Chapter 11
“You rang?”
“What the…” Jr’s Jaw was still dropped in shock.
“Did you know your not supposed to use cell phones in the hospital…?”
Jr couldn’t believe it. The whole time he was worried that something happened to him… and he was standing right in front of him! NOT to mention that he just spoke to him! KEVIN SPOKE! He was confused on what to do! He wanted to pummel him for making him worry but on the other hand he wanted to hug him!
“Stop staring at me and pick up your phone.” Kevin said while backing up a little for Jr to get his phone that had fell under his feet.
“W…What the hell is going on here…” he muttered as he leaned down and picked up his scratched and dented cell phone. Normally he’d be mad but right now he could care less.
“What do you mean?” Kevin asked.
“I came here thinking you were hurt! But I … well… LITERALLY run into you and find that you’ve had a miraculous recovery!” He said while putting on the classical Earnhardt Glare.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“NO NO! Stop that shit Kevin! I meant that you… I was… awww HELL forget it!! How about this? Why are you at the hospital?”
“Cause of De.”
Junior’s eyebrows shot up as he remembered the blood by the pool.
“Aww SHIT! Is she ok?! I saw blood and thought it was yours and never even thought it was De!”
“Mine?!” Kevin’s face scrunched up into a confused expression. “Why did you think it was me?”
“Dunno… guess…. Was scared you … well… might of tried something or… I don’t know.”
“Hmmm…”
The two men looked anywhere but at each other for what seemed like forever until Kevin broke the thick silence with a laugh.
“You stuttered… hee hehe” Kevin said though giggles. Jr looked at him like he lost his mind until realizing that Kevin was laughing at him! Jr reached out and punched Kevin hard in the shoulder to make him stop. His face was mushed in a pissed off look.
“Don’t laugh at me…”
“I’m sorry… It’s just… I haven’t laughed in a while and thought that was hilarious.” Kevin said while wiping a slowly forming tear away.
“Kevin… What happened? Are you ok?” Jr let his tough exterior crumple for just a moment. He was concerned for his friend and finally he had the chance to try to talk to him about all the crap that had happened.
“I’m fine…” Kevin mumbled while staring at the tiles of the hospital floor.
Jr rolled his eyes.
“I knew you would say that.”
Kevin sighed and then turned around to walk back in the direction he came from.
“Jr I gotta check on De… I can’t talk about this now.”
“Sure you can…” Jr said while catching up with him.
Kevin stopped and turned to the Budweiser driver. “Look… Dale. I don’t know what’s going on ok? I sort of snapped out of what ever the hell I was in last night and still haven’t had a chance to sort things out… and then I woke up this morning and found Delana hurt in the pool. Can we save this conversation for later?”
Junior was speechless for a few seconds. “Yeah… yeah sure… sorry…”
“Don’t be sorry.” Kevin said turning to continue his walk back towards Delana’s room. “When I figure things out… We’ll talk ok?” He smiled reassuringly and Jr nodded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jr followed Kevin down some different hallways till they came up to a counter. Kevin leaned over and gave the nurse a smile. “Hey there. I was just wondering if you could tell me what room Delana Harvick is in?”
The nurse returned the smile and looked up the number of the room right away for him. “Here you go sir! 220!”
“Thank you.” Kevin said and turned to walk in the direction of the room that held his wife.
“That’s just not fair…” Jr mumbled from behind.
“What’s not fair?”
“Frickin Lady at the other desk gave me a hard time and you walk up and get an immediate answer. What the hell!” Jr huffed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Kevin… at seeing this… stopped and turned around.
“Maybe that’s why. You look like you could kill your grandmother with that look on your face.” Kevin chuckled and then continued walking leaving Jr with an other scowl.
“Listen Harvick… just cause I’m happy you’re alright doesn’t mean I wont kick your ass.”
“Well we’re in a hospital… best place for ass kicking’s. Faster to get patched up.” Kevin smiled while weaving through the hospital to his wife.
