“No!” Dawn answered. “It’s amazing. Do you ever get used to it?”
“Not really,” Valerie answered. “You know it’s coming and brace yourself for it, but it gets you every time.”
“It’s crazy,” Dawn yelled over all the noise, “and I love it!” They both laughed.
“I’m taking the baby back to the motor coach. She’s had all the excitement she can stand,” Valerie said. “Do you want to join us?”
“No, but thank you,” Dawn answered. “Bryan and the guys asked me to watch the race from the top of the pit box. ”
“That will be fun,” Valerie said. Then she leaned into the car and kissed her husband. She told him she loved him and that she would see him later. He reached out the window to touch the baby. He waved at her, and the little one smiled back. Then Valerie handed him the helmet she held in her other hand. Dawn had heard something around the garage about this being a good luck ritual. If the driver was married or had a girlfriend, she held the helmet during the opening ceremonies and was the last one to touch it before he put it on. It was an emotional time. Dawn could feel the love that the two shared. Valerie stepped away, and then the cars began to slowly roll off pit road for the warm-up laps. Valerie watched Bryan go. Then she stepped back toward Dawn, told her bye, and walked back to the motor coach.
Dawn followed the crew back to their place on pit road. This space the size of a parking spot was where Bryan would bring the car for gas, tires, and adjustments. She followed Travis to the top of the pit box. Once there, he pointed to her seat behind him and handed her a headset. This time it had her name on it. She put it on and listened as Travis talked to Bryan. Her headset had a microphone, but she made sure it was turned off. She was sure that any close calls would have her gasping.
“What do you think?” Travis asked later. The race had been going on for close to an hour. All that was going on now was cars going round and round.
“Mixed feelings,” Dawn answered. “Part of me is really excited, watching the cars go by so fast and so close together. The other part of me is scared to death about the same things.”
He laughed at her answer. “That feeling never really goes away. When it does, it will probably be time for me to look for another job.”
Dawn was about to say something else when she heard a terrible noise. She looked around and saw one of the cars bounce off the wall near turn 4 and spin until it was facing the wrong way on the track. Bryan and a bunch of other cars were driving right toward the accident. She wanted to look away but couldn’t. Dawn felt like she was watching everything in slow motion. The scene blurred in front of her as her eyes welled up. She lost track of Bryan’s car but then saw it swerve hard to the right toward another car. She closed her eyes and put her hands over her face and started praying. She could hear the spotter on the headset, guiding Bryan around the wreck. She felt Travis put his hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay. He made it through. They all made it through and caution is out.” She peeked out from behind her hands. They were shaking. She clasped them together and put them in her lap as she began to rock back and forth. It was a nervous habit that she didn’t like. “Hey, you’re white as a sheet.” Travis said as he looked at her with concern. “And you’re shaking. Are you okay?”
“No, but I will be in a minute when my heart gets out of my throat and back into my chest where it belongs. That was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life.” Then she realized that she didn’t know where Jeremiah had been during the accident. “Where’s Jeremiah? Is he okay?”
“Yes. He was ahead of the wreck.”
“Thank you, Jesus!” She put her hand over her heart. She could feel it pounding. “Is the driver who wrecked okay?”
“Yes. He walked away from the wreck, but they’ll take him to the infield care center and check him out, just to make sure.”
Dawn calmed down while the track crew cleaned up the mess. She watched the rest of the race and all the close calls made her cringe. Neither Bryan nor Jeremiah won. Randy Brown did. Bryan finished fifth and Jeremiah finished eighth.
Dawn was walking back toward the garage area with Bryan and the crew when she heard Jeremiah call her name. She turned around and saw him jogging toward her. She waited for him to catch up. “Did you like the race?” he asked when he got there.
“Other than the wrecks, yes, I did.”
“That was nothing. I’ve been in a lot worse. What was your favorite part?”
“The pit stops. The way they changed tires, filled up on gas, and made all the adjustments in under fifteen seconds. Amazing.”
“A good stop can win the race for you, but a bad one can lose it. The pit guys are the best. Can’t race without them. So, when are you guys leaving?”
“As soon as we get everything loaded in the trucks. Bryan is in a hurry to get home.”
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
“I’m not sure yet. Other than a few errands, Bryan has given me the tomorrow off. I guess I’ll start looking for an apartment.”
“I thought Bryan made living arrangements for you?”
“Only temporary ones. I’ll check that place out. Maybe check out Charlotte and try to find my way around. I’ve never been there before.” They were at Bryan’s garage stall now. The crew was rushing around like ants gathering food at a picnic.
“Do you know your phone number yet?” Jeremiah asked.
“No. That’s one of the errands I have to do is make sure my phone is installed.”
He reached into his pocket, retrieved a piece of paper, and handed it to her. “Here’s my home number and my cell. Call me if you need anything. Maybe I can drive you around town to show you where everything is.”
