Page 31 of Misadventures Of A Single Mom

My thoughts exactly.

“He just needs a little nudge.”

“Not another box,” I groaned.

Engines started to rev. Applause carried out of the arena.

“Competition,” Goldie replied. “His testosterone level is through the roof. It’s okay for him to walk away from you, but I can guarantee he’s not going to be happy about some other guy filling his spot.”

“You mean make him jealous?”

She pointed her finger at me like a gun and fired. “I knew you were the smart one.”

We handed our tickets over for the derby and looked for the boys. “And Little Missy, you need to tell me how you got to calling Drake Dexter by his nickname, Dex, if you aren’t performing sexual services for him.”

Shoot. Nothing got by that woman. “If I was performing sexual services for Dex I’d be calling him Master.”

“Don’t distract me from the original point by making sense.”

9

“Wow! Look at that upside down car!” shouted Zach.

We were all into the crash and burn portion of the derby. Cars were mangled on the mud track, some with steam coming out of their radiators, two cars stuck together in a T-bone gunning their engines, wheels spinning in the mud with the hope of separating. The latest excitement was a car pushed up a berm and flipped onto its top. It slowly came to a standstill after spinning around in circles twice.

“Cool!” Bobby added.

Goldie, Paul and I sat with little yellow foam earplugs sticking out of our ears, the boys with the large earmuff style to muffle the unbelievably loud engine noise.

The arena was an outdoor venue, rectangular shaped and open to the elements. No roof. Similar to a high school football stadium. It was used for everything from rodeos to demolition derbies. No restrooms, no food vendors. That was all outside the arena, part of the fairgrounds. Running down the long sides of the event area were the stands, all concrete steps and wood bench-style seats. Room enough for about three hundred. We sat most of the way up the stands so the boys had a good view.Couldn’t miss any action. I could see the sun setting on the Gallatin Mountains from our seats.

Zach and Bobby held red and white striped bags of popcorn. I had the super-sized soda to wash it all down, which was now only half full. The smells of animal, mud and buttered popcorn mingled in the evening air.

I was mentally betting how long it would take for the boys to need the bathroom. I swear they had bladders the size of walnuts and it was a haul to get there. You had to leave the stands, go outside the arena and over to the small, squat buildings that served as restrooms. They’d miss all the demolishing. So would I.

Goldie caught my attention by giving me a little finger wave, and then tilted her head to the right and down a few rows. I followed her gaze and saw Ty and the Colonel. Both wore white shirts—the Colonel’s had a collar—and the similar close-cut hair. Based on the smiles on their faces they, too, were enjoying the smash-up. Even from my side view of Ty, I felt that excitement, that zing, course through my blood and travel to all the important sexual places on my body.

Damn small-town life. If the man wanted to avoid me, why would he show up exactly where I was? The state was six hundred miles wide. Couldn’t he be somewhere, anywhere else? It wasn’t fair for me to have the zing if he didn’t have it, too. Equal opportunity zing.

Goldie did a couple weird gestures with her head and eyes which I translated to be:Here’s your opportunity. Make the man jealous!

But how? Where I sat—high up in the stands—no man was going to turn around and look my way, let alone flirt with me while cars rammed each other in the mud. It was a demolition derby! Hell, I could walk around stark naked and all a guy wouldsee is big tires flinging mud. There was no separating men from their machines.

Fine, I’d trek to the ladies’ room while I contemplated my first move in Operation Make-Him-Jealous. Goldie would think I had a plan. It would give me at least ten minutes to come up with one. If there was no line, otherwise it might be longer.

The boys were mesmerized by the carnage before them. Zach had forgotten the popcorn that was halfway to his mouth. After I gestured to the ladies’ room and Goldie nodded in understanding, I handed her the soda and maneuvered down the stands and out of the arena.

I took the east exit, away from the fair. The ground was packed dirt, the air cool as the stands blocked the sun. Not many people milled around. All were either at the fair or at the derby.

“Jane!”

I turned.

Ty.

“Hi,” I said, nervous. He looked really good up close. As usual. I could see some dark blond stubble on his chin and I wondered what it would feel like against my skin. The underside of my breasts, my stomach, the inside of my…stop! I felt my face flush.

“Yeah, hi.” Ty stared at me. Looked at my mouth. Looked at the ground. Looked at me. He leaned in.

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