Hot Summer Nights (5 page)

“C’mon, we got to finish this little bit, Wayne. We gotta do it before the rain gets here or we’re gonna lose everything we got.”

Wayne nodded. He knew his father was right, but he was hot and he was tired. Drained would actually be a bit more proper of a word for it.

“I know, Daddy. We’ll get it done.”

Billy watched with pride as his son picked up his pace. It hurt him very much to know that he couldn’t move faster. His bum leg wouldn’t allow him to. He had to depend on Wayne to get it done, because if Wayne couldn’t, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it on his own.

“I appreciate your help, Wayne. You know that, right? I thank God every day that you’ve stayed to help me. I know I’m going to have to let you go soon, but thank you for helping me now.”

Wayne wiped the dripping sweat from his hair and took another long draw of his bottle of water. “Shit, dad, soon as I can make enough from my race winnings you won’t have to worry about doing this anymore. I hate that you have to bust your back and ass out here to make a fuckin’ living while Justin Grimes sits in the lap of luxury. It burns up every part of me. That’s one of the reasons I have to beat Kevin every week. I will not let him go home and talk about how he kicked Harper ass. I refuse to.”

Billy sighed loudly. The feud between him and the elder Grimes was a long-standing one. At one time or another everyone in the town had to pick sides. It wasn’t something he liked talking about, and it sure as hell wasn’t something he wanted his youngest son to feel like he had to deal with. He hadn’t figured that eighteen years after the fact his son and Justin’s son would be continuing the legacy.

“I’m only gonna tell you this once, Wayne, and I want you to remember this every time you go out on the track. I want you to remember these each time Kevin says something to you that just makes your blood boil. Jealousy is an ugly, ugly thing. It will eat a man from the inside out. It can consume his life to the point where the only thing he thinks of is getting his revenge. It can either kill you or you can be killed by it. Jealousy is this limp I have. Don’t let that happen to you and Kevin. Be smarter than the people before you were. Don’t let it completely run your life.”

Wayne swallowed loudly. He knew little about what had caused his father’s limp besides the actual events of that night. His dad had told him that before. He knew that Justin Grimes had done it, but he didn’t know the exact motivation for it. It was something that had always nagged at him in the back of his mind. He had wanted to know the motivation for it, but as he learned bits and pieces of it, he thought maybe he really didn’t want to know the whole story.

“Dad, I’m gonna do my damnedest not to let anybody get hurt in this. I can’t help the way he runs his race. I can’t help the way he lives his life. He is his father’s son and he will do everything in his power to prove he is better’n me. I can’t help that. What I can do is go out there and run my best every week. I can live my life away from the track the best way I know how. I’m going to make you proud no matter what. I ain’t gonna let myself drop to his level,” Wayne promised, looking his father in the eye.

Watching his son, Billy couldn’t help but shake his head. Everything in him believed Wayne, but he wasn’t sure he could trust a Grimes. He wasn’t sure how the two of them would be able to keep their legacies of their fathers, out of their own lives. History, he knew, always repeated itself, and he could only hope that nobody almost died this time.

*

An hour later
the two of them had gotten the last of the tobacco up right as the first sheet of rain came down. They walked to the edge of the barn and glanced up at the sky.

“Got it just in time, didn’t we?” Wayne laughed as he saw the rain begin to make rivers in the mud.

“That we did. Let’s go get some lunch since we’re obviously done for the day. You want to?” Billy asked placing a hat over his graying hair.

Rubbing his stomach, Wayne nodded. He was hungry and lunch sounded perfect. “Yeah, quicker we get there, the better. I’ll drive,” he offered, fishing the keys to the farm truck out of his pocket.

Slowly, almost welcoming the feel of the rain on their bodies, the two men made their way to the truck. It was so hot that the rain only made the air heavier with the humidity, but it at least gave them a break from the relentless sun beating down on them. They hopped in the truck, Billy carefully buckling his seatbelt.

“Keep it on the road today. Don’t know if your old man can handle offroadin’.”

Wayne laughed heartily as he put the truck out on the main road. Usually when driving the old farm truck, Wayne would let it all hang out and just drive. Sometimes that meant getting off the blacktop and going different directions.

“I promise we won’t be doing that today. I’m hungry. Some of Sadie’s country fried steak is calling my name. Can’t ya hear it?”

Shaking his head, Billy chuckled. His younger son was always hungry, but lately he’d really started to fill out. For the longest time he’d been lanky and so skinny that he hadn’t known how his clothes stayed on. In the past six months, however, his muscles had started to form from years of hard labor and working on his car. Now when Wayne got in the car, Billy didn’t flinch thinking he could be broken in half.

“Yeah, I can hear it, Wayne. I think it’s callin’ mine to.”

In minutes they were parking at the popular diner. Wayne reached beside them in the seat and grabbed his shirt. Getting out, he placed it over his bare chest and then walked towards the front door. Opening it, he held it for his dad and offered him a hand as he struggled with the wet steps. As they walked inside, everyone who sat around called out to them.

“You two want your regular table?” Loretta, one of the regular waitresses, asked.

“Where else would we sit, honey?” Wayne flirted with the older woman, who smacked him in the stomach.

“What are you gonna do with this one Billy?” she laughed, as she looked back at his father.

“I just don’t know. We’re either gonna have to watch him get famous or give him to another family.”

