Jebb watched the race and tried his best to figure out which of the young racers was his son. From a distance, all clad in their racing gear, they all looked the same. Still, he watched nonetheless. When the race ended he spotted his Cousin Bo approach one of the boys. He knew that wherever he found his cousin he'd find his son. He knew he had plenty of time before the race that he'd entered would start; there were several levels to be raced before the advanced races. Jebb headed over to where he saw his cousin with this son.
"Jaybird, I think you did really well for your first try out. You finished in the eleventh place. That means you nearly made the top ten." Jebb overheard his cousin as he approached. "That's somethin' to be real proud of."
"Indeed it is," Jebb added to his cousin's sentiment. "Especially when many of those other kids were older than you."
"Jebb?"
"Dad! You came!" Jay tossed his helmet down and ran over to his father to greet him with a hug about his waist.
"What are you doin' here, Jebb?" Bo had to ask since to the best of his knowledge no one in the family expected him here today.
"I got a call tellin' me that Jay would be racin'. So here I am."
"Who called?" Kira asked as she walked up to join her brother and son. Seeing her husband here of all places hadn't been what she expected when she woke up this morning.
"Mikey," Jebb said simply. He didn't bother telling the others that it had been his father who had actually been home and talked to the eldest of the Duke Children when he called. Nor did he tell them that his father hadn't exactly been too subtle in his opinion that, memory or no, he needed to be there for the young boy when he stepped out into the world of racing.
Kira raised a brow at hearing that her oldest has apparently taken it upon himself to ask his father to come to the race. Jay was a bit confused to hear that his brother had talked to his dad since he'd not told him about it. Still, he was happy to see that his father had come.
"So does this mean that you're back?" Jay asked the same question that the older set of Duke Twins were wondering as well.
"Well, I-"
"Jebb, your own private cheering section is here. Oh, is this your little boy that you were tellin' me about?" Jebb was interrupted by a voice that he'd not expected to hear today. He'd told her that he didn't want her to come. When the other three Dukes turned to face Jolene he visibly cringed.
"Dad?" Jay looked up at the strange woman as she sidled up next to his father. "Who's she?"
Jebb looked from his son's confused expression to Bo's angry and Kira's hurt one. "I, uh... Well..."
That moment of hesitation, along with Jolene's act of slipping her arm through his was just enough to connect the dots for the young boy, that sent Jay running from the group at top-neck speed.
"Dammit, Jebb! What were you thinkin' bringin' another woman here?! Ain't the kids been through enough in the last few months?" Bo shouted angrily before telling Kira, "I'll get him."
Jebb watched as his cousin took off in the same direction that his son went before being brought back to the reality that his wife and his girlfriend were both staring at him.
"What was that about?" Jolene asked before turning her attention to the woman that she remembered from last weekend. She smiled and extended her hand in greeting. "You must be Jebb's cousin."
Kira eyed the untouched hand and only responded with, "Among other things. How did you know we were cousins?"
"He told me when we saw you and his other cousin last weekend at a club in Atlanta." Jolene saw that the other woman was staring off into the direction that the young boy went so she added, "I do hope that the boy will be alright. Shouldn't his mother be tending to him?"
Kira's eyes narrowed. "I'm his mother."
Jolene took a step back before looking at Jebb with an accusing glare. "I thought you said she was your cousin. Now she says that she's the mother of your child. Which is it?"
"Both," Jebb said awkwardly. "Listen, I told you not to come here today. I-"
"BOTH?!" Jolene shrieked in disgust as she tore her arm away from Jebb's arm where she'd linked it with hers when she walked up. "Both? That's sick!"
"Wait a minu-"
"No! I can't believe that you... and she... That you- Ew!" Jolene stormed away as if she couldn't leave the Duke that she'd been seeing for the last couple of weeks fast enough.
Jebb didn't know if he wanted to go after Jolene or stay behind with Kira. Especially since he could feel her glaring at him. When he looked back up at her he saw that she had her arms crossed.
"I know that I told you that you could do what you wanted since you couldn't remember me but I distinctly remember saying to not hurt the kids any more than they already have been. And then you go and bring a girlfriend here when you bein' gone is so fresh. And on a day that was so important to Jay. How could you?"
Jebb put his hand on the back of his neck as he rubbed it absentmindedly before replying defensively. "She wasn't supposed to come here. I told her not to. And I seem to recall that I wasn't the only one who'd started to move on."
"What are you talkin' about?"
"As Jolene said, we were at the club last weekend when you were there with that guy. The two of you looked mighty familiar, yourself."
"You are being ridiculous. The only person that I saw last weekend was-" Kira came up short and then despite or maybe it was because of the stress of the situation burst out laughing. "Wait a minute. You saw me with Brent and you were jealous of him?" Kira tried to rein in her giggling but that only made her chuckle all the more. "Oh no! You finally have a memory resurface and it is of being jealous!"
