Ben shielded his eyes from the sunshine as he looked into the dimmer garage.
“Chris? You in there?”
No one answered so he stepped inside.
“Hello?”
Still no one. He was about to turn away from this fool’s mission when Susie, Matt and Cammie popped up from behind the No. 515 car.
“Surprise!” they cried in unison.
Ben laughed.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, holding his arms out to his family. “Darrell set me up, didn’t he? How did you get here?”
Agile Matt was first in for a hug. The boy was destined to be an athlete of some sort.
“Uncle Dean and Aunt Patsy were coming in early this morning and they let us ride on their jet!”
“That’s great,” Ben said, ruffling the top of his son’s short-cut hair. Matt insisted on having the same cut as Ben, which Ben found both flattering and funny. Except for Matt’s eyes, which were identical to Susie’s, the kid was pretty much his Mini-Me.
Susie was next in line for a hug. He drew his wife close and said, “I’ve missed you” before he kissed her.
How he loved this woman—not just because of the way she felt so right in his arms or because she’d given him two wonderful children, either. He loved that she would do this for him when he’d been nothing short of a rabid bear around the house lately.
Without leaving the circle of his arms, Susie went up on tiptoe.
“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you,” she murmured before stepping back.
Ben tucked away that sweet thought and focused on Cammie.
“Do you have a hug for me?”
“Sure,” she said, then meandered forward with no apparent enthusiasm.
Ben had known that his daughter was going to hit those adolescent too-cool-to-have-parents years. Heck, every kid did; he didn’t take it personally. And he knew that Susie was handling Cammie with the same big heart and steel backbone that she had to use with him. And because he had Susie to back him up, Ben could afford to be a little goofy with his girl.
“Time for a Cammie whammy,” he said, then picked her up and spun her in a crazy circle, just as he had since she’d been little.
“Dad!” she protested, but Ben heard the laughter she fought to hold in.
When he set her back on her sneaker-shod feet, she gave him her dimpled smile, one that had always melted his heart.
“You’re so weird,” she said.
“Yup, and you’d better get used to it, kiddo.”
Ben turned his attention to Susie. “It just so happens that I scheduled the afternoon off. Let me have Darrell round up a car, and we’ll all get away from here for a while, okay?”
“Sounds like heaven,” she replied.
Ben smiled. He was ready to kick up some fun once again.
“HOME, SWEET HOME,” Susie said to Ben as they walked toward the motor home after a dinner with one of Ben’s sponsors.
She was glad that she’d left a small wardrobe in the motor home even after knowing she wouldn’t be traveling this season. A dress and a pair of pumps hadn’t quite made her packing list last night. She’d been more about race wear and beach wear.
“We’ve had this place longer than we have our real home,” Ben said as he held open the door for her.
“And it cost far more than our first house, so no wonder we’ve held on to it,” Susie said as she climbed the three steps into the comfortable interior.
Once inside, she slipped off her shoes, picked them up and tucked them into what Matt had always called the shoe jail. She’d had her rules about keeping the interior. It might be spacious for one, but even as big as it was, it could be snug for a family of four. And family had been the thought when she and Ben had worked on modifying the interior design.
In addition to the master bedroom, Matt and Cammie each had a bunk bed with lots of closet space nearby. The kitchen was as well equipped as Susie’s at home, if not as large. She’d also had cupboards fitted to hold the children’s school supplies since learning hadn’t stopped just because they’d been on the road. Susie had made it an adventure, writing her lesson plans around their location. The oak dining table and chairs had seen many a classroom session as well as family dinner.
Truly, Susie missed this place even though she knew they’d made the best decision for Cammie, and eventually Matt, by staying home. High school was about learning social skills as well as book skills. They couldn’t be on the road half of the school year and do the experience justice.
Ben had tucked away his shoes and was taking his usual spot on the tan leather sofa. Even before he’d settled in, he was wrenching off his tie and unbuttoning the top button of his dress shirt. Susie smiled at the familiar sight. Ben had never been a “fancy dress” man. For all that had changed, thank heaven some things hadn’t.
“Thanks for coming along tonight,” he said.
“You’re welcome. It actually felt nice to get dressed up and meet new people. I just hope it’s going as well on Dean and Patsy’s end.”
“I’m sure they’re doing fine,” Ben said, his voice rough with tiredness…or maybe a little desire. Susie couldn’t be sure.
The Grossos had insisted on taking Cammie and Matt overnight. They had brought them along to a special evening party at a big amusement park. Susie hoped all the activity was going to keep Cammie’s mind off the fact that she’d had to withdraw from today’s horse show. The girl was every bit as competitive as her father, and Susie knew this hadn’t sat well.
Sleepy and a little jet-lagged, Susie curled up in her favorite place in the world—against Ben’s chest. The sure and steady beat of his heart was a comfort that could never be equaled.
“It sounds as though qualifying went well,” she said.
“The best in a long time. And the crew seems to have it together…no friction at all. I think we’ve got a shot at a win, and I’d almost forgotten what that feels like,” he replied as he smoothed a hand down the bare skin of her arm.
