This Time, Forever (10 page)

And after listening to the younger woman's deter
mination in the face of such challenges, Susie knew that it was time to stop fretting and start doing when it came to her family. After all, family was everything.

One of the customers began to stir, and Mellie rose.

“I'd better get moving,” she said.

“Of course,” Susie replied, then smiled. “And Mellie?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

An expression of surprise passed over the young woman's face. “For what?”

“A long overdue reminder,” Susie replied, then rose, too.

Mellie shook her head. “I don't know what I did, but you're welcome.”

And Susie would not forget.

Back in the Tarts' corner of the world, conversation rolled on, fueled by coffee and some sinfully rich brownies that Sheila had baked.

“Is everything okay at home?” Sheila asked when Susie reentered the room. “You were out there for a while.”

“Everything's fine,” Susie assured her.

Or at least it would be fine after she brought back some of the “good old days” into her family in hopes that Ben's optimism, which he'd had so much of back then, would also return. Once he was back to normal, Susie would relax, and the kids would benefit from both of those changes.

Susie settled next to Patsy on a plump love seat. Patsy smiled at her in acknowledgment, and Susie smiled back. She had looked up to Patsy, who was a bit older, forever.
Patsy Grosso was one of those women who managed to look put together in nothing more exotic than a pair of jeans and a crisp white shirt. Susie was more the bohemian skirt and a colorful hand-knit sweater sort, but over the years she'd grown comfortable with who she was.

“So, tell me again what you're thinking of doing in California this weekend?” she asked her friend in a low voice as other conversations swirled and eddied around them.

“Does this mean you're actually coming to the race?” Patsy asked in response.

“I think so. I'd like to surprise Ben by showing up there with the kids. I'm also hoping I can talk him into playing hooky for a day or so after the race, too.”

“That sounds wonderful! Though I understand why you had to let Cammie have some say in her high school years, I know Ben misses having all of you around,” Patsy said.

Susie nodded. “I'm not sure I'll be able to pull this off. I need to check commercial flights. Since Ben can't know what I'm up to, we can hardly tag along on his charter flight.”

“We have room on our plane. Just come with us on Saturday morning and then book a commercial flight back.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. We have plenty of room this weekend, and Dean and I haven't had time with Cammie and Matt in ages. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.”

“You're doing enough already. Thank you so much,” Susie said.

This was going to work! By the time they came back from California, her family would be back in kilter.

A S
ATURDAY AFTERNOON
in sunny Southern California was far from a bad thing. Ben relaxed on a lounge chair outside his motor home and used his laptop computer to respond to a couple of questions on his fan site. After he finished catching up, he planned to do something really decadent such as read a book and doze in the sunshine. He smiled at the thought. There was a time when he'd want to be out kicking up a little fun instead of kicking back. Today, this suited him just fine.

Ben had just shut his laptop and his eyes when he heard the scuff of footsteps coming his way. Without even looking, he knew it was Darrell, his motor home driver/cook. Darrell's lazy gait had grown heavier over the years, as had Darrell. No surprise, though. His cooking made Ben the envy of all the other drivers, and Ben a big fan of working out.

“Hey, hate to mess up your afternoon, but Chris needs you at the garage right now. He says it's important,” Darrell announced.

That was enough to make Ben open his eyes. “And he sent you?”

The larger man shrugged. “I was over that way, so I guess he decided I was easier than a phone call.”

It wasn't a matter of ease. Sampson flat-out liked ordering people around, and Ben was tempted to ignore
the demand even if it had been couched in terms of a request. He'd already told his crew chief that his goal was a quiet afternoon, but what he'd really been shooting for was a Sampson-free one. Ben had qualified a very respectable twelfth, practiced well earlier this morning, and for once the crew wasn't tense. Since he didn't want to see those dynamics change before the race tomorrow, he gave up on his idea of paradise.

“All right,” he said, rising from the lounge. “So much for a semilazy Saturday. Would you mind sticking my computer back inside?”

“No problem,” Darrell replied.

As Ben covered the relatively short distance from the drivers' and owners' lot to the garages, he readied himself to keep his calm in the face of his crew chief's abrasive bluntness. Leading by example was a belief that anchored Ben's world. He would not let Sampson change that.

The area directly around Ben's garage stall was pretty much a ghost town, but that wasn't unusual since a NASCAR Nationwide Series race was about to start out on the track. Most everyone would have their attention turned in that direction.

Ben shielded his eyes from the sunshine as he looked into the dimmer garage.

“Chris? You in there?”

No one answered so he stepped inside.

“Hello?”

Still no one. He was about to turn away from this fool's mission when Susie, Matt and Cammie popped up from behind the No. 515 car.

“Surprise!” they cried in unison.

