Almost Famous

by Gina Wilkins

  “Call anytime,” she replied. “I’ll enjoy hearing from you.”

  She figured he would call a few times—and then he would get back into the frantic schedule of his real life. The calls would come less frequently, and then they would stop altogether. And she wouldn’t be greatly disappointed, she promised herself, because she would be completely prepared for that outcome.

  Jake was beginning to look annoyed. “Why are you talking that way? Like we’re just a couple of passing acquaintances who’ll probably never see each other again?”

  Because the description sounded very much like what she had just been thinking, she simply looked at him.

  He studied her face through narrowed eyes. “Is that what you want? Do you want me to go away and never see you again?”

  The very thought made her chest hurt. But what else could they do? They lived in different states, literally. In different worlds, figuratively. “I said I would love to hear from you sometime.”

  “But you don’t think I’ll call,” he finished grimly.

  “I know you have a very busy schedule.”

  “You think I’ll forget about you?”

  She moistened her lips. “I’m saying I would understand if you’re too busy to call.”

  He let out a gusty breath, and since they were still standing so close together, the warm breeze brushed her cheek, and ruffled the tiny hairs that curled around her face. “I’ll call you.”

  “All right.” She swallowed. “You’d better be on your way, hadn’t you? You still have to make the drive to Batesville.”

  “Yeah,” he said reluctantly. “I guess I’d better…but I hate to leave. You and I had so much more to talk about.”

  “I hope you have a safe flight home. And I hope the doctor gives you the news you want to hear later.”

  “He will.” Jake sounded confident. “I’ll be racing in Charlotte.”

  “Then I hope you win.”

  Leaving his left hand on her shoulder, he raised his right to brush her hair back from her cheek. “Maybe you’ll be watching?”

  A tiny shiver ran through her in response to the slight caress. “Maybe I will,” she said huskily.

  He lowered his head to brush his mouth over hers. Once. Twice. And then a third time. Each kiss a bit longer. More avid.

  Jake lifted his head, looked down at her for a moment, then gathered her closer to crush her mouth beneath his. Her arms locked around his neck, she went up on tiptoes to give her better access to his mouth.

  For a full week, these emotions had been building, through conversations and laughter and the light, teasing kisses they had shared thus far. Now, for the first time, they allowed passion to flare between them. She struggled to keep from being swept completely away by it, and she felt her heart breaking a little at the realization that the first time would very probably be the last.

  Jake was breathing hard by the time he raised his head. Emotions darkened his eyes and carved deep lines around his mouth. His voice was gravelly when he said, “Now I really don’t want to go.”

  She drew herself slowly out of his arms. “But you have to. Goodbye, Jake.”

  Shaking his head stubbornly, he said, “I’m not saying that. I’ll call you later, okay?”

  She nodded and reached for the doorknob. She needed to see him out quickly, while she could do so with some measure of dignity.

  He paused long enough to give Oscar a farewell ear scratch. “See you around, buddy. Take good care of your friend here.”

  Oscar wagged his tail and did his best to lick Jake’s entire face.

  With one last pat, Jake straightened and moved toward the door, his eyes locked with Stacy’s. He touched her cheek when he reached her.

  “I’ll call you,” he said firmly, as if he repeated it enough she would finally believe him.

  She nodded, unable to find the voice to say anything more. After only a momentary pause, he moved past her and walked outside, striding toward his cabin without looking back.

  He was walking better than he had just the week before, she noticed. Hardly limping at all. There should be no reason at all why he couldn’t drive again in just under two weeks.

  She closed the door and rested her forehead against it, struggling against tears. Oscar nudged her ankle with his damp nose, claiming her attention. Picking him up, she nuzzled into his long, silky hair.

  “You’re right,” she said after a pause, when she was relatively sure her voice would be steady. “I’m being foolish. I’ve only known him for a week.”

  One week. Such a short time to feel so significant.

