Page 15 of Drive To Survive

“Ready, soldier?”

He nodded excitedly and held out his arms for me to lift him out. Once his feet were on the ground, he jumped up and down on the spot.

“Come on, Mommy,” he urged, clutching at my arm as I closed the door and then locked up.

I took his hand and walked over the tarmac pavement to the main building, trepidation building in my stomach, this time at the thought of seeing Nico again. I’d decided the best approach was to ignore the whole unfortunate incident from the other day and hope he did the same. And if he broached the subject… hmm, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. Apologize and pray he accepted it without further discussion.

There was one other family waiting in the reception area with a little boy around Rhett’s age, and they both smiled warmly at me as I ushered Rhett to a small couch over by the window. Adele’s desk was empty, but as two other families arrived, so did she, approaching from the direction of Nico’s office. She welcomed all the kids with a lollipop each and then led us all down a narrow hallway and into a large space that resembled a conference room. It was much brighter than that, though, the walls adorned with colorful paintings and a fair number of pictures of race cars.

Adele told us someone would be with us shortly, then left. I couldn’t help noticing I was the only single parent. I’d hoped for an ally, someone I could share my fears with. That wasn’t to say I couldn’t strike up a conversation with the other women here, but it felt a bit awkward with their partners tagging along.

The door opened, and my heart stuttered—and then fell to my feet. Greeting us wasn’t Nico Palmer at all, but another man I’d guess to be in his mid to late fifties. He introduced himself as Patrick, one of the trainers here.

I crammed down disappointment that Nico hadn’t graced us with his presence on Rhett’s first day. Why would he? He owed us nothing, especially after my less-than-stellar conduct at my house. At least his absence gave me a little more time to craft the right response just in case he did bring up what happened the other day.

I spent the next thirty minutes listening to Patrick’s spiel. By the time he’d finished, he had all the kids eating out of his hand, and I’d changed my opinion. The dour, brooding Nico Palmer would probably scare the young kids half to death. Maybe they had him work with the older ones, those whose teenage hormones had well and truly kicked in and needed a very firm hand. Patrick appeared to be the kind of man who’d never raised his voice in his entire life, and his quiet, soothing manner put the young kids at ease.

With four boisterous boys fizzing with excitement, and seven parents crapping themselves at the idea of their precious children getting behind the wheel of a car, Patrick took us on a tour of the facility. By the time we headed back to the reception area, my feet were killing me. Wearing heels had been a stupid mistake, especially when Nico hadn’t even put in an appearance. So much for dressing to impress.

“Right, folks,” Patrick said when we reached the main building. “That’s it for today, but you’ve all got your schedules, and we can’t wait to have you back here and get started on your tailored program.”

Rhett blinked, and his bottom lip wobbled. He glanced at the exterior of the building, then across to the racetrack, and finally back at me. “That’s it?” he asked. “We have to go now?”

I crouched to his level and brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. “That’s it for today, honey, but we’re coming back soon.”

“How soon?”

“In three days’ time.”

“No!” Rhett stomped his foot and before I could stop him, he threw himself to the ground. “No! I’m not leaving.”

I briefly closed my eyes. Shit. I should have anticipated an outburst. He often lost his temper when he didn’t get his own way. I shot a glance at the other parents, who stood there judging me and my parenting skills as Rhett’s fists pummeled the ground. I wanted to yell at them all to fuck off, that they didn’t know my story, and if their kids were so damn perfect, then they wouldn’t have gotten a place in the program.

I did none of that.

Instead, I sat on the hard concrete and rubbed Rhett’s back while he kicked his legs and screamed. The parents shuffled off, whispering among themselves. I sighed, dredging as much patience as I could muster. It’d take at least fifteen minutes of quiet and soothing talk to calm him down enough to get him in the car.

“Everly, Rhett.”

My head snapped up as I heard our names being called to find Nico coming toward us. He dropped to a crouch and ruffled Rhett’s hair.

“Chill out, bud.” Hooking his hands underneath Rhett’s arms, he sat him upright. “We don’t stand for that kind of naughty behavior around here. We’re all about discipline. No discipline, no racing.”

Rhett’s wailing stopped, and his eyes went round as saucers. Normally, I’d call someone out for chastising my child. That was my job, not Nico’s, but I was just so damned grateful he’d stopped Rhett’s tantrum dead in its tracks that I shot him a warm smile instead.

“He didn’t want to leave,” I said by way of explanation. “He enjoyed himself a little too much.”

“Then we’d better see what we can do about that.” He stood and cocked his head, gesturing for us to follow him. “Come with me.”

NICO

What the fuck am I doing?

Knowing that today was Rhett’s first day at the track, I’d purposely locked myself in my office, determined to stay away and let Patrick handle the new intake in the younger category. He was better with the little kids than I was anyway. I preferred to work with the older ones, kids who wouldn’t burst into tears if I looked at them the wrong way.

Yet as I’d stood in reception and watched Everly struggle to contain an irate child, an undeniable desire to help had sent me lurching outside, despite the way we’d left things at her house.

As Rhett stilled under my mild scolding, and I looked into his eyes, so much like his mother’s, an invisible string inside me pulled tight. I saw the same crushing pain when I looked into the mirror replicated in this six-year-old boy, a mere child who shouldn’t know that amount of suffering.

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