Page 9 of Rush
He’d always told her that when he got down on one knee, the whole world would know about it. But the idea of marriage hadn’t been mentioned for over a year now, and she wasn’t sure it was on the cards with the direction their lives were heading in.
‘I can’t wait to see you, Jess.’
‘Me too, Sav. It feels like forever. And so much has changed for us both, this trip is definitely needed. I just want to hold you in my arms and enjoy you.’ She sat there grinning like a lovesick idiot as he spoke. ‘Text me when you get out of the car safely, okay?’ That was their rule. He texted her after his shows and she texted him after every race. Not a day on this tour had gone by where she hadn’t woken up to a message from him, even if it was a whiskey-influenced outpouring of love in the form of a voice message.
‘I will. And I will see you in less than forty-eight hours.’
‘See you soon. Good luck, Superstar.’
‘Back at you.’
She would never tire of him calling her that. In her eyes, he was the superstar. His fame was on a totally different level to hers. But she had her own fans, and he was up there as one of the biggest along with her family. Her brother especially. Speaking of, he was still waiting for his own phone call, and she didn’t have much time to spare.
‘Nice of you to show up!’ Weston huffed before his face came into view.
‘Sorry, I was talking to Jesse. What’s up?’ She flipped him off as he fake-gagged at the mention of the country singer he hated most of all.
‘What’s up?! My baby sister is about to do her first race as a rookie for one of the biggest racing teams in motorsport history, that’s what’s up!’ He cheered like a rowdy frat boy, threatening to deafen her and making her phone’s speaker crackle.
‘Wes! My ears!’ she laughed. ‘Damn, you’re louder than my race car.’
‘Hi, honey!’ Her mum appeared behind him, leaning down to Weston’s level and beaming into the camera, albeit way too close. Their parents weren’t the best with technology which was a real pain when Savi was thousands of miles away most of the year.
‘Hi, Ma. How’s it going?’ She shook her head as Wes had to physically wheel away from her, so her head was no longer blocking him from Savi’s view.
‘Weston has set the television up with his computer plugged in so we can watch your race!’
‘Think I finally convinced them to get a bigger TV, you can thank me later.’ Wes winked.
‘Send me a link to the one you want, and I’ll order it.’
‘Shut up.’ Wes rolled his eyes and changed the topic, listing all the snacks they had got to watch the race with. Better hope the livestream didn’t cut out. Any time Savi tried to buy things for Weston’s benefit, he got cagey. He hated it. Hated that he couldn’t afford small luxuries likehe used to and that his little sister had to help him out, but Savi wouldn’t see him go without the things he needed or wanted.
‘Where’s Dad?’ Savi frowned, realising he hadn’t joined them.
‘Oh, he’s sorry he couldn’t join in on the call! He’s just out with the horses, Mocha got out again so he’s securing the fence.’
‘Does the fence need replacing, Ma?’
‘Not yet!’ She said it with enthusiasm, but Savi knew she was sugar-coating it. Their horses were their babies, they couldn’t be escaping on the daily. She mentally added it to her list of tasks. It was better to just send someone to the ranch to fix it without warning than for Savi to send money that her family wouldn’t want to accept.
‘You’d better get moving, Sav. We just wanted to wish you luck with your race.’ Weston wheeled back towards their mum.
‘Yes, good luck! You’ll smash it.’ She blew a kiss. ‘Oh! Wait, not literally!’
‘Thanks guys, I’ll call you after!’
‘Ma, you can’t say that when she’s about to careen a race car–’
Savi cut them off and sat back on the sofa, absorbing the few moments of silence she always allowed herself before she got in the car. This was her pre-race ritual. Some drivers meditated, some worked out, some gathered in their teams, but Savi spoke to her loved ones, gave herself two minutes of me-time and then got back out there.
She left the trailer and headed into the garage, tryingnot to get upset over the fact Miko and Kodie had their families here today and her own family couldn’t be with her. Weston couldn’t travel all that way easily, and her parents stayed behind to care for him, and Jesse, well he just couldn’t show his face in a place like this.
‘Savannah.’ Marco rushed up to her before she’d even got over the threshold. ‘Got something to show you.’
‘Okay…’ She reluctantly let him lead her to his side of the double garage with his hands covering her eyes. She didn’t like this.
‘Ta da!’ He moved his hands, and Savi opened her eyes to none other than her dad standing there with his arms open wide.Out with the horses. Of course she’d fallen for that.
