The pageant commenced. Several of the girls stood out, but only one of them really caught my eye.
Lexi Winehouse.
I'll never forget the first time I saw her – She was like a superstar. Hair all done up. Pretty blue eyes sparkling. Many people thought she was a young girl filled with faults. I saw a woman, poised in stature, exceeding all expectations. I saw her as perfect, just as she was. I wanted to protect her, guide her, be her support team. I wanted to hold her hand when she was scared, buy her a puppy for Christmas. I wanted her, every “flaw” that made her fall outside the realm of “normality” made her what I wanted. The sight of her made my chest tighten, my heart raise to my throat. I couldn't breathe at all, and that's when I knew I had to have her.
Much of that was learned later though.
She was different than the other girls, but I couldn't put a finger on what it was. She was just as pretty. Her eyes tended to move around more. But Lord almighty in heaven, her eyes were so gorgeous to look at, I didn't care how much they moved. The stats were all there, great body, great smile, perfect hair, yadda yadda all the crap I was supposed to look for. I don't care much for stats. Something was drawing me to this girl. And my job got harder... She won the competition. Well deserved, but I knew getting her attention was going to be very tough after winning.
Still, I had to find her, meet her, shake her hand (ahem, get her digits). I didn't know how I was going to do it. I didn't even know if it was okay for me to get the number of one of the ladies in the show. I didn't remember reading it in the contract. I have pretty damn good lawyers. I knew I had to get to know her better.
You'd think at some point, being an international racing icon, I would stop being nervous when trying to talk to a girl for the first time. Answer? Nope. Never. Lexi presented no different a challenge. This girl caught me bad, I was all wound up inside.
I asked around and finally I found out where she was. Surprisingly, she was alone. She was in a dressing room, still in her gown. The door was cracked, I glanced in. She was sitting in a chair staring at herself in the mirror.
“I'm sorry to interrupt,” I said. She quickly straightened up and primed herself to be seen by company.
“No, please. Come in.”
She had a speech impediment, something I didn't even realize during the pageant. I didn't know why she had a speech impediment... Maybe she had been in an accident or something, I don't know. Clearly I hadn't been paying much attention.
“I'm sorry to bother you. I just – I really wanted to come and meet you,” I told her.
“Thank you,” she said carefully.
“Congrats on winning. That's a huge achievement.”
“I guess. It doesn't feel like I deserve it,” Lexi said.
“I couldn't disagree with you more. I voted you as the winner and I knew what I was voting for.” Clearly, I didn't considering I failed to notice her speech impediment. Dumb ass.
“You didn't really vote for me,” she said, sounding very certain of herself.
“Absolutely I did. You were by far the most gorgeous woman on that stage. Poised, intelligent, amazing.”
“I have trouble believing you actually thought that.”
“Believe it. You were fantastic. I loved your grace, your poise, and your beauty. I thought you were perfect and I think you seem like a great person. I would be most honored to have the opportunity to get to know you.”
“Oh I doubt that. There's not much to know about me,” she said without much conviction.
“I don't believe that for a second. I think there are many layers to the beautiful Lexi Winehouse, every one of them interesting and unique. I think you are stunningly complex while remaining so simple, and that is a very, very good thing.” I smiled at her, she blushed. Silence came over us for a moment. “Come on, let's get out of here. Just you and me.”
“Where are we gonna go?” she asked. Lucky for us, we were right around the corner from Monterey. And thanks to my boy Ayrton, I knew a great spot open all night. A few years earlier, Ayrton opened a Waffle House franchise, and he had one in Monterey right on the coastline.
I drove Lexi to the shop and had a talk with Donny, the manager. I bought him out for the night. The remaining patrons finished their meals and we had the place all to ourselves.
“How did you do that? I mean, do you know him or something?” Lexi asked.
“Donny? Yeah, I've known him for a while. My buddy Ayrton, he owns it. This – He owns this Waffle House.”
“You're kidding, right?”
“Not at all. He's quite the entrepreneur, he's got businesses everywhere.”
Lexi got her first ever Waffle House experience. Ayrton's Waffle House wasn't like most. It was very clean, well-kept. Nothing but the best with Ayrton, though. No surprise there. We spent the remainder of the evening getting to know each other. She was a very sweet girl, not one bad bone in her body. She was diagnosed with autism at age ten. That didn't scare me away at all. In fact, it made me like her more.
But something happened. I honestly don't really know what it was. A car pulled up outside... The car had California plates on it, that's all I knew. Was it her parents or something? I didn't know. I wasn't going to find out. She was noticeably nervous and soon got up and left. She said something as she stood up. Not quite sure what it was, I know it had something to do with me leaving her alone though. The whole thing was odd. I didn't know what I'd said. Or did. Had I upset her? I didn't want to upset her. Those pretty blue eyes didn't deserve to cry.
I didn't know what I did, but she wasn't a fan apparently. Another one bites the dust. The strange nature of the situation reminded me of Diana and the way she acted sometimes. I wasn't too worried about it. Lexi was great, but I was still pretty intensely focused on finding a way to get Maddie back. I had to get her back. But I also had to focus on our racing. It was my first ever open wheel season. I'd never even driven an open wheel car before 2006.
