When I got to the compound, I didn’t head straight for the garages like I usually did. Instead, I went into the main building carrying the three boxes of treats. I stopped by the reception desk and offered Glenda a pastry. After she chose the one she wanted, I borrowed her intercom and made an announcement inviting everybody to come get a snack in the conference room.
“Thank you,” I said to Glenda, and she flashed me a thumbs-up from behind her custard-filled donut.
I carried the boxes into the large room and set them out on the table. Going into the nearby kitchen, I started making pots of coffee. I brought the first two into the conference room and came back with several mugs just before everybody started showing up. I went for another round of gathering the mugs, then brought a final two pots of coffee before settling in to enjoy the treat. Mom and Merry stood off to one side chatting about the baby, and I half listened to them for a while, but most of my attention was focused on the people milling around the conference room.
It was a rare occurrence to have everyone together on the compound and seeing it added to the sheer value of every one of these people. It also made the absence of Greg feeling heavier. I tried not to think about it, which led my eyes to wandering over to Kelly. She stared into the boxes carefully, evaluating each of the available pastries so she could select the perfect one. It was such a nonevent, something I never would have noticed someone else doing. Yet Kelly doing it was somehow adorable. She was being so analytical in her decision, like it was the most important thing she was thinking about that day. It made me interested in what she was finally going to choose.
More than that, it made me rethink the decisions we made about each other. What happened to Greg was the first major injury on the team since my time racing. There were some severe incidents many years ago before Quentin took over and racing was a different sport. But since the era of my oldest brother running the company and me racing, we hadn’t suffered any major catastrophes. A few bumps and bruises, a couple of skids, but no moments when any of us thought one of our own wasn’t going to make it away from the racetrack.
If there was anything to take away from this, it was that life was short. It was short, it was unpredictable, and it wasn’t guaranteed. None of us knew how much time we had left. On any given day, something completely unexpected and horrible could happen, no matter how careful we were or how much we did to avoid it. I decided right then I wasn’t going to waste any more of the time I had.
20
Kelly
I tried to make up for my indulgent lunch with Pam by eating a healthy breakfast, but Darren announcing the presence of pastries in the conference room was just too much for me to resist. It was an unexpected treat to gather with the other people from around the complex to eat the delicious goodies and drink coffee together. Many of these people were coworkers of mine, but I wasn’t familiar with them, yet. I spent the vast majority of the time I was on the complex down in the garages. That meant I really only encountered the Freeman brothers, Gus, Greg, and the other mechanics on a regular basis. When we all had lunch together, I had the opportunity to spend time with other members of the family, but there were some people I rarely encountered at all. This was a great chance to meet them and feel more connected to everybody working together.
The experience at the race was definitely bonding for all of us. Not in the way any of us would have wanted it to be, but it was undeniable watching the sheer terror of Greg crashing and not knowing if he was going to be all right made us all more aware of each other. I saw faces in that conference room I couldn’t immediately link a name to, yet I felt kind of attachment to them, like we were connected just because we worked in the same place and were linked by that association. Spending more time with Glenda, the receptionist from the front of the office building, Minnie, and Merry was especially fun. They all got along so well and seemed to enjoy spending time together. Watching them made me miss the time with my own sister and with my friends back home. When they readily welcomed me to come talk with them, the feeling of inclusion took some of the edge off. I looked forward to getting to spend more time with them soon.