Ben laughed.

“You've got to be kidding me,” he said, holding his arms out to his family. “Darrell set me up, didn't he? How did you get here?”

Agile Matt was first in for a hug. The boy was destined to be an athlete of some sort.

“Uncle Dean and Aunt Patsy were coming in early this morning and they let us ride on their jet!”

“That's great,” Ben said, ruffling the top of his son's short-cut hair. Matt insisted on having the same cut as Ben, which Ben found both flattering and funny. Except for Matt's eyes, which were identical to Susie's, the kid was pretty much his Mini-Me.

Susie was next in line for a hug. He drew his wife close and said, “I've missed you” before he kissed her.

How he loved this woman—not just because of the way she felt so right in his arms or because she'd given him two wonderful children, either. He loved that she would do this for him when he'd been nothing short of a rabid bear around the house lately.

Without leaving the circle of his arms, Susie went up on tiptoe.

“You have no idea how much I've missed you,” she murmured before stepping back.

Ben tucked away that sweet thought and focused on Cammie.

“Do you have a hug for me?”

“Sure,” she said, then meandered forward with no apparent enthusiasm.

Ben had known that his daughter was going to hit those adolescent too-cool-to-have-parents years. Heck, every kid did; he didn't take it personally. And he knew that Susie was handling Cammie with the same big heart and steel backbone that she had to use with him. And
because he had Susie to back him up, Ben could afford to be a little goofy with his girl.

“Time for a Cammie whammy,” he said, then picked her up and spun her in a crazy circle, just as he had since she'd been little.

“Dad!” she protested, but Ben heard the laughter she fought to hold in.

When he set her back on her sneaker-shod feet, she gave him her dimpled smile, one that had always melted his heart.

“You're so weird,” she said.

“Yup, and you'd better get used to it, kiddo.”

Ben turned his attention to Susie. “It just so happens that I scheduled the afternoon off. Let me have Darrell round up a car, and we'll all get away from here for a while, okay?”

“Sounds like heaven,” she replied.

Ben smiled. He was ready to kick up some fun once again.

 

“H
OME, SWEET HOME,”
Susie said to Ben as they walked toward the motor home after a dinner with one of Ben's sponsors.

She was glad that she'd left a small wardrobe in the motor home even after knowing she wouldn't be traveling this season. A dress and a pair of pumps hadn't quite made her packing list last night. She'd been more about race wear and beach wear.

“We've had this place longer than we have our real home,” Ben said as he held open the door for her.

“And it cost far more than our first house, so no wonder we've held on to it,” Susie said as she climbed the three steps into the comfortable interior.

Once inside, she slipped off her shoes, picked them up and tucked them into what Matt had always called the shoe jail. She'd had her rules about keeping the interior. It might be spacious for one, but even as big as it was, it could be snug for a family of four. And family had been the thought when she and Ben had worked on modifying the interior design.

In addition to the master bedroom, Matt and Cammie each had a bunk bed with lots of closet space nearby. The kitchen was as well equipped as Susie's at home, if not as large. She'd also had cupboards fitted to hold the children's school supplies since learning hadn't stopped just because they'd been on the road. Susie had made it an adventure, writing her lesson plans around their location. The oak dining table and chairs had seen many a classroom session as well as family dinner.

Truly, Susie missed this place even though she knew they'd made the best decision for Cammie, and eventually Matt, by staying home. High school was about learning social skills as well as book skills. They couldn't be on the road half of the school year and do the experience justice.

Ben had tucked away his shoes and was taking his usual spot on the tan leather sofa. Even before he'd settled in, he was wrenching off his tie and unbuttoning the top button of his dress shirt. Susie smiled at the familiar sight. Ben had never been a “fancy dress” man. For all that had changed, thank heaven some things hadn't.

“Thanks for coming along tonight,” he said.

“You're welcome. It actually felt nice to get dressed up and meet new people. I just hope it's going as well on Dean and Patsy's end.”

“I'm sure they're doing fine,” Ben said, his voice
rough with tiredness…or maybe a little desire. Susie couldn't be sure.

The Grossos had insisted on taking Cammie and Matt overnight. They had brought them along to a special evening party at a big amusement park. Susie hoped all the activity was going to keep Cammie's mind off the fact that she'd had to withdraw from today's horse show. The girl was every bit as competitive as her father, and Susie knew this hadn't sat well.

Sleepy and a little jet-lagged, Susie curled up in her favorite place in the world—against Ben's chest. The sure and steady beat of his heart was a comfort that could never be equaled.

“It sounds as though qualifying went well,” she said.

“The best in a long time. And the crew seems to have it together…no friction at all. I think we've got a shot at a win, and I'd almost forgotten what that feels like,” he replied as he smoothed a hand down the bare skin of her arm.