  She’d get over it, she assured herself, carrying Oscar with her to the couch. She hadn’t really allowed herself to start hoping…not too much, anyway.

  As for Jake, he might think now that they had connected on an important level, that they had formed a real bond—but she was more objective. She could see that he had been lonely and lost, his life on hold, his career temporarily stalled, his friends and coworkers going along without him.

  He had needed a distraction. Someone to talk to, to laugh with, to assure him that everything was going to be all right. A little boost for his battered male ego. She had provided all of that.

  Now he was going back to North Carolina. Back to high-profile stock car racing. Back to his sponsors, his fans, his teammates. His life. A life that didn’t include her. And she could live with that.

  But, oh, she was going to miss him, she thought, burying her face in Oscar’s hair again. She was really going to miss the sweet, sad, funny truck driver who had come very close to stealing her heart.

  CHAPTER TEN

  JAKE THREW HIMSELF onto a leather sofa late Tuesday afternoon with a heartfelt groan. He felt a bit as though he’d been dragged around the track behind a car for a few laps.

  His crew chief chuckled heartlessly. “That’s what you get for spending a week lazing around in paradise.”

  “Lazing around? I’ve been working my butt off getting back into shape.”

  “Maybe,” Wade concluded, dropping into a chair near the sofa. “You certainly are walking better. Look a lot stronger. But you apparently made time to socialize with the—how did you phrase it?—the pretty lady next door?”

  The reminder of Stacy made Jake’s pulse jump. Not that he’d really needed the reminder. He hadn’t actually stopped thinking about her all day, even though he’d been so busy he’d barely had time to breathe.

  “You’d like her,” he said. “So would Lisa.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. She’s great. I hope you’ll get the chance to meet her before too long.”

  Wade’s left eyebrow rose. “You’re planning to see her again?”

  “Absolutely,” Jake answered confidently. Then added, “If I can convince her, that is.”

  Situating his lanky frame more comfortably in the chair of Jake’s office at Woodrow Racing headquarters, Wade ran a hand over his functionally short pecan-brown hair and studied Jake through narrowed brown eyes. Hours in the sun had tanned his skin and carved lines around his eyes and mouth, giving him a weathered, rather stern appearance, but Jake knew how that somber expression softened with Wade’s rare full smiles.

  “Since when do you have to convince any woman to spend time with you?” Wade asked laconically. “They’re usually lined up at your door.”

  “Yeah, right. But either way, Stacy’s not like the others. She’s…well, she’s pretty special.”

  Wade studied him more closely. “Special how?”

  “It’s hard to explain. She’s a tiny little thing. Five-two, maybe. Five-three. Barely over a hundred pounds. Yet she has a black belt in tae kwon do and she recently used it to take down an armed criminal twice her size.” He related the story Stacy had told him.

  Wade whistled when Jake finished. “That took guts.”

  “Yeah. And apparently Stacy didn’t even think twice.” He chuckled. “She’s got a little dog that’s just like her. A Yorkie about th
e size of a loaf of bread who thinks he’s a Doberman pinscher. His name’s Oscar.”

  “Hmm.” Wade looked thoughtful. “Sounds like you sort of fell for her.”

  “No ‘sort of’ about it,” Jake admitted. “She got under my skin pretty bad in the short time I knew her. I really want to see her again, but…”

  “But?” Wade prodded after a moment.

  Sighing, Jake explained, “She’s a very private person. Hates the press. Doesn’t like attention called to herself. Said she would hate living in a fishbowl.”

  Wade winced. “That doesn’t bode well for you. Does she know what your life is like?”

  “Not much. She didn’t even know who I was until her nephew recognized me Sunday afternoon. She doesn’t follow NASCAR, never heard of me.”

  Wade looked a little surprised, then vaguely amused. “We get so used to being among insiders and fans that we forget sometimes that not everyone out there knows who we are.”

