Whatever Frankie had done to the car had worked. It was like losing last week didn’t even happen.
The car was tucked away for the night, and the crew was celebrating at the car hauler. It didn’t even matter if we won tomorrow. The fact we were even back in the race for the AC Cola Series Cup was enough for a celebration.
I had spent a half an hour talking with everyone, but I had a few phone calls to make before it got too late.
“Mom?”
“Brooks? Is that you?”
She sounded good.
She sounded like she knew who I was.
“Yeah, it’s me. I was calling to see how you and Susan were doing.” I had talked to her once yesterday and two times today. Each time, she knew who I was and reassured me that everything was fine. It looked like Susan wasn’t exactly warm toward me, but she was doing good taking care of Mom.
“Everything is good. We watched you race tonight, and now we’re watching the evening news.”
“What’d ya have for dinner?”
A knock sounded on the trailer door, and I pressed the phone to my ear as I reach to open the door with the other hand. Frankie stood at the bottom of the steps with her arms folded over her chest. “We need to talk,” she snapped.
I nodded for her to come up. “Have a seat,” I ordered with my hand over the receiver.
She made her way up the stairs, and I moved to the back of the trailer to finish talking to my mom.
“Are you still there, Brooks?” she asked.
“Yeah, Mom.” I walked into the bedroom at the back of the trailer and closed the door behind me. “Someone just came over to talk.”
“Oh, well, you don’t need to stay on the phone with me.”
“Just checking to make sure you are okay.’
“I’m always okay, Brooks. I wish you wouldn’t worry about me so much.”
Someone had to worry about her. My dad was God knows where, and I was the only one that she had left. “You’ll call if you need anything right?” I asked. “My phone number is on the fridge and—”
“Next to the phone,” she cut me off. “I know, Brooks. I release you from worrying about me for the rest of the night. Susan said she would pull out the Scrabble board she bought after dinner, and I don’t want you calling in the middle of the game disturbing us.”
“Scrabble?”
“Yes,” she laughed. “It may not seem fun to you, but I’m looking forward to it. Now, go talk to your friend, and call me in the morning.” She hung up before I could say anything more.
“Well, damn,” I whispered to the empty room. Here I had been worried I hadn’t been checking in on her enough, and come to find out, she didn’t need me to worry so much. Not that I was going to not call her anymore, but I at least could breathe a bit easier knowing Susan was taking care of her.
I opened the bedroom door and walked down the short hallway back to the front of the trailer. “Sorry about that.”
Frankie was sitting on the small bench next to the kitchen sink, and she did not look happy. She held up her hands. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
“You’re not interrupting me, Frankie.”
She huffed and crossed her legs. “It’s nice to see you again.”
She was pissed. No doubt about that. I couldn’t blame her, either. I had promised that things were going to be different when she came back to Cummings Racing, and now that she was back, I wasn’t able to give her and the team the type of attention they needed. Right now, I was focused on winning races because I needed to keep my sponsors and win the cup to keep the money flow coming in to support my mom. “Have a good flight in?”
“Yeah, it was fine. My car showed up Thursday, in case you were wondering.”
“Good, good.” Dammit, things were awkward as hell. “I want to apologize, Frankie. I know I said when you came back things would be different, and I’m sure you think they aren’t.”
She didn’t say anything. She tilted her head to the side and surveyed me.
I wish I knew what she was thinking. I didn’t know how to talk to her without knowing where her head was at. Was she ready to chuck another wrench at my head, or did she understand what I was saying?
“You don’t need to apologize to me, Brooks. I’m just glad to be back.”
This was a turn I didn’t expect. “The car is running amazing. Whatever you did to it was exactly what she needed.”
She nodded. “Yeah, it was just some minor adjustments here and there.” She stood up. “I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Wait,” I called. “You don’t need to leave.” I needed a distraction. Something that would keep me from picking up the phone and calling my mom again.
She shook her head. “I do.” Something was off about her.
I stalked toward her. “Frankie, what in the hell is going on?”
Her body language spoke that she was pissed, yet what was coming out of her mouth was anything but that. Yeah, she had a hint of attitude in her tone, but that was just Frankie. She ran her fingers though her dark hair and sighed. “I came here to tell you to go to hell and shove Cummings Racing up your ass, but I can’t because something isn’t right. Something that I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s not good, and I don’t want to add anything more to your already full plate.” She hitched her thumb over her shoulder toward where the hauler was. “I’m just going to head to bed.”
“No, wait.” I grabbed her arm and tugged her toward me. “Don’t leave.”
We both looked down at my fingers holding her wrist. “I don’t know if me staying is a good idea, Brooks.”
“I like when you’re around.”
She looked up, and our eyes connected. “I couldn't really tell that since we are hardly together.”
“I planned on picking you up from the airport, but something came up as I was getting ready to walk out the door and I couldn’t come.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Brooks.”
I sighed and let go of her arm. “But that’s the thing, I have to. Something about you makes me want to change who I am and not be the douchebag who says he’s going to do one thing and does the complete opposite.” I paced back and forth from the bedroom door to where she was standing. “Everything feels like it’s falling apart, and in the next moment it’s okay, and then I’m back to trying to figure out how to put everything back together.”
“I hope I’m not making you feel that way. When I walked out before, I wasn’t thinking about how much my actions affected everyone. If you’re worried I’m going to leave again, don’t. I know my job is important, but I’m not the most important person around here.”
I laughed. “You were part of it, but now you’re not. At least not after what you just said.” I stopped in front of her. “You’re really not going to throw another wrench at me? I’ve been practicing my ducking and dodging just in case.”
“Such an ass,” she whispered.
“I don’t think you’ll ever live that down, doll.”
“Well, now that we got that figured out between the two of us, I’ll be going.”