Feature – This refers to the main event and the cars that made it through the heats to race in the final race of the night and also pays the biggest payout.
My parents, I honestly believe this, were the true meaning behind a love story.
When most think of my dad, they think of the NASCAR Cup series champion but not my mom. Had has always just been Jameson to her. There was a side to him only she knew and would only ever know. He didn’t even show the rest of our family that side. It was if it was hers and hers alone. There were words he said only she heard, feeling he had, only she knew of.
That to me is a part of marriage. Trusting the other person would let you be yourself and not an image. Trusting them with a part of yourself no one else would ever see.
Believe it or not, given our age, I had absolutely no concerns about marrying Lily, none.
What I was concerned about was the bachelor party. If I had to guess it was because of my brother and Cole. Or maybe it was Tommy and Willie? They were not the people you wanted planning this sort of thing. When Tommy got involved, I was sure I didn’t want to go. He was a forty-two-year-old kid and that would never change.
No one told me what we were doing until the morning we got back from the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.
Casten, Lane and Cole were all in the kitchen of my condo planning the evening when Tommy walked in with Willie. These two traveled as a pair most of the time.
“Hey kid! You up for tonight?” Tommy asked drinking milk from the carton out of my fridge and then moved to the coffee pot to make his morning coffee. He reminded me of my mom. He had to have coffee and couldn’t live without it.
One time we were outside of Marshall, Missouri, heading to Terra Haute for a race. Well Tommy hadn’t had coffee at that point and drove a hundred miles out of the way just to get it. When you’re racing on the Outlaw tour, you don’t have time to drive a hundred miles out of the way. When we pulled into the pits as time trials were going on, I think he learned his lesson on that one. It still didn’t stop him from seeking out coffee every morning, but he did invest in instant coffee at that point.
I noticed how methodical he was about concocting his coffee, too. It was his masterpiece.
One packet of sugar, stir and taste. One container of creamer, stir and taste. Another packet of sugar, stir and taste.
I wanted to dump a packet of Splenda in there just to see if his head would explode.
When he finished his odd assembly, he stuffed a few more packets of sugar in his pockets before walking toward me.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re strange?”
“Yes, actually. All the time,” Tommy laughed sitting down beside me on the couch. “Your parents used to tell me that.”
“It explains a lot.”
Casten walked down the hall pulling a shirt over his lean shoulders. “Everything’s all set.” I didn’t like the way he said, “all set” and if you knew my brother you understood.
“Hey, Tommy... are you coming tonight?”
“Where?” Tommy quirked an eyebrow as the conversation seemed to pique his interest.
“Axel’s bachelor party in Jacksonville,” Casten replied.
“Why are you going all the way to Jacksonville?”
“The girls are here,” Casten gave us a look. “We need to be somewhere else.”
What man, like Tommy, who had never been married and had slept with more women throughout his life than the combined total of playmates housed over the years at the Playboy Mansion wouldn’t want to party all night?
“I’m in!” Tommy announced confirming my theory.
“Great.”
Tommy and Casten together wasn’t my idea of fun. The last time they were together, Dad had to bail his fourteen-year-old son and Tommy out of jail.
What was worse was when Tommy, Willie, Casten, and Cole got together. Cole was a little delinquent and Tommy had gotten all of them in so much trouble in Knoxville earlier in the year we were asked not to come back with them.
“I don’t want to go.” I voiced my concern, not that it meant anything these days. “I want to stay home.”
“You know what? You’re a jerk.” Casten said, completely serious all of sudden drinking the same milk Tommy just did.
“Tommy just drank from that.”
“Asshole,” he spit the milk back in the container.
“That’s awesome.” Tommy stood, apparently satisfied. “Let’s go. Traffic is a bitch this time of the day.”
We left around noon that Wednesday night for Jacksonville Beach. My parents owned a condo there, which Casten had somehow talked them into using for the night. It must have been my mom’s permission he obtained because Dad would have never allowed that sort of thing after the street fire incident.
All I knew was that I just wanted to get this over with and get on with the wedding. This whole thing had gotten way out of hand. I was beginning to understand why Tommy had never got married. Just the wedding was enough for most to say, “Nah.”