“That would be great. Thank you,” Dawn said as she put the paper in her pocket.
“So are we okay? After the fight, are we friends again?”
“Of course.” Dawn smiled up at him.
He smiled back. “Awesome.” He was about to say something else, but Bryan called to Dawn that he was ready to leave. “I’ll talk to you later,” Jeremiah said. “Call me tomorrow.”
“Okay. Bye.”
The temporary housing that Dawn had thought was a pool or guesthouse was actually a mobile home on the back of Bryan’s property. Bryan told her that it was where he and Valerie had lived while their house was being built. It was white with green shutters and trim. All the utilities were already turned on. Valerie had seen to that before she left for Daytona. Valerie had also written the phone number to the place down and left it stuck to the fridge with a magnet. Everything was nice but dusty. The furniture looked like it was almost new. The living room had a dark-brown leather sofa, matching recliner, and glass-topped coffee table. The kitchen was fully loaded with all modern appliances and a tile floor. There was a good-sized bathroom with a separate tub and shower. It was already stocked with plenty of towels and supplies. The bedroom had a big oak bed with matching dresser and nightstand. There was a blue-and-green quilt on the bed that looked handmade. A TV was on a table in the corner. The place looked like Bryan and Valerie left it just the way it was when they moved into the house.
As Dawn continued her exploration, she found a large deck with a porch swing, hammock, and a BBQ grill. From the deck, she could see a big backyard. This was a rural area, and the yard went until it stopped at the tree line. She wondered if Bryan would mind if she got a dog. Flower beds lined the front of the house and down the walk from the house to the driveway. Maybe she would get to stay here until spring to see if anything would pop up. She could see the backyard of Bryan and Valerie’s house from her front yard. Dawn really liked this place. Too bad it’s just temporary.
Dawn put on an old pair of sweatpants and an old T-shirt. She covered her head with a bandana and started cleaning. All it really needed was to be dusted. Unfortunatel
y, that was Dawn’s least favorite household chore. Even though the house had sat unoccupied for a while, she was finished by early afternoon. She was sitting at the kitchen table, making a grocery list, when Valerie, Bryan, and the baby came to visit.
“So, what do you think of the house?” Valerie asked after they had gotten settled in the living room.
“I love it. I’m going to hate leaving it.”
Bryan and Valerie looked at each other and then looked at Dawn with confused looks on their faces. “What do you mean, leave it?” Valerie asked.
“I got a letter with a lot of information on it: your address, the race shop address, etc. It also said that you would provide me with a temporary place to live until I could find something permanent.”
“We were going to put you up in a hotel for a couple of weeks,” Bryan explained. “But then we realized that the mobile home was sitting here unused. We thought about moving it out and trying to sell it.”
“We decided to let you live here,” Valerie cut in. “That way it doesn’t sit and rot.
“And we have a neighbor,” Bryan continued. “I guess we forgot to tell you.”
“But if you don’t like it and want to find something else, we’ll understand,” Valerie said.
“No. I love it. I really do. It’s out in the country where it’s peaceful and quiet. I want to stay. Really. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Yes,” they both said.
“Is the furniture okay? Most of it is leftover from my bachelor days. Valerie always complained that it looked like a guy’s place. She couldn’t wait to pick out new stuff for the house.”
“Can I hang pictures on the walls?”
“Sure,” Valerie said. “Make yourself at home, and let us know if you need anything.”
“And let us know if something is broken so that we can take care of it,” Bryan added.
“Okay,” Dawn said. “This is great. My mom was really worried about where I would live. She was afraid that I would end up in a big apartment complex where I didn’t know anyone. I can’t wait to call her to tell her that it’s all been taken care of. She’ll love knowing that I have a place in the country. She can stop worrying.”
“A mother never stops worrying,” Valerie said.
Dawn called home right after Bryan, Valerie, and the baby left. Her parents, especially her mother, were so relieved to find out that Dawn’s housing situation had been settled. After that, Dawn set out to find the nearest grocery store. She found one that was just about a mile and a half away. She didn’t have to go through any heavy city traffic at all. One small victory, she thought as she unloaded groceries from the car that Bryan had loaned her. She went inside to fix herself some supper. Halfway through her meal preparation, Dawn realized that she had made way too much. She would be eating leftovers for a week. Then she realized that she had Jeremiah’s phone number. His home phone rang several times. She was about to hang up and try his cell when someone finally answered. “Hello?”
“Hello. Is this Jeremiah?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Hi. This is Dawn. What are you doing?”
“I just walked through the door. I’ve been riding motorcycles all afternoon.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Starved.”
“I’ve got a ton of lasagna over here. Do you want to come over for dinner?”
“I’d love to. Where?”
“Do you know where Bryan and Valerie live?”
“Yes.”
“I’m in the mobile home behind their house.”
