Chapter 27 – Otis #2
The urge to make a joke about how he hasn’t even said hello is on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t have time. Not if I want this plan to come together.
“When do we need to travel to Belgium?” I ask.
“Sunday, maybe Monday at the latest. Why?” It was hard to believe that everything that had happened, had only spanned two weeks. This was supposed to have been my time off. Time to relax before the start of the second half of the season. Instead, we had been dealing with Clive.
“Athena’s little boy is an F1 fan. Can we invite him to Montague Racing, maybe with a friend, for his birthday on Saturday?” I ask.
“Yes, of course. I can get some merch in. Birthday cake. Get the whole team involved,” Vincent enthuses.
“According to Athena, he’s not a Montague Racing fan,” I add.
“After this weekend he will be. We can take him to the go-kart track. Get him to race you guys,” Vincent adds.
“Let’s just ask him first. He might not want to come. We aren’t his team,” I tell him.
“Okay. Just let me know and I’ll start preparations.”
“Thanks, Vincent.” And I hang up the call.
Making my way over to Jasper and Tina, I see them deep in conversation and my heart sores. They are both smiling and it’s good to see. Maybe something good will come out of their experience with Clive.
“I’m back,” I say, making them both jump, as I sit back down next to Jasper.
“You going to tell us what that was all about?” Jasper asks.
“I needed to make a call to Vincent,” I reply.
“I’m going to regret this, but why?” Jasper asks.
Ignoring Jasper, I turn to Tina, “I know you said that Mason wasn’t a Montague Racing fan, but Vincent just agreed to have a little party for him and a friend at HQ on Saturday. Vincent even mentioned taking him to the go-kart track to race with us.”
“What?” Tina exclaims.
“You think Mason will be up for that?” I ask.
“You’re kidding, right?” Tina asks again.
“Um, no. That was the phone call I just made,” I state.
“I warned you,” Jasper adds. “He’s unstoppable.”
“Can you guys wait here for a bit. Maybe an hour?” Tina suddenly says.
“Yeah, why?” I ask.
“You’ll see,” Tina says, and doesn’t offer any explanation.
After about thirty minutes Tina got up and left, still not giving us any indication of what she was doing. I thought she was going to be coming straight back, but she had been gone for almost twenty minutes.
“Do you think she blew us off? Should we maybe get going? I ask Jasper.
“I have no idea. She asked us to wait another hour and it’s not been an hour yet. Let’s give her a little longer and we can go from there.”
Five minutes later, I look up when I hear the door to the café open and in walks Tina, two children in tow. Holy shit. She is introducing us to the kids.
“Mum, look,” I hear Mason say, “That’s Otis Young.” As he points over to us.
“Want to go say hello?” Tina says.
“Can I?” Mason asks.
“Go on,” Tina replies, looking up and giving me a smile. Looks like she never told them that they were meeting us.
“Excuse me,” Mason says, coming over to the table. “Are you Otis Young?”
“I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mason,” I reply, and love the way his eyes widen in surprise, and he looks over to his mum.
“Surprise,” Tina says.
“You knew?” Mason questions.
“Yeah,” Tina replies. “Sorry for the delay, it took longer to speak to Mum.”
“No problem,” I reply, and spot the little girl who is now hiding behind Tina’s legs, “And who is this little bundle?”
“This is Eden. A little shy,” Tina responds.
Getting up from my chair, I crouch down so that I’m the same height as Eden and reach out my hand to her.
“Hello Eden, I’m very pleased to meet you,” I say.
Her head appears from around Tina legs, eyeing me carefully, and slowly makes her way out, shaking my hand.
“Hi,” comes her response, “you were on the tele,” she added.
“I am, yes. I’m Otis,” I tell her.
“Eden, he’s the racing driver,” Mason adds. “What are you doing here?”
“We came to meet your mum,” I add, and look up to Tina. “Jasper knew your dad.”
“I know. I saw the interview,” Mason responds.
“Mason,” Tina starts, “Otis and Jasper have something they would like to ask you.” Tina interrupts, and I’m thankful that I don’t have to respond to that statement.
“Tina tells us that it’s your birthday Saturday. Well, we’re wondering if you would like to come to Montague Racing HQ. Have a tour. Meet some of the guys. Maybe go on the go-kart track. Now I know we aren’t your favourite team but….”
I don’t get to finish my sentence before Mason is saying, “Really?”
“Yeah,” I confirm, “You can bring a friend, too.”
“Mum, please can we go?” Mason asks, turning to face Tina.
“Of course you can. It’s why I wanted you to come and meet Otis and Jasper.”
I think poor Jasper has been completely forgotten about when Mason comes and sits next to me and starts firing off questions about racing and cars, but I see Eden climb up on Jasper’s lap and hear Tina exclaim that she never normally does that.
Before too long, Tina and the kids have to leave. Today didn’t turn out any way like I thought it would. I like Tina. I like the kids, who are just sweethearts, and I already think of them as friends.
“So we’ll see you Saturday?” I say over to Mason, “Just remember when you meet Vincent you need to tell a white lie and say that Montague Racing is your favourite team.”
“Vincent is going to be there?” Mason asks.
“Of course. When I said the guys, who did you think I meant?” I ask.
“Maybe you and Lars,” Mason replies.
“When we say team, we mean everyone. Some might not be able to stay too long as we are getting ready to leave for Spa, but I’m sure everyone will come and say hello.”
“Wow. Shame Nicky’s no longer with the team. He was the first racing driver I followed,” Mason adds.
“Yeah, Nicky is a cool guy,” I reply, but my brain is already working to see if I can call him and ask Nicky to make an appearance. I’m not sure why this little family means so much to me, but they do.
Once they have all left, we wait five minutes before leaving ourselves. Holding hands. More images for the paparazzi. It was an offensive that seemed to be working. Images of us had been popping up everywhere.
“That was an interesting day,” Jasper states as we get to his car.
“Yeah, not how I thought it would go,” I confirm.
“You were taken with Tina,” Jasper adds.
“I was. There was something just, special about her,” I tell him.
“Just make sure you give her space,” Jasper adds.
“I will,” I say, and the look that Jasper gives me, tells me that he doesn’t believe me for one second. “Fine, I will try my best to give her space.”
“Tina isn’t like the rest of us. She has children, different responsibilities to us,” Jasper adds.
“I know,” I reply a little more sternly this time.
“Good,” Jasper adds, “But I will admit that I’m looking forward to Saturday and seeing the kids again. Eden was a little sweetheart.”
“You were good with her,” I tell him. “You ever want kids?”
“I never really thought about it. I didn’t think I was going to meet someone and settle down. You changed all that. You and your railroading,” Jasper adds.
“I always saw myself settling down. Was that with a man? No. But I couldn’t see a future with anyone until you. Normally when you’re dating, after a while you think about marriage. I never had that, except with you,” I tell him.
“Is there a compliment in there for me?” Jasper asks with a smile.
“There is,” I confirm, because Jasper is the only person I have ever thought about getting married to. My mum was right, and I wished that maybe I had figured out this side of me before. But I have now, and that really is the main thing.
“Good, coz we’re getting married. I’m not going to let you go,” Jasper replies, giving me a wink.
“Not letting you go either,” I reply. “Plus, I think my mum would stop talking to me if we broke up.”
“In fairness, your mum would come after me too, so yeah, we need to stay together just for our safety,” Jasper adds.
“And they say romance is dead.” The pair of us burst out laughing.