Read Online Racing to Love: Eli's Honor by Amy Gregory - Free Book Online

Mac sitting in the chair across from her. She’d seen that look before on his face, pride for his nephew. He was intently listening to the details, but she could sense that Mac was going to tell her to let Dallas go.
    A month away from school, a month away from home, a month away from… her . Sending him to Pennsylvania with people she didn’t know for an entire month didn’t sound like anything a sane mother would do. This was so hard. He was her world. She’d go crazy without him, even though he reeked like an old gym bag after he’d been riding, even though his room was a disaster zone most of the time, and even though he spent most of his free time eating everything in sight. Dallas was her everything.
    Not to mention the money. She couldn’t even fathom the money the academy would be losing by Dallas taking a spot from a paying student, especially for that long. Free ride or not, it was costing somebody money.
    She was a long mile past hesitant on the inside, but Honor grinned proudly as Dallas asked questions about the academy, about the training, asking details just like an adult would. He had been star-struck when Eli first pulled up their driveway, but that hadn’t lasted long. Eli’s easy personality had put Dallas at ease immediately. Pushing down the fear building inside her, she winked at her son before standing to go make another pitcher of iced tea, escaping not only the news, but also the man delivering it.
    Watching the bubbles starting to form in the small pan of water, she quietly listened as Mac and Eli discussed what Dallas would ride, that all he’d need would be his own gear that he was comfortable with because they’d have a bike for him. Okay…so that was one issue she was glad not to have to deal with. She lay awake in bed last night wondering how in the hell they’d get his bike to Pennsylvania if she decided to send him. But still—a month?
    As the bubbles in the water started to grow and roll, she opened the tea bags, not realizing Mac was behind her until he whispered close to her ear, damn near scaring five years off her life.
    “Shit.” She blinked at Mac as her heart pounded hard in her chest. “Damn it, Mac.” His boyish grin made her chuckle, but she still elbowed him in the side for payback.
    He nodded toward the living room, “I’m impressed, Honor. You know me. That’s not an easy thing to do.”
    Honor looked back to her pan, lowering the tea bags in, and watched the water turn brown. She could feel Mac’s presence beside her, not only physically, but also mentally. She knew what was on his mind, and she waited for the words as she bobbed the tea bags by their short strings, doing nothing more than simply playing with them. It allowed her to avoid eye contact for a few more seconds. Evading the truth a little longer.
    “You need to let him go.”
    Mac’s large hand on her shoulder did nothing to dull the sharp pain in her heart. The child’s laughter from the other room broke her thoughts, barely twenty feet away. Only a half wall separating the kitchen from the living room, she could hear every word, could hear the enthusiasm in her son’s voice. Yes, she needed to do this, for him. That didn’t make it any freaking easier.
    She was still pissed at the hospital for running out of instructional manuals for parenting, conveniently on the day he was born. How in the hell did other parents do this? Just send their kid, wherever, whenever, and at the drop of a hat? Why was it so much harder for her?
    Mac squeezed her shoulder again and kissed the side of her head. “I need to go. You know how busy Saturdays are at the shop. I promised them I’d be back by four.”
    “Thanks, Mac. For being here.”
    It had been more than just support that Honor had wanted. She knew she was looking at this offer with a biased opinion. For Dallas’s sake, she needed someone with an objective view to hear the details, to hear what Eli really was coming to present them with.