“I can’t understand why you would let them go there alone.” I shook my head at my wife. “Casten isn’t even fifteen yet and Axel has no clue what he’s in for with Tommy and Willie with them.”
“Oh, just let them be boys,” Sway said, curling up on the couch with her ice cream and a book. “Axel would probably like it if you went.”
“It’s his bachelor party. Why would he want his dad there?”
“For moral support,” she sighed giving me a look of don’t be stupid. “Think about who went.”
She had a point. Tommy was not an adult. I don’t care how old Tommy was and Cole had an arrest record worse than Spencer and I combined. If I was honest with you, I was sure Willie had been to prison at some point in his life, or even recently.
After an hour, I decided to take Spencer with me to Jacksonville. They needed supervision. I wasn’t having my condo set on fire, too.
Spencer was all for a night of partying but I had to remind him we were going for supervision and not to act like children.
We were only about two hours behind the boys so when we got there, I didn’t think it could be that bad already.
I was wrong.
Casten, Willie and Tommy had Axel strapped down with tie downs dumping shots of Fireball down his throat while he kicked and screamed, Lane took pictures, and Cole videotaped it.
It was like a torture chamber.
Axel was never a big drinker. He was more into racing and didn’t have time for alcohol. They were determined to get him drunk tonight. And I do mean determined.
“You guys are going to kill him,” I told them setting a case of beer on the granite countertop in the kitchen.
Axel was squirming around coughing and gagging and mumbling something about leaving and killing his brother.
Casten leaned back in his chair with his fingers linked behind his neck and an amused look on his face. “Uh-huh.”
Axel jumped up and tackled him knocking him to the floor.
“I swear to God, Casten, I will kick your ass if you don’t stop.” He let him go after that and stomped down the hall to the bathroom, locking the door. “Leave me alone!”
Casten’s grin was getting wider as I got worried about what he had actually planned. His lips curved into a broad smile. “This just keeps getting better and better.”
“For you or him?” I laughed taking a beer from the case.
“Me, naturally,”
It took nearly four hours to get Axel out of the bathroom and I think the only reason he came out was because he was hungry.
Spencer and I sat back with our case of beer and watched the night unfold. The boys were entertaining and reminded me a lot of us in ways. It was like being an outsider to some of the madness we created at their age.
To our surprise, Axel willingly started drinking around ten that night when Casten showed him a picture Arie took of Lily and a strip pole. Apparently, he told her he wouldn’t do anything crazy; turns out, she didn’t exactly say the same.
So while his soon-to-be bride was pole dancing, he was behaving. That all changed after that text message and I saw a side of my son I never knew existed. It was actually like watching a video of myself at nineteen.
“It’s my fucking bachelor party! Where are the girls?” Axel was loud, crude and wondering where the entertainment was.
Casten assured him it was about to go down when the doorbell rang.
I nearly fell out of my goddamn chair when this girl walked in wearing nothing, absolutely nothing, and climbed onto Axel’s lap while Cherry Pie by Warrant blasted through the room.
He looked as though he wanted to die. It was pretty much the same reaction all of us had, aside from Casten and Tommy who’d supposedly arranged this.
“I’m leaving,” I told Spencer and walked outside while the girl wiggled around on my son’s lap. He was so drunk at that point, I doubted he even realized what was happening.
I snuck a couple glances from the balcony to be sure Axel didn’t do anything he’d regret in the morning but other than that, I stayed out of the way.
That was until Tommy came out.
“Jameson?” he called completely shit faced and stumbling onto the deck outside.
“Yeah?” I leaned forward in the chair I was sitting in so he could see me by the railing. “I’m out here.”
“We have a tiny problem,” Tommy appeared, red faced and nervous.
“What?”
“The cops are here for a noise disturbance,” he said, shuffling his feet, a sure sign Tommy had fucked up.
“I told you the music was too loud.” I stood reaching for my beer.
“That’s not exactly the worst part.”
My eyes narrowed at him as his hands rose quickly defending himself. “I had no part of this.”
Pushing past him, I heard the pounding on the door while Casten was laughing hysterically on the floor with the girl and Axel. “What’s this?”
