Revved Up Hearts (3 page)

“Good morning,” Bryan said when Dawn arrived at the garage area. “Ready to get to
work?”

“Yes, sir, I mean Bryan. Where do I
start?”

“Well, there isn’t personal-assistant stuff to do today. Not really much on this trip at all. Since this is the first race of the season, Valerie got everything for this trip ready before we left Charlotte. I wanted you to have an opportunity to hang out, get to know everybody, and learn about our
operation.”

“And I get to go to the Daytona
500!”

He smiled. “Are you excited about
that?”

“Yes. Some of my family and friends back home are so jealous of me. Not just because I get to go to the 500 but because I am working for a NASCAR driver. I get to hang out with all the
drivers.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I have strict orders to take as many pictures as I can. If I don’t get James Fowler Jr.’s autograph for my cousin Emily she may never speak to me
again.”

Bryan laughed out loud at that. “We can’t let that happen. I’ll introduce you around. Speed weeks before the 500 are a good time before the stress of the racing season really gets
started.”

“Great. I would really appreciate it,” Dawn
replied.

Dawn spent the next few hours looking under the hood of the car, getting tools, and bringing the crew sodas. She felt like she was in the way, but the crew assured her that she wasn’t. She also thought she was asking too many questions, but they gladly answered them all. They jokingly told her that they would let her know when she was being
annoying.

They stopped for lunch at noon when the pizza arrived. They were all sitting around eating pizza off of paper plates when Jeremiah came by. Bryan was laughing at a teammates joke when he spotted Jeremiah. He stopped laughing and stared at him with an icy glare. All conversation stopped, and everyone watched quietly. “What are you doing here, Jones?” Bryan asked
coldly.

“I’m here to see Dawn. She said she didn’t know all the rules and regs, so I brought her a
rulebook.”

“I gave her one,” Bryan
replied.

“She said it was with her things in Charlotte. I thought she might need one this
week.”

Dawn watched the chilly exchange, looking at each man as he
spoke.

“You just love doing favors for me, don’t
you?”

“Are you ever going to let me live that down? How many times do I have to say it was an accident and then apologize for it?” Jeremiah asked. “Besides, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for
Dawn.”

Bryan didn’t answer. He just shrugged, got up, and walked
outside.

“Well, I just thought I’d drop this off,” Jeremiah said as he handed the book to
Dawn.

“Thank you.” It was all that Dawn could manage. She had no idea what was going
on.

“You’re welcome,” he said as he turned and walked out the door. Dawn just watched him
go.

“How do you know Jeremiah Jones?” asked Ted, the team’s catch-can man and
mechanic.

“He helped me find this stall yesterday, and we jogged together this morning,” she answered. “What’s the deal with those
two?”

“Don’t you know? Last year at the Bristol race, he tapped Bryan while trying to pass. But he hit him too hard and that caused Bryan to spin and wreck. When Jones won the race, that just made Bryan madder. Jones said it was just an accident, but Bryan said it was dirty racing. They’ve been cold to each other since. I can’t believe he had the nerve to come in here.” Dawn remembered hearing something about it on sports news, but she had no idea that it had left lasting animosity between the two of
them.

Later that afternoon, the crew kept their promise when they let her sit in the car while they pushed it out of the garage for practice. Normally, they would be qualifying at this time, but the Daytona 500 was next Sunday. Things were done a little differently for the “Super Bowl of racing.” The racers would practice and then qualify for two short races. The faster they qualified, the better the starting position they had for the Twin 125s. The finishing order of these races would determine how teams lined up for the 500. After qualifying, teams can make minor changes to the car but no major changes, like switching motors or major parts of the car. If such a change is made, the team loses the spot qualified for and start the race at the back of the field. They were finished with qualifying around 4:30 p.m. Bryan would start second in the first race, and Jeremiah would start fifth in the second race. So they would not be racing against each other until the
500.

After practice and qualifying, Dawn went back to the hotel. She changed into shorts and a T-shirt. She found a local mall where she bought a couple more pairs of jeans, a few more T-shirts, and a sweater. After shopping, Dawn grabbed a bite to eat, went back to the hotel for her camera, grabbed a taxi, and went to Daytona
Beach.

She had only seen the Atlantic Ocean once before; it was just as beautiful as she remembered. She walked along the beach, taking pictures of the ocean waves, seagulls, and other people who were taking in the view. It was February, so the water was too cold to swim in but not too cold to get your toes and feet wet. She was trying to focus on a group of children gathering shells when Jeremiah stepped into the camera’s view. He had on a pair of long denim shorts and a light-blue polo shirt. He also had on a pair of sunglasses. His brown hair was windblown. He was
gorgeous.

