Jared checked his voice mail and listened to the message from Annie. He wasn’t sure what to say to her. He knew he owed her an apology. He’d gotten angry and let their conversation get out of control. And last night had been too long and too lonely.
He walked through the garage area looking for that familiar dark-haired woman. But he didn’t see her at first. Then he found her, sitting in a chair outside of Dave’s hauler watching her cell phone like it was some kind of holy relic.
He walked over to her and cleared his throat, unsure what to say now that he was here with her.
She glanced up at him. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he said. He always knew what to say, but right now he didn’t. “I?”
“Wait, before you say anything I want you to know that I’m sorry for the way I acted. Dave’s not better than Tucker and being a Jenner doesn’t make me better than anyone else.”
“Actually, I’m not sure about that. Dave has a lot of integrity. I hadn’t really let myself see that side of him until today.”
“I’m pretty sure he wasn’t showing you his best side,” Annie said. “But that doesn’t excuse what I said.”
“I think we both said things we regret,” he replied. “I know I did.”
Annie got to her feet. “Me, too. I…I don’t want to fight with you, Jared. I realized today that I use my family as a shield.”
“I have barriers, too.”
“Yes, but you were willing to lower them for me, but I was…I was afraid to trust that you were the real thing,” she said.
“What changed?” he asked, aching to draw her into his arms.
“Two things. The first is that I realized that I was trying so hard to keep you away because you are more important to me than anyone else.”
“You’re important to me, too, Annie. I’ve really tried to show you that,” he said, drawing her into his arms.
He hugged her close. “What was the other thing?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he whispered into her ear. “More than I’d ever expected to. I always feared that love was the one thing that would be out of reach for me.”
“Not anymore,” she said, hugging him tightly to her. “You made me realize that home could be a person instead of a place.”
“You made me realize that home is something I can carry around with me. I found the home I’ve been searching for in you.”
They held each other for a long time. “I know you said to wait until Homestead to talk about our relationship, but… I want you in my life permanently.”
“I’d like that.”
The engines started firing up on pit road and the noise filled the air. “I have to go photograph the race.”
“I have some things to take care of, too,” he said, kissing her hard on the lips one more time.
As soon as she left, Jared went to find Alan Jenner. “I need to talk to Brandon. Do you know where he is?”
“Up in his owner’s suite.”
Jared had no jewelry and nothing prepared but he knew that today was the day he wanted to ask Annie to marry him and he couldn’t do it without her father’s permission.
TUCKER CAME FROM BEHIND to win the race and Annie and Dave both joined the other man in Victory lane. Annie took photos of her brother and saw the mark of the man he was.
“That was a tough race today,” Annie said. “I know you wanted to win for Daddy.”
“Yeah, I did. I’ve been dealing with some weird emotional stuff about living up to his legacy and today… Well, today I realized that the real legacy isn’t necessarily about the points I rack up and the races I win. I think Dad’s legacy is the way he conducted himself.”
“So you don’t care that if you win next weekend and the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Championship is yours?” she asked.
“Oh, I care. In fact, Vinnie and I are going to be talking strategy from now until the race is over next week. I really like your man, Annie. I think you’ve got a keeper this time,” Dave said.
“Me, too,” Annie replied.
Dave left to go to his after-race party and Annie followed along. Her parents were waiting in the garage area with a good number of her relatives.
“What’s up?” she asked her mom as she joined the group. Everyone was standing in a loose circle and not really talking.
“Nothing. We all wanted to be down here together,” her mother said.
“What for?”
“Just to support Dave,” Alan said. “Where is he?”
“He was talking to some reporters a few minutes ago. Why?” Annie asked.