“Yea we’re in a hospital… I should get my head checked for WANTING you to be normal again…” Jr mumbled while following Kevin down the hallways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They finally arrived to Delana’s room and Jr let Kevin step in first. Delana was awake and sitting up looking out the small hospital room window. She had a white cloth around her head but looked pretty good otherwise. As soon as Kevin stepped inside her head turned sharply towards the door like she was eagerly awaiting his arrival. Her Quick motions though weren’t welcome by her aching head and she hissed and put a hand to her head in an effort to sooth the banging within.
Kevin at seeing her discomfort winced sympathetically and rushed over to her side. He placed a hand on the side of her head and the other on her chin softly.
“De! No quick movements!” he scolded in the quietest voice as possible.
Finally she opened her slightly pain filled eyes to greet her husbands.
“I thought I was dreaming…” She whispered, allowing her fingers to gently touch his face.
“No more dreams De… I’m here.”
A tear escaped Delana’s eye as she rapped her arms around his neck.
“I love you. Don’t leave me alone again ok?” She sniffed into his neck, still hanging on tight.
“I wont De… I wont. I’m so sorry.”
Behind them Dale Jr slipped out of the door and gently shut it behind them. A big smile rested on his lips as he sighed out all the frustration he had felt for so long. This was all over. Hopefully Kevin never remembered what happened while he was kidnapped. And now that Kevin and Delana were back together again, anything that came up wouldn’t have to be handled alone.
He leaned on the door and looked around in a Secret Service kind of way. He wanted them to have time together and anyone that wanted to get through this door in the next 10 minutes would feel the Earnhardt wrath. Suddenly he burst out in a bright smirk… Grabbing his dented phone out of his back pocket, he started making a few calls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once Delana was home safely and sleeping peacefully, Jr finally let out his big great idea.
“Ok… while you were in with De I made a couple calls.”
“Did you let the guys know I’m ok?” Kevin asked while pouring himself some soda.
“Hell no! Are you kidding?! And pass up this treat!”
Jr sat at the kitchen table with his hands folded, sitting up like a little kid in excitement. Kevin, who was leaning against the kitchen counter, took a slow sip of his drink eying the Earnhardt in front of him. He let a smile grace his mouth after he swallowed.
“I like how your crazy mind works… Spill.”
“Welp… If you don’t mind leaving Delana for like… an hour? She’s sleeping anyways!”
“She won’t mind as long as she’s sleeping. Where are we going.”
“Your gonna love it! Go get ready! We’re meeting them at 7!”
Kevin set his glass down in curiosity and went to check on De first. He didn’t know what Jr had planned but he was sure it was gonna be great.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jr pulled his black Tahoe into the parking lot with a smile still on his face. Kevin immediately knew what the plan was at seeing where they had gone and started laughing
“Are you serious?” he said with a giggle.
“Oooo yeaa…”
In front of them was a Go-cart course complete with carts painted with Nascar Paint schemes. Jr pulled into a spot a good distance away from the entrance facing away from the rest of the cars.
“Ok… I wanted to talk to you before we got out and if the guys are here already I don’t want them to see your mouth move.” Jr’s giddiness was oozing from his pores.
“So what’s the plan.”
“I called Tony, Sadler, Jeff and Jimmie. They were the ones at the hospital the night we found you.”
Jr took a moment to let that bit of information sink in then continued.
“Here’s what we’re gonna do… Hope your good at acting!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“How come you all have your own Go-cart and I don’t?” Elliot Sadler said while pacing the Course fence.
“Cause we are cooler then you.” Tony said with a “Duh” expression.
“No one ever wants to drive the YELLOW Cart Elliot.” Jeff said while picking apart a leaf for something to do.
“But yours is a RAINBOW! Why would anyone want to be caught in a rainbow car?!”
“Hey! Kids like Rainbows!”
“That’s cause they don’t know what they mean!” Elliot snapped back.
Jimmie and Tony shook their heads in disappointment at the bickering males. This was going to be a long night.