At the beginning of February, I was thinking about Ben and his position with the team(yeah, remember him? He’s been a bit M.I.A. from the story). He was a better crew chief than I ever expected to find, but I missed my friend. I chose Ben as my crew chief for a reason. I trusted him. He was one of the few people I met in Hollywood that I trusted. He was so outgoing ten years previous to this. Now he was all work, no personality.
I showed up at the Rock House out of the blue hoping to get him out on the town for the night. As expected, he was knee deep in work on the new cars.
“What's goin' on?” I asked him as I entered the garage.
“Working on these rear tie rods. Trying to figure out the fastest way to get them on and off, that way when you decide to bounce the rear wheels off the walls, we can get it replaced quick and get you back out there,” Ben said, not halting his work for a moment.
“That can wait, man. Let's get out of here. Go to the pier or get a drink or something.”
“I don't drink, you know that,” he responded.
“Seriously dude, let's go.”
“Stop! Just... Stop, okay? This is my life now. This is what I do. Just let me do it,” Ben said.
And with that, I left him alone. It was that simple. I gave him what he wanted. I headed for the SoCal Beach House, Chase was in the living room when I got there.
“Didn't go well, did it?” Chase asked.
“How'd you know?” I responded.
“We've all tried to get Ben out of that garage since his wife left him. He's so lost, so static. He can't change who he's become, ya know?”
“Yeah. I just wish he knew we still believed in him, ya know? I believe in what he stands for. He's the most honorable gentleman I've ever met.”
“Yeah, and it's a damn shame that no woman is ever going to get to see that side of him ever again.”
It was at that point that I needed to figure out what I could do to get him to realize I still believed in him, that I still considered him a part of my life. I wasn't sure what to do, bu
t I was going to do something.
The first half of the year went by in a flash. We all focused strongly on the racing, partially because we were struggling. It was as much as we had ever struggled. We were lucky to still be third in the points. It took every ounce of energy we had just to be doing that well.
I did some reading up on Mary-Margaret and Maddie in June when I had some time on my hands. Mary-Margaret was making a great life for herself. She had entered several beauty pageants and ended up winning one of the big national crowns. Her foundation was building very quickly. I couldn't help but smile, I was so proud of her. Maybe I should have made sure she knew how proud of her I was while we were together.
Maddie took her trust fund and cashed it in on a horse stable and a huge plot of free range land. I would imagine she was in heaven with that investment. No idea how it panned out. I know her though, she's a fighter. Nothing was going to keep that investment from paying off. I was proud of her too, cutting herself off from her family like that and blazing her own trail.
Two main things kept me going through the summer months. The thought of Maddie and the thought of Lexi. Two relationships that ended earlier than they should have. Maddie might not have erased Mary-Margaret, but she sure erased Diana. Lexi... We should have had a better chance than we got.
And then came August.
Last time I had seen her, I didn't know what I did, but she didn't like it. It was rather confusing. I respected her wishes, I left her alone. Of course, now there we were. Both in Bozeman, and somehow she ended up at a charity football game that The Vector Group was putting on while the KART circuit had a couple weeks off. The football game wasn't even my idea... It was Ayrton's. Did he invite her? He always was a meddler.
No matter how I looked at it, maybe her reaction to whatever I did was for the best. We are who we are. She was a princess, born of the finest features despite what society said about her. I felt I was more of a jester, simply there for comedic relief and to make a complete ass of myself, despite what society said about me. Why would such a classy dame ever give me a second look? I didn't know, but as she approached, I felt as though I was about to find out.
“How are you?” she asked in a matter of fact tone.
“I'm good. You?”
“I'm sorry.” Wow. Direct.
“For what?” I asked her.
“I was afraid. That's why I left. You hadn't done anything. I was terrified that someone like you could be attracted to me.”
“Why is that terrifying?” I was intrigued and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together at the same time. She was afraid, but she only freaked once her parents arrived? I had gone over our conversation so many times since it happened. It wasn't something I said. Or if it was, it was just because she was nuts or something. I didn't think she was nuts. No way she could be crazy. She was afraid of something, but it wasn't me. I wondered if it was her parents.
“Because I've never felt that before. I don't know. It was wrong of me to just leave like that. I don't expect you to just up and forgive me, but please do believe that I am sorry,” she said.
I continued to watch the football game as she started to walk away. “Lexi --” She turned back to me. “Wait around afterward. I'd like to take you to dinner if you're up for it.”
Her reaction was so sweet. She smiled, but didn't show her teeth. She was trying to hold her excitement in. But I knew she was happy, and I was happy I still had the opportunity to take her out. I called up Marco and he knew just the dish to make.
“For your meal... Macaroni and cheese,” Marco told us as he laid the delicacy down on the table. The look I got from Lexi was priceless. I knew what was coming, she was apparently caught by surprise with the elegance of the dish. Marco exited the room with a smile on his face, I simply stopped and stared at Lexi with a cheap little grin.
“You hired a gourmet chef for this?” Lexi asked.