“I’m even happier we’re here, then.”
“Me, too.” He hesitated before saying, “Honey, I know I owe you an apology. I haven’t been much fun to be around and I’m really sorry for that.”
Susie sat upright so that she could see his face. He was so solemn that her heart ached for him…for them.
“We’re going through some adjustments, that’s all,” she said. “It will all be fine.”
He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture of distraction that Susie had seen much too frequently as of late.
“Probably,” he said.
She gave him the best sexy and teasing look she could summon. “Probably? Probably doesn’t take the bull by the horns. And probably doesn’t win races, either, mister.”
Ben laughed. “Someone’s feeling a little sassy tonight.”
Susie stood, then moved so that she could brace her hands on the couch’s back either side of her husband. She leaned in and gave him a quick, passionate kiss…a promise of more intimacy to come.
“I want you to note carefully that I am not going to say the word probably,” she said. “Because probably won’t get you what’s going to be waiting on the other side of that bedroom door, either.”
Just then, the motor home’s door swung open. Susie’s back was to the door, but Ben had a clear view of their visitor.
“Cammie, is everything all right?” he asked as Suzie turned to face her daughter.
Cammie was already clad in her favorite pink flannel sleep pants and T-shirt. In contrast to that happy hue, her expression was the closed-off one Susie had been seeing more frequently…both from her daughter and her husband.
“No, everything’s not all right. My stomach hurts after the rides and the stuff I ate,” Cammie announced.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I told Aunt Patsy I was walking back here.”
“By yourself?” Susie asked automatically while she fully returned from thoughts of lovemaking to parenthoo
d.
Cammie rolled her eyes. “Mom, they’re like five spots away from here, and the lot has security.”
“Is Matt staying there?” Ben asked.
“Yes,” Cammie replied. “He and Uncle Dean are playing video games. Can I go to bed now? I don’t want to talk.” With that, she walked to her bunk, climbed in and curled into a fetal position facing the motor home’s outer skin.
Susie looked down at Ben, who gave her a crooked smile.
“We might as well turn in, too,” he said.
“Leave the bathroom light on,” Cammie said. “Just in case I need to barf.”
“Okay, honey,” Susie replied.
Romance.
Susie remembered the concept in a vague sort of way….
BEN WOKE SLOWLY as the sun drifted through blinds that had been turned to let morning approach lazily. The rattle and clink of dishware and the deadly delicious smell of bacon frying came to him from the main living area. He couldn’t believe that good-nutrition Susie would be frying up his favorite kind of breakfast, but it seemed that she was since she’d also told Darrell to take a breather for the rest of the weekend. Ben pulled on a robe and exited the bedroom.
Already showered and dressed for the day, his wife stood in front of the stove. Cammie’s bunk was empty, but she was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Little Miss Sunshine?” Ben asked Susie, who smiled over at him. Cammie was not, and never had been, a morning person.
“She headed back over to Dean and Patsy’s to pick up her overnight bag and apparently seek a breakfast not involving fried animal flesh…her words, not mine.”
“So she’s a vegetarian now?”
Susie shrugged. “This morning, at least. But you, my love, remain a carnivore, and that’s who I cooked for.”
He went to stand behind his wife, wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on his favorite sweet spot, just below her right ear.
“Thank you,” he said.
She smiled back over her shoulder at him. “Have a seat. I’m almost finished up here.”
It was apparent she’d been busy for some time, too. The table had been set with shiny silver and real cloth napkins. What looked to be fresh squeezed orange juice awaited them in a glass pitcher with three fancy glasses he hadn’t even known were in the galley. No surprise, since Darrell wasn’t much for presentation.
“At least let me take my plate to the table,” he offered.
“It’s race day,” she replied. “And the first one in months I’ve been here to pamper you, so let me do it.”
Ben smiled. “I guess I won’t argue with that.”
“Good choice,” she replied as she loaded a crockery bowl with scrambled eggs. Susie had always cooked as though feeding an army, and he’d been happy to make up the difference for the thin ranks.
Ben sat and watched his wife bring the eggs in one hand and a plate of bacon in the other.
“I’ll be back with the toast in just a second,” she said.
Damn, but he liked the way she looked in the morning.
“Take your time,” he said. “I’m enjoying the view.”
She gave him an amused look and was about to take the toast from the toaster when Carrie Underwood’s voice began to ring out from someplace Ben couldn’t fathom.
“My cell phone, bless it all,” Susie said, then pulled a hot pink little number from her knitting bag on the sofa.
“I upgraded to add internet service on Friday and I swear my volume of mail and calls increased just to prove I wasn’t being extravagant.” She looked at the phone’s screen. “Do you mind if I take this? It’s business.”
How could he mind after all she’d done? And as for the extravagance of a new cell phone, Ben figured he was already bleeding money from a thousand paper cuts. One more financial nick was pretty negligible.