“Where they lived while the house was being built?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Perfect. That’s how long the lasagna needs to cook.”
It was exactly thirty minutes later when a dark-green extended cab pickup truck pulled into the driveway, and Jeremiah got out.
“Wow. When you say thirty minutes, you mean it,” Dawn said from the front porch.
“I would’ve been here sooner, but I stopped to get you these,” Jeremiah said as he pulled a bouquet of fresh flowers from the passenger seat. He walked up the gravel path to the bottom porch step and handed the flowers to Dawn.
“Thank you. They’re beautiful.”
“They’re not as beautiful as you.” That made her smile. He climbed up the steps to drop a quick peck on her cheek. “It’s cold out here. Let’s go inside and get something to eat.”
Once inside, Jeremiah could immediately smell the tomato sauce, garlic, and oregano. “It smells great and makes me realize that it’s been a long time since I’ve had homemade lasagna.”
“It was one of the first things I learned to cook as a teenager,” Dawn said as she searched the cabinets for a vase. “I have to cook for Bryan at the track. I think I’ll make a big lasagna and freeze it in single serving portions. That way he can pop one in the microwave when he wants one. Hopefully I can think of several things to stock the freezer of the motor coach with so that I don’t have to cook all the time.”
Jeremiah watched as Dawn stretched and bent while looking for a vase. Unfortunately, she found one in one of the top cabinets. She couldn’t reach it and was stretching on her tiptoes, trying to get it. She finally managed to touch it, but she knocked it off balance. Jeremiah jumped up from his seat at the table to catch it just before it hit Dawn on the head. Jeremiah sat the vase on the counter and looked down at Dawn. She had ducked her head and covered it with her hands. She was beginning to peek out from under her elbow. Jeremiah found this adorable. He was still looking at her when he realized that she was trying to move but couldn’t because he had her pinned against the counter. Suddenly, he felt awkward and took a step back.
Moving quickly, she grabbed the vase and went to the sink to fill it. He noticed that her cheeks were pink. Obviously, she was feeling the awkwardness as well. Once the vase was full, Dawn moved back over to the counter to unwrap the flowers. Then she arranged them in the vase. She put it on the table, avoiding looking at Jeremiah the whole time. “Have a seat. I’ll plate the lasagna and serve you. What would you like to drink?”
“Do you have iced tea?” he asked as he took a seat at the table.
“Is sweet tea okay?”
“You bet. You know, when I moved here from Montana, I hated iced tea. But I’ve learned that if you’re going to live in the South, you’d better learn to like it.”
“I know. I grew up in Arkansas where everybody drinks it. I didn’t like it until my family became friends with some people who moved to town. We’d go over to their house, and that would be all they had to drink. At first, I just tolerated it, but I eventually learned to like it.” She had been talking while putting food on plates. She had lasagna, garlic bread, and tossed salad. “I’ve always helped my mom cook for our family,” she said as she turned toward the table. “I know how to cook, but I only know how to cook for five. I guess it’s true what they say about how hard it is to cook for just one. I hope you like it,” she finished as she put a plate in front of Jeremiah. “What kind of dressing do you want for your salad?”
“Ranch please, if you have it.”
She went to the refrigerator and brought him a bottle. “Do you need anything else?”
“No. I’m fine. Sit down and enjoy this with me.”
She sat in a chair on the other side of the table. She bowed her head for grace and noticed that Jeremiah did the same. One small step in the right direction, she thought as she blessed the food.
An hour later, after Jeremiah had helped himself to two servings, he helped her clear the table and load the dishwasher. They moved to the living room where they sat and talked and watched TV. Then the phone rang. “It’s probably my mom. I’d better answer it.”
“Okay.”
“Hello,” Dawn said. “Oh, hi Emily. Did you get the e-mail I sent you?”
“Yes,” Emily answered. “I can’t believe that you met James Jr.! What’s he like?”
“He was nice. I only met him for about five minutes. Barely long enough to say hi and take the picture.”
“Did you get his autograph?”
“No. I didn’t have time. I’ll get it for you, though. I did get you someone’s autograph. It says, ‘To Emily. Thanks for being a fan. Love…”
“Love who!” Emily practically screamed into the phone.
“It’s a surprise. I put it in the mail this morning. You should get it in two or three days.”
“Not fair,” Emily replied. “So what about Bryan Richardson? What is he like?”
“He is a really nice man. I’ve met his wife and daughter. They are all great people. I think I’m going to love working for them. So how is school?”
“I’ve got a huge bruise on my left wrist that I got in softball practice. Daniel asked me to prom, but Dad says I can’t go because I’m just fifteen and can’t date until I’m sixteen.”
“You can’t talk him into it? You’ll be fifteen at the prom in May, but you’ll turn sixteen in July.”
“I’m working on it, but you know him. It won’t be easy.”
Revved Up Hearts Page 8
