Chapter 165 Practice Makes Cautious
“Have you ever driven a stick-shift before?” Jo Langley asked from the newly installed passenger seat next to her as Andrea looked over the dashboard of the racecar.
“Yes,” she said with a confident nod. She wasn’t used to wearing the bulky helmet, and the fire suit was a little uncomfortable, too, but she was excited to be sitting behind the steering wheel of the idling racecar, ready to start practice.
“Good, then you’re halfway there.” The rookie driver was a couple of years younger than Andrea, and she had the idea she was actually making him nervous. He went over how to shift, what the different gauges meant, and a half a dozen other things Andrea would need to know before they started practice. She was glad she had such a nice driver to work with. He wasn’t great—at least he hadn’t made a name for himself yet—but he wasn’t awful. Leslie was driving with Matt Stringer, who was known for being a hot head. Andrea had gotten the better driver of the two of them.
What worried her was that Sarah was riding with Whiskey Rogers. Really, what were the chances of that? Yet, here they were with two people who potentially wanted to wreck half the field paired together.
Andrea had been allowed to choose her own spotter, so after Jo had gone over everything a few times, it was Truitt in her ear telling her how to pull out onto the track and where everyone else was in relation to her vehicle.
She took it extremely slow, as did everyone else on the track. For the first twenty or thirty minutes, she never even went faster than forty miles per hour, which would’ve been slow in a regular car on a regular highway. After she’d gotten the gist of how and when to shift, when to brake, how to watch the other cars, Jo helped her pull into a higher lane on the track where some of the other cars were going faster. There were only about fifteen cars on the track, and it was a huge amount of space, so Andrea felt safe, even though the wall seemed closer than she would’ve liked.
With Jo’s guidance and Truitt in her ear, she felt fairly confident she knew what she was doing. They even helped her pass a few cars. She was being cautious and careful, unlike her sister who had been whizzing around all over the place for the last half-hour or so, but by the time they pulled the car back down pit road, Andrea was confident she would do just fine in the race, so long as no one did anything unpredictable, stupid, or dangerous.
“You feeling okay?” Jo asked as Andrea pulled her helmet off and handed it out the window to her crew, which was actually Case’s crew.
“I’m feeling really good,” she nodded. “As long as Whiskey and Sarah don’t try to take us out, I think we’ll do well.” It was the first time she’d mention to him that there was a possibility she had a target on her back.
He raised an eyebrow. “Gosh, I hadn’t thought about that. We’ll just have to stay away from them. Thanks for the warning.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to worry you.” She really did feel bad for not having mentioned it before.
“No, no, I’m glad you told me. I needed to be aware of that.” He gave her a small smile, and Andrea thought this was a guy she could probably learn to count as a friend, especially since he was named Jo—like her Uncle Joe.
Case was at the window now, helping her slide out. “You did great, babe! I’m so proud of you.”
“Thank you!” It seemed odd being the one getting out of the racecar, but it was awesome having him there to support you.
He whispered in her ear, “And that fire suit looks amazing. Let’s go take it off.”
Andrea’s eyes bulged, but she couldn’t help but giggle. “Do we have time?”
“We’ll make time.” He practically carried her to the golf cart, and all of Andrea’s worries about the race faded away as she lost herself in Case’s touch.
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