“Part of the problem,” Tommy said on the verge of laughing himself.
“What’s the problem then?” I pressed throwing a blanket over the naked girl.
“Well ...” Tommy squeaked suppressing a laugh. “She’s an actual prostitute and we have three kids here under age and drinking.”
They can’t be serious?
“Please tell me you’re joking?” More pounding on the door occurred with more laughing from the boys and the girl. “How in the hell did you get a prostitute?”
“Open the door sir, this is the Jacksonville police!”
“I know that—just a minute!” I hollered and turned back to Tommy and Lane who suddenly appeared with Spencer.
“They’re... oh, God,” he chuckled taking in the scene in front of him. “What happened in here?” Spencer asked smiling at the girl who was now standing.
I leaned over and covered her with a blanket again but she just shrugged it off and danced down the hall to the bathroom.
“Hold up, I’m coming with you.” Cole followed her. “I’m not waiting around for the police.”
Lane pushed Casten, who wouldn’t stop laughing, down the hall. “Hide in the closet, giggles.”
I turned to Spencer, Willie and Tommy. “Keep your fucking mouths shut.”
Willie rushed to the sink and then puked in it.
Drawing a deep breath, I pulled open the door. “Hello, officers. Sorry about the noise.”
Tommy and Spencer snickered behind me. It’s hard to believe they were in their forties but had the mental stability of an eighteen-year-old.
“Can we come inside?” one officer asked while the other peeked over my shoulder.
“I’d rather you didn’t.” I smiled politely. “My wife and I are celebrating our anniversary. If you know what I mean.” I waggled my eyebrows at the end hoping they bought the story.
The officers exchanged a glance and then smiled. “Just keep it down, Mr. Riley.”
I never said my name. Oh, fucking well. If my fame got me out of a potential legal issue from a prostitute and underage drinking, by all means, let it.
“Thank you.”
When I closed the door, Tommy and Spencer burst out laughing and Willie puked again.
“Listen you, assholes,” I grabbed Tommy by the shirt and kicked Spencer when he fell to the ground. “Clean this place up and get that girl out of here!”
Walking back into the bedroom where the boys were, I chuckled at their conversation in the closet.
All four were crammed in a small closet with the girl who was still naked.
I stood outside for a moment, listening. It was clear I had no idea what they were actually talking about.
“By the way,” Cole said. “I hate to point this out right now but people go to prison for this shit.”
I assumed he was talking about the prostitute at this point so I opened the door.
“Nice.” Casten shook his head at Cole, disgusted. “Where the fuck are your balls these days?”
“Ask your sister,” Cole replied cockily.
I don’t think he actually thought before he said that. After all, she was his cousin.
“My God,” Casten slapped his shoulder, “you’re not very bright, are you?”
“No, he’s not,” Lane added shaking his head at his younger brother. “She’s your cousin, dude, that’s really wrong.”
“All right, let’s go,” I said smacking the door with my fist so they all noticed me. “Get out of the closet.”
The girl was so drunk by that point that she was curled up in Axel’s lap, sleeping. Axel wasn’t any better as he was passed out drooling.
I took my boys and left. I wasn’t about to let either of them get arrested and, more importantly, sleep with that girl.
Casten wasn’t willing to leave and put up a pretty good fight but surrendered in the end when I told him he could find a new place to live if he didn’t leave with me. I had a feeling he’d be thirty and still wanting to live at home. As long as he continued to work, I didn’t see that big of a problem with it. Don’t get me wrong, no one wants their kids living with them forever but Casten wasn’t a bad kid and didn’t take advantage of us. He just liked living at home.
I blamed Sway for that. She fed him too well.
“That was the greatest night of my life!” Casten announced stumbling into the car.
“You said that the night you set the street on fire,” I reminded him buckling Axel in who still hadn’t woken up.
“At that time it was the greatest night of my life... until tonight.”
On the way home that night, I thought about what I’d do if my kids never moved out.
Axel had his own place now but after Arie’s ordeal with Brian, I didn’t want her moving out. And Sway didn’t want Casten moving out for obvious attachment reasons.
We were screwed.
