The Racer’s Widow

By Aly Grady

The racing industry has all types of people involved from the drivers to the mechanics even to the office support staff. The wives of those who travel, even if they aren’t drivers, call themselves racing widows. These are the women who stay home and raise their children. They shuttle the kids to preschool and soccer games and anything else to keep the kids in as normal an upbringing they can. The Racer’s Widow is a story of one such family.

Christie and Keith McClure are a racing family with twin sons who are active in karting, which is a competitive form of motorsport racing used as a training ground for children. Keith is an engineer on a professional race team. Tragedy strikes and Christie is left to raise her sons alone. But life keeps going and she finds strength in her children, friends and eventually a new relationship with Devin Sinclair.

Devin is a man of many talents. He is introduced to Christie as a handyman when in reality he is the CEO of his own company. He continually offers to help Christie around the house so he can get to know her better. When Devin exerts his possessive, take-charge personality at the wrong time it scares Christie when all she needs at that moment is to focus on her children.
Devin publically opens up about his childhood and how he wants to help make life a little easier for the kids of the city. Christie admits to a friend that she is too stubborn to confess her feelings to Devin. In the end, it is Christie’s children that bring the two back together to work out their differences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aly Grady
• Release date: Nov 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781938701818

Aly Grady

Aly Grady is New England born but for the past ten years has enjoyed living and raising her children in the Indianapolis area. She has firsthand knowledge of the racing industry because she is a racing widow. Aly enjoys trying to keep up with her children’s busy lives, reading books by her favorite authors, watching Indycar racing and traveling. “If you can read all those romance books you should be able to write one.” Aly took that challenge by her husband and ran with it to create The Racer’s Widow.

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The Racer’s Widow

by

Aly Grady

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

The Racer’s Widow

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Copyright © 2012 Aly Grady. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

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ISBN: 978-1-938701-81-8 (eBook)

ISBN: 978-1-938701-82-5 (Paperback)

Version 2012.11.27

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Author Biography

The Racer’s Widow

Prologue

Um, honey, we need to talk. I got a call at work that I need to discuss with you, Keith told his wife.

Christie liked leading an organized life. Having twins to take care of alone most days and nights tested her resolve. Chase and Chance, who normally were mild tempered babies, had been acting colicky most of the day. As usual, Keith had come home late from work and missed most of the bedtime routine.

Christie rubbed her forehead to relieve some tension. Okay, Chase and Chance are in bed. I think I can concentrate while you tell me what’s up.

Well, Keith started, I got a call from Indianapolis. The race team I talked to last week wants me. They want me to be a race engineer. Keith had been working since he got out of college toward a position on a race team. His ultimate goal was to be a race engineer for one of the big teams. The opportunity to work with the driver, mechanics and pit crew to win races was a dream come true.

Frowning, Christie sighed and sat down.

I know what you are thinking: A move right now doesn’t seem very realistic. But I hear the Indy area is a great place to raise kids. Keith was pacing while he was trying to persuade Christie that moving the twins at three months old was a good idea. Christie wasn’t as worried about the twins as she was thinking of all the logistics of selling the house they were in and moving to a new state, on top of trying to keep the twins’ routine and her own sanity.

I know this is what we’ve been working toward. I understand this is your dream. I’m just tired and can’t really think about this right now. Christie was exhausted. As a young couple, they had been moving around the country to wherever the jobs were for Keith to gain experience. The decision they made to start a family was prompted by the fact that they had been together for a few years and were married now and it looked like Keith would be in a stable position for a few more years. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that they would have their first child, which turned out to be two, and then move right away.

Keith looked in his bedroom a while later. The shades were still up and the moonlight was shining down on Christie while she slept. One of the twins was snuggled on her chest. From this distance he still couldn’t tell the boys apart. She must have nursed him and fallen asleep. Keith scooped the little one up and put him down in his bassinette. Chance fussed a little then settled. Christie must have already taken care of Chase because he wasn’t even squirming. Knowing that he had a short window of opportunity to get close to his wife while the boys slept, Keith snuggled up to Christie who willingly scooted her bottom back to spoon with her husband. It always amazed Keith that even in sleep they had a connection, even after all these years.

Christie turned into Keith’s arms. Go for it. We’ll figure out what to do when we have to. Keith kissed her nose and ran his hand up Christie’s arm to her shoulder and held her. He knew how much she loved him.

I love you. We’ll make this work and thank you. He hugged his wife in such a tender embrace. Whispering in her ear, So when is that postpartum appointment?

Chapter One

I have to wake up at Four a.m. Can you please get a move on so I can get to sleep? Keith loved his job but not waking up early to catch a plane or drive to a race track every weekend. Christie emerged from the bathroom in a black lacy bra and thong. The thigh high stockings were almost covered up by the thigh high boots with stiletto heels. As she moved out of the doorway Keith noticed that she had done her makeup and hair.

I’m going to miss you, she whispered. Closing the bedroom door, she locked it and stalked her way over to the bed. Keith had been waiting for her and the sheet was down his bare chest, bunched at his waist. Christie noticed that her efforts at seduction were working since the sheet was tented at Keith’s waist.

Walking over to the bed and crawling over to Keith, Christie slowly pulled the sheet down Keith’s body. When it was completely removed, she nestled between his legs. I am going to miss you a lot, she said, as she dipped her head to slowly kiss her way up his body. She took her time to enjoy the feel of him. Hissing through clenched teeth Keith told her how much he liked what she was doing. Running her hands up his abdomen and chest and finally to his hair, Christie kissed along his jaw line.

Keith pulled Christie up so he could kiss her. He was trying for gentle and tender but pulled her down for a burning kiss that she felt down to her toes. Even after all this time together they could set a spark to a flame. Their love was not just comfortable. It still got exciting.

Legs and arms were tangled and their passion rose to a fever pitch and sent them over the edge. Both were panting.

While snuggled on top of Keith, Christie sighed. That was supposed to last a little longer. I didn’t know that I had that in me. I just wanted to make sure you remembered that I love you before you left in the morning, she tossed over her shoulder as she reached up to shut off her lamp, flinging the boots to the side. She scooted back over and fell asleep in Keith’s arms.

Vaguely remembering her husband’s kiss in the early morning hours when he left, Christie heard her twins chasing each other downstairs. She had a hard time believing that nine years had passed since they had moved. They no longer needed to come in and snuggle with their mommy first thing in the morning. Christie had to smile. The first few years of raising the boys with Keith’s crazy travel schedule were tough. But they all made it through and were happy with living the way they did.

She went downstairs and gave them each a hug.

Okay, guys, we have 35 minutes till school starts so let’s have some breakfast. She had to smile when she looked at them. With green eyes like hers and brown wavy hair like Keith’s, the twins were a perfect combination of the two. Chance and Chase had turned on their X-box to play Lego Star Wars. Christie knew if she didn’t keep them moving in their morning routine they would end up late for school.

Christie spent the day like