THIS HAS SPOILERS! If you haven't finished all 4 parts of the Summer Unplugged series PLEASE don't read this because it'll totally spoil the story. :)
Thanks to everyone to supported the series and I hope you'll stick with me and my new series, starting with book one: The Best Kind of Thief.
Summer Unplugged - Epilogue
THREE YEARS LATER
The Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas is normally a football field.
But once a year they cover the floor with tons of dirt and for one night, the
smell of exhaust and the thrill of dirt bike racing entertains the tens of
thousands of fans that come out. The smell of fresh popcorn and cotton candy
fill the air, making my mouth water. I don’t think I remembered to eat all day.
From waking up late, realizing it was Supercross day, panicking and getting
everything ready for the long trip to Houston, there wasn’t really any time to
eat.
Normally Jace is my (super handsome) alarm clock each morning, but
today his cousin came over at the crack of dawn and they worked on her bike,
getting it ready for her big day. This will be her first ever try at racing
professionally. If it wasn’t for Jace’s training, she wouldn’t be at this
level. So we’re all really proud of her. And I’m proud of my hubby.
Two years after marrying the boy and it still gives me butterflies
to think of how awesome it is that I get to call him “hubby” now.
“What’s wrong? You look flushed,” Hana asks as we leave the
concession stand carrying nachos, drinks and popcorn through the crowds.
I suppress a laugh and shake my head. “Nothing.” She definitely
doesn’t need to know that I’m blushing because I’m having silly girly thoughts
about my own husband. I mean, who does that? It’s been almost four years since
we started dating...I shouldn’t still be so crazy about him, but I am. Guess
I’m just one of the lucky ones.
“Thanks for helping me carry this stuff,” she says. “I didn’t want
to go alone because then I’d look like a total fatass with all this food.”
I glance down at the two trays of nachos, (one of which is mine),
the tub of popcorn and the package of candied pecans. “You’re not a fatass!”
“Fine, if anything, I’m a fat stomach.” She motions toward her
round belly and rolls her eyes. “I wish this thing would get out of me already.
I miss wearing pants without elastic on the waistband.”
“You’re eating for two now. There’s nothing to be ashamed about,” I
say as I glance up at the rows of seats. We’re in section one twenty-one I
think, so we still have a ways to walk through these crowds of people. “Just
please don’t dip the pecans in the cheese sauce like you did at Dallas
Supercross.”
“You’ll never let me live that down,” she mutters under her
breath.
I love Hana. She’s been the best friend I really needed after
moving from the place I’ve lived my whole life to a tiny motocross town with
hardly any residents my own age. And since she’s married to Ash and I’m married
to Jace and we all work at the same motocross track, it only made sense that
Jace and I built our house next to theirs.
We’ve only just moved in, hence why my real alarm clock isn’t set
up next to our bed. I’m not really sure which box it’s in. But our house is
gorgeous. I swear. I can’t even believe I’m only twenty-one and living in such
a beautiful place. Jace and I worked with the same architect who built Hana’s
house, so we got something similar. My favorite part is the back wall that stretches
from the first floor to the second floor and is made almost entirely of windows
that look out into the motocross track in our back yard.
That, and the hot tub on our second story balcony are my two
favorite parts of the house. Jace and I have wasted so much time in that hot
tub, staring at the stars, sharing stories and being in love. Even when I’m
grumpy because he’s spent ten hours a day at the track, I know I can look
forward to unwinding at the end of the day with him in our hot tub. The thing is
magical, I swear.
“Here we are,” Hana says, stopping at section one twenty-one. “Can
you believe that next year I’m gonna have a baby with me at Supercross?”
“Yep,” I say, carefully stepping down the steps to our front row
seats. “Knowing that husband of yours, the baby will probably have dreadlocks
by then.”
“Excuse me!” I notice a teenage girl rushing to the end of her
aisle, waving frantically in my direction. “Excuse me,” she says, looking right
at me. She’s wearing a t-shirt with Jace’s name and bike number on it. “Are you
Bayleigh Adams?”
“Yep,” I say with a smile. She probably wants Jace’s autograph or
something.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I think you’re so awesome.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Um...what?”
She takes out her cell phone and hands it to a girl next to her.
“I saw your interview in Motocross magazine about motocross wives and I just
think you’re so awesome. I love how you work at the track and you help Jace and
everything and I thought it was really classy how you handled that paparazzi
thing at the nationals last year.”
Ugh, here comes the cheek blushing again. “Thanks,” I say. “It’s
really nothing. Jace hates the paparazzi so I try to help him deal with it as
much as I can.”
“Would you mind taking a photo with me?” she asks, biting the edge
of her lip in anticipation. “You’re kind of my hero.”
“Of course,” I say, posing with her while her friend snaps the
photo. To my surprise, two other girls join in as well. This is kind of
awesome.
Hana had left me when the girl asked for a photo, probably because
of her extreme embarrassment of being caught in pictures while pregnant, so I
have to walk down to the front row by myself. Hana and Ash and her dad are in
the the first few seats and I have to do this fancy balancing act to shuffle
through the aisle without dropping my food on them. Next is an empty seat with
my purse in it.
A tiny toddler hand grabs my purse and pulls it into his lap. His
blonde hair falls into his eyes. “Sit down Mommy,” he says. His attention is
entirely focused on my nachos. I take a seat and smile when his chubby finger
dunks into the cheese sauce.
“Hold on buddy,” Jace says, pulling him to the other side of his
lap. “We gotta clean those hands before you start eating. You’ve been touching
everything.”
Jace holds our son in one hand and digs through my purse for the
antibacterial wipes with his other hand. “Thanks for getting the food, babe,”
he says, leaning over and kissing me on the cheek. I stuff a chip in my mouth.
“No problem,” I say with my mouth full of food, just as the lights go dim and
the roar of a dozen dirt bikes echoes in the background.
I love my husband and our beautiful son. I love my entire life.
I’ve made a ton of mistakes in my life and I cringe every time I remember how
stupid I was to date Ian. But sometimes really great things come out of really
stupid decisions. And yeah, I might regret dating Ian, but I’ll never regret
all the great things that came from that time I spent a whole summer unplugged.
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