I didn’t get together with Ashley on Sunday. I just stayed home in the condo and caught up on work and some reading for my Financial Reporting class. The highlight of my day was when Angela and Emmy FaceTimed me from Edinburgh, Scotland. The two had gone for a day of sightseeing after The Downfall’s show in Glasgow- apparently the two cities are only an hour’s drive apart from each other.
They called me from a street in the old, historic part of town called The Royal Row, with the castle marking the top end. When Angela panned the phone around to give me a view of the touristy shops I caught a quick glimpse of both Tiny and Grant, to my relief.
“This place is cool,” Angela said, “But kind of gloomy, too.” Of course, it was dark and cloudy, so I guess the gloomy part was to be expected. I mean, Edinburgh is pretty much on the same latitude as Juneau, Alaska, meaning the winter days are dark and short at the best of times. At least it wasn’t raining on the four of them.
Angela kept the call going for well over an hour as the two headed up to the castle, but ultimately decided to skip the tour in favor of just walking around and admiring the sights.
“When our London place is done, we can come up for a visit any time we wish,” Emmy pointed out.
“We need to do that when we can all of us spend a few days up here,” Angela agreed.
After they ended the call I settled back into the market analysis reports with a warm feeling. Only a couple more weeks and then they’d be back home. I could wait, but video calls sure helped.
Monday was another long day at the San Jose office, but at least it was interesting. I’d scheduled a day of venture capital meetings, which were a welcome change from meeting with rental property owners or REIT investors.
Most of the pitches were duds, but a couple seemed like possibilities to look into. VC was about as risky as investing gets- honestly, it’s only slightly more confidence-inspiring than throwing the steel ball on a roulette wheel and hoping for reds. Still, the right startup can yield huge returns if it blows up, so it was worth the effort.
The San Jose condo had been O.K., but sleeping in my bed in LA left me with little pangs of loneliness. The pillows smelled like Emmy and Angela, driving home the fact that I was all by myself for a while longer. I kept telling myself that the tour would be over in a few more months and Emmy would be done with all this out-of-town stuff for the foreseeable future, but it was precious little comfort. The bed was still too big, and the house was still too empty.
During our break between classes that Tuesday night Myles asked if the job position was still open. “I’ve been thinking,” he said, sipping his coffee. “I’m not so convinced I have much room to move upwards at Angel City.”
“Why not?” Li asked, curious. “Last time you said anything about it, it sounded like you had an automatic raise once you get your MBA.”
“Yeah, a raise, sure, but I just found out that I won’t get any sort of actual pay grade promotion. I’ll still have the same job title as I do now, just closer to the pay ceiling,” Myles said.
“That sucks,” Li commiserated. “At least I’ll get bumped onto the management track at Snap once I finish here.”
“Yeah,” Myles said. “Angel City just isn’t big enough, and we’re top-heavy as it stands, so this is as far as I go.”
“I’m not gonna promise you’ll go straight into management at Loeltz,” I said. “But we’re expanding, so it could well happen relatively soon. Especially if you’re willing to relo.”
“Up to the Bay Area?” Myles asked.
“Well, we’re planning on offices in Seattle and Austin next year, and New York and Miami and maybe Toronto or Montreal the following year,” I said.
“Are you serious?” Myles asked. “My wife has been talking about Austin for years now.”
“Does she know it gets hotter than a crack pipe there?” I asked, causing Li to snort Pepsi out her nose.
“Ow! Why do you always do that to me?” she complained, trying to mop up with a handful of napkins.
“Yeah, she does,” Myles admitted to me, handing Li more napkins from the dispenser. “She actually grew up in San Antonio. That’s just the same, but nicer and with fewer hipsters.”
“So you know what you’d be in for if you move into our new office there,” I said.
“Well, good barbecue, for one,” Myles said.
“I may be a bit biased, but people I trust say that my barbecue restaurant there is among the best,” I said.
“You have a barbecue restaurant in Austin?” Li asked, her voice showing her disbelief.
“Of course she does,” Myles laughed. “Let me guess- you have an Italian restaurant in New York, too, right?”
“No, not yet,” I said with a smile. “But give me a little while, and I probably will.”
I took a half day at work on Friday so I could get on the road to Chuckwalla before traffic got bad. All I had with me in the X6M were my overnighter bag and my Nomex suit and helmet. I’d dropped the M6 off down at Temecula BMW on Wednesday so they could go over it and throw on some fresh tires, so I didn’t have to worry about anything but my own personal gear.
Arriving at the track, I went straight to the Temecula BMW rig where the guys were getting everything set up.
Manny greeted me when I pulled up, saying that Joachim was at the track office and he’d be back in a few minutes.
“Gonna be windy this weekend,” Manny said. “If it gets too bad we might have to pull the canopies. We got the rig parked to block the wind as much as we can-” he said, but stopped when The Track Club rig pulled up and Reggie leaned out the passenger window to ask where they should park.
