Race to His Heart

by Sara Noble

  Race to His Heart

  Sara Noble

  Published by Sara Noble

  Kindle 2nd Edition

  Copyright 2013 Sara Noble

  License Statement

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Author's Acknowledgments

  This novel is dedicated to my three children; Rhiannon, Nya, and Ryan. I would like to thank all of my family and friends who have supported me throughout this journey, especially my cover artists and editors. A special thank you to Brooke, who has been by my side since day one.

  Chapter One: Maddie

  “And…they’re neck and neck! Oh, boy! This is going to be some race to the finish line here at Charlotte!” An animated sports commentator on the TV rambled on as the latest stock car race came to an end. Madelyn Johnston dropped a sudsy dinner plate back into the kitchen sink, dried off her hands, and jogged over to the den to join her parents for the finale. They were both huddled on the couch, their eyes glued to the screen.

  “You’d better sit down. They’re on the final three laps!” remarked her father, Hank, as Maddie took her place between the two enthusiastic fans. All three of them stared at the screen in hopes that their favorite driver, Connor Gray, would win the grand prize. Maddie’s mother, Grace, nervously chewed at her fingernails, but her bright eyes never left the television set for a second.

  Maddie watched with interest while the race finished up. How could she not? She had been a fan of Connor Gray since before he started racing. She felt obligated, after all. They had been childhood friends and grew up together on the outskirts of Jacksonville, Florida. "When someone you know becomes famous, you always support them," her daddy liked to say.

  “Hot dog! I think he’s gonna pull it off!” Hank bellowed at the top of his lungs. He clutched at a throw pillow on the couch until his knuckles turned white.

  Connor’s car began to inch past the green Chevy beside him at almost 200 miles an hour. The ferociously fast machines grazed each other’s sides, causing both to wobble a bit. The two drivers gained control as they pulled away from the rest of the pack. Hank and Grace gasped.

  Maddie clasped her fingers together in prayer position and held them close to her lips. “Please, please, please,” she whispered under her breath, her heart beating like a timpani drum. The scrolling text at the top of the screen indicated the final lap. Her muscles tensed up as she straightened her back and sat on the edge of the couch cushion. Within seconds, Connor’s car swiftly crossed the black and white checkered finish line painted on the track. The crowd on TV cheered deafeningly as the commentators announced the winner over the loud speaker. Hank leapt out of his seat, knocking his beer can from his hand. A few drops splashed on Maddie’s cheeks before it landed on the carpet.

  “Daddy!” Maddie exclaimed while wiping her face. “Control yourself, will ya?”

  Hank did a victory dance in the middle of the room. He swung his hips from side to side and did a few fist pumps into the air to finish it off. Grace giggled at her husband getting a thrill out of the simple things in life.

  “That’s two in a row. That boy’s on a roll!” Hank exclaimed. A little spark twinkled in his eye.

  Maddie snickered to herself as she retreated back to the kitchen. It was only five years ago that her father thought Connor was a self-absorbed little shit. And those were his exact words, especially when Connor made his first television appearance during an interview with a sportscaster. Hank said that Connor had ‘smug’ written all over his face. He may have been right, but Maddie still daydreamed about the way Connor nicely filled out his fire suit. Hank reluctantly changed his tune over time. Once Connor started proving that he could win races and still be a decent human being he had won over his entire hometown. And the rest of the country.

  It was amazing that the nerdy boy Maddie grew up with turned into a charismatic superstar. She could remember the times when they were younger quite well. Occasionally, the Grays and Johnstons would get the kids together for slumber parties, summer camping trips, and spontaneous drives down to Disneyworld. But nothing could top the memory of Connor’s senior prom, at the end of Maddie’s junior year.

  One spring evening, Connor had left a handwritten note on Maddie’s doorstep, requesting for her to join him at the formal event. Maddie was flabbergasted; a boy had never asked her to a dance. She had always attended with her friends and vaguely remembered only standing around listening to music and gossiping about what naughty and illegal things the cheerleaders were planning to do with the basketball players. Yet, that night she felt a rush of excitement storm through her veins. Connor may not have been Mr. Popularity, but he was sweet and had just gotten his braces off the month before. She scrawled her positive response on the note and handed it to him the next morning in front of his homeroom. His lips turned up into a genuine smile and the two spent the next few days planning their special night out. Grace had taken Maddie dress shopping and arranged to have her hair styled into an elegant twist with spiraling tendrils dancing at her shoulders. Patty, Connor’s mother, had decided her son should have nothing but the best and sprung for a stretch limo and paid for dinner for the two teens at a popular Italian restaurant. Unfortunately, the dance wasn’t as fun as the planning that went into the event, so Maddie and Connor retreated to his basement for battles of ping-pong and Tetris. After feeling quite uncomfortable in the prom get-up, Maddie shrugged out of her lavender satin gown and into one of Connor’s t-shirts and a pair of basketball shorts. She recalled the way his distracted eyes swallowed up the sight of her casual appearance as she descended the rickety staircase to his basement, almost as if he preferred her tomboy look to the prom dress and fancy hair. Maddie blushed while he continued to be entranced, then timidly sat down beside him on the worn out sofa to continue the video game battle. When Maddie had beaten Connor, again, her first instinct was to gloat in his face. That’s when he gently leaned in and pressed his warm lips to hers. The surprise kiss had completely caught her off guard, so she pulled away and ran home to bury her face in her pillow. Connor didn’t chase after her, and he didn’t ask her to come over to hang out anymore.

