by Shey Stahl
Ultimately, Gray never got in that dress for her first birthday. She wore a diaper and a tank top that said: Girls get dirty, too.
“You, my son, have met your match.”
I smiled watching Hayden arm wrestle my Uncle Spencer and then kick him in the shin to get the advantage. Lately, I was thinking of asking that girl to marry me. Lately, I thought maybe she’d say yes. “Yeah, I guess I have.”
He smacked the back of my head. “I wasn’t talking about her,” he made me look at Gray who was, at one-year-old, throwing sticks at people who walked by and then belly laughing if they tripped.
I’d never thought about it that way. Until now.
“Hey, Uncle Casten?” Jack called out holding my helmet in his hands.
“Yeah, buddy?”
“Can I have your helmet from the Chili Bowl win?”
I smiled, watching his face light up as I said yes.
Dad looked at me. “He’s been talking about your helmet for a week now. He was scared you were going to give it to Gray.”
“Nah, she’d just throw it in the dirt right now.”
Gray came running up to me with Rosa running behind her. “Daddadadada …” she said, or something like that.
I picked her up laughing when she pulled my hat off and placed it on her own head. Her smile got me every time. It was exactly like Hayden’s.
Rosa came up, panting and holding her side. “No huyas de la mama.”
I had to laugh. She was constantly trying to get Gray to call her mama. “You’re not her mama, Rosa. That would be really weird.”
Rosa put her hands on her hips and looked at Gray, then at Hayden standing near the house, then me again. “Creo que se parece a mi.”
“No,” I shook my head smiling at her, “she doesn’t look like you.”
Rosa said something else in what sounded like Russian now and walked away from me. Crazy woman.
Grandma made her way over to me, Gray went right to her as she always did. Hayden never did join our Tuesday night dinners but Gray was a regular part now.
Standing near the house, blowing in her hands trying to warm herself up on this sunny, but cool, North Carolina winter, was Arie. She was smiling and it felt good to see her around more. Not far from my mom, they seemed to have been spending a lot more time together. It was nice to see.
Easton stepped toward her, his palms raised and then whispered in her ear. She frowned and then walked away with them.
“What’s with them?”
Dad shook his head as my grandma handed Gray back to me and walked toward my mom. “Not sure.”
“Fuck,” Hayden sat down next to me and Gray. Dad excused himself, probably going to check on Arie. “This beer is amazing!”
Gray took it from her and tried to get a drink. “No way,” Hayden said, tapping her finger to her nose. “Not a chance. I already have one homicide on my hands with Sampson. No way I’m losing you, pretty girl.”
Gray blinked, looking at the two of us.
“You stole my name.” I said, kissing Hayden’s temple.
“You stole my heart.” she said, kissing my nose.
Gray jumped down and headed for my mom who was by the pool. Mom picked her up right away, her arms tight around her tiny body with her face buried in Gray’s sweet scent. Something about the way she held her struck me as odd, as if she was holding onto something she knew she had to eventually let go of. Dad came up to her then, whispered in her ear and then took Gray from her.
Gray loved my dad. Adored him. He was also the only one who could get her to belly laugh, too.
My parents stood there holding each other, Gray in my dad’s arms. Look at them. Celebrating twenty-three years of marriage a few weeks ago and still in love. Their love for one another has always been something memorable to me. Something noteworthy.
I do think it’s something others can have too though. Did I before Hayden?
No.
Now I realize, no, I see that it’s there. Remember when my mom gave her speech about certain tracks being a driver’s home track?
Well, drivers have preferred lines, too. They have a groove, one they always search for. Doesn’t matter the track, they find it. Dad likes the high side. Axel, he loves the inside.
Me?
I’m a lot like my dad. I love the high line and the thrill of being inches from a concrete wall and then turning left.
Hayden was the line I preferred. She wasn’t just my favorite track, she was the line I constantly searched for.
Just because racers have different lines they preferred didn’t necessarily mean they didn’t win. It doesn’t matter whether you’re running high or low, if you got it that night, you got it. You can make it work.
Love can be discovered in different ways, a three-week pit lizard vacation or a love formed through a childhood bond. Or, in my case, a crazy witty girl who captures your heart while dancing in a field lit by a bonfire.
It all comes down to that emotion. You just get there in different ways.
Love is shown in different ways too. No two racers will celebrate a win the same.
I look at this family around me and I see it. It’s right there in front of my face.
There’s Axel and Lily, so strong, making it work though they’re seldom together with three very active little boys. When they are together he has his eyes on only one line.
There’s my parents, a love that just goes without saying. You can feel the intensity in my dad’s stare knowing she’s the only one for him. A love so deep it stands the test of anything thrown its way.
There’s my grandma, a woman who misses her late husband so much she hasn’t taken the locket off that he gave to her…it’s been three years and it still lays over the heart that only Jimi will ever own. She buried his ring with him, and forever hers will stay on her finger, and always in her heart.
Then there’s me. My love for this girl beside me. It’s a love that took me a while to recognize. The feeling was there. It just took me a little longer to celebrate the win.
She gets me though.
“You look like you’re thinking something dirty?” Hayden said when I looked back at her running my hand up her thigh.
“Well … I guess you’ll have to see for yourself about that, pretty girl, won’t you?”
The End.
Shey Stahl is the author of the Racing on the Edge Series. She enjoys spending time with her family at the local dirt tracks. You can follow her on the links below.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shey.stahl.9
Website: www.sheystahl.com
Website & Social Media:
www.sheystahl.com
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Novels by Shey Stahl:
Racing on the Edge:
Happy Hour
Black Flag
Trading Paint
The Champion
The Legend
Hot Laps
Additional novels coming soon:
The Rookie
Fast Time
Lapped Traffic
Behind the Wheel - Outtakes
Everything Changes
Waiting for You
Delayed Penalty