Joachim returned just about then and the three guys got in a big discussion about prevailing winds, finishing up with Manny reparking the Temecula rig with The Track Club truck nose to nose at a ninety degree angle to form a sheltered space out of the wind for the cluster of canopies.
Others trickled in while all this was happening, so by the time Manny had the grill set up there was quite a crowd for dinner.
“Lizzie!” Jimmy said as he climbed out of his 458. “You bring your Porsche this weekend? I’m dying to see it out on the track!”
“No, she didn’t,” Stein answered for me as he handed Jimmy a cold beer from the cooler. “You’ll just have to console yourself with being passed by that monster,” he said, pointing at the BMW M6 GT3 under its canopy.
“Oh, man, I hate that car,” Jimmy complained.
“Why is that?” Teddy Bear asked as he opened his own beer.
“It scares the shit outta me when it goes flying by out of freaking nowhere! It’s like, I’m minding my own business and thinking I’m going real good, when all of a sudden that freaking BMW goes sailing by me like I’m in second gear or something. And it isn’t quiet about it, either! It’s like bam! And then there’s the flames, too!”
Stein and Teddy Bear couldn’t help but laugh at Jimmy’s description.
Turning to Geoff, I asked, “Is that really what it’s like?”
He shrugged, saying, “This is my first track day with you, so I have no clue.”
Lainey’s RV rolled up just then and almost before it even stopped Maddie and Tiffany came bounding out, Tiffany running over to give me a big hug.
“Hey, Tiff. I didn’t know you were coming this weekend. I love the new haircut,” I said, ruffling her short hair.
“Mads asked if I wanted to come, and of course I said yes,” she replied, smoothing her hair back down.
“I heard you’ve been driving her kart a lot. You thinking about racing?” I asked.
“Maybe. Me and Mom have been talking about it. She’s worried that it’ll make my grades suffer.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be good,” I agreed.
“But it wouldn’t!” Tiffany protested. “Mads gets good grades!”
“I think that’s something you and Mom need to work out between you,” I said. “Madison manages it, so it must be possible, right? You need to convince Mom that you can do the same. Develop some sort of action plan and present it to her. But you have to make sure you actually can do it, Tiff. I’ll be happy to help you however I can, but ultimately it’s on you.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, her slender shoulders slumping. “That’s what Mom says, too.”
“She’s not wrong,” I said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Now, go tell Manny how you like your steak.”
“Lee, I’m vegetarian now!” Tiffany said with a pout.
“Then tell him how you like your tofu grilled,” I said with a laugh.
“Ugh! Can you even imagine?” Tiffany asked with a disgusted look on her face.
Lainey found me talking to Reggie from The Track Club.
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“Hey, you two,” she said. “Is James coming this weekend?”
“He’d better- I brought his car,” Reggie said.
“Yeah, he texted to let me know he was running late. In fact, he should be getting here soon. He left San Jose about an hour ago,” I said, checking my watch. Seeing Lainey’s puzzled look, I said, “He’s flying in. The track has a runway right over there, I think,” I said, pointing off past Turn 15.
“Must be nice,” she said, rolling her eyes. Returning to what she’d sought us out for, she asked Reggie if they would have time to look over Maddie’s car. “She says it’s pulling a little to the left, and it seems like the tires aren’t wearing even.”
“That sounds like something we should check out before she takes it out,” Reggie said. “Have her bring it over to our pit and we’ll look at it after the guys are done with dinner.”
“That’s great,” Lainey said. “You guys have been so good to Madison. What you did to her car was nothing short of incredible.”
“Those Evos are great little cars,” Reggie replied. “It doesn’t take much to really make ‘em sing.”
My reply was drowned out by the sound of a jet flying low over the track, then touching down at the runway, more or less where I’d indicated. When it got quiet enough, I said, “That’ll be James.”
“Must be nice,” Lainey said, shaking her head.
“I gotta go get him,” Reggie said, turning to head back to The Track Club’s setup. “Back in a few.”
“You guys really do operate in a different world,” Lainey said, looking off in the direction of the taxiing private jet.
The whole evening turned into a great big party, everybody having a great time just hanging out and shooting the breeze. Although I could see Lainey was a bit concerned about her daughter (and, to be fair, my sister) in a big crowd of adult guys, from what I could see every one of the guys just treated Maddie like another driver and that was that. Nobody was weird about her being a sixteen year old girl- in fact, a couple of the guys seemed to really admire that she was actually racing, and not just doing the occasional track day.
After things wound down, James and I walked the track, as I’d done the night I met Madison and her mother. At first we just talked about the track, discussing the turns, but soon the topic shifted.
"Emmy is still on tour, and Angela is with her,” I said when James asked where they were.
“Are you O.K. with that? Angela going on tour with Emmy?”