Sway was up, in bed, going over schedules when I got home around six that morning. I dropped Casten and Axel off at his condo and hurried home to be with her. I was somewhat relieved that I left the rest of those jerks in Jacksonville because I knew they’d be invading my house tonight if they would have come with us.
“How’d it go?” Sway asked snuggling against my side. Her cold feet pressed gingerly to my bare legs testing whether I’d move them away. I didn’t, instead I let her warm them against me.
“It was horrible.”
“Why?”
“Your baby boy hired a prostitute.”
“He didn’t?” she looked up at me horrified. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope,” I pulled the blankets up higher and leaned over to flick the switch for the fireplace.
“That’s not good,” Sway said snuggling back against my chest.
“You know... these last two will never leave.”
“That’s all right.” She smiled kissing my cheek. “I kind of like them.”
Like I said, it’s not like they were mooching from us.
Arie was working on Axel’s fan club and his charity with children’s hospitals. She also took care of his website, Facebook and Twitter accounts making sure they all stayed up to date.
And Casten, he was still in high school. When he wasn’t in school, he worked at JAR Racing with the boys and frequently traveled with his brother to learn more about what Willie and Tommy did. He was taking an interest in being a crew chief, something I knew he would be good at.
They all had jobs and earned their keep, just in different ways. They had to deal with the destruction they caused.
January seventh, the day of the wedding, you would have thought that all hell broke loose in the Riley and West families.
Lily wasn’t happy about my bachelor party but, to be honest, I wasn’t happy with the pictures that I saw from her bachelorette party. We agreed to disagree on the matter and moved past that until she asked me the night before the wedding if I had cheated on her.
I was pissed.
This was a constant battle between us. It also wasn’t something I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her arguing about.
So I said, “If you can’t believe me when I tell you that I haven’t been with anyone else... we have no business getting married.”
It wasn’t meant to be harsh nor was it me calling off the wedding. I just wanted her to understand that “trust” was the most important part, to me anyway.
She had other ideas about my statement and burst into tears thinking that I had called off the wedding. I guess all the insecurity might have been my fault. It didn’t help that I gave away my virginity to the first willing girl when I was younger and ended up breaking her heart, but seriously, that was years ago and I asked her to marry me. To me that was the ultimate commitment. I wasn’t going anywhere and didn’t have the desire to sleep with any other women. There were always willing girls when your dad is Jameson Riley but other than the occasional smile, I didn’t offer those girls anything more than a hello. I wasn’t rude to them like my dad was but I didn’t leave with them either.
Lily and I ended up staying up until three in morning the night before the wedding arguing about it when I finally got through to her that I wasn’t going anywhere.
My brother and sister weren’t helping either when they met me at my hotel room in Jacksonville in the morning.
That wasn’t so bad and it was a nice change from Lily’s crying the night before, but the shit got out of hand when we got to the beach where the wedding was being held. Not that Florida didn’t have nice weather in the winter because it did, and was usually around seventy degrees but today it was a scorching thirty-eight.
I did not like cold weather, never had.
We were only there about five minutes when Justin found me. I’ve never really looked at Justin as Lily’s father, I’ve always thought of him as my dad’s best friend and a fellow driver.
He wasn’t very happy that morning.
“What happened between you two last night?” Justin demanded cornering me inside the tent that was getting smaller by the minute. I think I’ve said this once before but I wasn’t exactly a big guy and anyone cornering me, especially my soon-to-be father-in law, was intimidating.
“Nothing happened, why?” I’ll admit my voice was frightened. You would understand if you saw the way he was looking at me. It was similar to the way a wild animal stalked its prey.
“Well, Lil is in tears, go see her!”
He didn’t have to tell me twice and I was inside my parent’s condo where she was getting ready.
“Lily?” I called out only to have Arie slam the door in my face.
“It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding,” she told me through the door. “Get lost!”
Pushing past her wasn’t hard. Arie was taller than me but weighed less than a hundred pounds.
“Listen to me!” I shook her shoulders. “I’m seconds away from kicking you out of here. I need to see Lily right now. Fuck the stupid traditions.”
She didn’t budge. Instead she crossed her arms over her chest. “No.”