  “I was thinking the same thing the other day. It was nice to be anonymous for a few days—and yet, I kind of enjoy the attention that comes with the job. I mean, I race because I love it, but I like competing in front of the big crowds, too. It feels good to know I’ve got fans cheering me on and tracking my career, and reporters interested in what I have to say. Sure, I’d like to have more privacy at times, but that’s all a part of the fame that comes with success. It’s not so bad, you know?”

  Wade nodded slowly. “Dealing with the press comes more naturally to some people than others. You’ve always been able to keep your anger and frustrations under control in front of the cameras. To hold on to your patience when you’re asked a string of stupid questions while you’re trying to concentrate on other things. Not everyone can compartmentalize as well as you do. I have to work pretty hard at it myself.”

  “I’ve always accepted it as part of the job. But then, I came up in the ranks when the sport was already growing in popularity by leaps and bounds.”

  “Like I said, you fit in well the way things are now. The press loves you. Your fans love you. Your haters love to hate you. Because you’ve played it so well, anyone who’s interested in dating you better accept that you live in the public eye. Your fan club’s going to want details.”

  Jake grimaced. “Yeah. Stacy’s not going to like that.”

  “You’ve only known her a week,” Wade reminded him.

  “How soon did you know with Lisa? The first time you met her, I mean?”

  Looking just a little startled by the question, Wade replied slowly, “I knew within fifteen minutes of meeting her.”

  “There you go, then.”

  “Yeah, but it took me more than six years to convince her we belonged together.”

  Effectively checked, Jake could only shrug.

  Wade pushed himself to his feet. “I’m going to the shop. I want to see how those adjustments on the car are coming along.”

  Drawn to the delicious smells of grease, paint and exhaust, Jake stood, suddenly revitalized. “I’ll come with you.”

  IT WAS SO QUIET at the river. So peaceful. So…dull without Jake there, Stacy thought with a sigh on Wednesday afternoon. Every time she looked out her window at the empty cabin next door, she was much too keenly aware of his absence.

  Funny how much she missed him. She had known him such a short time—hardly long enough to make a lasting impression in her life. And yet in some ways she felt as though she had gotten to know him quite well.

  She wondered how long it would be before she could take Oscar for a walk in the woods without thinking of Jake. Or eat ice cream. Or browse through intriguing little shops in Mountain View. Or play video games with her nephew. She wondered how long she would watch for his face on her television or hear his voice when she closed her eyes.

  A crush, she told herself. That was all it had been. A vacation infatuation. There hadn’t been time for it to develop into anything else. And crushes, by definition, didn’t last long. So all she needed was time away from him to get past it. To turn him into a pleasant memory rather than a painful ache.

  She looked at the purple plastic race car in her hand. He had smiled so broadly when he’d given it to her, she remembered. She knew now that he had been amused by the irony of his quarter-machine prize. And even though he hadn’t shared that reason with her then, she couldn’t be annoyed with him for it. Unfortunately, she understood a bit too well why he had enjoyed getting to know her without her having prior expectations based on who he was and what he did.

  Trying to put him out of her mind, she set the car aside and pulled out her laptop. She worked until her neck and back were sore and her stomach growled for food. She put out food for Oscar and made a sandwich for herself, carrying the paper plate back to the laptop. She intended to start working again as she chewed her sandwich, but she found herself typing Jake’s name into the computer instead.

  She nearly choked on her bread and meat when she saw that there were over twenty thousand hits. Looking at a sampling of them, she noted that there were biographies, statistics, interviews, licensed merchandise, fan clubs, even gossip sites.

  One of the sites she clicked on was devoted to which of the single drivers had girlfriends. It even listed names of current and past girlfriends. Jake, the site said, had dated a few women, but none were listed as serious relationships. He was apparently considered a very eligible bachelor in racing circles.

  She cringed at the thought of seeing her name on that list.

  Vaguely depressed, she closed the computer. Maybe she needed to get out of the cabin for a while.