“I'm even happier we're here, then.”

“Me, too.” He hesitated before saying, “Honey, I know I owe you an apology. I haven't been much fun to be around and I'm really sorry for that.”

Susie sat upright so that she could see his face. He was so solemn that her heart ached for him…for them.

“We're going through some adjustments, that's all,” she said. “It will all be fine.”

He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture of distraction that Susie had seen much too frequently as of late.

“Probably,” he said.

She gave him the best sexy and teasing look she could
summon. “
Probably?
Probably doesn't take the bull by the horns. And probably doesn't win races, either, mister.”

Ben laughed. “Someone's feeling a little sassy tonight.”

Susie stood, then moved so that she could brace her hands on the couch's back either side of her husband. She leaned in and gave him a quick, passionate kiss…a promise of more intimacy to come.

“I want you to note carefully that I am not going to say the word probably,” she said. “Because probably won't get you what's going to be waiting on the other side of that bedroom door, either.”

Just then, the motor home's door swung open. Susie's back was to the door, but Ben had a clear view of their visitor.

“Cammie, is everything all right?” he asked as Suzie turned to face her daughter.

Cammie was already clad in her favorite pink flannel sleep pants and T-shirt. In contrast to that happy hue, her expression was the closed-off one Susie had been seeing more frequently…both from her daughter and her husband.

“No, everything's not all right. My stomach hurts after the rides and the stuff I ate,” Cammie announced.

“I couldn't sleep, so I told Aunt Patsy I was walking back here.”

“By yourself?” Susie asked automatically while she fully returned from thoughts of lovemaking to parenthood.

Cammie rolled her eyes. “Mom, they're like five spots away from here, and the lot has security.”

“Is Matt staying there?” Ben asked.

“Yes,” Cammie replied. “He and Uncle Dean are playing video games. Can I go to bed now? I don't want to talk.” With that, she walked to her bunk, climbed in and curled into a fetal position facing the motor home's outer skin.

Susie looked down at Ben, who gave her a crooked smile.

“We might as well turn in, too,” he said.

“Leave the bathroom light on,” Cammie said. “Just in case I need to barf.”

“Okay, honey,” Susie replied.

Romance.

Susie remembered the concept in a vague sort of way….

 

B
EN WOKE SLOWLY
as the sun drifted through blinds that had been turned to let morning approach lazily. The rattle and clink of dishware and the deadly delicious smell of bacon frying came to him from the main living area. He couldn't believe that good-nutrition Susie would be frying up his favorite kind of breakfast, but it seemed that she was since she'd also told Darrell to take a breather for the rest of the weekend. Ben pulled on a robe and exited the bedroom.

Already showered and dressed for the day, his wife stood in front of the stove. Cammie's bunk was empty, but she was nowhere in sight.

“Where's Little Miss Sunshine?” Ben asked Susie, who smiled over at him. Cammie was not, and never had been, a morning person.

“She headed back over to Dean and Patsy's to pick up her overnight bag and apparently seek a breakfast not involving fried animal flesh…her words, not mine.”

“So she's a vegetarian now?”

Susie shrugged. “This morning, at least. But you, my love, remain a carnivore, and that's who I cooked for.”

He went to stand behind his wife, wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on his favorite sweet spot, just below her right ear.

“Thank you,” he said.

She smiled back over her shoulder at him. “Have a seat. I'm almost finished up here.”

It was apparent she'd been busy for some time, too. The table had been set with shiny silver and real cloth napkins. What looked to be fresh squeezed orange juice awaited them in a glass pitcher with three fancy glasses he hadn't even known were in the galley. No surprise, since Darrell wasn't much for presentation.

“At least let me take my plate to the table,” he offered.

“It's race day,” she replied. “And the first one in months I've been here to pamper you, so let me do it.”

Ben smiled. “I guess I won't argue with that.”

“Good choice,” she replied as she loaded a crockery bowl with scrambled eggs. Susie had always cooked as though feeding an army, and he'd been happy to make up the difference for the thin ranks.

Ben sat and watched his wife bring the eggs in one hand and a plate of bacon in the other.

“I'll be back with the toast in just a second,” she said.

Damn, but he liked the way she looked in the morning.

“Take your time,” he said. “I'm enjoying the view.”

She gave him an amused look and was about to take the toast from the toaster when Carrie Underwood's
voice began to ring out from someplace Ben couldn't fathom.

“My cell phone, bless it all,” Susie said, then pulled a hot pink little number from her knitting bag on the sofa.

“I upgraded to add internet service on Friday and I swear my volume of mail and calls increased just to prove I wasn't being extravagant.” She looked at the phone's screen. “Do you mind if I take this? It's business.”