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“Yes.” She’d been trying all day to come up with a subtle way to ask Dave to stop being a jerk around Jared, but in the end, she hadn’t been able to think of anything. “I want you to stop giving Jared such a hard time,” she said.
Dave didn’t respond.
“He’s important to me, Dave. But I need my family if I’m going to have any chance at a real relationship with him.”
Dave sighed that deep sound that meant he didn’t like what he was hearing, but knew that she was making sense.
“Hey, it’s not just me. He hasn’t been all friendly, either,” Dave said at last.
“I know,” Annie said. “Could I have picked a more difficult man to fall for?”
Dave braked the golf cart to a stop and turned to face her. There was something in his eyes that made her feel better. “You’re serious about him?”
She took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll do better.”
“You said that after Talladega,” she reminded him.
“I mean it this time. I’ll really give him a chance.”
Annie breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Now I can know if my instincts about him are right.”
“What instincts?”
“The ones that have been telling me that he could be the one.”
“You thought that about Malcolm,” Dave reminded her.
“Yeah, I know. But the rest of you didn’t.”
“So we’re going to be your litmus test?” Dave asked.
“Something like that. But even though you haven’t really been too keen on him, I still am. Does that make sense?”
“I think you’re saying, no matter what, you like this guy.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Dave started driving again. “This has been one crazy year. Dad’s heart attack, your love life, my racing.”
“You okay?” she asked, knowing the timing of this stunk. She understood better than anyone the pressure that was put on Dave. He had to fill legendary racing shoes. It would have been different if Daddy had just been an okay driver, but he’d been a champion.
Dave gave her a glance that she couldn’t read. “Yeah. I’d like to win this weekend but I feel like I’m getting a cold, which is making me a little fuzzy.”
“Are you taking any medicine?”
“Yes. And mom sent over some soup.”
“Are you going to be okay on Sunday?” she asked.
“Damn straight,” Dave said.
Annie and her brother parted ways at the infield. She wasn’t sure that her conversation with her brother would make the relationship between Jared and Dave any smoother, but she wanted it to. She wanted Jared to see what it felt like to be a part of a large family.
She knew it wouldn’t replace the closeness he’d had with his own parents, but she hoped it would be another dimension in their relationship.
DAVE WON WATKINS GLEN, but Tucker got the better of him the following weekend in Michigan. This weekend they were in Bristol. Annie was staying with Jared in the motor home lot. She’d gone home to Orlando every Monday for the last two weeks and he’d missed her during those three days.
He’d been sincere in wanting her to live with him full-time, and having her reject him had tightened his skin. Made him feel like…like he wanted her more than she wanted him.
To compensate he’d overscheduled his day, limiting the amount of time they had to spend together. But his plan had backfired because instead of insulating him from the sharp ache of missing her, the distance had intensified it.
The track was overrun with the Jenner clan when NASCAR arrived in Bristol. It was Brandon and Carol’s hometown and everywhere he went Jared met another cousin of Annie’s.
“Hey, Jared, come and join me for a cold one,” Dave called as Jared walked toward his own motor home, just before dinnertime on Thursday.
“I don’t have a lot of time.”
“This won’t take long,” Dave assured him, handing him a cold beer.
Why didn’t that reassure him?
He took the beer from Dave then leaned back against the side of the RV. Though he knew Dave to be laid-back most of the time, Jared was just beginning to see that side of the man.
“I heard you asked Annie to move in with you,” Dave said.
“I’m not talking?”
“Hold up. I’m making a mess of this. I think you know how much the family tries to take care of our own,” Dave stated.
“Yeah, I figured that out.”
“Well, if you’re with Annie then you’re one of us.”
“Thanks,” he said, then changed the subject. “How’s your dad?”
“Good. His doctor said he’s progressing just as he should. I think winning a championship this year would make him recover quicker.”