Finally off in the distance of the parking lot Jimmie caught site of two figures walking at them.
“Hey you guys its them” He announced.
The men put everything aside and stood up for the arrival of their friends.
“Hey guys.” Jr said while ushering Kevin up to the go-cart course.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Sup.”
They all couldn’t help but stare at Kevin. He looked normal with his Baseball cap on but the hollow look in his eyes told them otherwise. They still couldn’t believe that something like that had happened to their friend and they were all helpless to help him.
“Um… Where’s Delana?” Tony asked while making an attempt to look anywhere but at the vacant eyes of his friend.
“Getting a much needed rest. We ready?”
“How do we know this is going to work. We’ll probably be sitting there for hours waiting for him to do something in the go-cart and be disappointed.”
“Way to be the positive one Jeff.” Elliot said.
Jeff gave him a smug look while they all walked up to the gate to get in.
“Well I guess I’ll drive Rusty’s cart.” Elliot whined while sliding in.
“We had them put Kevin’s cart in the front so he could be the first to go… if he ever does.” Tony said while getting into his orange 20. Jimmie got in his 48 and Jeff into his 24. Jr couldn’t help the smile on his face as he led Kevin by the elbow to the front of the carts. He had Kevin step into the cart but acted confused as to how he’d get him to sit down.
“This is going to be a long night.” Jeff mumbled while resting his forehead on the wheel.
“Kevin you have to sit down. It’s just a Go-cart. You know how to use it.” Jr said with a humungous grin. What the others didn’t know was Kevin was about in tears trying to keep a straight face during all of this.
“Jr just get in your cart. Maybe he’ll follow your example.” Elliot said while tapping his fingers on the side of the Rusty cart.
“Ok we’ll try that.” Jr stepped over to his Red 8 that sat next to Kevin’s silver 29 and slid into his seat as well. They all sat there for about 5 minutes waiting to see if Kevin did anything till Jr broke the moment.
“I say we take a bet. I say it’ll take 5 minutes for him to sit down.”
“O bull shit I say never.” Tony added.
“20 minutes.” Jimmie chimed in.
“30 minutes!” Jeff said.
“How the hell long we stayin here?” Elliot mumbled from the back.
They all turned to glare at him till finally he added 15 minutes to the bet.
“Ok… since we’re high stakes men… I say we put 100 down.”
“Jr are you nuts? 100?!” Jeff whined.
“Don’t act like you don’t have it in your Chevy.” Elliot smirked from the back seat.
“Fine.. 100.” Jeff muttered back.
They sat there counting the minutes out loud. When they got to 4 minutes Jr’s grin got even bigger to the point of a Cheshire cat. Finally Jimmie said 5 minutes and the group gasped as Kevin started to lower himself into the seat and landed with a plop.
“WOO HOOO!!! Pay up boys!! 5 minutes on the button! I should go to Vegas tonight!”
“Dumb luck.” Elliot said while leaning his head back to look at the stars.
“So are we betting on how long it takes till he starts driving?” Jimmie said while restarting the stopwatch function on his Rolex.
“Jr should be Excluded.” Jeff said. “He already won.”
“Hey like you guys said… it was dumb luck. What are the odds that I’ll win this one too? I say we up it to 2 hundred bucks!”
“Hell I’m in.” Tony said while unbuckling himself. “I still say he’ll never go”
“I say 20 minutes.” Jr said.
“5 minutes.” Jeff added. “Hey it worked for Dale.”
“10…” Said Jimmie.
“Tony already took mine.” Said Elliot who now had his eyes closed.
“You have to pick one.” Jeff informed the relaxing driver.
“Fine… 30 minutes.”
“Alright guys. Lemme just buckle him up just in case so he doesn’t slide out like Jeff did on that Golf cart.”
“That was priceless.” Snickered Tony.