“I’m not above pushing my sister.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Mom?” she wailed pretending to be hurt like I actually did hit her. She pulled this shit so often when we were little no one actually believed her any more.
“Arie,” Lily called out from the bedroom, “... let him in.”
Dad was sitting on the couch eating cereal in his tuxedo. He was calm and collected like this whole day was no big deal. It probably wasn’t to him. He dealt with this stress every single day with Aunt Emma.
“Can you believe this shit?” I asked looking to him for support.
“You have no idea kid.” Dad laughed placing his cereal bowl in the sink. “I had to spend every day inches away from my sister for years while we traveled.” He patted my back. “I don’t really have much sympathy for you on that part.”
No one had sympathy for me today.
Lily was in the bedroom dressed in her wedding gown, crying again.
“Lily, what’s wrong baby?” I pulled her in my arms.
“I’m sorry. I feel like an idiot for last night.”
Pulling back to look at her, I wiped the tears from her cheeks and kissed her nose.
“Don’t be. It’s normal to have pre-wedding jitters.” Moving from the bed, I knelt in front of her taking her hands in mine. “I love you and I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone other than you. Do you understand that? You’re the only woman I want.”
A few more tears fell before she nodded.
“I know... I’m sorry for being like this.” She shrugged closing her eyes. “I see your parents and my parents and I want that. I do. But I get scared you ...”
She couldn’t actually say it without crying. I knew what this was leading up too.
You see it all around you when you grow up in racing—men choosing their career of adrenaline over women. My dad may be one of the greatest racers of all time but he owed most of that to my mom. She was there for him no matter what. So he may have missed birthdays and anniversaries to race but he had her to fall back on. Justin and Ami were the same way.
Lily and I grew up around that mentality and saw that relationship every day. Her fear was that I would chose racing entirely.
“When growing up, do you want to know one of the best memories I have of my parents?”
She nodded eagerly. She loved hearing about my parents and their epic love story. Smiling, I pulled her hands forward kissing her ring finger.
“I was probably around ten or eleven; anyway, my dad was always racing on my mom’s birthday, never failed. That particular year he was in a fairly close battle with the points, which left him on edge going into the last race before the chase. The night before the Saturday night race was mom’s birthday. Our entire family was there wanting to celebrate for her but dad wasn’t in a good mood that night. There was also a sprint car race going on in Lernerville that same night that he was set to race in.”
“He chose racing over your mom’s birthday?”
“No, he didn’t have to. She told him to go and they made a party out of the night for her in Lernerville. He even won the race for her and took her around the track in his sprint car for a victory lap.” I smiled up at her hoping that she understood where I was going with this memory.
“It’s not about choosing ...” she deduced with a small smile, her head tilted to the side.
“It’s not about choosing.” I repeated. “My dad never had to choose because just like you, my mom was ready and willing to support him. You’ve never asked me not to race.”
“I never would. Racing is what makes you happy.”
“Exactly... you have nothing to worry about…” I paused. “And, if you asked, I would walk away.”
It would be hard but I would if she wanted me, too.
She didn’t say anything to me for a moment staring at my cufflinks.
I got impatient and moved closer grasping her hands more securely. “Please, marry me, Lily,” I whispered against her hands that I had pulled against my lips.
“I will. Now get out.” She pointed at the door. “I need to meet my soon-to-be husband on the beach in an hour. I’m a hot mess.”
“You’re beautiful.” I stood and looked down at her. My fingers brushed along her cheek and curled around her chin. “Now, meet me next to the shore in an hour.”
“Deal.”
Making my way back to the tent, I had my brother to deal with.
“You’re being a moron,” I told Casten.
“It’s a wedding, Axel, not a Mensa meeting,” he replied. “How do you want me to act?”
“With a bit more decorum, I would guess,” I told him eyeing his appearance. He was sweating profusely. “Why are you all wet?”
“No reason.” He smiled brushing his hair out of his face. “I think I drank too much last night. So you want me to act like them?” Casten pointed to Logan and Lane, covered in sand, who were so drunk they could barely stand.
Silently, I hoped they got washed away by the tide before the night was over. I loved them but they weren’t helping me today.
“No, don’t act like that. Just... be normal. If that’s possible for you.”
