I glance over to the passenger seat and admire her relaxed, resting body. Laney fell asleep against the window as we drove to Indianapolis for tomorrow’s race. I was not prepared for the surge of pride her trust in my driving evoked.
The pride was only matched by my sense of responsibility to drive safely.
Exiting the freeway, the slow down of the truck wakes her.
“Oh man! Nothing beats car naps.” She says through an exaggerated yawn.
“I’m glad you feel rested. You needed it.”
“Yeah,” she reaches over and punches my thigh, “someone has been keeping me up late.”
“No, that’s all you Laney, baby. I go to bed early and then wake up when you come over late.”
“Fair enough.” She looks at the sign welcoming us to Indianapolis. “Oh, we’re here already!”
“Yep.”
“I’m going to text Dee and tell her we made it. The drive wasn’t so bad.”
“You slept for most of it.” I point out.
She just shrugs and looks at her phone. “Oh wow.”
“What?”
“There’s a skating expo show here tonight. I’m a big fan of Isla Covington and she’s going to be there with her new partner.”
“Huh.” Truth is I got us tickets last weekend. She mentioned this ice dancer being a favorite of hers. When I told the guys I was pulling out of the race, and the traditional group dinner tonight, I started looking for something to do with Laney.
“Why do you sound sort of interested and also not surprised by this news?”
“I do? Or, don’t? I’m not sure how to answer that.” I tell her.
I can feel her eyes narrow on me.
“Miguel Garcia, what are you up to?”
I smile. I can’t hold out. It’s actually good she slept for the drive because I would have spilled the beans hours ago if she was awake.
“I got you tickets to the event. Well, us tickets.”
“You did? When?”
“When you agreed to cancel your hotel reservation last weekend.”
Laney loops the top of her seatbelt over her back and leans across the middle console to give me a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, Miguel, I’m really excited!”
I keep my eyes on the road even with every cell in my body begging to pull over and kiss her properly. “You’re welcome Laney, it’ll be fun.”
The smile on her face as we drive to the hotel is all the reward I need for breaking from my routine. I debated buying the tickets. I debated if it was the right thing to do or if focusing on race preparations would be better.
But in the last few weeks, as we’ve added physical intimacy to our relationship, the sky hasn’t come crashing down. We’re still training just as hard, if not harder. She’s just as dedicated and actually seeing results.
I think a moment away from it, to disconnect, will give her the chance to come to race day with a clearer, more focused mind.
And, I have more in store for her. Laney doesn’t know Dee is just a few hours behind us. When I was dropping off Laney after a swim to bike brick training Monday, Dee was coming home from work. Laney was already upstairs so I stopped Dee and asked if she’d like to come to the race to cheer Laney on.