Everyone had a good laugh except for Jeff. “Shut up you guys!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Men sat there for 15 minutes with no sign of movement from Kevin. Jeff and Jimmie already had a bit of a huff that so far they lost. Elliot was softly snoring from his go-cart in the back. Tony wasn’t far behind as he was letting his head droop every so often. Jr just tapped the steering wheel to the beat of his own special song in his head. Jimmie was counting down the minutes and Jeff was staring into space.
A line of people who wanted to ride the Go-carts would show up every once in a while only to be ushered away. Jr had paid for the course that night special. So there was really no rush till they closed at midnight.
Finally Jimmie called out 20 minutes, momentarily waking up Tony. There was no help for Elliot at this point. The awake ones sat up for a brief second to see if Kevin did anything. After about 20 seconds they all slumped down and sighed.
“Sorry Jr… Think you lost this one.” Tony said while leaning his head back like Elliot.
Suddenly the silver 29 go-cart was switched on making everyone jump in their seats. Even Elliot who was mid-snore leapt out of his seat a good two feet at the sound. The engine revved and they watched as Kevin lifted his hands to his hat. He slipped it on backwards and grabbed onto the steering wheel.
The men behind them were open-mouthed at this point as they watched Jr re-buckle himself. Slowly at first Kevin inched foreword onto the track. Jr turned around and gave them a huge Earnhardt grin.
“I believe that I just made a lot of money tonight.”
And with that Kevin took off around the first corner before the others could turn on theirs and put on their belts. Jr took off after him in a cloud of go-cart smoke.
Jr caught up to Kevin quickly and hugged the back of the 29 cart. In one of the corners Jr caught sight of the others. They were sort of far behind due to their moment of shock. He laughed evilly and went after the cart in front of him harder.
Kevin couldn’t help the wide smile on his face. This felt so good to be in control of something with 4 tires and an engine again.
Jr and Kevin kept switching back and forth in their position until the others started to catch up. Tony was the first one to reach them. He had rough housed his way passed Jimmie and Jeff, leaving Elliot straggling behind and was now on his way to Jr’s back bumper. Kevin could see Tony coming quickly glancing back in an other turn. He braced himself to go faster to make it harder on Tony to catch him when he heard tires shriek. He looks back quickly to see Jr’s Go-cart go off the track and into a bunch of bushes on the side. Worried he raced back around, ignoring the fact that Tony was on his bumper, and wrenched his cart to the side to let Tony go. He hit the breaks hard near where Jr’s Go-cart had come to a stop and climbed out.
“Jr?” Kevin asked rushed, as he got closer to cart. He couldn’t see Jr in the bushes, only the back end of the cart. The motor was still running and he started to get nervous.
“Damn it Jr! Answer me!” Kevin said… now a bit frantic. He didn’t notice the other guys stop behind him watching the whole time.
Kevin reached down and pulled a plug on the lawnmower motor on the go-cart. At the sudden silence he could here slight coughing and spitting sounds. He stuck his hand into the Bush and grabbed Jr’s shoulder, attempting to help pull him out.
Finally Jr’s head emerged followed by the rest of him on his knees. He was still coughing and spitting out pieces of leaves.
“You ok?” Kevin said while helping the Bud driver up off his knees.
“Yea I’m fine… I just couldn’t get out. I was lodged.” He said while spitting an other piece of leaf out of his mouth.
“Why the hell didn’t you answer me?”
“I would have Harvick if I could get the frickin leaves out of my mouth!” Jr said in a snippy voice while wiping off his t-shirt and jeans.
“I’d laugh at that but I’m afraid I might get a mouth full of them my own self.” Kevin said with a sly smile.
Suddenly Kevin Jumped a bit as a hand rested on his shoulder lightly. Spinning around he came face to face with the brown eyes of Tony Stewart. Kevin’s smile slowly faded at the realization of what was in the Home Depot Drivers eyes. Tears. He’d never thought he’d ever see such emotion on the rock hard driver but now it was right in front of him.
“Hey Tony…” Kevin lightly said, afraid to scare the driver off with a harder tone.
