Millionaire Boss (Freeman Brothers 1)

When I got down to the garage, Dad was talking to Darren and Greg. His hands were up over his head and his face was high with color, telling me he was in the midst of one of his famous stories about the early days of the company. By the way he told the stories it sounded like he ran a racing company in the Wild West and that any second there could have been a shootout in the middle of the track. But it was always fun to listen to him, and I leaned against the frame of the bay door to hear the end of the story.

“That’s one of my favorites,” I said when he was finished.

Dad turned to me with a broad grin.

“I guess you’ve heard it a time or two,” he said.

“At most,” I joked, but the jubilant sound I intended for my voice fell flat.

“I guess we should be getting back to work,” he said.

“What are you working on?” I asked.

Dad and Darren exchanged glances. There was something in that look, but I wasn’t sure what it was. Dad gestured to the bikes in front of him.

“We’re just doing some last-minute checks and adjustments,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re ready for tonight.”

“That’s a good idea,” I told them. “The other teams are going to be coming for us after we’ve done so well the last few races. We want to make sure we stay on top.”

“And make sure we don’t let anyone that get us in another crash,” Greg pointed out.

“Also important to keep in mind,” I said.

They went back to their work, and I did my best to pay attention and be useful, but I quickly realized why my brother and father were looking suspiciously at each other. I was just about useless. It was like everything I ever knew about the bikes and racing had leaked out of my head and I wasn’t able to understand anything that was going on. The words just went through me, and I had nothing beneficial to add to the conversation. Finally, I stopped trying. I stepped back from what was going on and just watched. At least I wasn’t sitting in the office waiting for the sound of her shoes anymore.

As he walked around to the other end of the bikes, Darren came up beside me and clamped a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, and he grinned. He didn’t say anything, but I got what he meant by it. It was a lot coming from Darren, and I appreciated it. As fun and silly as my youngest brother could be, he sometimes struggled with difficult emotions. He hated to see anybody upset and often didn’t know how he was supposed to react. He was firmly on Merry’s side in this situation but wanted to make sure I knew he was still my brother and would always be there for me.

It was finally time to leave for the race. This time we were all leaving together to make sure the team was available for the tailgate event. Because we showed up for only part of the first one, many of the comments we got through our social media channels about the party were saying the fans wanted to see more of us. Requests for pictures and autographs were frequent, and several people even said they loved the idea of us grabbing some food and hanging out with them for a while. I made them feel like we were friends. I looked forward to trying to relax and have fun, to remind myself of the importance of the fans and why we worked so hard.

But I couldn’t help but be distracted knowing a few cars behind me in the caravan was Merry and her brother, and I wouldn’t be able to escape being near her tonight.

32

Merry

I couldn’t help but be proud of the success of the tailgate event. It was one of those things I never really envisioned myself doing. Especially not with the career path I’d chosen. As a social media consultant, it was my responsibility to evaluate and maintain social media presence for companies. It was all about creating effective social media platforms, maintaining engagement with customers and fans, and trying to build up more visibility so the companies could enjoy the benefits of a world that was increasingly virtual. And yet when I started working with Freeman Racing, my idea of my work responsibilities completely shifted. All of a sudden, I cared more about the company and the people who worked for it than I ever had about any other client. It wasn’t just about making sure their social media was at its best. Of course, that was at the forefront of what I was doing, but I was constantly thinking of as many other ways as I could to boost the company and bring them into a new era.