Ignite

A sense of relief washed over my body as I grinned and glanced at Jack and then to Lynn. “We are for sure on the same page, Lynn. Don’t worry.”

Lynn smiled as she stood straight. “Great! See ya later, Emmit.”

Lola and I stood there as we watched Jack and Lynn make their way through the crowd.

I glanced down to Lola and said, “Why in the hell are women so complicated?”

Staring at me like she didn’t have the answers any more than I did, Lola barked.

With a chuckle, I said, “Right. Let’s go for a run.”

DRIVING INTO TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY had always given me a thrill. I hadn’t been to a race in three years. Not since the night I told Emmit I couldn’t marry him because I wanted to go to college, get my degree in nursing, and have a normal life. Not one where I was trying to study from a bus driving from racetrack to racetrack.

I’ll never be able to erase the look of hurt on Emmit’s face. No matter how much I loved him, I wasn’t going to give up my dreams and follow him across the country ten months out of the year. At least not while I tried to go to school.

“Adaline, are you even listening to me?” my mother asked as the security guard waved us through to the south tunnel.

I reached for my mother’s hand and gave it a light squeeze as I gave her a forced smile. She had picked me up from the airport and had insisted we stop by the track first before she dropped me off at my hotel down from the track.

“What? I’m sorry, Momma. I was day dreaming I guess.” Clearing my throat, I asked, “Did Daddy talk to Emmit about me being here this weekend?”

My mother shook her head slowly. “He has no idea you’ll be here.”

My heart dropped as I swallowed hard. “Daddy didn’t tell him?”

Pressing her lips together, she whispered, “He tried, but Emmit tends to go deep inside himself whenever he comes to Texas Motor Speedway.”

Ouch. That hit hurt. I could see the disappointment in my mother’s eyes. She always thought I had made a mistake breaking up with Emmit.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I looked out the window. “So, I’m basically going to show up and blind side him, that’s what you’re saying.”

With a wave of her hand, my mother mumbled something under her breath. “Oh, stop being so dramatic, Adaline. You always did blow things out of proportion.”

I stared at my mother as my mouth dropped open. “What?”

After parking the car, my mother quickly looked at me as she took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Adaline, just breathe. It’s all going to be okay.”

My mother opened the door to the truck, got out and walked off toward the buses as I sat in the truck.

“I’m not dramatic,” I whispered as I pushed the door open and jumped out of the truck. Reaching in, I grabbed my Dooney and Burke purse that was a present to myself for graduating nursing school, tossed it over my shoulder, and headed toward the buses.

As I walked along, I couldn’t help but get that feeling of race day excitement as I watched people go about their thing. Practice sessions and qualifying had already taken place for Emmit, so I was assuming Daddy was in his bus. A few people glanced up and smiled as they saw me walk by. Dalton Price, one of Emmit’s old pit crew guys from the earlier circuit, was one of them. Smiling brighter than the sun, he called out my name, causing me to stop.

“Holy shit. Do my eyes deceive me or is that Adaline Monroe?”

Dalton gave me a quick hug as I let out a chuckle “What in the hell are you doing here? I thought you gave up this life style?”

I felt a slight pain in my heart as I shrugged and said, “Well, I’m finished with school and all, so I thought I would come check things out.”

With a smirk, Dalton shook his head. “Check things out, huh?”

My eyes looked over his shoulder as I caught Malcolm Wallace’s stare. Malcolm and Emmit raced the earlier circuits together and were each other’s biggest rivals. It took Malcolm a year longer to move up to NASCAR and he hated the fact that Emmit had always been just a tad bit of a better driver than he was.

“You’re on Malcolm Wallace’s team now?”

Dalton nodded as he stood proudly. “Crew Chief.”

My eyes snapped back to Dalton. “What? Daddy didn’t tell me that. Oh my gosh, Dalton, that’s wonderful! I’m so proud of you,” I said as I threw myself into his arms. Dalton had started off on Emmit’s pit crew and quickly proved to be a huge asset. I was so proud of how far he had come in the short amount of time.