Tony grabbed Kevin’s thin frame into a bear hug. Kevin patted his friends back awkwardly, not knowing what to really say to the man. He’d never seen him act like this before. Then Tony pulled away just as suddenly and backed up to look at Kevin again.
“I can’t believe it…” he whispered.
Kevin glanced at Jr. He was starting to think that shocking them like this, though fun as hell, really wasn’t a nice thing to do to them. It didn’t seem fair now.
“I’m sorry…” Kevin said sincerely but before he could continue with his apology he was interrupted.
“Damn straight you better be sorry! I lost a lot of money to Lil E over there!” Tony said with a slight smirk while pointing to Jr who was standing behind to the right of Kevin with his hands stuck in his pockets.
Kevin let out a laugh. He certainly wasn’t expecting that to come out of his mouth!
“Well you can blame him for it then cause it was his idea!”
“Harvick!” Jr said behind him. “Thanks for ratting me buddy!”
“Anytime.” Kevin said with a giggle.
The other drivers were standing behind Tony the whole time not saying a word until Kevin let his attention go to them at that moment.
“So I hear you guys came to see me… that night…”
Kevin’s answers were slight nods.
“Thank you… Jr told me before we got out of the car tonight and it really made me feel good to know that.”
“Kevin you don’t have to thank us… We are your friends! Where the hell else would we have been?” Jimmie said stepping forward.
“Yea” said Jeff.
“What happened? When did you… ya know... come back?” Elliot asked cautiously.
“Where’d I go?” Kevin said with a smirk.
The joke was met with un amused faces.
“Tough crowd…”
Kevin proceeded to tell them how he had snapped out of it last night and woke up this morning to the sound of something and found Delana in the pool. He kept going till he got to this present time.
“HEY!!!! Then the betting was VOID!” Jeff said loudly while pointing at Jr.
“Where the hell were you a few minutes ago Jeff? We kind of talked about that already.” Elliot said not amused at the Cup champ.
“Fine... this time… we didn’t shake. But just imagine. If we did? I’d have had about $1200 in my pocket tonight.”
“Frickin Thief” Tony added before turning back to Kevin. “So De is alright?”
“Yea she’s gonna be fine. She has a hard head.” Kevin laughed.
“That’s good. So I guess things are back to normal huh? You are ok and everything right?” Tony had to make sure.
“Yea everything’s alright. I’ll go see that doctor in a couple days and all that but… well… I guess I’m back.” Kevin said looking down at his hands that were playing with the keys that were in his pocket. He didn’t remember taking them out of his pocket but just assumed it was a nervous reaction to the attention he was getting now.
“Well I know I can speak for everyone here when I say Welcome back.” Tony said with a large smile. The drivers behind them all nodded their heads in agreement and happiness.
“Thanks guys.”
In a few minutes the 6 drivers walked out of the Go Cart track just as the lights shut off. Each a little lighter in their step and grins graced their lips.
“So Kevin? Racin this weekend then?” Elliot asked while hitting the lock button on his keys for his Ford pick up. The Truck responded by turning on the lights in the cab waiting for him.
“I don’t know. It’ll depend on the doctors visit I guess.” Kevin said walking in the middle of the group. His hands were stuffed in his pockets.
“They’ll let him. There’s nothing wrong with him.” Jeff added.
“Well… nothing new.” Jr Laughed out.
“Thanks friend.” Kevin said with a smirk.
“Just getting you back.”
The rest of the drivers laughed while finishing their trek to their respective vehicles.
“Thank you guys for showing up. And don’t worry… I’ll be at the track this weekend… weather its to race or not. I’ve got some unfinished business.”
“Why do I have the feeling we aren’t going to find out what that is till it happens?” Tony said to no one in particular.
