Mom’s face paled. “Why?”
“He got stung by a bee. He’s fine, but it was near his eye and swelled immediately.”
“Oh no. Poor Kid.”
“Hayden has Rowyn and Jacen with her in the trailer.”
“Where are you going?”
I held up my phone. “We’re doing a live tonight on Facebook and we can’t have Hayden do it.”
Mom laughed. “I got the babies.”
I went on to watch the dash, where Rager won, so I changed out of my brother’s shirt and into my husband’s. He smiled when he removed his helmet. He was in the midst of talking with Dad and Caden, but his attention was on me.
I waited until he was done before I made my way over to him and congratulated him. The sun had set in the distance, a red glow in the pits. He smiled, I smiled, and I leaned into him, fisting my hands into his racing suit. “You smell like the night I fell in love with you.”
He buried his face in the curve of my neck, laughter on his lips. “And you smell like dirt and chocolate.”
It felt good to be like this again tonight after the first part of the season. Despite the nagging reminder in the back of my head when he squeezed me tighter, I tried to ignore the pain in my chest.
He noticed and frowned, running his hand through his hair. “What’s the matter? Are you hurt?”
“I think I have a swollen milk duct or something,” I told him, pulling back.
“Does it hurt?”
“Yeah, it’s red and swollen.”
He swallowed, his brows knitted together. “Maybe you should make an appointment?”
“I will,” I assured him, knowing we didn’t have the opportunity to take this lightly. Not with my family history. “But don’t worry about it tonight. Go win. Bristol said she sprinkled you with magic fairy dust and you wouldn’t want to let down your little girl, would you?”
He smirked, rearranging his features as his laughter returned with a sigh. “We wouldn’t want that, would we?”
“No, we wouldn’t.”
That night at Devil’s Bowl, Caden’s winning streak came to an end and our daughter’s magic fairy dust worked. The image of Bristol standing on the top wing with Rager holding her up will forever be one of my favorite memories.
Pressure Compensator – A device that equalizes the internal pressure of the moto with the external pressure of the environment.
LAKE OZARK SPEEDWAY
ELDON, MISSOURI
“I wanna do the pill draw tonight!” Pace yelled, tossing himself on the ground. “It’s my turn.”
“No, you did it the other night. It’s Knox’s turn.” I didn’t want to break it to him but I drew dead last for the third time this year with him doing the pill draw. Dude was fired from it.
“No, Bristol did it the other night.” Right. How could I have forgotten? She’d spent more time trying to make her dress twirl if front of the fans than she did paying attention to the pill draw.
Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair. “Fine, whatever. It’s your turn then.”
He stomped away from me, every bit of his mama’s attitude. And so did the little bro throwing a fit on the bed all over his diaper being changed. Listen, I’ve never been good at changing diapers. I actually hate doing it, but with Arie being gone and you know, needing to pull my weight as a dad this week, I had to do it. Pretty sure Hudson felt the same way about wanting his diaper changed.
“Will you hold still?” He didn’t and screamed at me, kicking his legs. “Why are you crying?”
“No!” Hudson screamed louder. I wanted to scream in his face and tell him he was the reason I had a vasectomy, but it wouldn’t be the truth. I had one before he was born and Arie was pregnant with our fourth kid in three years.
“Daddy.” Pace pulled on my shirt. “I can’t find my shoes. Where are they?”
“I don’t know, P. Maybe in your bed again?”
While I wrestled with Hudson and his inability to reason with me, Pace went to the back of the motor home, ripped his mattress off his bunk bed and threw his hands up without looking. “I don’t see them! I need them!” Yes, he screamed all of this at the top of his lungs. Usually Pace was levelheaded. More so than Hudson, who couldn’t be reasoned with at all most days, but Pace had a fuse. And when it was lit, he exploded. Over simple things like losing his fucking shoes.
“Did you check by the door?”
“Yes!” He threw his arms up. “I can’t find them.”
“Here.” I shoved a pair of shoes at him. “Wear these.”
“No.” He slapped them out of my hands. “Those are girl shoes.”
I nearly lost it on the boys. Aside from Knox who was laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling and tripping everyone. I picked his limp body off the floor and set him on the couch next to Rosa, who by the way, hadn’t done shit this morning but watch me try to control the kids.
Knox lifted his head and smiled. “Hi, Daddy.”
I’d literally been here all morning, stepping over him and now he says hi? What a weird kid. “If you find Pace’s shoes, I’ll give you five dollars.”
He stared at me. Of course he didn’t know what I was talking about. Dude was three and five dollars meant nothing to him. Offer candy and he’d do anything you wanted.
“You know, I don’t mind,” Rosa said, crossing her legs and cracking open a White Claw.
“Mind what? And it’s ten in the morning. Why are you drinking?”
“Open relationships. And I’m drinking because you’re stressing me out. Have you ever watched these kids alone?”
Blank stare. That was all I had to offer her. Not only