  “Oscar,” she said. “Come on. Let’s go for a—”

  Her cell phone rang before she could complete the sentence.

  Jake’s name appeared on her caller ID screen, and for one cowardly moment she almost didn’t answer. But then she told herself to stop being ridiculous. She had told him she would be happy to hear from him.

  “Hello?”

  “Is it too much to hope that you miss me?”

  “That depends,” she replied lightly. “Who is this?”

  “Funny,” Jake growled. “Very funny.”

  “Oscar says to tell you hello.”

  On cue, the dog yipped, making Jake laugh. “Give him my regards in return, will you?”

  “Yes, I will.”

  “How are you?”

  “I’m fine. I’ve been working today. I’ve gotten a lot done.”

  “I guess it’s easier to work without me there to distract you.”

  She bit her lip, thinking of how much she would have enjoyed that particular distraction. “How are things going there? Did you get the deal finalized?”

  Jake groaned. “Yeah. They’ve had me running since I landed at the airport. Meeting bigwigs, shaking hands, signing autographs, posing for pictures. I’m filming a new TV ad tomorrow morning. Something Pam put together at the last minute, since I’m available this week.”

  Shaking her head in bemusement, she asked, “What are you advertising?”

  “Jeans. Apparently all I have to do is walk around and try to make my butt look good.”

  That certainly wouldn’t take any fancy camera tricks, she thought with a sudden mental image that almost made her mouth water. “I’ll, uh, be watching for that one.”

  He chuckled. “I’d rather have you watching me race, to be honest.”

  “Any news on that front?”

  “I got the doctor’s appointment moved up. I’ll see him tomorrow afternoon at three. I’m expecting full clearance to race in Charlotte.”

  “Then I hope you’ll get what you’re wishing for.”

  “Everything I’m wishing for?”

  Something about his deep tone made a little shiver run down her spine. She swallowed.

  After a moment, she heard him sigh through the airwaves. “I’ve got to go,” he said. “I’m doing an interview this afternoon with a reporter from a racing magazine. I can already predict the questions—how do I feel about th
e accident, what have I been doing with myself for the past few weeks, what do I think about my chances for next season?”

  “You really don’t mind talking about your personal business with strangers?”

  “I tell them things I don’t mind them knowing,” he said, sounding as though he shrugged. “Anything private I keep to myself. It’s a balancing act, but it’s not so hard.”

  “Not for some people, maybe,” she murmured, thinking of all the private things that had been written about her family against their will.

  “Just takes a little practice,” he assured her.

  She heard a woman’s voice saying his name, sounding impatient.

  “All right, Pam, I’ll be right there,” he replied, just a hint of annoyance in his tone.

  “You’d better go,” she said.

  “I know. I’ll call you tomorrow?”

  “Sure,” she said brightly. “I’d love to hear how the jeans ad goes.”

  “Should be interesting,” he agreed with a laugh. And then he sighed again. “Okay, Pam, I’m coming.”

  Knowing he really had to go, Stacy said, “Goodbye, Jake.”

  “Nope,” he said. “Still not saying that. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Stacy.”

  He disconnected before she had a chance to reply.

  Oscar yapped, nudging her leg to remind her of the walk they had been going to take when her phone rang.

  Sliding her phone into its holder, she snapped the leash to Oscar’s collar, her thoughts far away. Jake’s refusal to say goodbye to her was wryly amusing, but she couldn’t help wondering how long it would last. He was already so busy again. Already back into the life he’d led long before he had met her.

  It wouldn’t be long, she figured, until he found himself too busy to make telephone calls. Until he ran out of things to say to someone who couldn’t even imagine what his schedule must be like. Until some new woman’s name appeared on that list of single drivers’ girlfriends.

  Maybe, she thought as she locked the cabin door behind her on the way out, it was time for her to go back to her own life. To stop hiding and start living again. All she had to do was say no to the interviews and hold her head high when she went out in public among people who knew her history.