Kevin smiled wide and giggled before climbing into the passenger seat of Jr’s car, shutting the door behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kevin quietly shut the door downstairs and headed up to check on Delana. Just like he thought she was still asleep so he silently slipped into the bathroom to shower before he went to bed. So many things flew through his mind when he let it wonder. He remembered waking up in the hospital. He remembered not being able to communicate with anyone. His mind just wouldn’t’ let him. Words were jumbled in his brain and actions were sometimes lost to him. It was like having half control of his life. It certainly was something he never wanted to experience again.
He couldn’t remember what happened when he had been kidnapped. He didn’t remember a thing and it was certainly alright with him. It worried him however. Would he wake up a year from now? 2? 10? And suddenly have every horrid memory wash over him? Would he have to go to a shrink? Would he go insane from the memories?
Kevin winced openly at that thought as he ran a towel through his hair. ‘Stop thinking about it,’ his mind yelled back. And he certainly was going to listen this time.
He had to focus now. Now that his mind let him go free he had no time to dwell on these thoughts. He had to take care of De. He had to get back in the race car. Life had to continue on. He’d deal with all of this down the road he was sure of it. But at least for now he’d put it on the back burner.
After changing into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt he headed back into the bedroom to where the love of his life slept peacefully. He gently laid himself down on the comforter, not wanting to disturb her with trying to get under them, and watched her sleep. She was beautiful. Even with a bandage on her head and with her blonde hair tussled everywhere but neat. He loved her and he knew he always would. He was in all of this for the long haul and knew she was too.
Soon he drifted off to sleep by the sound of her rhythmic breathing, excited to wake up next to her in the morning.
~~~~~~~~
She woke up to that sound again. There had to be some way to stop the little bastards from coming around so early in the morning. The last thing she needed was the sound of hyper chirping ringing through her ears and to her concussed brain.
She’d scream at the little pukes but that wouldn’t help her head either. The only thing to do is get up and shut the window. This however involved moving and as Delana rolled onto her back she realized that it wasn’t a great idea just yet.
As she moved her arm bumped into something next to her. She let her eyes open slowly and adjust to the sunlight in the room before glancing over to her right to see what she hit.
Finally her eyes focused on a figure curled up with a pillow sleeping soundly.
“Kevin” she whispered with a smile. It had been so very long since she had woken up next to him. He would always go downstairs during the night without her even noticing and she always woke up alone. But not today. All of the happenings of yesterday came back to her. She had her Kevin back. All the pain in the world couldn’t take her happiness of this fact away from her.
She shifted slowly to her side to watch him sleep. The chirping birds were forgotten as she drank in the sight of him next to her. She still wasn’t sure how it all happened. What made him snap out of it? She had yet to have a conversation about everything with him. But she promised when he woke up that they’d lay here and just talk holding onto each other for as long as possible.
She didn’t have to wait long for him to stir and she watched the process of waking up.
Kevin stretched out slowly and let out a soft yawn. He brought his hands up to his face to rub is eyes as his face scrunched up at the sudden awareness.
“Damn birds…” he mumbled while still rubbing his eyes.
Delana couldn’t help but giggle next to him signaling that he wasn’t the only one awake.
He opened his eyes to look right into hers. At seeing this sight his features lightened and he stared at her face for several moment before springing into a smile.
“Good morning.” He said while reaching over and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“Morning.” She said. “It feels so good to wake up and have you next to me.”
“Well it feels good to be next to you too… But I can’t take it anymore.”
Delana grew a confused look. Kevin held up his index finger signaling her to wait just one minute as he slide off the side of the bed and padded over to the open window. After yelling a couple curse words out of the window and shutting it closed he made his way back over to the bed and climbed in closer to De then he was before. Trying to avoid jostling her around too much, he wrapped his arms around her, letting her rest her head onto his arm as the other one pulled her close.
“Now that they are out of our hair… How are you feeling today?”
“Wonderful as long as you are beside me.”
“Oh you hopeless romantic.” He giggled while planting a light kiss on her lips and snuggling closer.
“Kevin?”
“Mmm” he said now with his eyes closed.
“Can I ask you something? Its been bugging me for so long. I promise just one for now and then later we can talk some more.
