A Courtesy Call (Green Division Series Book #2) (9 page)

“Dad!  I can’t believe you!”  Anger boiled from Cass’s hushed voice.  “Fix it!  Apologize to her.”

“I did.”  Mike picked up his menu and had no intention of furthering his interaction with Raleigh.

“No, you hurt her feelings.”

“I highly doubt I hurt her feelings.  I’m just a peon.  Like you said, she’s a famous race car driver.”

“I saw the look on her face.  I’m a girl, I know that look.”  She cocked her head to the side.  “Talk to her.”

Mike put the menu down and looked over his shoulder to the lobby.  Raleigh opened the exit door and walked out.

“Dad…”  Cass pleaded toward Mike’s decency.

Mike shook his head and stood up.  He hurried through the crowd and walked out to the street. 
Great. 
Rain fell loudly on the cement sidewalk, thunder rolled in the distance.

“Wait!”  Mike yelled as she walked toward a small parking lot down the street.

Raleigh rolled her eyes and continued to walk. 
Yeah, I want to continue this damn conversation. 

“Raleigh, wait.”  He jogged to her.  She didn’t slow.  “Let me apologize.”

“You don’t need to.”  She reached her Audi and unlocked the door. 

Mike’s words hit a nerve.

“I don’t know you and I was—”

“You’re right.  You don’t know me.”  She turned and faced him.  The old Raleigh bubbled up. The Pennsylvania Raleigh.  “You don’t know a damn thing about me.  You see me in a five second clip on SportsNight and all of a sudden you think you know my life story.  This is why I make fucking SportsNight.  It’s because of people like you who says things like you just did and I react to them.  I’m not entitled to stand up for myself without making the damn news.” 

She looked behind her and saw a couple staring.  She shook her head and bit the side of her cheek. 
“
Goodnight.”

“You’re right.  Everything you said was right.”  He agreed.  Mike was drenched.  Bone soaking drenched.  If he was going to be drenched for the rest of the night, he was going to make the field trip outside worthwhile.  He needed to amend his slip of tongue for Cass, not for Raleigh.

“I had no place to say the things I did and I’m sorry.  I’m honestly sorry.  I wouldn’t be standing in the middle of a thunderstorm apologizing if I didn’t mean it.”  It was the truth, even if he had an ulterior motive.  “Come back to dinner.  My daughter will hold a permanent grudge against me if you don’t.  She idolizes you.”

“You clearly don’t want her to.”  Raleigh hated that his opinion meant something to her.  She’d never properly met the man.  His words should mean nothing.  There had been worse said about her by far better people.

Mike hesitated. 

“I’ll keep an open mind.  I hope you can do the same and forgive my indiscretions.”  He smiled temptingly.

The sound of rain pounding on the cement broke the utter silence between them.

“Tell her to come by the garage tomorrow.  I’ll give her a tour.”

“You’d do that?”
Wow.

“Call the office and they’ll make arrangements.” 

“Thank you.”  Mike was surprised by the offer.  Floored to be more precise.

Raleigh sat in the Audi and it revved to life.  Mike walked hurried back to the restaurant.  He towed himself off in the restroom then walked back to the table.  When he came back to the table alone, he wasn’t warmly welcomed by Cass’s hostile body language.

“She isn’t coming back.”

He slid into the booth; his drenched pants squeaked across the pleather seat.

“Better.  She’s invited you to the team garage tomorrow.”

“Shut up!  You’re not serious!”

*****

“
He doesn’t like me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, he doesn’t even know you.”  Jen brushed her teeth on the other end of the line.

“He’s seen me on the news, so he knows it all.”

“Raleigh...”

“What?”

Jen sighed deeply. 

“Don’t be so sensitive.  You live a public life.  People only see the side of you the press show them.  To the people that matter, we know that’s not you.  And if he knew the truth, he wouldn’t think that either.  Maybe you should, I don’t know, tell him the truth.”

“He knows a version of the truth.”

“You, my girl, should have been a lawyer.”  A male voice echoed in the background.  “Jack just got home so I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“I see where I stand.”
 

“
Mhm, behind Jack’s firm behind.”

Raleigh laughed.  “Talk to you later.”

*****

When they returned to the hotel Cass was a non-stop chatterbox.  Raleigh’s promise had turned her into a giddy little girl.  Mike wasn’t as excited.  They’d come to see Jen, not the bad girl race car driver.

“I still can’t believe it.  I don’t.  I mean, thank you.  I don’t know what you said to her so she would give us a tour, but wow.”  She sat on the foot of his bed, Mike was deep in thought.  “What are you looking at?”

Mike ticked away on Cass’s netbook. 

“Doing a little research.”

“Yeah.”  Cass knew what he was researching.  “I’m going to bed.  Don’t stay up all night investigating.”

“I’ll try.”  He smiled at her.

“Night.”  Cass walked out of his bedroom to hers. 