Casten threw his head back and let out a loud laugh and then went completely serious. “That’s probably never going to happen with our parents.”
“Fine,” I groaned heading down the aisle not feeling very confident in my family.
My dad and Spencer were standing up there with Tommy. He was doing the ceremony for us. Yes, he got his license online, which was good enough for me.
“You ready, kid?”
“I think so?” it wasn’t meant to be a question but the way it came out, it was.
“I’m sorry to say this,” Tommy laughed beside me, “but there shouldn’t be a question at the end of that sentence, moron.”
“Way to be supportive.” Spencer shook his head and walked to the bar to where Aiden was perched on a stool avoiding Noah and Charlie.
This left me standing alone with Tommy and my dad, although Tommy was now distracted by Lily’s bridesmaids.
“Are you all right over there?” I asked Dad when Casten, with a big grin, came up to us.
“Couldn’t be better,” Dad said, in a very melodramatic way when he reached for his beer in his pocket and tipped his head at Casten. “Why are you all wet?”
Casten started laughing mirthlessly at that point. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I had a feeling he was in the tent with Logan earlier and had an even stronger feeling they had been smoking something but I wasn’t about to confirm or deny that to my dad of all people.
“Uh-huh,” Dad nodded and walked back over to my mom sitting beside her.
The music changed and everyone took their places, including Casten who was my best man. My buddy Shane and Willie were also in the wedding standing beside him.
“Last chance to back out,” Casten whispered in my ear when Lily appeared under a flowered archway leading to us. Waves crashed behind me drowning out the faint piano music.
I didn’t reply to Casten, just smiled at my bride-to-be. I hoped she would understand that my heart belonged to her and only her now.
I remember holding him for the first time. I remember watching him take his first breath and hearing his first cry. I remember the day I found out I was pregnant with him and that first horrifying ultrasound when I realized there was actually life inside of me. I remembered it all and every detail of his birth. I remember Jameson not understanding that he blinked and hiccupped just like every other human being. I had visions of Charlie holding him and now smiling down on us. I had memories of him in the pits at Bristol when he had to have seven stitches in his knee. I remember the fits he would throw at the grocery store or the temper tantrums when he wouldn’t get his way. I also remember his loving side, the sweet boy who would tell me he loved me before each race and his bear hugs that he would give and only he could.
Let’s just say I was a tad emotional by the time Lily joined my son and they began to exchange their vows.
“I don’t think I can do this,” I wailed next to Arie. “Yep, I’m positive I can’t.”
“Control yourself.” Arie shook her head, not concerned about my emotional state. “You’re causing a scene.”
“Don’t judge me until you have kids.”
“That’s never happening,” she whispered appalled. “I’m not cut out for children.”
“No, Casten’s not cut out for children. You need to provide me with some grandbabies,” I told her in a whisper.
“I don’t think so,” she said dismissively as one of Ami’s aunts shushed us from across the aisle.
Glaring toward the woman, I turned to Arie. “Are you really not having any kids?”
She shrugged. “I don’t even have a boyfriend. It’s hardly relevant right now.”
I never thought my kids wouldn’t want kids of their own. Was this something I did wrong? Did I not provide them with a good childhood? I mean, that would cause this sort of feeling, right?
“Was I a bad parent?” I voiced concerned that maybe I’d failed them in some way.
I wasn’t sure why, but she burst out laughing. It wasn’t meant to be funny and the thought that she found my parenting skills laughable made me that much more emotional.
“That’s not exactly the response I was looking for.” Turning myself forward again, I started crying.
“Shhhh!” her aunt said again.
Nancy who was sitting next to Arie on my left, whispered, “What’s her problem?”
“Me?” I pointed to myself still crying. “What’s my problem?”
Jameson, who was beside me on the right, threw his arm around me pulling me into him and kissed my forehead in consolation. He was so sweet and understood my breakdown completely.
“No, her,” Nancy pointed at Ami’s aunt who was still glaring at us. “Why is she so worked up?”
“It’s because of Arie. She’s causing a scene.”
“Mother!” Arie nearly shouted back at me causing Jameson to glare at his baby girl.
