Revved Up Hearts (6 page)

Dawn was climbing down from the pit box after the race when she saw Jeremiah walking with his car toward pit row. As soon as all the teams from the first race clear out of the way, the teams for the second race would set up and then race. “Good afternoon,” Dawn said to Jeremiah as he
approached.

“Good afternoon,” was his terse reply. He didn’t stop walking when she greeted him. She had to fall in step beside him and walk faster than normal to keep
up.

“Is something wrong?” she
asked.

“No,” he
snapped.

“Well, I’ll be going now. It was nice to see you again.” She wasn’t about to hang around where she obviously wasn’t wanted. She turned and walked
away.

“Wait!” Jeremiah called after her when she had only gone a few steps. “Come back here, please.” His tone was softer. Dawn stopped and thought about it for a second before turning and going back. “I’m sorry for being so short with you. I’ve got the race on my brain, and I get tunnel vision before a race,” he explained. “I didn’t mean to be
rude.”

“Okay.”

“Will you walk with
me?”

“Sure.” They walked down pit row in silence. It was pretty clear the Jeremiah was preoccupied. It was awkward. “So, did you see this morning’s
paper?”

Jeremiah groaned and looked toward the heavens. “Yes, and if I could get my hands on that woman, I’d strangle her.” He looked down at Dawn. “Has Bryan seen
it?”

“Yes. He was actually the one who showed it to
me.”

“Ouch!” he exclaimed. “How did he take
it?”

“With some good-natured teasing. He said he would’ve fired me if I had started the fight, but he couldn’t blame me for defending myself. He laughed and said he was glad we were
friends.”

“Nothing
negative?”

“Not really. Just the teasing, but it was all in good fun. Ted asked me to autograph the picture, but I wouldn’t”

“Ted is a
moron.”

“No. He was just teasing like everyone else. I just told them they had better be able to take what they were dishing
out.”

Dawn wasn’t able to stay and watch Jeremiah’s race. She had to call Bryan’s fan club headquarters in Charlotte to schedule some appearances in California, the next stop on the NASCAR schedule. After that, Dawn read some of the rulebook that Jeremiah had brought her. Then she went back to her hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. Dawn was just walking back into her room when the phone rang. “Hello,” she
answered.

“Hello, beautiful.” It was Jeremiah. “Where have you
been?”

“The pool. What’s
up?”

“I wanted to ask you to dinner tonight. I know this great little Italian place that overlooks the ocean. Care to join
me?”

“That sounds
nice.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up in an
hour.”

Jeremiah knocked on the door of Dawn’s hotel room exactly one hour later. Dawn opened the door, and what she saw made her mouth drop open. Jeremiah stood there in black dress shoes that were so shiny she could see her reflection in them, black dress slacks with a razor-sharp crease, a maroon tie over a crisp, white button-up shirt, and a black suit jacket. Silver cuff links shone at his wrists. He held a single long-stemmed yellow rose in his right hand. His dark hair still looked a little damp from his recent shower. “Wow!” Dawn said. “You look
fabulous.”

“Thank you,” he said as he looked her over. “You look pretty good
yourself.”

“Thank you. Come on in. I’m almost ready.” She turned and walked into the room. Jeremiah followed. She wore a dark-green dress that went just below her knee. The low back and then straps made her back, shoulders, and neck look amazing. He wanted to kiss her neck, but he knew she wouldn’t appreciate that. They didn’t have that type of relationship. Not yet anyway. He looked at her backside but quickly looked at her legs. She wore black stockings with no shoes. Did she not know what that view did to him?
Probably not
, he thought to himself. She is so innocent and goodhearted that she probably didn’t know how pretty she
was.

She turned to face him, and he was embarrassed that he had been caught looking at her that way. Now he could take a better look at the front of the dress. The curves at the top of the dress came up high enough to be modest. A cross pendant hung just below her
collarbone.

“Jeremiah, are you listening to me?” Her words jolted him out of his thoughts about
her.

“What?”

“What were you thinking about? You didn’t hear me till the third time I asked
you.”

“I was just thinking about how beautiful you are.” It was an honest
answer.

“Thank you. Now, which earrings do you like the
best?”

Then he noticed that she was holding up two sets of earrings. “The dangly
ones.”