  The summer came and went, and Maddie found herself longing to get her friend back. She couldn’t help but think she ruined everything by running away that night. Many times she entertained the idea of climbing the trellis that led to Connor’s bedroom window and beg for him to sneak away with her to the beach for a midnight swim. But every time she mustered up the courage to talk to him, she clammed up as soon as she hit the stepping-stones that meandered to his front door. Then one sad night, she watched from her window as Connor schlepped a load of suitcases across his front lawn and into a huge van. That had been the night he moved to North Carolina for his start in racing. Jim and Patty left a few months later once they had sold their house to a nice retired couple from Cincinnati. Maddie had to suffer that last year of high school without Connor next door. He was whisked away to begin his promising career before she even had a chance to say goodbye.

  Maddie sighed as she continued to scrub the dinner dishes in the sink, and then glanced across the room at the framed prom picture that her parents kept of her and Connor on the fireplace mantle. She smiled as she took in his tall athletic body, sandy hair, and chocolate brown eyes. He had a smile that sparkled, a trait that most girls found irresistible. It was no wonder he had scooped hims
elf up a blonde bombshell fiancée so quickly after becoming a top contender in the sport.

  “Yoo hoo! You’re sloshing water all over the counter top. What’s got you so distracted?” Grace asked Maddie as she snuck up behind her at the sink.

  Maddie shivered and shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

  Grace turned to face her daughter. She looked deep into Maddie’s hazel eyes, searching for answers she knew Maddie would keep locked up and hidden from the rest of the world.

  “You look sad standing there. Is something wrong?”

  Maddie shook her head and avoided eye contact with her mother. “No, Mom. I’m fine, just tired of washing dishes. Are you going to get the washer fixed soon? I can’t handle having pruned fingers every night.” She wiggled her fingers in the air, clearly wrinkled from the water.

  It was more than just thinking about her past with Connor that had rattled her chain. She’d been living with her parents for too long. She needed her own place and some privacy, something hard for her to come by since she was only a college student working a minimum wage job as a coffee barista. She had lived with her old boyfriend, Billy, for almost two years. Life had been wonderful until she caught him cheating last fall. Maddie had broke things off and he kept the apartment. So it was back with mom and dad until she could get back up on her feet again. If only she could get lucky like Connor had and never have to worry about money and paying the bills.

  Grace pursed her lips. “Your father needs to work on the dishwasher problem tomorrow.” She glanced at Hank still watching the post-race show in the den. “Until then, you have plenty of dishes to do.”

  The rest of the evening at the Johnston residence was relatively quiet. Hank turned in early; he was planning on playing basketball with his work buddies before his shift started at the Jacksonville Correctional Facility. He had been a warden there for over twenty years. It was a job he not only enjoyed, but also paid enough to allow his family to live comfortably. The Johnstons lived in a modest Colonial style home in a neighborhood in the Julington Creek Plantation. Hank and Grace had bought the house when Maddie was only four years old. Maddie and her parents had spent one spring completely renovating the outside, painting the walls creamy beige with a denim Neo-Classical trim. Grace had planted little shrubs and rose bushes of every color in the front while the back boasted many southern pines and mature oaks. Maddie had always loved the location; the cozy house was not too far away from the golden beaches of east Florida, but far enough away from the buzzing metropolis of Jacksonville. She was thankful that her parents vowed to grow old and die in that house; she would hate to see them ever sell it. There were too many memories made there and she couldn’t imagine spending family events like Thanksgiving and Christmas elsewhere.

  Maddie headed upstairs to finish folding her laundry then decided to settle into bed with the latest mystery novel she was reading. She tied her long chestnut hair into a ponytail and changed into her faded Jacksonville Jaguars nightshirt. She glanced around her crowded room; it was cluttered with furniture and boxes of belongings from her old apartment she had shared with Billy. Even though the mess bothered her, she knew it would be a waste of time to unpack if she was just going to have to pack up again when she found her own place. She tucked herself under the crisp sheets and told herself she would worry about it later. She read for a while and when she felt sleepy, she turned off the light on her nightstand. Her eyelids slowly dropped down while she thought about how to go about changing the circumstances in her life.

  Visions of a better, grown-up life floated through her mind; it was filled with the obvious things like moving into her own place, dating a guy that wasn’t a complete ass, and obtaining the job of her dreams.

