“Oh no, you don’t.” He lifted the notebook higher again. “First. Qualifiers are the race we do before race day to see where we start. It’s a series of a few races for who has the quickest times. Times determine where you’ll start.”
“You started the fifteenth yesterday. Does that mean you were slow?” I asked, even more curious now that Law was going to answer my questions right at this very moment.
“It’s all about strategy. If I place first in every race, then I’ll burn myself out, but if I start toward the middle of the pack and kind of work my way around the rankings, I tend to have a better race.”
“That makes sense.” I shook my head vigorously while I agreed with Law.
He laughed and then moved on to the next question.
“Now. If I did the best in the qualifying race, then I would be in the first spot, which is the poll.”
“Oh, okay.” I nodded. It wasn’t one of the mindless nods either. I was actually paying attention to Law and trying to learn everything he could give me.
“For each race you earn points and the number of points are based off of where you finish. So the closer to the front you are, the better, and when you win, there are bonus points awarded to the driver.”
“I was told you were in first place for that?”
A bright smile flashed across Law’s face and he bent down for a kiss.
“I am, sugar.”
I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in for another kiss. I couldn’t just not get enough of this man and how he amazed me every single day. He pulled away and moved on to the next question I had on the list. There weren’t many, but I could see Law was determined to get them all answered.
“Is each race the same?” He brought a hand to his chin and rubbed over the scruff that still graced his face. “Depends. Some are, some aren’t. There are a lot of day races, a few night ones. Each track is different, but most are ovals. There are a few tracks that are true racers and you have twists and turns throughout the whole thing. Some are long and some are short. So, I guess to answer your question, no, they aren’t the same, but most of them kind of are. Do that make sense?”
He questioned, but I had followed every word he said.
“Total sense. I think I’ll just make sure to look up each track before the race.” I sat there shining a smile up at him.
“You don’t have to do that, Anya.”
“I want to.” I shrugged. We stood there in silence as Law looked down at me with awe in his eyes and then looked at the next question.
“What is a red flag? White flag?”
“Yeah, why are there so many flags?” I asked more to the questions and Law chuckled at me.
“Let’s start from the beginning. Green for go. Red for stop. That’s when there is a really bad accident and they need every driver to stop so they can clean the debris. Yellow for caution, when there is an accident, but they don’t need to stop. White for the final lap and checkered for the winner.”
“That’s a lot.”
“There are actually more.” Law leaned in to whisper and I gasped in exaggeration. He leaned back and opened the notebook one last time. There was only one question left and no matter how hard I tried to pry the book from Law’s arms, he had already seen it.
“How many—” He started the question and then read the rest in silence. It was a question that would be hard for me to hear, probably as hard for him to answer. The waitress in New York had told me that Law had only been in a few accidents, but I wanted to hear it from him how many he had been in. “Anya, I’m not answering this.”
He tossed the book across the kitchen but refused to look me in the eyes. I grabbed ahold of his face and turned it toward me.
“Look at me.”
His eyes came to mine and this time I was the one who asked the question.
“How many accidents have you been in?”
My heart picked up speed with each second that passed when Law didn’t answer me. I felt his pulse beneath where my pinky finger lay on his neck and his heart was racing just as fast as mine was. This was a hard one for both of us, but something I thought we had to talk about. I broke the silence first.
“It seemed like when there was a wreck, people were more involved with the action. Reporters said they were surprised yesterday that there was an accident so late in the race. Are they common? Why do fans seem to love to watch their drivers get into accidents? It just doesn’t make much sense to me, and I really want you to try to help me understand.”
Law leaned down and placed a kiss to my lips, but I used my hands to pull him back. His forehead lay against mine and his breath mingled with mine. It was like we were one, but right now, Law was the racer and I was the girlfriend.