“Ok.” He said while running his fingers lightly through her hair avoiding the bandage.
“Why did you go on the couch every night?”
Kevin really wasn’t expecting that question. Although he had pondered why he did it and although it sounded reasonable to him… to others it would just be weird.
He stared her in the face for a few more moments before speaking.
“I went downstairs… not for the couch… not for the room… but for a chance to start again. I guess I felt like going down there one night I might wake up and be normal like that night never happened. I didn’t want to be like that. It was like half my mind was missing. I couldn’t talk or communicate. I just felt like a vegetable except for the fact that I KNEW I should be able to do that stuff. I didn’t want to leave you up here… But I thought I could get back to you down there. Does that make sense?”
Delana listened with tears in her eyes. Every night he left her FOR her. If only she had known.
“It makes sense.” Her hand reached up to cup his face. “I wish I could have helped you.”
Kevin suddenly sat up slightly shocking her a tiny bit.
“But you DID help De! You don’t understand! The other night… when… I couldn’t even respond to you. I wanted to show you I was still there all the time but not as much as THAT night. Hell… I cried! It’s all I could do! I couldn’t make myself reach for you or speak to you or anything. Until you kissed me… You woke me up De. YOU did! Not me… not the couch and not that room downstairs. You. I went down stairs that night to make sure in the morning I woke up the same way. It was just my weird mind at work. But if I hadn’t I would have never been woken up by the dogs and found you in time.”
Delana couldn’t contain herself anymore. She sat up quicker then she should have and grabbed him into a hug. The sense of comfort and protection wrapped around her with his arms as they held each other. She didn’t need to hear more. Not now. She’d heard enough. Now it was time to lay in her husband’s arms… a feeling she longed for for too long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The garage area was filled with hustle and bustle as teams got their cars ready for qualifying. Everyone was concentrating so hard that they missed the approach of one figure clad in a baseball cap and sunglasses. His hands were tucked into his jeans as was his shirt and he moved like stealth into one particular part of the garage unnoticed.
Luck… he thought to himself. It will eventually end in this mission that’s for sure. As he got closer he saw his target standing with his back to him. Perfect. Just perfect. He didn’t notice him as he approached and stopped 4 feet from him. He moved his arms up his body to cross in front of his chest waiting to be noticed. It didn’t take long as Driver and Crew chief looked up from the clip board they were studying. The Crew Chief’s eyes grew wide at a sight beyond the driver in front of him.
“What?” the driver said before turning around. The clipboard clattered to the cement ground of the Garage and the driver took a step back.
Kevin smiled at the sight and also at the fact that what he was looking for rested on the brim of this driver’s hat.
‘Dumb ass’ he thought to himself as he reached a hand up and plucked the gargoyle sunglasses off of the hat. The driver flinched slightly at the movement and stared open jawed as Kevin slipped the glasses on his face off and replaced them with his newly acquired pair.
“Thanks Biffle.” He said with a Cheshire cat grin before turning toward the open stall and walked out into the sunlight.
“Hey! Kevin!” he heard behind him as he kept walking. “I was only holding them for you till you were better!”
Kevin still ignored him while walking over to the golf cart waiting for him.
“Aww Kevin! Please don’t hate me and wreck me on the track cause I took your sunglasses! Please? I’ll kiss your feet!” Dale Jr joked while sitting in front of the golf cart steering wheel.
Kevin just laughed at him while slipping into the other seat of the gold cart and slipped his other pair of glasses into his pocket.
“Kevin I’m glad you are alright! And about that incident… I only wanted to talk to you!” Greg Biffle continued, as he got closer to the cart.
Finally Kevin turned to him and lowered the sunglasses so he could look the # 16 driver in the eyes.
“I heard every word you said Greg.”
And with that Jr mashed the golf cart pedal and headed back in the direction of the motor coaches leaving a frazzled Ford driver where they once were.
NOW he could honestly say that things were getting back to normal.