While Susie headed into the bathroom to take the call, he finished up the toast and brought it to the table. And by the time she returned, his stomach had moved on from a growl straight to a roar.
“I’m sorry about the delay,” she said as she took her spot opposite him. “You should have started without me,” she added once she’d noted his sparkling clean white plate.
“That wouldn’t have been very gentlemanly of me,” he replied, then served himself a mountain of fluffy eggs.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Interesting choice of location for a phone call,” he said as he poured her some juice.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to distract you with my little bit of nonsense when you have to stay focused today.”
Ben smiled. “Not that focused. You said it was business?”
Susie nodded. “That was the owner of a chain of boutiques back home. We’ve been playing phone tag for a week, so I wanted to catch her while I could.”
“A chain of boutiques?” Ben gave a low whistle.
“Are you going to have time to keep up with all that knitting?”
She busied herself spooning out a minuscule portion of eggs and replied, “I’ll work it out.”
Ben knew that at some point or another her knitting had become more than a hobby. How much more, he wasn’t sure. Susie handled the household accounts and their business manager, in conjunction with Ben, everything else. Whatever she spent or brought in on knitting supplies fell within Susie’s domain.
“Well, if you need a sounding board, you know I’m here, right?” he asked.
Susie nodded. “I know, but there’s no reason to draw you in. It’s nothing, really, when compared to everything you do. It’s just enough to give me a little fun money.”
Ben was about to tell her that it didn’t have to be about the money, except in his life, it did. The money and the points. He took a deep swallow of juice to fight back the tension working its way into his bones. Damn, but sometimes he wished he could knit.
CHAPTER FOUR
SUSIE LOOKED AT HER REFLECTION in the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. She made it a habit to dress in Ben’s colors on race day, and today’s choice of navy linen pants and a gold top with a red-and-gold silk scarf at the neckline fit the bill. More classy than flashy.
“Not bad for sitting square on forty years old,” she murmured, smoothing the pants over her hips.
Despite the detour last night had taken, Susie was ready to head straight on into the day. The first order of business would be to share with Ben the plans she’d made for a two-day minivacation about one hundred miles south of the track, on Coronado Island. She’d found the most marvelous old hotel, replete with charm, a beautiful beach and even a ghost for Cammie, who was into that ghost/vampire/impossible romance thing.
After one last check of her makeup, she left the bathroom and joined her family in the main living area. It was tradition that they walked to the pit area together before the start of each race.
“Are we ready?” she asked.
“I’d be readier if I could have been in the horse show yesterday,” Cammie said from the sofa where she sat with her cell phone between her hands. Susie sometimes wondered if it was going to become permanently affixed to her daughter.
Matt, who was wearing a smaller version of Ben’s team shirt, wrinkled his nose at his sister. “Huh? That doesn’t even make sense. If you were in the horse show, then—”
“Who cares what you think?” Cammie grumped.
“Andrea Holton won both the junior hunter and the equitation championships, and I know I could have beaten her.”
“Not from California,” Matt smugly replied.
“Well, duh!”
“You just miss Symphony. You’re in loooove with your horsey,” Matt teased, then made a series of wet kissing noises that had Cammie looking like a thundercloud.
“Enough,” Susie said in a firm voice. “We need to get out to the track.”
“Before World War Three erupts,” Ben muttered under his breath.
They left the motor home not so much the crew Ben used to say they
were, but more a small, warring nation.
“It’s not fair,” Cammie said as she trailed three steps behind the rest of the family on their way to the pits. “I shouldn’t have had to miss that show. You could have left me with one of the other families from the barn, or left me home alone. I’m responsible enough.”
Matt snickered. “Want me to tell Mom and Dad how you locked us out of the house last week, and I had to climb in the window?”
“Thanks,” Cammie snapped. “You just did.”
“You’re welcome,” Matt replied. “Your horse is way smarter than you are and nobody lets him stay alone.”
“You are such a miserable brat! I don’t want to travel with you ever again.”
Susie had been trying to be patient, but no reward seemed to be coming from it. Ignoring the people milling around them, she stopped dead in her tracks so that Cammie had to swerve to avoid her. When her daughter was within reach, Susie settled a hand on her arm.
“I’m going to say this once,” she said quietly. “Life is not always all about you. We are a family, and on this one weekend…this one day…it’s about your father. He’s given you every opportunity and every bit of support you could ever desire. Without him, there would be no Symphony to ride or custom boots to wear while riding. Dad deserves our support right now. He needs us. Can you understand that?”
Cammie nodded. “Sorry. I’ll stop.”
She gave her daughter’s arm a comforting squeeze. “Good girl.”
She had never said anything directly to the children about their dad’s racing season, but she was well aware that others had been less sensitive.
“Now put on a smile, okay?”
Cammie’s smile reminded Susie of the forced baring of teeth she’d produced when she’d first had her picture taken with Santa. That was good enough for Susie, though. She quickened her pace to join Ben, but once she’d matched her stride to his, she wished she hadn’t. His jaw was set as though his back molars had locked together, and his narrowed gaze shot straight forward.
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