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“Do you feel like you hurt her?”
“No, but don’t get in bed with her unless you’re sure that’s exactly what you want. If you crawl under the covers with her, she’s going to expect you to stay. I will, too.”
“You love her,” Brant said, studying his face.
“I’ve always loved her.”
“No, I mean, you’re in love with her.”
Colt shifted his weight from one foot to the next. He looked down at the dust covering his boots and finally said, “You know what? I think you’re right. I do love her. I imagine you’ll fall in love with her, too.”
“I’m free to do that.”
“How’d it go with Kelly?” Colt asked.
“She understood.”
Colt chuckled. “Sure she did.”
Brant sighed. “She says she always knew.”
“Hmm,” Colt muttered. “You know what? Maybe I did, too. From the moment I arrived in Harlan, Kentucky all those years ago, I had a feeling that trip would change my life.”
“Well you’d better hang on tight,” Brant said, pointing at the air. “It’s liable to be a bumpy ride from here on out. With Princess at the wheel, we’re in for a lot of surprises.”
* * * *
Hours later, Colt stared at the radio instead of the feed bills scattered across his desk. One of the farm hands came in and said, “Do you need anything else before I leave today?”
“Shh,” he whispered, bending an ear and trying to hang on every word.
The announcer said, “This is bad, man. This is one of the worst we’ve seen in stock car racing this year. Looks like we’ve got at least twelve cars in this wreck.”
Colt s
wallowed hard as he strained to hear car numbers and drivers’ names. The announcer said, “Let’s recap what happened out there. It looks like Larry Burkenton took a hit for his teammate, Princess Sterling. She got out of that mess somehow, and I don’t think she would’ve walked away if Larry hadn’t seen that crash coming and somehow—dear God look at this clip here now—oh yeah, without a doubt, Larry Burkenton just saved Princess Sterling. That’s what years of driving experience will do for a driver.
“Larry saw her coming out of turn four, and there was no way to keep her from hitting that wall. Larry must’ve seen her in his rearview mirror. He took a bump on the wall, caused her to spin and left her in the back there as you can tell by the replays. If he hadn’t done that, she would’ve gotten right in the middle of that major pile-up. Oh yeah, that would’ve been bad especially since her car is undoubtedly the fastest on the track. Princess has been in pole position for the last five races, and that car would’ve been demolished if she’d hit that wreckage.”
Another guy said, “You know what, Mark, Princess Sterling needs to hop out of that car tonight and hug Larry Burkenton’s neck. I believe if she’d been in the middle of that, she would’ve been in some real trouble there….”
The announcers continued discussing the race and the recent wreck, and Colt lost his lunch. He was so sick by the time he picked up the phone, he feared he wouldn’t be able to carry on a sensible conversation.
Brant answered immediately. “She’s fine. She’s mad as all hell because Burkenton wrecked her, but I swear if he hadn’t taken a crash himself, she’d be dead. This is a mess here on the track. I’m telling you, Colt. It’s a damn bloodbath.”
“Is she all right? Have you talked to her?”
“No,” Brant replied. “Are you kidding me? She’s on pit road blasting this Burkenton fellow. I sort of feel sorry for the guy. Maybe she doesn’t know he just saved her life.”
“Where are you?”
“A few feet away from her.”
“Put her on the phone.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now,” Colt said calmly.