“Ouch, Dad, that was harsh.”

“That’s alright, we’ll take good care of ya,” Loretta assured him. “You two want your usual?”

They nodded, turning around to talk to some of the other regulars who had gathered in the diner to get out of the rain. Wayne laughed at something someone said to him before glancing outside. A slow smile covered his face as he saw a familiar car pulling up in the parking lot. He watched as she got out and threw a jacket over her body, before coming into the diner. Walking up to the counter, she smiled at the cashier.

“My daddy should have called in an order about fifteen minutes or so ago. Is it ready yet?”

“Lemme go see just real quick, Clem. I’m sure Sadie probably moved you to the front of the line. Give me just a minute.”

Clementine nodded, having a seat on one of the stools at the counter. Wayne excused himself and went over to sit next to her.

“What’s a pretty girl like you doing in here all by yourself?”

She whirled around on the stool and grinned as she saw him. “Let’s just say we got hungry at the store and it was daddy’s turn to cook. What are you doing here? I figured you’d be out at the farm.”

“We were until the rains came down. We just got done putting up all the tobacco when the bottom dropped out. We were both hungry so we decided to come get some lunch.”

“You were lucky to get all your stuff put up before the rain came. That would have ruined the crop for you, wouldn’t it?” she asked, grabbing a piece of straw paper to play with.

Wayne couldn’t help but feel all eyes on them as he discreetly looked around behind him. “Yeah, somethin’ like that. Do you feel everybody staring at us?”

She giggled. “Yeah, it’s like they expect us to go at it right here in the middle of Sadie’s with your daddy sitting right over there. Who knew us going out on one date would cause such a huge reaction.”

“Small town, huge rumor mill. Isn’t that what they always say? Anyway, the reason I came over was to ask if you wanted to come to the shop tonight. I’m going to be workin’ on an old car of my cousin’s. I’m experimenting. I figured you could come and watch.” He shrugged, watching her eyes light up.

“Here’s your food, Clem, and Wayne, I’m fixin’ to deliver yours to your table,” Loretta interrupted, handing Clementine a large bag.

“I’ll be over there in just a minute.” He turned back to Clementine. “So whatdya say? Want to come out?”

“Will a lot of people be there?”

“Just me. This is my personal idea for something I wanted to try. I don’t want nobody to laugh at me if it doesn’t work.”

Biting her bottom lip, she glanced down at her hands. “I’m closing the store tonight at eight. Can you come pick me up?”

“I’ll be there at 7:45 to help you, then I’ll bring you home. How’s that sound?”

“Great!” She smiled. “It’s a date. I’ll see ya later on.”

As she got off the stool, he handed her the bag and made sure her coat covered her head. “Yeah, see you,” he called out as she made her way from the diner. After she’d walked out the door, he noticed that the patrons still stared. Giving them a wave, he walked back over to his table.

‡

“S
o what are
you going to do to your car that you don’t want anyone else to know about?” Clementine asked, leaning up against the shop door as she waited for him to unlock it.

After much coaxing, he got the rusted lock undone and opened the doors to the barn that doubled as his racing shop. She walked in, noticing the mugginess of the night. It seemed hotter than when they had been there the night before. Sweat trickled down the small of her back and she found it hard to breathe.

“I know it’s hot in here, just give me a minute to open the doors and turn on the fans. It’ll at least get the air movin’ around. And then I’ll tell you what I plan on doing to my car.” He grinned.

She nodded, again looking around. It still amazed her that he allowed her in the shop. It was one thing for him to take her there as part of their date. It was another altogether for him to ask her to come try something out with him.

“There, I think that’s got it all,” he said as he took off the T-shirt he’d had covering his chest. “Sorry, but it’s hot as hell in here.”

Her mouth turned into the Sahara as she watched him mop up the sweat on his chest with the shirt. He ran it across washboard abs that turned into a ‘v’. She figured it was a good thing it was a basic white one; otherwise, he had just ruined it. Licking her lips, she shrugged. If he wanted to strip she was way more than okay with it.

“Follow me over here. I don’t want to try it on the car I’m gonna be racing this weekend. That’ll up my chances of something going wrong. What I want to do is try a different carburetor. While the rulebook is clear about specifications, there is a gray area, and changing the carburetor could get me more speed. I’m going to try it on this old car I got over here. It’s got the same kind of engine and everything in it. It just doesn’t have the same body. That will make a bit of a difference, but I’ll still be able to tell if it’s going to work or not.”

She nodded, following him over to a darker part of the shop. “You don’t mind getting a little dirty, do you?”

“Not at all. I’d like to help out. It seems like it would be fun.” She grinned enthusiastically.

He couldn’t help but smile back at her. “Atta girl!”

With strong arms he lifted the heavy hood up for them to peer at the engine. “So you want to go ahead and get your hands dirty?”

Nodding eagerly, she waited for him to tell her what to do. Quickly, he handed her a wrench.

“Now I want you to loosen those bolts right there.” He pointed towards the pair holding the carburetor in place.

Leaning over on tiptoe, she stuck her bottom lip between her teeth, biting it in concentration. Wayne couldn’t help but notice that as she worked trying to get the bolt undone, her tongue swept over her bottom lip before biting it between her teeth again. He watched as she applied more pressure and then squealed happily as it gave way, turning for her.