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“Do you live together?” she asked. “Can you adopt me?”
“No, Princess. I’m afraid we can’t,” Colt replied. “But that’s not important. We’re your friends. We want to take you back to Tennessee and help you. We’ll find a family for you. What do you think about that?”
“Why can’t you be my family?”
Colt gulped. Brant looked away. After a moment of silence, Colt finally said, “Tell you what, Brant and I will work out suitable living arrangements for you and Ralph. How does that sound?”
“I think I’d like to be adopted by someone like you. Then I’d feel right at home.”
Part II
Chapter Seven
Twelve years later
Colt pushed away from the breakfast table. He strolled across the ceramic tile flooring and stood at the bottom of the stairs. “Brant! Hurry up! We’re gonna miss the race if you don’t get your ass in gear!”
Brant skipped down the steps with a noticeable spring in his gait. “Do I have to remind you that we’re driving less than a hundred miles to attend a race that will take place tomorrow?”
“If we arrive early enough today, we might enjoy some of the race festivities. Folks in racing tell me the Bristol event is the one to see if you’re new to racing, and we are.”
“We aren’t new to anything,” Brant corrected him, smiling like a man who fucked his way through the morning. “We have a friend in racing and we’ll catch up and say hello. I don’t think we’ll become die-hard fans.”
“Speak for yourself.” A beat later, Colt noted the obvious, “You look like a happy man this morning.”
“I’m a sated man,” he replied with an ounce or two of pride.
“Did Kelly spend the night again?”
“She sure did. I’m starting to believe this thing with Kelly may become a regular thing before long.”
Colt knew better. Kelly wasn’t interested in being shared, and whether Brant realized it or not, he lost interest in women who only wanted one man. He’d seen it happen a time or two since they’d lived together.
“Best of luck to you,” Colt said, meaning every word. “And Kelly, too, of course.”
“You don’t like her?”
“I don’t have a problem with Kelly. I just don’t think it will work out.”
“Thanks. I’ll remember you said that when I’m saying my vows a year from now.”
“So you plan to marry her, do ya?”
“Well how the hell would I know? We’ve only been together for two weeks.”
Colt snickered. For the last twelve years, he and Brant had been roommates. They moved in together while they were trying to help Princess find a suitable home. After a judge awarded a California couple legal custody of Princess, Colt asked Brant to stay. He needed help on the farm and Brant was in financial dire straits. Brant never bounced back from the financial catastrophe he faced after losing a small fortune in the stock market.
“Do you think she knows we’re coming?”
“I doubt it,” Brant replied.
“You don’t think anyone on her racing team would’ve told her we were trying to get a hold of her?”
“Think about that, Colt. Her family owns the racing team. Whoever works in that blasted office probably only relays the messages her parents approve, regardless of how old she is now. Remember, her parents never wanted her to have any contact with us. Her father probably even feared this day would one day come. For whatever reason, they didn’t want us around Princess, and we’ve respected that until now. I don’t think they’ll be jumping for joy if they see us walk back into her life.”
“I just wan
t to know she’s all right. You know, happy. I’ll never understand what that man—her dad—hoped to gain by shutting us out of her life. He adopted her. We were for, not against, the adoption. As far as I know he gave her a good home and yet he wouldn’t allow us to befriend her. I’ll never forgive him for that.”