"What is so funny? What do you mean its a memory?" Jebb couldn't figure Kira out. One second she's about to give him a good down the country talking to and the next second she's laughing at him. He knew that most of his memories had returned more of general feelings rather than actual events but this wasn't the same, was it?
"Jebb, one thing that's been pretty consistent throughout most of our relationship was that you get jealous pretty easily. But for you to be jealous of Brent... Well that hasn't happened in a very long time."
"I don't get it. What is so funny about me possibly being jealous of Brent? If I was, that is."
"Brent is my oldest friend and I'm not his type at all!" Kira shook her head as she calmed her giggles to a snicker. "He's gay."
Jebb gave Kira an odd look. He still didn't think it was funny. Still, there was something, or someone, else to consider at the moment. Jay. The way he tore out the pit area when he saw him with Jolene was heartbreaking. He'd intended to stay for a few days but now he wasn't sure that he'd be welcomed.
"Shouldn't we go after Jay? You know, to let him know that Jolene's gone and all?"
Kira paused and looked off in the direction her brother had gone and remained silent for a moment. "Bo's got him. It probably is best if you give him a while. This wasn't easy for him today. He's hurt and confused."
"He's not the only one." Jebb mumbled.
Kira offered to bail on the race to go ahead and let Jay leave to go home but he had insisted that he wanted to see her race, too. So after seeing to it that he was alright and Bo would keep watch on him, which also kept him from going to have a talk with Jebb after the incident with the woman that he'd been keeping company with, Kira set about getting ready for her own race. She wasn't surprised to see that Jebb was signed up for the race as well. It only made sense that after driving all the way from Placid that he'd get in a race while he was here.
For her part, Kira's heart just wasn't in it. She'd preferred to be heading home with her son, trying to help him pick up the pieces of his broken heart. But for now, the only thing she could do was to do as her son asked, and race. And it would be for him, along with her other children, that she'd do her best to win the race. After all, hadn't Crystal told her that she was the most "fun" after she had won a race.
She did her best to clear her mind as the rest of the racers lined up at the starting line but it was a futile attempt when she knew that her husband, whom she'd seen with another woman only about an hour prior, was merely meters away from her. Kira set her visor down as she once more silently asked her brother how the kids were doing; especially Jay. After being reassured once more that they were fine with the rest of the Duke family she made a conscious effort to narrow her focus to the track, her bike, and the nameless racers around her.
When the signal for the race to begin came she allowed herself to have tunnel vision. Nothing existed but the race. She quickly went toward the front of the pack as she passed several of the other racers. Eventually, it was she and three other racers who had pulled away from the rest of the pack. One of whom was her husband. Kira engaged in a small battle for placement with another racer as her husband did the same. As she pulled away from the last turn of the race she won her position and now it was down to only her and one other racer for first place. That racer was Jebb.
Kira hadn't really felt competitive with Jebb in a very long time but for some reason she felt the need to actually win against the man whom she'd known just shy of the damnable twenty years that Jebb could no longer remember. It was as if she had to prove that he had indeed found her interesting at one time. And that interest had been sparked on the racetrack. Kira threw on an extra burst of speed just as the two riders that she and Jebb had passed recovered from their fall in position. Jebb's competitor was just a bit closer to him than hers so Kira sped forward as Jebb once more had more than just her to be concerned about. When she crossed the finished line, however, it felt like a very hollow victory. She'd won, and won fairly, but it wasn't as if she'd be able to really celebrate that win with her husband.
Kira went through the motions that was expected of her as the winner of the race. Before joining the rest of the family after the race she knew that she'd have to talk to Jebb again. He'd come a long way to visit with the kids and even if it hadn't started off under the best of circumstances she knew that she still needed to encourage Jebb to stay for her children's sake. Even if she doubted that he'd be Jay's favorite person for a while. With her helmet in hand, Kira spotted Jebb and walked over to him.
"Where'd you learn to race like that?" Jebb asked with more than just a touch of a surprise in his voice.
"I've been racing for nearly as long as you have, Jebb. I told you that we met through racing."
Jebb ran a hand through his hair as he responded, "I know. I guess I never really gave it much thought."
"Clearly." Kira sent a glance toward where she knew that the rest of the family would be waiting for her. "We'd planned a little celebration for Jay's first race. Since you came all this way, you might as well as come out. Mikey and Crystal will want to see you."
"But not Jay," Jebb replied with concern. "I guess I blew that with him earlier."
Kira didn't say anything since there was nothing to say that would refute Jebb's own assessment. Jay was upset and he had that right. She was upset, though she wasn't sure she had quite the same right. She had, after all, told Jebb that he was free to do what he wanted. She had just hoped that he wouldn't take her up on that offer quite so soon, or to have the fact that he did indeed want to move on shown right in front of her; up close and personal. She kept trying to tell herself that she shouldn't take it personal since in Jebb's mind they were barely acquaintances. He couldn't remember their life together but that actually made it worse.
"Give him space." Kira said, not knowing if she was saying it for her husband's benefit or her own. "He'll come around, given time."