He typed her name into Google and results flooded back:

Team Irving Driver Dawson Hospitalized For Alcohol Poisoning; Dawson Fires Fourth Co-Driver; Irving Places Dawson On Six Month Probation; Pennsylvania Bar Reports Brawl Involving Raleigh Jo Dawson; Dawson Comes Back For Win Following Tragedy; Dawson To Return After Fatal Accident Involving Fiancé;

Investigation Concluded In Dawson-Davenport
Rally Circuit Crash; Horrific Crash Claims Life Of Irving’s Lucas Davenport

Mike stopped scanning and clicked on the last link.

....Dawson overcorrected and lost control of the Impreza.  The vehicle rolled down a steep embankment several times before coming to a rest on its hood.  Safety measures failed and the vehicle caught fire.  Dawson was pulled from the vehicle by team Volkswagen’s Ren Matusuka and brought to safety with minor injuries.  It’s been reported that Davenport was pinned inside the vehicle and crews were unable to extract him before flames fully engulfed the vehicle.  It is a sad day for all in the racing community.  SportsNight will keep you up to date with the breaking news.

Mike went back up the list and clicked on another link.

The official cause of the accident was listed as driver error.  Dawson entered turn number fifteen at an unsafe rate of speed.  Average speed for corner fifteen is rated at 62 miles an hour.  Dawson entered at double the rated speed.  Dawson’s vehicle lost traction and drifted left, Dawson over steered to correct the error.  The vehicle rolled down a 40 degree grade and after six full revolutions impacted a stand of trees on the passenger side. 

Mike read a few sentences further and then stopped. 

Dawson has been released of any liability in this accident and found not negligent.  Further details are not being released to the public.

How the hell could she be found not negligent?  The cause of the accident was gross negligence.  She entered the corner at twice the speed it was rated for.  Mike shook his head.  She bought her innocence. 

This girl was the perfect role model for Cass.  A woman on the edge, substance abuse issues, and who’d been involved in a serious accident which obviously screwed her up, judging by the articles.  Maybe he could think of an excuse to back out before the tour…

Raleigh punched it into fifth gear and drifted through the corner.

“Slower, slower!”  Jon yelled.

Raleigh didn’t respond.  She’d driven the practice course a million times tuning the car in.  She knew what she was doing.

Another few passes around the track and they stopped at the garage.

“She’s perfect,” Raleigh said to Kris, the crew-chief, as he leaned into the window.

Jon took his helmet off, pulled himself out of car, and stalked away.

“What’s wrong with him?”  Kris asked.

“The usual.”

“I feel for you.”  Kris patted her helmet and waved her into the garage.   Aiden stood inside the impeccably maintained garage. 

“Aiden!”  Raleigh clapped, ran over, and hugged him.  Since the alcohol poisoning incident, she’d dropped his nickname.  She realized what Aiden meant to her.  He wasn’t her servant and that was what the name Jeeves implied.

“Yuck, Miss.”  He wiped himself off.  “Glad to see you too, but you’ve gotten my new blazer dirty.”

“I missed you.”  She kissed his cheek.

“Well, good to know I’m appreciated.”  He straightened the collar of his shirt.  “There is a man named Mike and woman named Casey waiting in the office.  They said you were going to give them a tour?”

Raleigh slouched.  “
Mike came too?”  She’d extended the offer to Cass, not to Mike. 

“That’s what he stated his name was.”

“Can you bring them back?”

“Yes.”  Aiden walked through the door connecting the office to the garage.

Five minutes later Mike and Cass were led through the door by Aiden.

“Hi guys,” Raleigh tried to receive them warmly. 

“Hi Raleigh,” Cass beamed.  Mike stayed in the background.

“Do you want to check her out?”  Raleigh motioned to her car.

“Do I?  Of course!”  Cass couldn’t walk fast enough to reach Raleigh’s side. 

“Slide in.” 

Cass did so and sat behind the wheel taking it all in. 

“Is that a spare?”  Cass pointed to another blue Subaru in the line of cars.

“Yeah, that’s my backup.  Hopefully I won’t have to use her.”  Raleigh smiled.  Cass stared at the car blankly.  “Do you want to go for a ride?”

“Yes,” Cass didn’t hesitate in answering. 

Mike casually chatted with Kris.  From his vantage point, he couldn’t hear what was said in Cass’s conversation with Raleigh. 

Raleigh hit the garage door opener.

“We’ll get you a helmet and one of my suits.”  She looked like she’d fit into one.  Cass climbed out of the vehicle.  “Follow me.” 

Cass followed and Mike watched like a hawk.  They disappeared into an unmarked room and returned roughly ten minutes later. 

“Woah, woah.  What do you think you are doing?”  Mike walked over to them.

“She’s taking me for a ride.”  Cass slid into the passenger seat. 

“No, she’s not.”

“Yes, she is.”  Cass put the helmet on.  She looked like a pro dressed in a fire suit and fire shoes.   “You don’t honestly expect me to turn down a ride in her race car, do you?  Maybe she’ll give you a ride too.”