Page 87 of The Player Penalty
Behind us, children step off the bus, many towing a parent. The ones without are assigned a camp counselor.
Julian takes advantage of Ms. Terry checking in on a group of kids. “You look hot,” he whispers in my ear.
“You saw me this morning.” I’m also wearing a pair of faded jeans and a camp tshirt. It’s the standard uniform for all of our field trips. “Are you still in my group?”
Today’s field trip is organized into multiple zones to keep our children occupied and the adults sane. Large groups of children can be like herding cats, after all.
“Liam, are you ready to be my field trip buddy today?” He brings up the smiling face card before I take his offered hand. “Do you want to meet Julian? He’s one of my best friends and will be with us today.” I silently apologize to Julian over the ‘best friends’ reference, but it’s better than the hot guy who I’m in love with and get to have ridiculous amounts of sex with.
“Hi, are you ready to build a car?” he asks.
Liam points to a car image.
“Let’s go,” I say.
∞∞∞
“Okay, wait, wait. Let me steady the wheel first.” Julian makes another attempt at placing the front wheel on its axle. Hefinally manages and backs off as his laugh dies. “You’re doing great. Here’s the impact wrench.”
Liam gets busy attaching one lug nut after another.
“He loves this,” I say. It’s a great surprise.
Car tires have kept Liam engaged for the past hour. Julian places them on, and Liam uses the impact wrench. Once that’s done, they repeat the same steps in the opposite direction.
“These are old tires,” Julian tells me. “The new ones only have one nut.”
I politely nod. NASCAR tire logistics aren’t interesting, while Liam’s fascination is.
“The air compressor here works similar to one in any garage, but it’s filled with nitrogen instead. The gas doesn’t react to humidity or temperature compared to regular air,” he continues.
I nod, still bored, and then notice who has Julian’s attention. Behind me, one of the dads listens with rapt attention. Julian pauses while Liam uses the impact wrench. He nods towards the tool in Liam’s hands. “Stressful conditions at the tracks can make them quickly wear down. Our pit crews regularly do a complete rebuild because of it.”
“Do they do that with everything?”
“Everything, even the cars.” Liam yanks his shirt sleeve, drawing Julian’s attention back. “You want to do it again?” He laughs again, letting his shoulders shake. “Would you want to do this when you grow up? We have people here whose job is changing tires as quickly as possible. You’re almost as good as them. Keep it up, and you’ll be even better.”
Liam moves on to the next tire.
“We need to move on. Are you ready for a car ride?” Guilt pricks because of Liam’s obvious joy. He’s fascinated with the engineering toys back at school, so working on an old race car shouldn’t be surprising.
I reach out, knowing Liam often holds hands when he’s somewhere new. To my surprise and secret joy, he grabs Julian’s hands instead.
Julian’s eyes meet mine with a silent question. I shrug.
Outside,RMSdrivers, including Boone’s spotter Derek, take the children on short rides around the practice track.
Liam puts on his headphones.
“You ready? I will pick you up so you can get in through the window. Are you ready?” Liam raises his arms. “Let’s get inside and strap the seat belts. Safety first, always.”
Julian slides through his open window and starts his engine. I wave, and they take off.
The arrangement was for only two short laps, so the wait should be brief.
“This turned out fantastic,” says Sarah as she comes up beside me. “Jake has loved every part.”
Jake is enthusiastic about everything, so much so it’s infectious.
