Revved Up Hearts (10 page)

“It was terrific!” She got halfway out of the car and sat in the window. She wasn’t sure that her legs would support her if she tried to stand up. Several of the guys patted her on the back, and they were all asking for details. “My heart was racing, but Bryan kept me cool. I could hear our speeds, but it didn’t feel like we were going that fast. The ride was so smooth. I thought I would be terrified when he took me right up to the wall, but I wasn’t.” Dawn could tell that she was talking as fast as the car had been going, but she was so excited that she couldn’t help it. “At times I was holding my breath, but I didn’t want it to end. It was by far the biggest adrenaline rush I’ve ever had. I didn’t want it to end. It was wonderful.” Everyone applauded and cheered. “And I want to thank all of you guys for talking me into this and for being here with me, encouraging me and cheering me on. It was great.” That brought another round of applause from the crowd.
This must be what Victory Lane feels like. Thank you, Lord, for letting me experience it safely,
she silently prayed to herself. Then Dawn noticed Jeremiah standing at the back of the crowd. When he saw that she had noticed him, he stepped up to stand beside
her.

“I’m glad you conquered your fear and had a good time,” he told
her.

“Me too. Next time, I’m going with
you.”

“Really?” he asked. His excitement was written all over his
face.

“If you want me
to.”

He put a hand around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. He gave her a quick kiss and murmured “It’s a date” against her
lips.

Word quickly spread about Dawn’s wild ride, and everyone in the garage area congratulated her. All the crew went to eat Chinese food for lunch and Dawn went along. Ted paid for her meal, telling her it was his way of showing how proud he was of her. That afternoon Dawn went back to her hotel room and called home. When she told her parents what she had done, they thought she had absolutely lost her mind. Both said they wouldn’t do it for all the money in the world, but her brothers thought it was really cool. They wanted to know if Dawn could arrange it for them when they came to visit. Dawn said that she would try. Dawn told them all that she loved them and asked them to tell everybody else back home that she loved them and was thinking about them. Almost as soon as Dawn hung up, the phone rang again. It was
Bryan.

“Good afternoon,” he said. “What are you
doing?”

“Nothing. I just talked to my family back home. I was thinking about watching some TV. Do you need me for
anything?”

“Yeah, I do.” I need you to come over to my motor coach. There are some people here that you need to
meet.”

“Okay. I’ll be right
over.”

When Dawn got to Bryan’s motor coach a few minutes later, he opened the door before she could knock. “Man, you got here quick. Come inside, and meet my
wife.”

Dawn wasn’t quite ready for that; it shocked her for some unexplained reason. Dawn had spoken to Bryan’s wife, Valerie, over the phone, but she was nervous about meeting her face to face. Dawn took a deep breath and walked up the motor coach steps. Valerie Richardson was sitting on the sofa. She stood to greet Dawn and extended her hand. Dawn could tell Valerie was assessing the woman who would be spending a lot of time with her husband. “Hello, nice to meet you,” Valerie
said.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Dawn answered as they shook
hands.

“Please, have a seat.” Valerie sat and motioned for Dawn to do the same. “Would you like something to
drink?”

“A Mountain Dew would be
nice.”

“Bryan, get Dawn a Mountain Dew please. And bring me one, too.”

“Okay,” Bryan answered from another part of the
coach.

“Bryan tells me that you are from Arkansas. Is that
right?”

“Yes, ma’am. Jasper, Arkansas.”

“Please don’t call me ma’am. I’m younger than
you.”

“But you’re my
boss.”

“No. I’m not. Bryan is,” Valerie said with a smile. “I got out of the racing business when I had
Lena.”

“Bryan showed me some pictures of her. She is so
cute.”

“He is very proud of her. I would introduce you to her, but she’s
asleep.”

“Here ya go, Dawn,” Bryan said as he entered the room and handed Dawn her drink. He handed a can to his wife. Then he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and went to check on the
baby.

“So, you were saying,” Valerie continued after she took a sip of her soda, “that you are from Jasper, Arkansas. What part of the state is
that?”

“In the northwest corner up in the Ozark Mountains. It’s not far from the Arkansas-Missouri border and only about an hour drive to Branson, Missouri.”

“Really? Bryan and I want to go there sometime. Is it as fun as they make it
sound?”

“Yes. I like the shopping more than anything. They have the greatest outlet malls up there. I’ve never seen a show that I didn’t really enjoy. Let me know when you want to go, and I’ll set it up for
you.”

“You would do that for us? That would be
great.”

“Sure. No
problem.”

“Thank you. So what did Bryan tell you that you’d be doing for him?” Valerie
asked.

“My job will be to set up personal appearances and make sure he gets to them on time. I’ll make sure he has plenty of pictures to sign and pens to sign with. He also wants me to keep the motor coach clean, do his laundry, and cook for
him.”

“What!” Valerie
exclaimed.

Dawn was
speechless.

