Emmy and Angela returned to Los Angeles the next day, but I stayed behind to make an appearance at the San Jose office that Monday. Since it was the first workday of the new year, nothing was really happening- too many people were still out on vacation for the holidays. Still, showing my face was a good thing for the old hands there who still felt as if the office had been demoted to also-ran status since I’d moved to Los Angeles. Most of my time was spent talking with various people about their projects and how things were going. It was good to get in touch with the mood at the office, and let everybody know that I hadn’t forgotten them.
I had lunch at my desk, using the time to sort everything out for the track weekend in Tucson. Thankfully Joachim was willing to drop his weekend plans for me, so everything was good to go. I told him I’d drop off the M6 so they could throw it in the rig and bring it out to the track, since I was going to drive out in the X6 (it had four seats).
After clearing it with James, I shot an email to Maddie’s mom Lainey to see if they could join us for the weekend in Tucson. She’d said she would try to see if they could make it work and would let me know in a day or two.
Angela and Emmy were already in bed when I got home late that night, cuddled together peacefully. I slipped under the sheets as quietly as I could, but Emmy woke up anyhow. She mumbled hello and turned to face me, resting her head on my shoulder and falling back asleep.
Sure, even a king-sized bed can feel small when sharing it with two others, but it was much better than the big, empty bed I’d had all to myself the night before up in San Jose. I wrapped my arm around Emmy and pulled her in close, enjoying the feel of her warm skin against mine as I drifted off to sleep.
That Wednesday Mom called and asked if Tiffany could stay with us for the weekend. When I told her we’d be out of town and explained about the rented track that James had set up, Mom suggested that maybe Tiffany would like to go with us and see what a real track experience is like. When I asked, Angela and Emmy both said they were good with Tiffany coming along, so Mom agreed to bring her up to Los Angeles Friday morning.
I’d had some misgivings about four of us packed in the car for the five hundred mile drive, so Emmy and Tiffany were going to fly out while I drove. Angela volunteered to keep me company on the drive, excited about seeing the desert, so it wasn’t going to just be me all by myself. Not that I minded that idea much, but still, it was nice to have company.
Interstate Ten is a long, boring freeway that cuts through what must be the least scenic parts of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, and the towns along the way are not the highlights. We stopped for gas in Quartzite, right on the California border. Angela suggested we grab a bite to eat, so we stopped at a fairly typical-looking diner just off the freeway.
The place was a bit shabby, but the food was decent enough and the waitress was cheerful, so I left a big tip. I figure these places need all the help they can get.
The second leg of the drive had us skirt Phoenix, and Angela kept asking questions about what there was to do or see in the area.
“Honestly, I don’t think there is all that much to do here, as far as, you know, tourist attractions,” I said. “It’s a big city, so there has to be stuff to do, but things that would actually bring tourists from, I dunno, Europe or whatever, I don’t think there are any.”
“I’d like to check it out sometime,” Angela said as the metro area faded in the rear view mirror.
“Let me know if you find anything interesting,” I said.
We were running about an hour early, so I suggested we check out the old Spanish mission there in Tucson, which was fairly close to the airport. The colonial style of the place reminded Angela of a lot of buildings back in Colombia, and I think it made her a tiny bit homesick.
“I wish I could take you and Emmy back to see where I grew up,” she said as we got back into the car. “There are a lot of really terrible things about Colombia, but there is also a lot of beauty.”
“There’s a lot less beauty in Colombia now that you left and came to the U.S.,” I joked, getting a smile for my effort.
“Have I told you I love you?” Angela asked, squeezing my thigh.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear you say it again,” I replied, putting my hand on hers.
“I love you,” she said. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Leah. I know I’ll only get a few years with Emmy, and I hate that, but knowing that I’ll have you forever…”
“I still haven’t given up on getting Emmy to see if there’s something that can be done. Medically, I mean. Some sort of gene therapy or something,” I said, squeezing Angela’s hand.
“I tried to talk to her about it,” Angela said with a sigh. “She didn’t want to hear anything I had to say. We got in a bit of an argument about it, actually…” she trailed off.
