanted Jamie in his life.

  Finally, the boy nodded. “I…I wouldn’t mind that.” An endearing awkwardness gripped him. “You’re not going to expect me to call you ‘Dad,’ are you? Because that’s not happening.”

  The question stirred a bittersweet longing. He had a son, a son he’d never known. What would it have been like to have been there for his birth? To have watched him grow from toddler to rambunctious schoolboy to a teenager teetering on the brink of adulthood? He’d missed so much, so many years he could never recover.

  Lucas took a deep breath. He could resent that loss, and lose still more opportunities. Or he could accept it and move on, build a bridge between them that would stretch into the future. He held out his hand. “Why don’t we stick with Lucas?”

  Jamie took his hand in a firm shake. “Okay.”

  They sat silently for a minute. From deep inside the shop a door banged and a minute later Kellie appeared. Oblivious to their presence, she strode across the compound on her way to the main house. Her ankle was almost completely healed, Lucas noted. Barely a limp remained.

  The minute she was out of earshot, Jamie asked, “She really didn’t tell you about me?”

  “No.”

  “She said that if she had you’d have given up racing for me.”

  “I would have, yes.”

  “Oh.” Another pause, and then, “Do you suppose my dad sold you some of HRI so we’d all be together? Do you think he hoped we’d find out the truth?”

  Lucas had spent many an hour thinking long and hard on that very question. Each time he’d come to the same conclusion. “I think that’s exactly what he was trying to do.”

  “She never would have told, would she?” A hint of bitterness crept back into Jamie’s voice. “If Cole hadn’t spilled it, she’d have kept the truth from us.”

  Lucas shook his head. “You’re wrong, Jamie. She would have come clean. I knew there was something eating at her, but she wouldn’t tell me what it was. If I were a betting man, I’d say she decided to wait until the end of the season so it wouldn’t distract us from our racing. But then Cole moved up the deadline.”

  “Are you still mad at her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Me, too.”

  Lucas smiled. “I was madder four weeks ago. But now…not so much.”

  “Me, too. I guess it’s because I’m getting used to it.” Jamie peered at him through the darkness. “Why aren’t you still mad?”

  “Because before I didn’t have a son,” he said simply. “And now I do.”

  “Weird, huh?”

  “Very.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “WELL, NASCAR FANS, it’s the final race of the season! When we leave Homestead, we’ll have crowned a new champion. Will the current points leader, Hutch Matheson, be the one? Or will Lucas ‘Bad’ Boyce pull off a record-breaking eighth NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Championship?

  “Mathematically, we’re down to those two still eligible to take that top spot. But in order to pull off the next-to-impossible, Bad will have to win the race, and Hutch will need to have some incredibly ‘bad’ luck. Anything less and Hutch rides home with the biggest win in motor sports. Stay tuned, race fans! We have a feeling it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

  KELLIE SWITCHED OFF the television with a grimace. “Lucas only has to win if Hutch finishes in the top ten. Can’t they get anything right?”

  Jamie leaned back against the couch cushions, cradling a cup of coffee. “Relax, Mom. Dip has it figured out. He’ll keep Lucas updated.” He took a quick gulp of coffee, eyeing her through the rising steam. “Are you going to mind?”

  It took her a minute to switch gears and grasp his reference. “You mean, will I mind if Lucas wins the championship?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’ll be a tough transition.” More for her than anyone else, especially since it meant keeping their relationship strictly business, when she wanted so much more. “But no, I won’t mind.”

  Jamie stood, took a final swallow of coffee, and set his emptied mug in the sink and splashed water into it. Bracing his hip against the counter, he faced her. The stance reminded her so much of Lucas it stole her breath and intensified that ever-present ache. “I need to ask you something.”

  “About your father?”

  He nodded. “I need to know why you never told me the truth. I can understand why you didn’t tell Lucas.” He still couldn’t bring himself to refer to Lucas as his father, she noted. “But why did you let me think Jinx was my dad for all those years?”

  “Because he was,” she said simply. “In every way except by blood.”

  Jamie gave her a thoughtful look. “Dad sold HRI to Lucas so you’d be forced to tell both of us the truth, didn’t he?”

