Chapter 79 Not My Style
Charlotte was such a different place than Los Angeles—or Elkhart Lake, for that matter. Case still had some appearances he had to make over the weekend because the first race was getting so close, but he promised Andrea he’d have plenty of time to spend with her.
Saturday afternoon, after lunch, he had to go to a photoshoot with some of the other racecar drivers for one of the sports channels. As they made their way over in Case’s truck, Andrea could tell he was nervous. “What’s the matter?” she asked, rubbing his hand, which was damp with perspiration. “Are you afraid the photographer will take one of those shots that shows the world what’s up your nose?”
He chuckled, which was her intention in asking. “I wasn’t…. I am now.” His response made her laugh as well. “No, I’m just a little nervous about some of the other drivers that are scheduled to be there at the same time as me.”
“I see. Like… Gordon Jones, by any chance?”
Case nodded. “Yeah. Surely, he won’t bring Sarah with him….”
Andrea rolled her eyes. The thought of seeing Sarah here made her want to puke. “Well, if she’s there, she’s there. I’m sorry. I guess there’s nothing you can do to change it?”
“Nope. I tried, my manager, and my crew chief all tried. They said the schedule is what it is, and they can’t adjust it.”
“Well, I guess all we can do is hope she behaves herself. Or else they’re going to regret being so inflexible.”
“Indeed,” Case said, shaking his head. He pulled into what looked like an old warehouse. Andrea raised an eyebrow. “They’ve got the inside set up with different backgrounds and things like that where we can pose and make it look like we’re happy we’re winning the race, etc.”
“I see.” She smiled at him, glad for the explanation. She’d seen the little videos they showed over the drivers when they were going to commercial and had wondered how all of that worked but had had no idea until now.
Case came around and opened the door to his pickup. He offered his hand, and Andrea took it, swinging out onto the ground. She was wearing nice jeans and a sweater, along with suede boots. It was a little chilly outside, but she hadn’t needed a coat when they’d left the house that morning. Looking at the gray sky, she hoped it didn’t get any colder. At least they’d be inside.
The door creaked on its hinges as Case opened it for her. A woman with a headset on greeted him and gave him directions as to where to go to get into his fire suit and get his hair and makeup done. He looked more than a little annoyed at the later. “You can go with him up until it’s time to shoot, Ms. Sparks.” The woman’s glasses were so thick, it was hard to see what color her eyes were.
“Thank you,” Andrea said, following Case down a corridor. The sound of male voices talking and telling jokes, laughing at one another, came from several of the rooms. Case went to the third one and walked in. Andrea followed, and her stomach hit the floor.
“Mr. Meyer, hello,” another woman with a headset said. “We are ready for you. If you’ll take a seat next to Mr. Jones, we’ll get started.”
Sarah’s eyes were narrowed as Andrea walked into the room. Neither of them spoke, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Gordo was so busy making kissy faces at Sarah, calling her “sweet baby,” and “my little sugar drop,” Sarah wouldn’t have had time to say anything rude to Andrea at the moment because she was too busy reciprocating the mushy faces to even pay Andrea any mind.
“All right, Mr. Jones. They are ready for you on set. Ms. Lockhart, if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where you can wait.”
“See you soon, my little smooshy wooshy bunny wabbit,” Gordo said, practically drooling over her.
“By baby,” Sarah said, making the same face but not going quite as far over the love names. As she was walking backward toward the door, Sarah “accidentally” ran into Andrea. Despite her best efforts, Andrea wasn’t able to step out of the way in time, and Sarah pushed her into the counter where all of the makeup and hair supplies were set up. They all crashed to the floor as Sarah leapt aside so that it didn’t look like she had even touched Andrea.
“Oh my God!” one of the stylist shouted. “What did you do?”
“Wow—Case. The girlfriend’s a real klutz,” Gordo said, following Sarah out the door, shaking his head.
Two of the other stylist shouted as well, one of them lamenting that her powder had cracked and was ruined. “Do you know how much this costs?”
“I’m so sorry!” Andrea said, her mouth hanging open. “She….” But there was no point in trying to blame it on Sarah when she was already gone. “I’ll help you clean it up. I can replace whatever’s ruined.”
“Why don’t you just go out there with Ms. Lockhart and wait in the guest are?” the stylist who had been working on Case before the disaster struck suggested.
“It wasn’t her fault,” Case said, his voice showing he meant business. “Sarah pushed her. If you guys didn’t see that, then you’re just going to have to take my word for it, but if you talk to her like that again, we’re going to have a serious problem. Do you understand?”
All of the stylist stood with their mouths hanging open for several seconds before they all said, “Yes, sir,” and finished cleaning up the floor. The one who had been working on Case went back to it, her face set in a tight scowl. Andrea almost had to laugh that she was acting that way, but she was so proud of Case for standing up to her, she wished she could kiss him—but that would mess up his makeup. She’d have to wait until later.
One thing was certain; Sarah hadn’t changed. She’d come to play games. While Andrea didn’t want to stoop to her level, she knew she’d have to be ready for anything.
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