“Yeah, I know how that goes,” I agreed, the conversation drifting off to contemplative silence.
“That was so cool!” Tiffany said as she and Emmy made their way into the terminal. “We flew on a, like, private jet!”
“I’m happy to see you, too, Tiff,” I said.
“Oh, hi, Lee!” Tiffany said, wrapping me in a hug, then going on to hug Angela. “And you, too, Angie!”
Tiffany chattered about this and that all the way out to the track, which was way outside of town. James had lined up a two-bedroom casita for us, and I wanted to get settled in and survey the facilities before dinner.
The guy at the gate said that the BMW of Temecula rig had rolled in a couple of hours earlier, and I could find it in the main parking area.
“You can’t miss it. I mean, literally, can’t miss it. There are only two rigs in the entire parking lot.”
Driving through the parking area, I had to agree. The BMW toter-hauler and the hauler from The Track Club were, in fact, the only two setups in the place, parked at right angles to each other. Passing them, I found the casitas and parked in front of ours.
“I’m gonna go talk to the guys,” I said as everybody grabbed their bags and made their way inside. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Joachim and the crew were just lounging around, talking shop with Reggie and his guys from The Track Club, relaxing in their M-Sport branded camp chairs, since they’d already unloaded the two cars and had them under the canopies.
“Hey, Leah, it’s good to see you,” Reggie said, lifting his bottle of Mexican Coke in salute.
“Hey, Reg,” I said, tapping fists with my crew as a way to say hello. “James here yet?”
“Nah, they’re supposed to fly in sometime around five,” he replied.
“Fly in?”
“Yeah, the track has an airstrip, but it’s not big enough for jets, so they’re flying in to the county airport. It’s like a fifteen minute drive from here.”
“That’s cool,” I said, rooting around in the cooler for another one of those glass-bottled Cokes. “How’s he liking Godzilla?”
“He seems to like it a lot,” Reggie said. “It’s funny how different we have it set up for him than the way you liked it. It’s practically a different car. Me and Joachim here were just talking about it. He mentioned you liked the BMW really loose, and I told him you were the same with the GT-R, but James, he likes it really tight, you know?”
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Just then a familiar motorhome pulling a flatbed with a Mitsubishi EVO pulled into the parking area. I jumped up and waved to the driver. “Hey, guys? Where should I have her park?”
“Um, are they going to spend the night in the RV?” Reggie asked. “If so, probably they’ll want to be sorta right there,” he said, waving to indicate what he meant. “That way they won’t hear the generators so much.”
“And everybody will have easy access with the cars,” Joachim added. “Hey, that’s that girl from Chuckwalla, right?”
I waved Lainey into the area that Reggie had suggested and greeted her and Maddie when they climbed out of the motorhome.
“I’m glad you guys could make it,” I said.
“Thanks for inviting us!” Maddie said, looking around. “It’s gonna be cool to drive at a new track!”
“Yeah, James and I have never driven here before, either,” I said.
“So it’s going to just be the two of you and Maddie on the track, right?” Lainey asked.
“Yup,” I replied. “It’ll be wide open.”
While I was talking to Lainey, Emmy, Angela and Tiffany walked up.
“Lainey, this is Emmy, this is Angela, and this is my little sister Tiffany,” I said, pointing to each one in turn. “This is Lainey, and her daughter Maddie, who will be driving this weekend.”
“Seriously?” Tiffany asked, her eyes wide. “You drive?”
“Yeah,” Maddie said, her chest swelling with pride. “That’s my race car right there.”
“That’s freaking awesome!” Tiffany said. “Can I see it?”
“Your sister’s car is way cooler,” Maddie said, embarrassed by the attention.
“Well, yeah, but she’s old,” Tiffany countered. “You’re like, in high school, right?”
With a quick, “Mom, I’m gonna unload the car,” the two girls were off to fuss around with the EVO.
“Your sister?” Lainey asked as Maddie showed Tiffany how to undo the tie-downs holding the car in place.
“Yeah,” I replied, amused at Tiffany’s enthusiasm.
“Do you two have dinner plans?” Emmy asked Lainey. “I am going to make a reservation in Tucson for tonight.”