  “Yes.” She released her breath in a sigh, overwhelmed by regret. “I’m sorry, Jamie. I should have told you. I kept putting it off because the timing never seemed right.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Should I have done it right after we’d buried Jinx? It would have been cruel.”

  To her surprise he didn’t react with the pain and anguish he had every other time she’d attempted to broach this subject. For the first time it gave her hope. “Why not tell me once the season started?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I think you can guess. I felt it would have distracted you and you were dealing with enough distractions.”

  He nodded. “That’s what Lucas said.”

  She took a deep breath and admitted, “To be honest, Jamie, I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid.”

  “Afraid?” He gave a little laugh. “Of what?”

  She closed her eyes for a brief instant before fixing him with a direct look. It was time to open her heart to him, to treat him like the man he’d become, instead of the boy she’d cherished for so many years. “I was afraid you’d hate me.”

  He stared in dismay. “Hate you?”

  “I made a mistake all those years ago. Only it wasn’t a mistake because it gave me you.” She fought back tears, unwilling to surrender to the blatant weakness of them. Even more, she refused to use them as an emotional weapon against her son. “First I wanted to wait until you were older and mature enough to handle the information. And then I told myself I needed to find the perfect moment to tell you, when there weren’t any distractions or crises or…I don’t know…work problems. Before I could, Jinx got sick and…I’m making excuses, I know, but it’s haunted me all these years. I knew you would be angry and hurt or maybe even—” Her voice wobbled precariously. “Maybe even disgusted with me. So I hid it from you.”

  “Mom, I could never be disgusted with you.” He said it with heartbreaking gentleness. “I was angry and hurt because I found out in such a public way, because you didn’t tell me privately.”

  “And if I had?” She twisted her hands together. “What then?”

  He took a minute to think it through. “I’d have still been hurt, mainly because I’d have felt you and Dad should have told me the truth from an early age. But I wouldn’t have been angry. At least, not at you. I’d have been mad at Lucas for deserting you. Us.” He struggled for the right words. “And I’d have been thrown because I’d have lost myself for a time.”

  She frowned in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

  “I’ve always been Jinx Hammond’s son. All of a sudden I’m not anymore.” He thumped a fist to his chest. “The assumptions I have about myself, the knowledge of wh
o and what I am, are suddenly blurred. It’s like driving into the corner and having the car jump out from under you. One minute you’ve got control and the next you’re in the wall.”

  Her heart went out to him. “Oh, Jamie. I’m so sorry.”

  A quick smile broke from him. “One good thing came out of it.”

  Her own smile quivered in response. “What’s that?”

  “At least I know that any mistakes are my own fault rather than the result of some stupid jinx.”

  She blinked in surprise. “And that’s a good thing?”

  “Heck, yeah!” He stared at her as though she’d lost her mind. “You can fix mistakes. Learn from them. Improve. But you can’t outrun a jinx. One’s skill or lack of it. The other’s just the roll of the dice. I’d rather think my fate’s in my own hands, not at the whim of some stupid jinx.”

  It made perfect sense. “What about being the son of Bad Boyce? Isn’t that almost as difficult to deal with as a jinx?”

  To her surprise, she realized he’d already thought that one through. He nodded. “It’s going to be tough. I have big shoes to fill.”

  She held up a hand. “Stop right there. The only shoes you have to fill are your own. You may be Lucas’s son, but you’re your own man with your own unique skills and talents. You can choose to live in your father’s shadow. Or you can step out and be your own person.”

  Jamie nodded. “Lucas told me pretty much the same thing.”

  “Did he?” Warmth filled her. “You two have worked things out, haven’t you?”

  “He’s okay.”

  High praise coming from her son. “I’m glad.”

  He shot her a keen look. “What about you? Have you worked things out with him?”

  She managed a reassuring smile. “Not yet.”

  “But you will, right?”

  She hesitated. “You realize that Lucas has the option to terminate his contract with HRI, that he can elect not to continue his partnership. If he wants out, he can get his money back and walk away.”

  “Is that what you want him to do?”

  Kellie shook her head. “I want him to stay.”