Revved Up Hearts (35 page)

After church, Jeremiah joined Dawn and her family for a huge meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra, and biscuits. Jeremiah ate until he was stuffed, but then Donna brought out a homemade peach cobbler and ice cream. He’d have to find room for some of
that.

“Mom, if I keep eating like this, I’ll gain all my weight back,” Dawn said as she got herself a hearty serving and passed the pan to
Jeremiah.

“You don’t have to eat it,” her mom
replied.

“Yes, I do. I’ll just do an extra twenty minutes on the treadmill every day for a
month.”

“Man, this is good,” Jeremiah told Donna as he finished his first bite. “I won’t fit into the car when I get back to Charlotte.” That comment brought the happy atmosphere of the room down because it made everyone remember that Dawn and Jeremiah would be leaving in a few
hours.

“C’mon. Everybody cheer up,” Patrick said. “Did you hear the one about how to catch a polar bear? You cut a big hole in the ice and put green peas all around it. Then when the polar bear comes up to take a pea, you kick him in the
icehole.”

Later, Dawn and Jeremiah sat with her parents enjoying the last few moments before Dawn and Jeremiah had to go. Finally, it couldn’t be avoided anymore. “We really need to get a move on,” Dawn said, rising from the couch. “We better leave now if we’re going to make it back to Charlotte at a decent
hour.”

“Yeah,” Jeremiah agreed, also rising. “I told the pilot to be back at the airport in Harrison at
three.”

Donna rose too. Freddy tried, but Dawn told him to stay seated. Dawn walked down the hall to Shane’s room where her brothers were playing video games. They came out to tell Dawn good-bye. They each shook Jeremiah’s hand and told him to keep watching out for their older sister. There were tears in Dawn’s eyes as she bent to hug her dad. “Keep doing what the doctors tell you, and get better soon. I love
you.”

“I love you, too,” Freddy said. “You take care of yourself, and come home again as soon as you
can.”

“I
will.”

Jeremiah took the older man’s hand when Dawn stepped aside. “It was a pleasure to meet you, sir. Thanks for all your
hospitality.”

“Anytime. It’s easier to see my little girl leave knowing that she is in good
hands.”

“I’ll take good care of her.” He reached to pick up Dawn’s suitcases and followed the two women outside. He put the bags down to hug Donna. “It was great to meet you, too. Thanks for all the delicious food you cooked for me while I was here. Now I know where Dawn learned to
cook.”

“Come back soon, and I’ll cook for you
again.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” he told her as he picked up the luggage again and went to put it in the car. This gave Dawn and Donna an opportunity to say good-bye in
private.

“He’s a great guy,” Donna said as she embraced her
daughter.

“Thanks. I’m glad you like
him.”

“Call me when you get home so that I won’t
worry.”

“You’ll still
worry.”

“You’re right. But call me anyway so that I won’t worry as
much.”

“Okay.” The two women hugged for another moment and then let each other
go.

“I wish you could stay,” her mom said as a tear ran down her
cheek.

“I wish I could
too.”

“I’ll be praying for
you.”

“I know. I count on it.” They hugged again briefly. “I’ve really got to go. I’ll call you, Mom. I
promise.”

“I’ll wait
up.”

Dawn walked over to the car and got in. She took one more look at the little house and waved to her mom. “Bye. I love
you.”

“I love you, too.”

Dawn was so tired when she got home later that night. She made a quick call to her mom and then fell into bed without changing into her pajamas. She was sound asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Things were hopping at the shop when she arrived at 8:30 the next morning. The good news was that the race this weekend was in Charlotte, so Dawn and the crew wouldn’t have to travel this week. The bad news was that the new pictures of Bryan that she needed for a sponsor appearance this Friday hadn’t arrived yet. The photographer assured Dawn that they would be there by Wednesday afternoon at the very
latest.

Dawn spent most of the rest of the day catching up on e-mail and answering the phones for the receptionist who was out sick. That evening, Dawn went to dinner with Bryan and the crew for Travis’s birthday. Jeremiah sent her a text while she was at the restaurant. He wanted to rent a movie and veg out on the couch with a big tub of popcorn. She sent him a message back that she couldn’t tonight but she was thinking about him. She told him they would spend tomorrow night
together.