“Don't knock it 'till you've tried it! And he's not a hired gun. He's part of the team,” I responded gleefully.
An hour later...
“Oh my. That was by far the most delicious meal I've ever had!” Lexi was quite satisfied. So was I.
“Marco definitely knows what he's doing. I honestly wanted to have something simple. I know how much you enjoy the simplest parts of life.” The night went perfectly, and at the end of the evening, Lexi and I found ourselves cuddling on the couch. I didn't know what was going on with us. In many ways I really didn't care. I had my girl back in my arms. I was a pretty happy man. Soon, I would get the chance to introduce her to my true passion.
Lexi and I had finally arrived at the track a few weeks later. She was blown away at what Montreal had to offer. I had been there earlier that year for testing, so I knew what was coming. I hadn't even thought about what her reaction would be.
“It is something, isn't it?” I asked her.
“It's fantastic! I never could have imagined it would be anything like this. I think I've seen your face on about twenty signs,” she replied. Such a concept was something I'd never gotten used to. Lexi thought it was great, it always made me uncomfortable. “You don't like it?”
“Seeing my picture, I don't know. It's not my favorite part of the job.”
“What is? What drives you, Mister Sumpter?” she asked with an inquisitive tone.
“Quite simple, really. The reason why the team fits in so well anywhere we go is because we've always been a 'never good enough' kind of team. It's not an easy way to live, but for us, it's the only way to live. Personally, I could never see myself living my life any other way. So many people grow complacent with their lives. I never want to do that. I always want to make sure I'm progressing.”
“But you haven't answered my question. What drives you? I mean, that's more of where you are at the end of things. But what gets you there?” Lexi was really bringing the hard hitters on this ride. I liked it, she knew how to keep me on my toes.
“Fear. Any great athlete who isn't kidding himself will tell you that fear is what drives him. Fear of failure is what drives all of us,” I told her. I don't think Lexi quite knew how to take the comment, she didn't respond. Her communication skills were pretty raw because, as I have mentioned, she was autistic. She had already opened up to me much more than I expected her to. But that one left her speechless.
A couple months later, I was heading with Lexi to formally meet her parents. This wasn't the best time to be doing it, we had just two weeks until the season finale in Mexico City. I was stressed out over the final race considering I'd never been to the track before and I only had a slim points lead. Losing testing time was weighing on me. Lexi, she was so excited, she could hardly sit still on the drive up to Castaic. I was hoping that everything would turn out all right. I couldn't help but think about what happened with Natalie's parents, Maddie's parents. Would this be the same thing? It had been such a long year thus far. It had to get better eventually.
I quickly figured out it wouldn't be the same thing at all. In fact, it would be far worse. We had only been there for about ten minutes when her father welcomed me into his office where a double-barreled shotgun was waiting on his desk. I knew he was a retired government agent, but damn was this really necessary?
“Here's the way it's going to be, son. You're going to walk out of my house, keep your mouth shut, and leave my daughter alone. You're no good for her. You know it, I know it, and she knows it,” he said, almost convincingly. I know I'm no picnic, but seriously?
I exited the office and smiled at Lexi.
“Hey sweetie,” I said. No sooner did I utter those words, I had a gun pointing at the back of my head.
“I thought I told you to keep your mouth shut,” he said with even more conviction.
“Oh my God! Dad! What are you doing?” Lexi was in full on freak mode. I had to keep it together or this was gonna get bloody. Why do I end up in these situations so often? I turned around and faced him, the gun was no more than six inches from my face.
“Get the hell outta here boy or I'll blow your head off.” The gun drew closer. Short fat guy with a big gun. I think he was compensating for something.
My heart was pounding a million miles a minute, but I fought off my fear. “You know sir, from where I'm standing – Either way here, you're going to lose. If you blow my head off, you'll break your daughter's heart and you'll never see her again. But considering I'm staring down the barrel of your gun already -- If you let me go, there's still a good chance you've broken her heart and you will never see her again.”
“You are pressing your luck, boy!” The gun was no more than an inch away now.
“Just explain one thing to me, sir. If a man who is willing to stare down the barrel of a gun isn't good enough for your daughter, what man is?”
I turned around, exited the room. Lexi followed me. “Lexi! Get back here now!” her father yelled as we walked. I looked at her, she was barely hanging onto her emotions.
“If you stay, I won't hold it against you,” I told her. In hindsight, I probably wasn't telling her the truth. I would have been devastated. I couldn't ask her to leave her parents behind. That's just too much. A situation like that will always be the toughest test for a relationship. Lexi had a choice. Her parents who, although they were turning their back on her now, had always been there to support her. Or me, and she could only blindly trust that I was a man of my word and wouldn't walk out on her.
“I'm not leaving you. Not for them. Not after this.” She was trying so hard, so very hard to be strong. We left, her father screaming behind us. I was surprised he didn't start shooting at my truck. Wouldn't have been the first time Betsy'd been lit up. And after the miracles Ayrton worked to get her back together, I was sure it would've been the last.
The Legend: The Love of Ryan Sumpter Page 15