Derby Divas (Zoe Donovan Mystery) (17 page)

The crowd roared a
s Levi announced each finalist. The fact that there were three men against three women added an element of team play as the girls lined up against the guys. As the moments ticked down to the official start, the noise level generated by the enthusiastic crowd created a vibration in the air surrounding the fenced-in pasture that seemed to escalate with each passing second.

The fact that someone had already died that weekend in a fiery crash brought the element of danger to th
e forefront of everyone’s mind, which, in my opinion, created a sort of mania as the crowd wondered whether further injuries would result from what could be a violent contest.

In the opening moments
, there were groans as Pandora, Jaqui, and Zelda ganged up on Crusher simultaneously, hitting him from all sides. I suspected that the sexes might work together, at least in the opening minutes, but it seemed clear to me that the three women had discussed exactly what to do before the event even began.

With Crusher out of the way
, it was three girls to two guys. I was curious to see whether the remaining guys would work together against the girls now, but it seemed that once the opening volley had been played out, everyone was fighting to gain his own territory.

The next to become disabled was Zelda, once agai
n evening out the playing field as Boomer skillfully took out one of her tires. Pandora took out Masher at just about the same time Jaqui had tried for Boomer, only to have her strategy backfire as Boomer whipped around and hit her head-on.

By the time the second hand
on the clock had made a full rotation five times, the field was down to Pandora and Boomer. I was curious to see how that rivalry would play out. Would Boomer play the gentleman and let Pandora take the win?

Apparently not.

The crowd roared as the two opponents rammed each other time and time again, until neither vehicle resembled much of a car at all. The final moments of the event were almost too painful to watch as the two cars crawled along, trying to deliver that one critical wallop.

“What happens if they both just stop running?” Levi asked.

“I don’t know,” I whispered back. “Maybe it would be considered a tie.”

“A tie would be anticlimactic
, but at this point I don’t see how either car is continuing on.”

“They both seem really determined.”

We watched as Pandora crept forward on three tires while Boomer jockeyed to get into position in spite of the fact that smoke was pouring from the hood of his car. Everyone held their breath as Pandora delivered the final death blow and once again emerged the victor. A roar went up as Boomer jumped out of his car and helped Pandora from hers. The arrival of a 747 wouldn’t have been heard as the crowd went wild, with Boomer pulling Pandora into his arms and engaging her in a lip-lock to rival all lip-locks. The crowd cheered and chanted as both cars smoked in the background.

By the time the crowd had dissipated and Levi and I were free to leave, I felt like all the life had been drained from my limbs. Who knew that watching cars smash into
one another could be such an emotionally draining experience?

When I got to Zak’s, he was in the pool with Scooter. The two were laughing and playing like a couple of pups, and I longed to do nothing more serious than join them. Boomer and Pandora had wandered off after the event, and I hadn’t seen either of them since Boomer picked Pandora up and carried her into the crowd. I suspected that he had a car waiting to whisk her away for a romantic encounter after the foreplay the derby must have provided.

I headed upstairs and changed into a swimsuit I’d left in
the dresser Zak had provided for the clothing I’d left there. At my place, he was lucky to get half a drawer. Of course, his place was huge while mine was small, so I tried to convince myself that the size of the space we provided for each other in no way represented the depth of our commitment.

“How’d it go?” Zak asked after I dove into the pool and swam up to his side.

“Pandora won, but it was a heck of a fight to the finish.”

“And the others?”

“Off on their own. Did you find anything?”

“Not really.”

I was glad we could focus on something else for a few hours.

“Watch me do a cannon ball,” Scooter yelled as he jumped into the pool with
his legs crossed, displacing quite a lot of water in the process.

“Way to go
, champ. Your technique is improving,” Zak complimented. “Are you getting hungry?”

“
I’m starved.”

“Why don’t you go in and shower and change and I’
ll make us some dinner?” Zak suggested.

“
’Kay,” Scooter agreed.

I wrapped my arms around
Zak’s neck after Scooter headed indoors. I forced myself to relax as I forced my mind to release the tension from my body.

“I
could sleep right here,” I said as I closed my eyes and floated on the surface of the water.

“We have the sock hop,” Zak reminded me.

“Oh yeah.” I groaned. To be honest, I’d totally forgotten about it, in spite of the fact that we’d discussed it earlier in the day. Maybe I really was losing my mind.

“Why don’
t you head in and take a shower?” Zak said. “I’ll take a quick shower in the guest bath and make dinner while you get ready.”

“We could shower together,” I suggested.

“As good as that sounds—” Zak kissed me on the lips. A long, deep kiss that left me wanting more. “Levi will be here to babysit in just over an hour.”

I kissed Zak’s neck. “We have an hour.”

“Scooter will be down in less than ten minutes,” Zak reminded me.

I
moaned. Having kids definitely had a downside.

“Maybe we can skip the dance?”

“You promised several people, including your parents, that you’d be there,” Zak reminded me.

“Yeah
, I guess I did. Maybe we can leave early?” I hoped.

“Count on it.”

Enter
ing the community center was like stepping back in time. The local five-and-dime must have been cleaned out of hair gel if the slicked-back do’s of the men in attendance were any indication. Women in poodle skirts with hair the height of the Empire State Building were twisting and turning to the tunes of the fifties as men dressed in T-shirts and jeans attempted to display the perfect dip without dropping their dates unceremoniously on their heads.