“Hey, babe? Can you do me a favor and get tables for the six of them, too?” I asked, pointing at the two crews. “I’d like to treat ‘em to dinner.”
“That is nice,” Emmy said with a smile. “I will see what I can do.”
“We couldn’t impose-” Lainey began, but Emmy interrupted. “It would be no imposition at all,” she replied. “We would love your company.”
“The challenge is how to get everybody to the restaurant,” I said, looking around. “I wonder if the track has a passenger van we could use?”
As if the Gods had heard me, a white Ford Transit van pulled up at that moment. The only two passengers were Imogen and James, who stepped out to say hello. While they were doing that, I spoke to the driver and asked if we could borrow the van to go into town for the evening. He hemmed and hawed, saying that I needed to talk to his boss, but then getting his boss on the phone and receiving the confirmation that yes, we could borrow it.
Emmy managed to make reservations for all fourteen of us at a steak house, to my surprise. “Once Emmy told them who she was, they were ready to jump though hoops,” Angela explained. “The benefit of fame.”
None of the mechanics had brought nice clothes to wear to a fancy restaurant, so Reggie told them to scrub up nice and wear their cleanest uniforms to the restaurant. James and Imogen had been surprised when I mentioned that the crews were coming to dinner with us, but both warmed to the idea quickly.
They were both from old East Coast money and had prep school and country club upbringings, but I knew both of them had tried to adopt a more egalitarian West-Coast attitude. That conflict showed every now and then, but in the end they always did the right thing, and that’s what matters.
Reggie took the wheel of the van and the rest of us piled in for the really surprisingly long ride back to Tucson. When we pulled up in front of the restaurant, I told Reggie to head to the valet stand. He laughed and agreed, stopping right in front. Once we all spilled out of the van, Reggie handed the key to the kid at the podium.
“Take good care of her,” he said with a smirk.
Emmy led the way into the restaurant, and when the host saw her his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.
“Miss Lascaux,” he said. “Your, um, tables are right this way,” he said, looking over the large group. We drew quite a few looks as we filed though the place to the back corner, where three tables were waiting for us.
In the van, I’d quietly said to Joachim that I didn’t want the mechanics at one table and the rest of us at another. “Make sure the guys understand that they can order anything they want, and make sure every table has a mixed group of people.”
As people started to sit down, I took control and seated everybody as equitably as I could, even though that meant I didn’t sit with Emmy and Angela, and James and Imogen didn’t sit together, either.
This caused confusion at first, but when people started to realize what I was doing everybody went along with the program.
The food was decent, and it seemed mixing up the groups made for good conversations, from what I could tell. I’d found myself seated at a table with James, one of Reggie’s guys and two of the BMW crew, so our talk was almost entirely car-related, but I overheard Angela and Manny (from BMW of Temecula) at the table right behind me talking with Lainey about Spanish colonial architecture. Apparently Manny was from one of those cities in Central Mexico with a lot of that stuff, and so had as much of a background in the subject as Angela.
The service was nice and attentive and the drinks were good, so all in all I’d say the whole thing was well worth the couple of grand. Of course James tried to pay, but I waved him off. “You can buy next time,” I said, which seemed to satisfy him.
As we all went to our respective accommodations back at the track, Lainey pulled me aside.
“Thanks for dinner, Leah,” she said. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Shrugging, I said, “It was my pleasure.”
Looking uncomfortable and glancing around to make sure nobody was close enough to listen in, she asked, “Um, if it isn’t prying, what’s the deal with, well, with Angela and Emmy? Emmy’s your wife, right?”
“Yeah, Emmy’s my wife,” I agreed. “And I know this is unusual, but Angela is our, um, lover. She’s… well, we’re a threesome,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. I really hoped that Lainey would be cool with the whole thing, but I had more than a slight nagging feeling she wouldn’t.
“A threesome? Like, you’re all lesbian for each other?”
“That’s a funny way of phrasing it, but yeah,” I agreed.
Taking a deep breath and then letting out as a sort of sigh, Lainey said, “Well, I guess that’s your business, and not mine. I’d really like to ask you to do me a favor, alright? Don’t um, try to convert Maddie or anything. That’s all I ask.”