“Bryan Lucas Richardson, get in here right now!” Valerie
yelled.

“What?” Bryan said as he ran into the
room.

“Did you tell Dawn that she would have to clean this motor coach, do your laundry, and cook for
you?”

“Yeah. So?”

“You were supposed to hire a personal assistant, not a
maid.”

“But I need someone to do those things for
me.”

Valerie gave Bryan a look of “I can’t believe you just said that” and then turned her attention to
Dawn.

Oh, no
, thought.

“I know I just said that I wasn’t your boss, but that was before I found out that he told you to do all that stuff for him.” She looked at him again with a look of total disgust. “If you would cook for him every now and then, I would appreciate it. It will make me feel better when I’m not around to know that he was eating healthy. But as for that other stuff, you don’t have to do it. Bryan wants everything done for him so that he can ‘concentrate on racing,’ but it’s just an excuse for him to be a
slob.”

“Wait a minute—” Bryan tried to cut
in.

“Oh, it’s true, and you know it,” Valerie
countered.

With that, Bryan went back into the other room. As he left, Valerie turned back to Dawn. “Back to what I was saying. If you happen to be doing your own laundry and want to do his as well, that’s fine. Or if this coach gets so messy that you can’t stand the sight of it—and it will—then clean it up for your own piece of mind. But don’t feel obligated to do
it.”

“Okay.”

“And if he gets pushy about it, let me know, and I’ll take care of
it.”

“Okay,” Dawn said
again.

“I think we’re gonna be good friends,” Valerie said with a
smile.

“I think so, too.” Just then, Bryan came back into the room carrying his daughter. “Dawn, this is the other person I wanted you to meet, my eight-month-old daughter, Lena Violet.” The little girl was just precious. She had dark, curly, brown hair and green eyes. A couple of teeth could be seen when she smiled at her
daddy.

“Bryan, she is adorable. Will she let me hold
her?”

“Probably. She usually isn’t shy around new people,” he said as he handed the baby to Dawn. The little girl looked up at her for a moment of uncertainty and then smiled like she had always known
her.

“You are so cute. Yes you are. Yes you are. And you smell so good.” Dawn cooed to the baby. Lena Violet laughed and then started playing with Dawn’s
watch.

“If you think she smells good now, you should be here a couple of hours after she eats. You won’t be saying that then,” Bryan
joked.

“Bryan, do you change dirty
diapers?”

“I try, but I’m no good at it. The smell gets to
me.”

“Well, at least you try. A lot of men don’t,” Dawn
commented.

“Other than that, he’s a great father. He feeds her and bathes her. He stayed up with her all night when she was sick. And they play all the time,” Valerie bragged on her
husband.

“That’s sweet. She sounds like a blessed little girl,” Dawn said as she looked at the baby in her arms. Lena was still trying to get Dawn’s watch off her
wrist.

“So, do you plan on having kids someday?” Valerie
asked.

“I gotta find the right guy first. I’ll think about kids after I find Mr. Right.”

“Speaking of that, Bryan says that you and Jeremiah Jones met your first day and have become
close.”

“We’ve gone out a couple of times, but it’s not
serious.”

“That’s not the rumor going around the
garage.”

“What? I haven’t heard anything,” Dawn
asked.

“Rumor has it that he watches for you to come into the garage area and out of our garage stall so that he can talk to you. The grapevine says that he likes you a
lot.”

“That’s news to me.” Just then, one of the race cars fired up nearby, and the noise startled the baby. She started to cry. “Don’t cry, baby,” Dawn said and tried to rock and calm the little girl. It was no use. The baby wanted her
mother.

“Come here, baby girl. It’s okay.” Lena stopped crying as soon as she was secure in her mother’s arms. “I bet you’re hungry after your nap. Are you hungry?” The baby looked at her mother and drooled. “I’ll take that as a
yes.”

“I’ll go, and let you feed her,” Dawn said as she stood. “It was nice to meet
you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Valerie responded. “Drop by anytime. We’ll have lunch sometime when you’re not busy. Maybe do some shopping. I meant what I said about us being
friends.”

It was Saturday afternoon. Dawn didn’t have anything to do, so she decided to go exploring. She grabbed her camera and walked back to the track. NASCAR fans drove their RVs to the track and stayed there all week, so that they wouldn’t miss any of the action. The first RV she came to was very obviously Fowler fans. Red, black, and green along with 3s and 88s were everywhere, and everybody was wearing something that said “Fowler.” They were barbequing hamburgers and hot dogs. It smelled so good. There were a couple of kids running around. The next camper contained Sean Vaughn fans. The scene was pretty much the same as the first except that the colors and numbers were different. It was the same at every RV. Dawn walked around, watching people and taking pictures. Even though everyone had a different favorite driver, everyone was friendly with everyone else. She heard some friendly trash talk, but nothing serious. She had heard that NASCAR was a big family, and this atmosphere confirmed that. Dawn finished her walk and headed back to her
hotel.