“How do I look?” he asked as he struck a pose for the
camera.

“I can’t tell,” Dawn lied. “The sun is behind you, so you’re in
shadow.”

“Oh.” He grabbed her shoulders to turn them both around and then struck another
pose.

“How’s
this?”

“You look like a real model,” she answered as she snapped a shot. She walked around him and took a couple more from different angles. “Why didn’t you tell me that you and Bryan don’t get along?” she asked as she watched him through the camera’s view
finder.

“I never thought about it. Why?”

She lowered the camera to look directly at him. “Let’s see, you and my new boss have a long-standing rivalry. You show up in his garage stall on my first day of work and ask for me. After you leave, I get the third degree from a crew
member.”

“Ouch,” he
grimaced.

“Exactly. It was nice to know you. He’ll probably fire me
tomorrow.”

“No, he won’t. He doesn’t like me, and I should’ve known that he wouldn’t like me showing up in his garage. But he’s fair, and he won’t hold it against you,” Jeremiah told
her.

“But you have to admit that it is quite a shock to find out that your new friend and your boss don’t get
along.”

“I’ll admit that you have a point,” he said as he looked down at his feet. But then he looked up and smiled at her. “New friend, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Jeremiah said. “Is my new friend going to the truck race
tonight?”

“Truck
race?”

“Yeah. NASCAR has a truck series. There is the truck series, the nationwide series, and the Sprint
Cup.”

“The Sprint Cup is the biggest series, the big leagues. It is what all the drivers aspire to. The other two are like farm teams,” Dawn
replied.

“To put it in baseball terms, yes. You are a quick
learner.”

“I can understand anything if you explain it to me in baseball
terms.”

He laughed at that. “So are you going to the truck race?” he asked
again.

“I didn’t know about it.” She looked over his shoulder. “Oh look, the sun is setting!” she exclaimed, as she started snapping
pictures.

Jeremiah turned around and looked. The orange sun was setting over the ocean. The clouds and sky around the sun were all different shades of orange and pink. The last remaining light was reflecting off the water. “It’s beautiful,” Jeremiah said, but he wasn’t looking at the sunset.
It doesn’t hold a candle to the woman standing beside me
, he thought as he grasped her chin and turned her to face
him.

She lowered the camera but looked at him with confusion in her eyes. When she realized that he was about to kiss her, she gasped and took a step back away from
him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked but didn’t try to stop her from putting some distance between
them.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she answered as she looked down. She was concentrating on a rock in the
sand.

“Did someone hurt you?” he prodded. She was obviously very upset. He didn’t know what to
do.

She kicked the rock and watched it skip across the beach. She stood there for a moment, just staring at the ocean. She wiped at a tear just before turning back to face
Jeremiah.

“So about this truck race, what time does it
start?”

Jeremiah decided to let her change the subject for now. “Eight. Can you be ready by seven? I’ll pick you up at your
hotel.”

Dawn arrived at the garage early the next morning. Everyone was already hard at work when she got there, and they barely acknowledged her arrival. She started to tidy up the garage area, picking up paper cups and doughnut boxes. She dumped those in the trash and wiped off the table. She was looking for a broom when Ted walked in and made a beeline for Dawn. “Did you go to the truck race with Jones last night?” he asked without so much as a “good
morning.”

“Yes. Why?”

“You know that Jones and Bryan don’t get along. I told you that
yesterday.”

“So?” Dawn stopped what she was doing to look directly at
Ted.

“The boss isn’t going to like
it.”

“It’s none of the boss’s business,” Bryan said from behind Ted. Neither Dawn nor Ted had heard Bryan walk up to them. “I may not like Jones, but I can’t choose his friends or stop my employees from being friends with him.” Bryan turned to Ted. “Don’t you have some work to do?” At that, Ted turned and joined the rest of the crew. “Ted is a great guy who is excellent at his job, but he loves to gossip and stir up trouble. Don’t let him get you involved in any of his
schemes.”

“Okay.”

“So, did you have fun at the race last
night?”

“Yes,” Dawn said, happy that Bryan had changed the subject. “We sat in his sponsor’s luxury suite. I didn’t know that the nosebleed seats are the ones that you want for a NASCAR event. From up there, you can see all the way around the track and really follow the
action.”

“Did you learn
anything?”

“Yes. Jeremiah said that the rules for the truck races are pretty much the same as for the cup race, so I feel a little more
prepared.”