“Wow, this place really looks great,” I said to Hazel
, who was clinging possessively to Pappy’s arm. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about the fact that Pappy and Hazel were dating, but now that I’d had a chance to get used to seeing them together, I realized that they would be good for each other. My pappy had married my grandmother when they were very young, and as far as I knew, he’d hadn’t dated anyone since, so I knew he was taking this relationship slowly.

“Gilda, Willa, and I spent the whole day making sure that everything
was just right.”

“Well
, your hard work paid off. This place is really spectacular,” I complimented. “And the band is the best one we’ve heard all weekend, although they’ve all been really great.”

“We were just about to dance
.” Hazel glanced at Pappy, who was discussing classic cars with Zak. “I think Ellie might want to talk to you. She was looking for you earlier.”

“She in the kitchen?” I
asked.

“As always. Th
at girl can cook, I’ll give her that. You have to try the dip platter she set out. Each and every one of the choices is delicious, and if you prefer a lower-calorie option, she provided chopped veggies as well as several different types of chips and crackers. Not that you need to worry about calories. Oh, and do try the ahi appetizer. It’s really the best I’ve ever had.”

“I will,” I
promised. Zak had made us a huge dinner, so I really wasn’t hungry, but maybe a small snack, just to be polite? “Have fun, you two.”

“You too
, darling.” Pappy kissed me on the cheek before being pulled away by his very determined librarian.

“Zak, Zoe,” Mom intercepted us.
“I’m so glad you made it. I wasn’t sure, with everything that’s been going on.”

“We figured we’d done all we could for the time being
, and Levi volunteered to hang out with Scooter,” I said.

“Levi is babysitting?” Mom sounded as shocked as I
’d felt when he’d offered.

“Scooter isn’t exactly a baby
, and Levi said he wasn’t planning to come here anyway. They ordered pizza and were neck and neck in a battle with the Cylons when we left.”

“Cylons?”

“Video game,” I informed her. “Who did you leave Harper with?”

“Jeremy. He offered to take her when he came for dinner the other night. I guess he
’s planning to stay home and watch videos with Jessica and Rosalie.”

Jessica is a friend of Jerem
y’s and Rosalie is her daughter.

“It was
good of him to offer.”

“He’s turned out to be such a nice young man.”

I almost laughed out loud. My mom hadn’t returned to the area until a year ago, so I figured she really had no idea what kind of man Jeremy was before he became a single father three months ago, but her assessment was right-on. Jeremy was a great guy who actually had been a little rough around the edges when I’d first met him.

“Did you talk to him about the music for the wedding?”
I asked.

“We did
, and he’ll be perfect for our ceremony, won’t he?” Mom asked Dad.

I could see that Dad and Zak had
n’t been listening to our conversation, so he had no idea what Mom was referring to.

“The music for the wedding,” I filled him in.

“Yes, Jeremy is very talented,” Dad agreed. “I’m glad you suggested him.”

“He brought his guitar
and played some of the songs we were thinking about. The babies really seemed to like the music,” Mom commented.

“I was sorry I missed the playdate.”

“I don’t know how much playing was going on. We laid them on a blanket and they seemed interested in each other. I’m betting they’ll be good friends when they grow up. I thought I’d have Jeremy bring Morgan back over sometime soon, and I’ll invite Ava and Jasmine as well. Ava and I discussed the idea of starting a mommies group—or, really, a mommies and daddies group—and Jeremy said he’d be happy to join in.”

Suddenly
, I found I was jealous that I didn’t have a baby so I could join in the fun. My mom was putting down roots and making friends, which thrilled me, but somehow I felt excluded from this very important part of her life. Maybe Ellie’s idea of having a baby wasn’t so bad after all.

“I guess I should go find Ellie. Hazel said she was looking for me.”

“I’m going to go say hi to Scott,” Zak informed me. “I’ll find you in a minute.”

“I’ll be in the kitchen.”

I wondered if Scott was there alone. I hoped he’d invite Tiffany, but I didn’t see her anywhere. Of course, she could just be in the ladies’ room, and Scott didn’t appear to be with anyone else.

As predicted
, Ellie was standing over the stove, stirring something in a big pot.

“No blind date tonight?” I asked.

“I’ve been too busy the past few days to worry about dating,” she informed me. “I did have a conversation with Kelly about my situation, and she has a friend she wants to introduce me to.”

“A referral from a friend might yield better results than a computer dating service,” I offered. “Kelly knows you pretty well
, so she should have a good idea what you’d like and what you wouldn’t.”

“That’s what I thought
, so I agreed to give him a try. His name is Brady and he lives just down the hill in Bryton Lake. Kelly says he’s really nice and very responsible and a total babe.”

“Sounds promising.”

“He owns his own consulting business and is thinking about relocating to Ashton Falls since he works from home and can live anywhere. She did say that the downside is that he travels for work a lot and has joint custody of three kids with his ex-wife.”

“Messy divorce?” I
asked.

“Sounds like it.
That’s the only thing Kelly told me that gave me pause. I really don’t want to get in the middle of a couple who tends to do a lot of fighting. Still, I figured it was worth meeting him.”

“How old are the kids?”

“Fourteen, eleven, and eight.”

“So this guy must be in his thirties?”

“Kelly says he’s thirty-eight, which I realize is quite a bit older than me, but maybe someone who’s in his thirties will be more mature than someone in his twenties.”

I c
ouldn’t believe I was about to say this, since I’d just told Ellie to try meeting a nice guy and not to be so focused on having a baby, but I felt it needed to be said, so I was going ahead. “Do you think a man who is thirty-eight with three children will be interested in having additional kids?” I asked.