Later that evening Dale heard a knock on his door. "Come in." he said from the couch where he was playing a video game.
Michael stepped in, "Hey man, how’s Kerry?"
"He’s ok, they took him to the hospital as a precaution but he’s going to be fine."
"That’s good. Looked like a pretty hard hit."
"Yeah it was, Ashton hit him right on the drivers side. Talked to him a little while ago and he said he was sore but ok."
"That’s cool." he sat on the couch next to Dale. "Dale?"
"Yeah?"
"What are we doing?"
"I don’t know. What do you want to do?"
"No, I mean us." Dale didn’t like the sound of this and never looked away from his game. "Dale?" Michael took the controller from him and turned off the tv. Dale sat staring at the blank screen and after a few more moments of silence Michael ran his hand down Dale’s cheek. "Please say something."
Dale stood and walked away from the couch. "Look, if you are here to say this is over then say it and go but don’t do that. Don’t lead me on like that."
"I am not here to end this, I don’t know, maybe I am. I love my wife, my kids, my life and know that this is completely wrong," Michael stood and slowly walked towards Dale. "But something won’t let me walk away from you." he pressed Dale against the wall and lowered his mouth to his.
After losing himself in Michael’s lips, Dale finally pulled away. "We swore after the first time that this would end there. Then it happened again and again." he looked up at Michael and couldn’t believe he was about to do this. "We can’t do this anymore. She is going to find out. You have everything to lose, we both do. We have been lucky so far, this could all crash down around us and then we will be lucky to even be friends."
Michael looked at him, studied him. "I know you are right but…"
"No, no buts, just go." Dale couldn’t meet his stare now and looked away, somewhere past him.
"You sure this is what you want?"
"No, it isn’t what I want but it’s what’s right."
"Ok," he stepped away from Dale. "See you tomorrow?" he asked hopefully but he felt things would change now.
"Yeah, tomorrow."
Michael gently laid a kiss on Dale’s forehead and turned and left the coach. Dale slid down the wall and sat on the floor staring at the door. He wanted to cry, scream, and laugh all at the same time but couldn’t really feel much of anything all of a sudden.
The season drug on for Michael and Dale. Things had become very strange between them both and they didn’t spend near as much time together just being friends as they had before. By the time Homestead rolled around in November Michael had made a comeback after his carburetor penalty and black flag race and was sitting in 4th place for the final race. Matt Kenseth and Dale Jr. were separated by 15 points and the championship was coming down to the final race of the season.
Michael wandered over to the #8 pit before heading to his. "Hey, you ready for today?"
Dale looked up from the wall where he was sitting trying to calm his nerves. "Yeah, little more nervous today than most."
"Well, it is a big day." Michael said sitting next to Dale.
"Yeah, this is insane. One race decides if I win the championship. No pressure there."
"Junior, screw them all."
"Who?"
"Everyone whom you are worried about. You are putting all this pressure on yourself because they are making you. Screw them."
Dale looked over at Michael "It’s not exactly just the pressure of the season. There is still this emptiness, even though I have had my fair share of women this fall"
"Yeah, I have noticed." Michael said quietly. He had seen the binge Dale had gone on after they ended their little affair. He went from woman to woman never keeping one around for more than one night. "I take it none of them worked out."
Dale noticed the bitterness in his voice. "I am sitting here alone aren’t I." He said getting aggravated. He quieted down remembering this was his idea not Michael’s. "They weren’t worth it." he said meeting Michael’s stare before standing and walking to his car.
Michael watched him walk to his car and grab his helmet out of it. He slowly made his way to Dale eyeing everyone around them. He gently but forcefully put his hand on Dale’s shoulder and squeezed. "You’re not alone kid, I promise." he whispered. "Go win that championship." he yelled as he walked towards his pit stall.