Page 32 of The Champion
“Don’t talk like that,dad.” I told him throwing acookie his direction. “I don’t want to think about it.”
I knew by his appearance it was any time now but just asI have always done, I denied it. Avoided it. I’d perfected denial to the pointwhere it worked well for me.
Emma had flown in this morning so when Charlie startedtalking about dying, she was bawling. “Stop it.” I whispered throwing a cookieat her as well.
“I’m trying...it’sjust that...” she burst into tears againand shoved another cookie in her mouth.
I’d been into baking this week and had made four dozenoatmeal raisin cookies as well as a pot roast today alone.
I received a Kitchen Aide as a wedding present and I wasmaking use of it. It was as though, by baking, I was trying to keep my mind offthe fact that my dad only had days left and my husband was across the UnitedStates from me.
“Okay,” I threw my arms up in the air. “I can’t handle eitherone of you right now. Stop this.”
They both stared at me like I’d lost my mind and I wasfairly certain at this point I had with the lack of sleep I was getting and mynew obsession with baking.
I had a hunch when Charlie came over here this morningthat he came for a reason.
Again, I was in avoidance.
It was Sunday afternoon and the race was in the pre-raceceremonies when Jameson came on the television. Axel, though he couldn’t seevery well, turned his head in the direction of the TV when he heard his daddy’svoice. His brow furrowed in concentration.
I listened carefully as he talked about the off-seasonand his expectations for this coming season.
“I spent most of my time with my family. I’ve beentesting in Phoenix, Loudon, and Atlanta but other than that...it was just enjoying my wife and son.”
The announcer laughed at his wide grin, as did all of us.
“So you got married and had a kid all in the three monthoff-season, busy weren’t you?”
“Yeah...I was.” Hewaggled his eyebrows at the end of his lewd statement and I wanted to punchhim.
Emma and Charlie laughed.
I hardly thought that was appropriate but giggled anyway.
“Do you have a chance at winning here today? Win thechampionship and come back and win the Daytona 500? How cool would that be?”
Jameson threw his head back and laughed.
“Yeah...it’d bepretty cool. We weren’t that great in qualifying and our last practice run wechanged the set-up quite a bit so we’ll see...younever know. Daytona is tricky. You can be leading one minute and the nextyou’re running forty-third. It’s the luck of the draw and how well you partnerup with other drivers in the draft.”
“What do you think of these rookies this year having beenin their shoes last year?” Neil asked Jameson.
I could tell by that point that Jameson was done with theinterview but he continued to give his attention to the reporter whilesimultaneously signing autographs for the swarm of fans surrounding him.
“Well, I’ve only met a few. I met Colin Shuman thismorning and I can’t say I was impressed but...”Jameson shrugged. “I know when I started...itwas all about finding your groove and proving yourself and I suppose that’swhat they’re all workin’ toward this race.”
Jameson made it clear in a roundabout way that the interviewwas done by turning away from Neil.
Before Neil walked away, Jameson did send us a quickhello.
“I just gotta say hello to my beautiful wife and son athome. I love you honey and I’ll see you guys tonight.”
I cried and reached for the cookies in front of me.
Most of the afternoon went this way with Charlie talkingrandomly about death in between his catnaps and leaving Emma and me in tears.
I wasn’t sure how much more either one of us could takewithout snatching his weed from him just to relax. Believe me, if it wasn’t forbreastfeeding, I would have taken it when he first walked in the door thismorning.