“Are you
sure?”

“No. I don’t know. I don’t know these things,” he said as he threw his hands in the air. “Ask me about racing or something else that I do know something
about.”

She laughed at his reaction. “I was just teasing you. How did you do in the race
today?”

“Second. I would’ve won, but I got passed on the last
lap.”

“So you and Bryan will start right next to each other
Sunday?”

“Yes. He’ll be on the outside of the second row, and I’ll be on the
inside.”

Dawn nodded as she finished putting in her earrings. “Is it true that a lot of celebrities go to the Daytona
500?”

“Yes. Last year Dwayne Edmonds was the grand marshal. I got to hang out with him and Willie
Simmons.”

“Really! Who’s going to be there this
year?”

“Tony Summers is supposed to be the grand marshal. You never really know who’ll be there until you show up for the drivers’ meeting.”

“Why do the movie stars go to the drivers’ meeting?”

“The grand marshal goes because he is part of the race and needs to know what is going to happen. As for the other celebs, they want to meet us just as much as we want to meet them. The drivers’ meeting is a good place for that because it’s the last time we get to relax before the
race.”

“That makes sense,” she said as she checked herself in the mirror one last time. She walked to the edge of the bed and slipped into her high-heeled shoes. Then she turned to him and said, “I’m ready if you
are.”

“I’m ready. Have I told you that you look
great?”

“Yes, you
have.”

“I mean it. It’s not just
flattery.”

“I know. Thank you,” she said as she walked past him. Then she turned back to look at him and flashed him her best smile. “Just make sure I meet Tony
Summers.”

The Italian restaurant was very upscale and elegant. It was semi-dark with white linen tablecloths and candles on all the tables. Soft violin music played in the background. A maître d’ in a tuxedo with tails met them at the door and escorted them to their table. He held Dawn’s chair for her and then placed a napkin in her lap.
I’ve never been treated like this before,
Dawn thought. Since Jeremiah couldn’t drink alcohol and Dawn simply didn’t drink, they ordered a bottle of sparkling cider. “What do you think of this place so far?” Jeremiah asked when they were alone at the
table.

“I love it. The ambience is
great.”

“One of the drivers owns this place. He lives in Daytona during the off-season. He came in here once and found out that it was going to close. He loved the place. So he bought it and left the owners in charge to run
it.”

“Really? Which
driver?”

“It’s a secret. He doesn’t want a lot of people to know. He wants it to stay a nice place, and he’s afraid that it’ll become a NASCAR hangout. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but he wants this to be a place where he can come to get away and
relax.”

“Everybody needs a place like that where they can let their guard down and be themselves, not what other people think they should
be.”

“Exactly,” he
answered.

“What’s your getaway place?” she
asked.

Jeremiah didn’t answer right away because the waiter had returned with their salads. “Let me see,” Jeremiah responded when the waiter left, “I think my getaway place would have to be Montana. Even though my parents aren’t together anymore, I can go to either of their houses and just be Jack’s son or Lorrie’s boy. They’ll tell me when I’m acting like a bigheaded celebrity and tell me to stop. The people in my hometown are the people who knew me when I was just a kid. Nothing keeps you humble like running into your third grade teacher at the grocery store, and she remembers the time you threw up in front of the whole
class.”

“Did that really happen to
you?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I got really nervous while doing my very first show and
tell.”

“Poor
guy.”

“Thanks for the sympathy.” He grinned at her. “What about you? Do you have a getaway
place?”

“The old place back home. My dad grew up in a little house with no electricity or running water. You’ve heard of growing up dirt poor, well that is how my dad lived. Anyway, we still own the land and house, even though no one lives there. There’s forty acres with a natural spring but mostly woods. Dad carried water from the spring into the house every day. I love to go up there and walk around. There is a big rock on the hill behind the house. I go up there and just sit. It’s so quiet. I can think or just clear my
mind.”

They talked until their entrees arrived. Jeremiah ordered garlic shrimp scampi, and Dawn had the chicken alfredo. It was delicious. Jeremiah offered to give Dawn some of his shrimp, but she couldn’t take it because she was allergic. “That was great,” Jeremiah said as he leaned back in the chair when he was finished. “Would you like some
dessert?”