I couldn’t help but let out a little laugh. “Lainey, she’s fifteen years old. By now, she should know where her interests lie, and like you said, that is none of my business at all. I like her because she’s an aspiring racer, and that’s absolutely as far as my connection to her goes. I’m not gonna lie if she asks me about Emmy or Angela, but I am also one hundred per cent not going to bring up any topic like that.”
“Thank you,” she said, looking relieved. “It’s not that there’s anything wrong with being gay…”
“The way I look at it, we all have our own lives to sort out,” I said. “Maddie doesn’t need me to influence her in any way than to encourage her driving, and that’s all I’ve signed up for.”
Nodding, Lainey said, “Being a teenager is tough, but you know, just by you being, well, a role model, you know? That’s going to affect her all by itself.”
“The only influence I might hope to have on her in that regard is that she learns that gay people are just people, you know? Remind me to tell you about a girl named Grace some time,” I said.
At the casita, Emmy was reclining on the couch with Tiffany draped over her lap. Emmy was running her fingers through Tiffany’s hair, and the two were talking too quietly for me to catch. I gave Emmy a little kiss on the top of her head as I passed by, finding Angela on her tummy on the bed in the left bedroom, her phone in hand.
I sat down next to her bare legs, enjoying the fact that her short shirt had hiked up a bit when she flopped onto the bed.
“What are you doing?” I asked, idly stroking the smooth skin of her thigh.
“Posting on my Insta,” she replied, not paying me much attention, still fixated on her phone.
I hooked my thumbs under the hem of her skirt and slid it up and over the swell of her butt, exposing those beautiful, squeezable cheeks, separated by her thong panties. As my hands found their way and stroked and cupped that glorious ass, Angela tried to swat my hands away and pull her skirt back down, but she was still too focused on her phone for her actions to have any effect. It wasn’t until I pulled those tiny little panties down to mid thigh that she put the phone down.
“Leah,” she said, exasperated. “I’m trying to do something!” she said as she pulled her panties back up.
“What a coincidence,” I replied, hiking her skirt back up and kissing the round cheek I exposed. “So am I.”
“Look, just give me five minutes, O.K.? After that, I’m all yours.”
“I like the sound of that,” I said as I kissed her rear again, then pulled her skirt back into place. “I’ll get the shower started.”
It was longer than five minutes, but Angela did join me in the shower before the hot water ran out. Unfortunately the stall was too small for much besides rubbing up against each other, all nice and slippery with soap, but that was plenty fun. When the water did start to turn cool we quickly rinsed off, laughing at how fast it had happened.
After toweling each other off, Angela grabbed my lotion from the toiletries bag and guided me back to the bed. She had me lie face down, then squeezed some of my favorite lotion (we each had our specific preference on the subject) onto my back. I enjoyed feeling her hands working it into my skin, as she made certain she didn’t miss any spots at all in the process. I would have been happy to have the experience last forever, but I was happy with the way the massage came to an end.
When Emmy finally joined us, she found Angela draped across my back, the two of us relaxed and blissful. Angela was on her chest, her tummy parked on my butt, her knees a bit lower than mine, nestled between my calves. Neither of us were asleep, but we weren’t talking or really doing anything except enjoying the contact.
“What did I miss?” Emmy asked, looking us over.
“A nice massage,” I said.
“A happy ending,” Angela murmured.
“I must be living life wrong,” Emmy said, kicking off her shoes. “I could have been in here with two beautiful naked women, but instead I learned all about the tangled social web of a typical pre-teen American girl.”
Angela and I watched as Emmy peeled off the rest of her clothes, then climbed on top of us, making it a three-high stack of naked people.
After maybe half a minute like that, Emmy sighed and said, “Yes, this is nice.”
The weight of the two of them pressing me into the bed was somehow comforting. I could have fallen asleep like that, using the two as a sort of heavyweight blanket of love. I think maybe I did actually doze a little bit, because I jarred awake a little bit when Emmy finally climbed off and urged Angela to do the same so we could get under the covers.
It didn’t take me long to fall back asleep, the warmth of the two on either side lulling me back into dreamland.