Lola & The World of Buddy Shortt

This is an unconventional story about a beautiful, internationally acclaimed African American dancer named Lola Fleming and a well-known white American race-car driver who share a secret that, if known, could destroy everything Lola has worked a lifetime to achieve. This is not a romance novel. It's a story about friendship and betrayal. It's about Lola Fleming's exciting artistic life and what happened to it when it became entangled with Buddy's bawdy, action-packed life as a world-class Formula One race-car driver. Lola's life is one involving modern dancing, while Buddy's world is one of bars, heavy drinking, whore-chasing, fist-fights, fast cars, and the death-defying chase each year called the Formula One World Grand Prix Championship. "If not for his heavy drinking, Buddy Shortt could be the greatest Formula One driver ever," a Belgium sports reporter wrote about him, high praise for an American whose country was enthralled with NASCAR racing that Europeans saw as a hillbilly sport. Lola and Buddy first met when she was in elementary school. Lola's father had a longtime gig playing jazz piano for diners at the restaurant where Lola spent a great deal of time with him after school. When not away racing somewhere in the world, Buddy, a big fan of Lola's father, could always be found in the bar at the restaurant drinking. He and Lola became pals, and they often played dominos in the bar. The short, stocky redhead regarded Lola as his little sister. One night when Lola's dancing career was getting underway, the teenager came to Buddy in tears about a personal problem. Lola was an emotional wreck. In the course of consoling her, they slipped into sex, something they hadn't done before. In fact, it was something that would have been unthinkable to both of them before that night, and both regretted that it happened. The next day they resumed their platonic friendship as if nothing had occurred. A couple of months later as Lola was about to tour Europe with her dance troupe, she learned she was pregnant with Buddy's child. She decided not to tell him, and raised the child on her own. She became the rave of Europe as a modern dancer. The Le Monde newspaper in Paris called her an "exciting young black Martha Graham." Lola and the child remained in Europe as expatriates. Years later when Lola was at the apex of her dancing career, and Buddy was nearly washed-up as a race-car driver, Lola's conscience got the best of her. So she told Buddy about their child. Because they both were celebrities, she made him promise to keep it a secret. It was a decision she would deeply regret, for it nearly destroyed her life.