“Knock it off,” he said to no one in particular.
He was right. We shouldn’t ruin this for them but I really wasn’t in the emotional state to be the mother of the groom today.
For me, Axel signified the meaning behind what Jameson and I were. Now he was getting married. That confirmed my fears that we were getting old and didn’t have much time left together.
Thankfully, the wedding was simple, and before I knew it we were inside the tent with heaters, for the reception. Why they chose a beach wedding in January was stupid to me but that was Emma for you. Beauty before weather in her book—whatever that meant—no one but Emma actually knew.
The reception was beautiful and I got a chance to dance with my son while Justin stole Lily away. It was funny that we were now tied to the West family by marriage when it felt like we were family all along. I had always imagined them as another brother and sister, as I did with Tommy, to all of us.
“Yeah, well you’re an asshole!” Jimi told Jameson loud enough for the entire place to hear as I danced with Axel. We both laughed.
Casten, who was beside us dancing with Lily’s maid of honor, giggled. “I love my family. That was awesome.”
I took Axel’s beer from him. “Give me that,” I said and chugged it. “This sucks.”
“Oh, what’s a wedding without drama?” Casten replied throwing his arm around Axel and me. “Now, let’s party!”
Jameson and Jimi were arguing about who knows what when I finally walked over to them. Nancy did as well to give them a piece of her mind.
“I swear to God, if you two fuckwits don’t stop, I will... I’m not sure what I’ll do but it won’t be nice,” Nancy yelled at her son and husband.
They both laughed as though she said nothing and continued their argument about who was a better racer on sand. I hardly doubted either of them ever raced on sand but the night ended with them renting go-karts and racing on the beach.
I was a little nervous this may have ruined the wedding for the kids but they got a good kick out of it especially when Justin got involved.
When I thought back to all the weddings over the years, none were without drama.
Such is life though.
“What was that all about?” I asked my dad as we walked back to the wedding. “You had that race won.”
“I’m old... not dumb.”
“Good point,” I unbuttoned my black slacks to get the sand out. “You are old.”
“Shut up,” he said pushing my shoulder.
My dad, Justin and me rented go-karts and ended up solving our argument about sand. I won, naturally. But at the last minute when dad clearly had the race won, he lifted.
“That tide would have pulled me under in a heartbeat,” he said, reaching inside the go-kart to grab his whiskey. “Like I said, I’m not dumb.”
Justin laughed slinging his jacket over his shoulders. “Let’s go party. I’ve had enough of this sand.”
I was right there with him. Sand on my skin was about to drive me insane, not to mention I wanted a shower, badly.
Lily and Axel were just heading out for their limo waiting for them when we got back.
Dad leaned over and slung his arm over my shoulder. “You raised a good kid.”
“We did.” I leaned against the bar watching everyone say their goodbyes and congratulate them.
“He’ll do fine. Axel’s not you, but with time he’s got something that took you years to figure out.”
“What’s that?” I snorted reaching over the bar for another beer.
“Patience.”
“Uh-huh,” I laughed.
Patience. Pft. I had that.
“He gets so nervous.” Looking over at my dad, I shrugged. “That’s what worries me. There’s no room for that.”
“He wants to outshine that. He’ll do fine. He just needs experience.”
I looked back to his first USAC season when he was a kid and realized it happened then. The following year when he was comfortable in his ability, he won the championship. Axel wasn’t the type of driver to go out and make history when he wasn’t comfortable. If he wasn’t comfortable, he was a nervous wreck when it came to the feature event. It was something I was unfamiliar with and had been around such a diverse group of drivers over the years that I understood it.
Axel had it. He just wasn’t as headstrong as me at times. Where I bordered on insanity in a race car, he was more methodical and thoughtful about his decision.
There again, no two drivers were the same. Where one had strong points others showed their weakness.
The party didn’t stop once Axel and Lily left. We celebrated until the early hours of the morning but what I cherished most that night was the talk with my dad and watching my son get married. There were a lot of moments that I thought about watching Axel tonight, but one in particular stayed with me. The image of me holding him for the first time, knowing that someday, someplace, he would be feeling what I was feeling right now. I felt as if I had won the feature event.