“How’s it going?” Avery asks. She’s lost that carefree look she had earlier today and she’s back to looking slightly terrified. It makes me wonder if maybe it’smethat scares her.
“It’s uh… fine,” I say, casting a scornful glance toward the mom that’s been not-so-subtly flirting with me.
“I’ve got you,” Avery says, winking at me. She leans in a bit, lifting up on her toes, and whispers, “I’ve been watching her and it seemed like you needed help.”
I give her a curious glance, and then she walks over to Kassie and puts on a friendly but professional smile. “Hi there. I’m so sorry to be annoying, but I have to ask that you come back to the main tent and hang out with the other parents. Due to insurance and liability purposes, we can’t have any parents on the track.”
Kassie juts out her bottom lip. “Okay, that sucks,” she says, still pouting. “But I understand.”
She walks up to me and touches my arm, yet again. You’d think my arm was giving out free money or something with how much she wants to touch it. “I’ll see you later, Clay. You’re doing an amazing job.”
She doesn’t even say goodbye to her kid, she just waves at him and then wobbles off in her high heels that clearly don’t do well on a grassy surface.
I turn to Avery. “Thank you,” I say.
She grins. “That’s my job.”
I can’t help but smile back. Marcus should have hired her a long time ago.
Chapter 8
I stretch across my hotel bed and rub the soles of my feet while I wait for my phone to connect. My feet are absolutely killing me. I stood around all day long at the motocross track here in Ozark, Alabama, for the second training camp. This track wasn’t as nice as the one in Aiden’s hometown, and there were no places to sit. Not even bleachers, which you would think would be necessary for a place that has races.
I probably need some new shoes because my old Nike’s just aren’t cutting it.
Mandy finally answers my Facetime call. “Heyyy,” she says, waving at the screen.
My best friend is wearing an NYU hoodie and her hair is piled on top of her head in a messy, but adorably cute bun. She’s also wearing an NYU headband. Behind her, an NYU pennant decorates her dorm room wall.
“What college are you at again?” I say sarcastically. “I can’t remember.”
“NYU, baby!” she says, pumping a fist in the air. She is clearly not bothered by my teasing. “My classes are ama-zing.”
She closes her eyes on that last word, stretching it out as if she’s talking about a delicious slice of pizza instead of a college class. I can’t believe she likes education so much. I also can’t believe she’s having so much fun without me.
But finally something has changed because I’m officially having fun, too. Well, except for my aching feet. I wonder if I can take a cab to the nearest shoe store and get back with a new pair of comfortable running shoes before we fly out in the morning.
I’ve only briefly told Mandy about my new internship, in snippets of texting and Snapchats because we’ve both been so busy. But now it’s late in the evening, and we’re finally able to sit down and chat. I tell her all about Team Loco and how Marcus is a cool, laid-back boss. There’s no dress code so I wear shorts and a Team Loco shirt, and we always fly first class. I’ve only done two of the five training camps so far, but the work isn’t hard. The worst part was all the standing around earlier today, but in general, the job is fun. I get the feeling Marcus hired an intern because he wanted someone to do all the work for him while he hangs out and chats with people.
Fine by me. I get to travel.
“So where have you been so far?” Mandy asks.
“Louisiana and now Alabama.”
She curls her lip, the expression on her face is clearly not amused. “That’s all?”
“Well it’s only been two trips so far,” I say. “There’s four more to go, and that’s just for the off-season holiday thing. As soon as the official supercross season opens, I’ll get to go to all of those states too. I think there are twenty-four races.”
She doesn’t seem impressed. “Are you coming to New York?”
“Sadly, no.”
“Then where are you going?”
I list off the next three stops because I have the itinerary memorized. “Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, and then back to Texas. The next three are all like two days apart and then we have five days off, where I’ll go back home, and then we head to Texas. There’s some big Christmas party thing on December 23rd. It’s at Jett Adam’s house.”
“None of those states are fun,” Mandy says.