Jeremiah and Dawn went to Bryan’s on Tuesday night for Bible study, but the evening was cut short when the baby started running a fever. Valerie thought the baby was teething. Jeremiah took Dawn home and stayed to watch a movie. He kissed her good-night around midnight and went home. That was the last time Dawn saw Jeremiah that week. The pictures from the photographer arrived on Wednesday afternoon as promised, but they had the name Brian Richardson printed on them instead of Bryan Richardson. Dawn was very upset when she called the photographer. He was a professional in Charlotte, the NASCAR capitol. He had a contract with one of the top teams to photograph their star driver. Couldn’t he even spell the man’s name right? The photographer promised to have corrected photos delivered directly to the appearance, but Dawn didn’t trust him at this point. Bryan wasn’t too happy either. These were color pictures, but they would have to take black and white ones as backup in case the photographer didn’t pull through. Maybe Dawn could convince Bryan to let her take his pictures after all. As it turned out, Dawn was glad they had been prepared with a plan B because the color pictures didn’t arrive until about halfway through the appearance on Friday. Bryan was gracious enough to sign color photos for those who had gotten black and white ones. So some lucky fans got two autographed
photos.

Other than that, the appearance went very smoothly. It was a charity fundraiser for Victory Junction Gang Camp, a summer camp for chronically or terminally ill kids. The camp was started by Kyle and Patty Petty in honor of their son Adam. Adam was a fourth-generation race car driver who was killed while practicing for a race. Other drivers were at the appearance too. All of them, plus other drivers who couldn’t be there, had donated items for an auction. Bryan donated a race-used helmet that he had autographed. Jeremiah had sent a pair of gloves and a diecast car, both signed. Dawn almost won a ride along with Sean Vaughn but was outbid at the last minute. After all the money had been counted, almost $300,000 had been raised for the
camp.

Dawn learned even though the race was in Charlotte and the crews didn’t have to fly anywhere, most of them still brought their motor coaches to the track and stayed there to avoid the heavy traffic of a race weekend. So Dawn once again found herself checking into a hotel. Bryan had given her the choice of staying home and driving every day, but she wasn’t that familiar with Charlotte yet. She would hate to get stuck in traffic and be late when Bryan was expecting her. Maybe next year after she had learned the shortcuts for getting around
town.

After checking in, Dawn went to the track to help the guys get all the gear unloaded and ready to go. “Be careful around that toolbox,” Ted told her as they were working. “We broke the wheel getting it off the truck.” He pointed to the wheel in
question.

“Okay,” Dawn answered as she carried a computer monitor over to the table. Dawn realized exactly what Ted meant the next time she was at the toolbox. It wobbled really bad when she pulled a metal shelf out that would hold a laptop during the
race.

“Be careful,” Travis reminded
her.

“Thanks,” she said as she turned to go inside the garage stall. About that time, Ted was trying to open another drawer at the end of the toolbox. It was stuck, so he gave it another hard tug. The drawer opened, but the force of the tug caused the toolbox to move just enough for the broken wheel to completely break off. The whole toolbox started to fall
over.

“Look out!” Travis yelled as Ted jumped out of the way. Dawn had just enough time to put up her hands before the huge toolbox fell on top of
her.

The next thing Dawn remembered was waking up in a room she didn’t recognize. After looking around, she figured out that she was in a hospital room. There was an IV in her arm, and the monitor beside her was keeping track of her vital signs. The more she moved her head, the more she realized that she had a whale of a headache. She reached up to touch the bandage on the side of her head. She looked around again and saw Jeremiah sleeping in a chair beside the bed. He had pulled the chair up close enough that he could rest his head on the bed beside her. She reached down to put her hand on his head, running her fingers through his
hair.

His head was turned so that he was facing away from her. After a moment he turned so that she could see his face, but his eyes were still closed. Slowly, he opened those gorgeous green eyes. He looked at her, still trying to focus his sleepy eyes. “Hello, beautiful,” he said, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. “It’s good to see
you.”