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Saint
Monday after Texas - March 21
Here we are again, back in the conference room on a Monday morning after a race. At least this time we placed tenth. Bud was his typical asshole self over the radio, and I’m surprised Haisley pulled off the finish she did with the asinine pit strategy.
I feel a nudge on my arm, and I turn to see who delivered it. Haisley. “Morning,” I offer as she flashes a smile.
“You okay? You seem a little off.”
“I’m fine. Tired from the jet lag, that’s all,” I answer.
“Yeah, the flight was kind of brutal, huh?”
I shrug. “You think I’d be used to it by now.” She’s about to respond when Bud enters followed by Chad and his crew. I watch as Drake stares at Haisley as he walks around us and takes his seat opposite her.
“I’m surprised by your finish,” he says to her. She glances up from her phone.
“And why is that?” she questions him. I haven’t seen her speak more than a few words to him before this. I wonder how well they knew one another.
Neil and Mac slip in and sit to my left, while I focus on Drake and his response.
“Because it seemed like you were struggling with pitting,” he remarks as Bud chuckles under his breath.
“Don’t worry about me, Drake. Worry about your own driver who, if I'm not mistaken, finished twenty-third?” She glances over to me for confirmation. I nod. A smile graces her face as she turns back to face captain dickhead.
Part of me feels bad for Chad being in the middle of the spitting match, but my loyalties are to Haisley and my team.
Drake shrugs his shoulders. “Well, getting caught up in a late race crash can do that to you. Wondering if your finish had anything to do with the seven cars in front of you crashing...” he trails off as there is a slew of muffled laughs from his driver and Bud.
“You should know better than to bet against me, Drake,” she rebuts as Hunter walks in.
“Good morning, teams! What a race at Texas, no?” he asks while taking his spot at the head of the table. We all mumble a response. “Haisley, I want to congratulate you on your first top ten finish.”
“Thank you,” she replies sharply.
“Chad, Drake, I’m sorry about that crash. Really sucked losing all of those spots.” The men across from me cast their eyes down, and that gives me a little bit of satisfaction. “Anyway, back to business. We have Long Beach coming up. I’m hoping for a repeat performance from Haisley, and a little better from Chad. You’re all dismissed. We have two weeks to gear up. Let’s get to work.”
I nod and continue to remain seated until Bud, Chad, and Drake leave. Neil and Mac wait for me. I watch as Haisley exits before us. “Dude, what’s going on with you?” Mac questions as we head back to the shop floor.
“Nothing, why?” I finish looking at an email on my phone before placing the device into my back pocket.
“You seem off. That’s all. I thought you’d be happier with the finish,” Mac responds.
“I’m ecstatic about her finish; it means we built her a great car. Let’s get focused on Long Beach.” I offer a fake smile and step into my office. I walk behind my desk and power up the computer. I pull up my emails, specifically the one about the Long Beach spec requirements. We’ll need this to build her cars.
I begin to scroll through the documents sent by INDY, as a knock on my door pulls me from the screen. I turn to see Haisley standing in the doorway. “Have a minute?” she asks.
“Yeah, come in. What’s up?”
She sits in the seat across from me. “Wanted to see if you had any feelings on Long Beach?”
“Not yet. I was just scanning the document INDY sent for the tech specs and shit. Are you going to get into the simulator?”
She shakes her head. “No. I have some media promotion thing to film tomorrow. I’m heading out this evening, but I should be back by Friday. Planned on jumping in then.”
“That should be fine. We’re going to start the build generic like we always do. Set it up like last year’s setup with your height mods,” I state, watching her sit there.
“Are we okay?” she questions.
