Racing for her heart

28

this has not been edited.

Lana's point of view

"Are you sure you want to take care of him," I ask Lewis, unbuckling Elliott from his car seat, as Lewis stands beside me, waiting to take E.

"Yes, of course," He says enthusiastically, "I already planned our whole night, we are going to have a blast!!"

Elliott giggles at this, and I smile warmly. I take Elliott out of the car and then pick up his Lightning McQueen backpack.

"Well, this is everything," I pause, handing the bag to Lewis, and he throws the small bag over his shoulder, "Promise you'll call me if anything happens, or if you need something?"

The Mercedes driver nods quickly, "Of course, I'll send you updates throughout the night, Well, If that's okay with you, of course."

I smile at his nervousness, "That would be lovely, thank you." Lewis picks up Elliott, letting him rest on one side, the backpack on the other, and Elliott smiles widely.

I smile at the scene before me, then Lewis turns his head to smile at E. At the moment, I pull out my phone, sneaking some quick photos.

"E, give Mommy a kiss," I say, expecting the bittersweet feeling of sharing E with someone new in his life. The toddler kisses my cheek, "Bye Mommy, Je t'aime."

"Je t'aime aussi, sois sage pour Lewis, d'accord ? Amuse-toi bien, bébé, demande à Lewis de m'appeler si tu as besoin de quelque chose," I say, kissing the other side of his cheek.

(I love you, too, be good for Lewis, okay? Have fun baby, ask Lewis to call me if you need something.)

I turn back to Lewis, "Thank you, this means so much to me." He smiles, "Anything you need, just call me, Okay?" I nod my head, then kiss him on his cheek.

He blushes at this motion, and E just giggles. "You boys have fun, and be safe, " I say, and they both nod. I pull out of Lewis' Driveway, then type in Lina's address on my maps.

____________________________

"So, Lana," Lina pauses, as my attention shifts toward her, "Tell me about your life, who are you?"

I laugh at her question, "nothing about me is very interesting, what do you want to know?"

"Anything and everything!! How about this, I'll say something about me, and you do the same," she asks hopefully.

I nod my head, "deal."

She cleared out her throat, the starts to talk about her childhood, "My dad was never really home, and my mom left when I was..." her voice trails off, as she tries to return the memory.

"six, I just turned six years old. I was often left was a nanny, my favorite was named Grace."

"I'm sorry about your mom, I know how that feels."

she gives me a sympathetic smile, "care to share?"

I nod my head, "I have an older named Lacy, she raised me," I pause, "our mom died when I was really young, I think I was three. Her and her boyfriend, Jules took me in."

Lina's eyes goes wide, "oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. You and Lacy must be so close. Do you two talk often, or see each other?"

I brace myself for the sentence that is leaves my mouth, "She died in an accident, uhm, but she also had a type of cancer, so she would've of died no matter what."

Tears threaten to spill out of Lina's eyes, "Lana... I don't even know what to say. Then you and Jules must be close, right?"

I take a breath, "he died almost a year after Lacy."

"I'm so sorry, ho-ho-how did you overcome all that? I don't know if I could've survived if that happened to me," she stutters over her words.

I give her a weak smile, "Well you're right. I didn't want to live. But I promised Jules I wouldn't kill myself. I really wanted to die, but I made a promise."

I pause, reading Lina's face, "A couple years later I had Elliott, This might sound silly, but I think Elliott's from them. When Lacy died, that day she told me she was pregnant, and if it was a boy, she wanted to name him Elliott."

"I don't think it's silly, I think it's beautiful," She stops, processing her thoughts, "if you don't mind me asking, how did they die?"

"My dad killed my mom. Jules died in a car accident. Lacy was involved in an accident, and i was supposed to be driving that day. But she wanted to drive so bad, so broke some rules and let her. It's my biggest regret, if I just followed the rules that day, she would still be here."

Lina puts her hand on top of mine, "don't say that. Because you don't know if that would be the case. She would've died having cancer, then Elliott would never be here."

"I've never thought of my life like that," I pause, "so what's your favorite color?"

Lina bursts into laughter, "Trauma dumps then 20 questions, we love it!!" I laugh at her comment, "oh yes, we do!"

She smiles at me, "do you want to talk about her? When I talk about my mom, I feel better after, you might feel the same."

I immediately know who she's talking about, Lacy.

"Lacy was like my mom. She was beautiful, smart, she was everything I wanted to be. Lacy wasn't good at everything, she was perfect at it. It was like anything, she could do better. Except..." my voice stops as I think of old memories.

Lina gives me a look, "EXCEPT WHAT?!" I chuckle at her reaction, "Racing and singing. She could beat anything else, but racing and singing."

Lina's jaw drops, "is your life a movie or a book?? You raced? Like Carlos?"

I nodded my head at her, "yeah, Like Carlos. I was great at racing, I was basically an F1 driver."

She gives me a look, "and your last name, Lacy
and Jules," She gasps, "YOURE FLORENCE REY!!"

"Wait- How did you- You figured that out quickly, too quickly."

"A secret for a secret," she makes eye contact with me, "I'm fake dating carlos because," she pauses, trying to get the words out.

"Because Porsche is starting a formula one team."