Before I knew it, the meeting was over and the suits were all shaking Emmit’s hand and wishing him well. Once the room was cleared, it was just the two of us.
“Help me to understand this, Emmit. You’re walking away from your dream career. For as long as I’ve known you, this has been the life you wanted.”
His eyes turned soft as he walked up to me. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a picture and handed it to me. It was a picture of his son, Landon, and his wife, Adaline.
“Bullshit. You can’t tell me you’re quitting because of your family. Plenty of drivers have families, Emmit.”
With a sigh, Emmit reached for the picture as I handed it to him. “I know it’s hard for you to understand, but something in me has changed this last year or so. Don’t get me wrong, I love racing and I always will. This isn’t something Addie asked me to do either. She has been one-hundred-percent supportive.” Emmit pushed his hand through his hair and let out a laugh. “I’m not retiring . . . I’m just taking a step back. Exploring different things. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, trust me.”
“I’m stunned, dude. I’m speechless and that never happens. Is this truly what you want, Emmit?”
His eyes lit up with a happiness I longed for as he placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. “It really is. I’m honestly the happiest I have ever been in my life. I want to spend time with my family. I thought racing was my world; turns out it was a stepping block to the world I truly wanted.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. If Emmit was happy though, then so was I. “I’m happy for you then. But fuck . . . who am I going to bump with out there and piss off?”
With his head thrown back, Emmit let out roar of laughter. “Oh trust me, you piss off plenty of drivers; you don’t need me.”
“Welcome back home, Mr. Wallace.”
I pulled Nancy into my arms and gave her a hug. She kept me sane, kept my house cleaned, and made sure I had food. “Hey, Nancy. I missed your beautiful face.”
Her cheeks flushed as she lightly slapped me on the chest. “I’m old enough to be your mother, and trust me, you couldn’t keep up with me.”
And there was the other reason I loved her. She had a feisty spirit.
She took my coat from my hands and hung it up as I walked into the living room and headed to the kitchen. “I don’t know, Nancy, I’ve been told I’m a pretty good lover.”
“Pesh, stop talking nonsense. How was Texas?”
My heart ached at the mentioning of home. Sure, North Carolina was where I lived, but my true home was the three-thousand-acre ranch I owned in Crawford. This home was a four-thousand-square-foot museum for my mother to put shit in she bought while traveling.
“Texas was wonderful as always. The only reason I came back was for your chicken and dumplings.”
“Uh-huh. I’m sure it was.”
Nancy lived in the guesthouse behind the main house. There had been plenty of times she has walked in on more than one naked girl in this house. And every single time she preached to them about walking around a man’s home naked. She even brought one girl to tears. Damn what was that chick’s name?
“Who’s name?”
My head snapped over to look at her. “Huh?”
“You just asked, what was that chick’s name. Girls are not chickens, Malcolm.”
I grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and laughed. “I can’t believe I said that out loud. I was trying to think of the name of the girl who you made cry when you basically called her a whore for walking around my house naked.”
Nancy snarled her lip. “Oh. Her. Rhonda was her name I believe. Couldn’t have been but twenty-one.”
Placing the beer to my lips, I took a drink. “I like them young, Nancy. You should know that by now.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “All I know is when you come home I need to make sure I have Lysol wipes for my poor kitchen island.”
Laughing, I tried to remember the last time I fucked girl on my kitchen island. Oh yeah . . . Linda . . . the chick who does all the gardening.
“I ought to give Linda a call. See about some winter plants or something.”
Nancy glared at me and shook her head. “Get out of my kitchen and let me think clearly so I can make you some dinner, or are you going out tonight?”
“Actually, Emmit invited me over to dinner.”