Until a familiar voice sent a ripple of squirming discomfort down my spine.
“Leave it to you to bring your own coffee to a coffee shop. And from such a low-class establishment, too.”
I didn’t turn around to look at Grant’s mother. She wasn’t going to get to me. Not that day.
“Time to go, Remy,” Grant said as if the little boy was still playing in his seat.
My eyes snapped to him. “He’s sleeping.”
“And he’ll keep sleeping in the car. We have plans,” Grant’s mother announced.
She bent down to try to pull my son out of my arms, and I curled away from her, deflecting her hands with my back. The gasp she let out was so offended and ruffled, I expected her to stomp her foot.
“Lindsey, we need to leave. There are people expecting us,” Grant said.
I wanted to argue with him. To fight for more time with Remy. But I knew if I did, I could lose the chance at seeing him again anytime soon. As much as it pained me, I had to give in and let them take him. Holding my son close to my chest, I stood up.
“I’ll bring him to the car,” I said.
“That’s not necessary,” his mother said, but I ignored her.
We walked to the car, and I carefully settled Remy into his seat. He stirred as I attached his harness and kissed him on the top of the head.
“I love you,” I whispered against his soft hair. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Love you, Mommy,” he murmured, then fell back asleep.
“If you’ve taken long enough, we really need to leave.”
Grant’s mother had a way of infuriating me like no one else in my life ever had. She couldn’t be anywhere near me without finding a way to belittle me. I forced myself to ignore her, exchanged only the most basic of conversation with Grant, and headed to my car. My body shook with anger when I finally got on the road. There was more time before I needed to be at the bar than I planned for, so I headed straight for Nick. I needed a hug and possibly a drink.7Vince“Just think how proud Colby is going to be of you,” Nick said, reaching over to nudge Darren with his elbow.
“Shut up,” Darren said, keeping his eyes focused straight ahead.
He sounded more winded than he probably wanted to sound, and Nick and I laughed. Darren was on a mission for physical fitness and health. It started a while back, before Kelly came back in town. He said it was because he wanted to be a better racer. Trimming off a few pounds could make a massive difference in his speed and the way he was able to control his bike on the track. Considering the defensiveness of the other racing teams this season, that was important.
Darren was performing well in the rankings, but we were well aware that it could always change. Another rider could come to the race better prepared or use more effective techniques. Darren could be off for the day. Or a crash could end the race, and possibly the season.
We tried not to think about the dangers too much. It was frightening, especially after watching what Greg went through. Instead, we did everything we could to support Darren in being the best he could be. Which included dragging him out on runs even when he bitched about it. And bitch about it he definitely did.
His best friend, Colby, offered up his physical training expertise to whip Darren into better shape. The goal was to cut off some weight and increase his strength, balance, and stamina. He’d been doing well, but all of us noticed he was slacking a bit while he prepared for his wedding. That meant it was up to us brothers to stay on his ass and force him to do his runs even when he didn’t feel like it.
That night he was particularly struggling. Considering how much planning was being done during work hours, I couldn’t even imagine what happened when he was home with Kelly. I envisioned the walls covered with seating arrangement schematics and every surface taken up by samples from different vendors. Just thinking about it made me tired, so I could imagine Darren was drained. Maybe that meant the run was even more important. It would perk him up and give his brain a break.
We had gone around the usual circuit and were almost back at Nick’s place where we started. As we approached, I saw a car pulling into his driveway. I recognized it instantly as Lindsey’s.
Damn it. After everything I did to try to avoid her for the last few days, here she was showing up right in front of me.
Groaning internally, I did my best not to show any change of emotion. This was definitely not something I wanted to talk to any of my brothers about right now. I didn’t even know exactly what it was. Sure, I’d had a surge of protective, defensive feelings about Lindsey when I’d seen her upset. It wasn’t something I’d ever felt for her before and I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant. But whatever it was, I was sure it would fade away. I would get over it and it wouldn’t be a big deal anymore. Keeping my mouth shut would mean I could just wait for it to go away and everything would go back to normal.