  As if depressing thoughts of her botched friendship with Connor wasn’t troubling her enough, Maddie’s thoughts quickly traveled to her ex. It stung every time the memories came sneaking back like a snake hiding in the grass. Her eyes welled and the gut wrenching pain came slicing through as the betrayal replayed in her mind. She sniffed; hot tears streamed her face as she remembered Billy’s hands seductively caressing his mistress’ back while she bounced on top of him in the back seat of his car. The woman’s fiery hair whipped around as they both moaned in rapture, completely oblivious of their audience. The faint glow of the fluorescent bar signage didn’t leave much to the imagination while Maddie continued to stare at the train wreck; she just couldn’t tear herself away from the scene. She will never forget the magnified terror ripple over the redhead’s face after they finished and noticed Maddie standing paralyzed beside them. Billy’s eyes became saturated with shame while he silently watched Maddie walk backwards to her car and disappear into the night.

  The bastard had cheated, but Maddie missed him. She missed his warm touch, as he would slip into bed beside her after his long night at the bar. She longed for their spontaneous trips to Miami and the way he watched her intently as she studied on their living room sofa. "He seemed so in love," she whispered to herself. The tears continued to roll onto her pillow for the hundredth time that year. And for the hundredth time that year she cried herself to sleep thinking of what could have been.

  ***

  “Order up for Jenna!” hollered a short and tubby barista from behind the coffee bar. She narrowed her eyes at Maddie as she pushed a few scalding cups of espresso to the end of the counter. “You better step on it, Maddie. We’re way behind here.”

  “I’m trying, give me a break,” Maddie sputtered to Alison as she grinded beans and poured lattes. She hustled and avoided looking up at the impatient crowd in front of her. A trickle of sweat crept down the side of her face and she silently cursed choosing a job behind a steaming espresso bar in the muggiest region in the United States.

  The morning rush was always the toughest, but it got Maddie quickly through the day. She couldn’t wait to finish college and start a real career. She had only one more year before she would graduate with her bachelor’s in journalism and creative writing. She had hoped to someday write articles for the New York Times, or at the very least, the Jacksonville Daily. This would be her last summer as a barista anyway; next fall she had to start an internship at a magazine or newspaper press.

  By four o’clock, Maddie had finished her shift and headed back home for the evening. She sent a quick text out to her friends to arrange for them all to meet up at her favorite pub later on that night. She couldn’t stand staying home three nights in a row to hang out with her parents. She loved them, and didn’t mind having dinner with them each night, but she really preferred the company of her less judgmental friends. She also knew it was no good for her to sit around and wallow over Billy.

  A note sat on the kitchen counter. Maddie kicked off her shoes while she read her mother’s chicken scratch on the little tablet.

  Maddie, please start on dinner. There’s a thawed chicken in the fridge. Throw it in the oven and slice up some carrots and potatoes. See you soon. Love, Mom.

  Normally, Maddie was the first one home each day. Grace worked at a flower shop and on most nights she would close up shop and get home later than her daughter. Maddie didn’t mind the task Grace had given her; she enjoyed cooking, but hated the clean up part afterward. Hopefully she could talk her mom into cleaning later on that night.

  The chicken roasted in the oven and the house filled with the aroma of bubbling juices and savory herbs. Maddie’s stomach grumbled with hunger as she settled on the couch to read over a cheesy gossip magazine. Since classes had ended a couple of week’s prior, she had no homework to finish and nothing to study up on. She would have to settle for brainless activities, which was fine with her. It had been a long and difficult spring semester and the time off from school was welcoming.

  The front door slammed and Maddie looked up. Grace shuffled in through the entryway. Her hair was slightly frazzled, as usual, which gave her that cluttered-woman look.

  “Hey, Mom. I got the chicken started for you. How was your day?
”

  Grace dropped her purse on the table; a huge grin swept across her face. She looked like she had exciting news to share. “Honey, you’re never going to guess who called me today!” Grace stood in front of Maddie, hands on her hips, waiting for Maddie to spit out a name.

  Maddie raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

  “Patty Gray! She’s coming to town in a couple of weeks for the fourth. She wants to get together.” Grace became animated with her hands, throwing them about as she spoke.

  Maddie’s brow was knit with confusion. “Isn’t that the weekend of the Daytona race?”

  Grace nodded her head. “Yep. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Independence Day than to have a huge barbecue and invite her and the family. What do you think?”

  Doubt casted over Maddie’s heart-shaped face. “What if they have plans already? It’s a big race weekend, Mom. She probably needs to be with Connor while he does all of his publicity stuff for the race.”

  “Well, maybe. But the race is the night before, so they should be done with all that stuff come Sunday. I imagine she would want to get together after the race, anyway. Oh, wait until your father hears about this! He’s going to be so excited!” That gratifying smile kept tugging at her lips.

  The prospect of spending time with the Grays was not all that bright. It wasn’t like they were still their ordinary neighbors; that family was now endlessly caught in up in Connor’s recent fame. Maddie was no stranger to disappointment; she was used to being promised things, like romantic trips and an engagement ring, only to be let down later. The chance of them actually showing up for the reunion were slim and she was scorned enough to know any better.

  “Mom, don’t get your hopes up.”

  Hank arrived home shortly thereafter, and Grace filled him in on the news. “That’s fantastic!” he exclaimed as he placed his sidearm in it’s safety case on the fireplace mantle. “Do you think Connor will come?”