Page 60 of Jump Start

“Alright, let’s hear from the engineers. Cheers,” Chris announced, finishing his initial briefing to the team.

I always enjoyed hearing what the engineers had to say. I didn’t always understand what they were saying, but I loved hearing their terminology and passion for the sport.

“Alright, Hol and Harps, what have you got for us?” Chris added after the engineering brief.

Holly and I agreed that she would give the brief this weekend, as it was good practice for her, and I would take the lead at the end of the weekend debrief.

“Thanks, Tony. So, Harps and I have a variety of content that we’re going to post this weekend. We’ve got a blooper reel from the entire year—a sort of recap video; we will go live in the pit lane and let people ask questions to both drivers. Thomas, get over it,” Holly added sarcastically, where he rolled his eyes. “We’ve also got some carousel graphics ready to go for the race results and timings throughout the weekend. The vibe in the garage needs to be light, happy, and excited for the end of the year as we will be filming quite a lot, guys!”

This earned a collective sigh from all the mechanics. I understood why they were hesitant, as they worked under incredibly stressful situations, and they didn’t have time for us to be in their faces as they prepped for a pit stop. I tried to be asmindful as possible of this, and we would never interrupt them during a pit stop or a particularly difficult part of the race.

The morale in the Echidna Racing team was incredibly high. This GT season had been their best since their inception, and they were also very excited to be going on holidays.

It was a long year for the team, with being constantly away from their families, and always travelling to a different town or city in Australia. Because of the constant travel, the team were all very close. It felt like a family, and I know Thomas considered them more so than his own.

***

The evening before the race, Thomas had a ritual that he lived by, and it was certainly not one I wanted to try to change on him. It was always an early dinner and then to bed.

We climbed into bed and naturally curled up together. Thomas leant on his side to turn off the bedside lamp as I clung to him, leaving us in the pitch-black hotel room, the only light a small slither from the outside world.

“Harper.” Thomas’s voice was a whisper in our dark surroundings.

I gripped his shoulder a little tighter after hearing my name.

“Thomas.”

“Thank you for being here. I love having you by my side.” His voice got closer to my ear as he started to kiss my neck. “I love you, and I’m so glad you stormed into the office with your ridiculous heels on,” he chuckled softly against my ear.

“I love you too and I’m grateful I did as well.”

The sound of Thomas’s voice in my ear, his arms wrapped around me as he told me he loved me, was one of my favourite ways to fall asleep.

Thirty

Thomas

Ialways found lining up at the starting grid, with a sea of people before a race, to be one of the most stressful situations. I gripped Harper’s hand a little tighter, and she looked up at me and gave me an encouraging smile. She knew I hated this part.

We were standing in front of my car when Harper gasped and then started jumping up and down on the spot. Her smile stretched across her face, from ear to ear.

“What is it?” I asked, leaning down to hear her response as the RAAF planes did their booming aerial display.

“The lead singer of my favourite band is just over there!” She pointed to a couple facing away from us, a few meters away.

“Oh yeah? Who?” I knew who it was, I was just teasing her.

“Reeds! It’s Vaughn Reed, and that must be his wife.” I could tell she wanted to walk over to them, but she was being shy, which was very unlike her.

I strode towards them and dragged her with me, ignoring her as she hissed, “Thomas! No!” while she tugged on my race suit like a small child.

I reached out my hand and realised the bloke had a good few feet on me, height-wise.

“Excuse me, mate,” I said, placing my hand on his shoulderbriefly.

He turned around to face me, his sunglasses reflecting my face.

“Wow! Hey, man,” the guy said.

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