Page 7 of Jump Start

As I made my coffee, I noticed a certain pace about how I was doing it. The milk was taking too long to froth. The beans weren’t crunching fast enough. I was eager to get back to my office, to be within metres of Harper again. This was…unusual.

Some days, I wouldn’t even use my office. It would become a dumping ground for gear and people’s luggage if they were on their way to the airport. Chris made me clean it out before Harper arrived to appear ‘professional’. Sometimes I felt like he was more of a father than my own.

My parents were getting ready for the Magic Millions, a ‘million dollar’ racehorse auction event on the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland. They did it every year. And every year, they made tonnes of money on the Jackson Racing Stud horses (our family racehorse stud). I was happy for them, but it meant they were virtually uncontactable the whole time.

I walked towards my office again, only to hear the most beautiful sound I’d heard in a long time—Harper’s laugh. It was light, airy, and sublime. It made me smile—not that I would ever let her know that. I soured my face just in time to reach the door frame. I noticed her smile drop as soon as she saw me.

“Oh, okay, well I better go. Okay, talk to you later, Brendo!” And she hung up the phone. I wondered whoBrendowas. Maybe a boyfriend? Or friend? But more importantly, why did I care?

Wordlessly, I sat down and went about my work, wishing I could think of something to say to her. I wanted to start a conversation, to know more about her, but I decided to stay quiet.

Harper

The Echidna Racing office had a vibrant feel to it; morale was high, which was impressive considering how often everyone was away from home throughout the year. I was able to make countless notes on the detailed meetings that Thomas had with his teammates and engineers. I was very much enjoying my time at the racing garage.

Thomas and I were sharing his office; however, we were not making any progress towards becoming friends at the very least. I wanted to get to know him more so I could write the piece on him as genuinely as possible, but he wouldn’t let me in. I knew I was a stranger to him, but I was trying my best to be professional and friendly. It didn’t seem to make a difference in his mind.

I was a journalist—the enemy—and nothing I could do would change his mind.

I walked past Chris’s office on my way home and heard him call my name.

I backtracked and stopped at his door. Thomas was sitting opposite him on a chair.

“Hi, guys!” I greeted them cheerfully.

“Harper, sorry for calling out to you. I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay, but don’t want to keep you,” Chris mentioned casually as I started to walk through the door.

“That’s no problem. Thank you for asking. I’m doing great—the team is very friendly and helpful and the facilities here are world-class! Great coffee.”

Chris laughed in response. “Yes, well, everyone has to staywell caffeinated here, that’s for sure!” Thomas was, of course, silent throughout the whole interaction. I decided to stir the pot.

“It would be great if, for the sake of the article, Thomas here could learn a few things about being polite. Anyway, see you guys tomorrow.”Mic drop. I was out of there.

I left Thomas with his mouth agape for the second time this week, and the smile on Chris’s face dropped immediately. Thomas’s behaviour was unnecessary. I wasn’t surprised at the state of public opinion on him. Chrisdidask me to tell him if Thomas was being difficult, though. I hated to be a snitch, but trying to research for my article was like trying to get blood from a stone.

***

The day I was fearing the most had arrived—testing day. As I got ready that morning, I put together the most practical outfit I could think of—black leggings, a T-shirt, and a puffer jacket with sneakers. If Thomas was a jerk, I could stomp all over the motorsport precinct as much as I wanted.

Since I had attempted to set a boundary with Thomas, he was being a little less of an asshole and more human.

I arrived at Echidna headquarters early, as requested, and stepped straight into Chris’s luxury SUV, which would take us to the motorsport precinct. Joining me in the car was Holly, the social media manager, and Will.

The chatter in the car was mostly shop talk, to which I had little to add, but I enjoyed it when Will spoke about hisrecent trip to Greece with his family. Will was more what had I pictured Thomas to be like—friendly, open to conversation, and polite, not closed off, rude, and impatient.

We arrived at the motorsport precinct to find the two race cars, each parked in a lane with their respective engineers alongside them. Thomas was standing next to his car dressed in full racing gear, his helmet on the roof.

I walked over to him. “Good morning, Thomas,” I said, sounding a little too formal than necessary.

“I see you’re finally wearing something practical,” he replied, looking me up and down. Ignoring his comment and the blush on my face, I turned on my heel and walked away to stand with the engineers in a small gazebo tent off to the side.

“So, what is the aim for today, guys?” I asked, getting out my recorder for their response. “We are allotted a certain amount of test days per Championship where we pretty much let the boys run a amok on track and iron out any issues that may arise. We look at car performance, driver performance, and any track conditions that may affect the car,” Tony, Thomas’s engineer, explained.

I looked out at the track as Thomas’s car roared to life. Tony handed me a headset to listen to the radio communication while Thomas was driving.

“Okay, Jacko, start off slow. Let’s just do a gentle practice lap. Don’t give it much speed.”

“Copy.” Thomas’s voice was loud and clear in my ear. I suppressed the slight tingle of my skin at the closeness of his voice.

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