“I’m more than O.K. with it. I’m happy that Emmy has somebody along to keep her company and take care of her. She gets so wrapped up in her music she forgets to eat regularly and doesn’t get to bed at a reasonable time. Angela is doing a great job of making sure Emmy eats healthy and takes care of herself,” I said. “But, to be honest, it is lonely with both of them gone.”
“When they get back, are you going to try the, well, try to get them pregnant?” James asked.
“Several times a day, every day,” I said.
“I walked into that one, didn’t I?” James admitted with a chuckle.
“Yes, yes you did,” I agreed. “But seriously, no need. They’re both expecting. Angela’s six weeks farther along than Emmy, but we just had them both checked in London and both babies are doing fine.”
“That’s great news!” James said, clapping me on the shoulder.
“It is,” I said. “It’s going to be a big change in our lives. I’ve been reorganizing my companies so I can step away to a great degree when the girls get big, and of course, when the babies are born. I want to be there for them as much as I can.”
“I admire that,” James said, looking out over the desert. “Imogen and I, we’ve talked about children and we both agree that we’d like them, but it never seems to be the right time for it. We keep telling ourselves that we’ll do it once this happens, or that gets finished, but it never…”
“I understand that,” I said. “Emmy and I promised ourselves that we would try to have kids once we settled in to wherever it was going to be after college, and that turned out to be Los Angeles. Then it became ‘once we settled in to our forever home’. Well, we’re there now, life seems to be on a steady track and it was time. Add Angela to the mix and baby fever got pretty strong for a while.”
“I find it interesting that both of them are pregnant at the same time,” James mused as we made our way around the bowl. “Imogen and I had discussed it, and- and this is probably our bias showing from our upbringing, and I don’t mean any sort of insult by it- we assumed that Angela would be a surrogate for you and Emmy.”
“I imagine that’ll be the talk on TMZ and the tabloids when the paparazzi notice Ange’s baby bump,” I admitted. “But no, the idea was always that Emmy would get pregnant and carry the baby. Angela joining us, well, that was never part of the plan- it just sort of happened. It’s a really great thing that it did, too, because she’s so sweet and caring… she’ll be better at being a mother than Emmy or I ever could.”
“Imogen and I, we’ve seen the relationship you three have, and I must say that we both agree that it works for you. I doubt very many people could make it succeed in the long term, but we both believe that if anyone can, it’ll be the three of you.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that, so I stayed silent.
“I bought Angela a London penthouse apartment,” I said, breaking the silence after a while. “She really likes London, and wanted to get a place there- maybe a Marylebone townhouse, but I pointed out that a place like that will need constant upkeep, so an apartment might be better. We found a new tower on the south bank that had an available penthouse, so I bought it for her.”
“London? Really?” James asked, surprised.
“Really. At first she suggested a place in Paris, thinking that Emmy would like that, but Em said she didn’t want to be that close to her parents.”
“I can certainly understand that. Imogen has been talking more and more about buying in New York. She really admired your townhouse there, and likes the idea of being close to her parents, but far enough away that a visit is a special occasion.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Hence, London. Two hours travel time means it’s easy to visit, but not too easy.”
“What about Angela’s family? Aren’t they in Ecuador?”
“Colombia,” I said. “You know what’s funny? Of any of our sets of parents, hers are the ones I wish could visit most often.”
“You get along well with them?”
“Very well,” I confirmed. “They’re great people.”
“Imogen was right- you three are our most interesting friends.”
The next morning was cold and clear. Everybody was bundled up for our breakfast of huevos rancheros with chilaquiles and coffee, or for those who wanted it, Mexican hot chocolate.
“This is great,” Lainey said, enjoying the food.
“Manny’s the cook here- give him your compliments. All I do is pay for the groceries,” I said. “But yeah, he does a great job.”
“Leah, I know you said that, well, that it cost you nothing extra for Mads to drive on these private track days, but I feel kinda guilty about all that you and James have done for her.”
“Why?” I asked. “We volunteered it- it’s not as if you twisted our arms or anything. James and I, we saw a kid with big dreams and a lot of drive and figured we could lend a hand, that’s all.”
“I guess when you put it like that…” Lainey said, but she didn’t seem convinced.
“Look. I like Maddie. I think she’s a great kid, and she’s doing what she loves, right? James and I, we both see that and want to help foster it. Maybe Maddie will turn pro and win Le Mans some day, or maybe she’ll hang it up when she goes to college and meets the right guy- who knows? But at least James and I can give her a bit of help in the meantime,” I said. What I didn’t point out was that in the relative scale of things, the money we were spending on Maddie’s car, her driving lessons, and everything else was peanuts, but I’m sure the thought occurred to Lainey.
The track marshal gathered us all around for our drivers’ meeting and explained the basic safety rules. “Look, I know you’ve all heard this before, but I still have to explain it all,” he apologized.
While he was going through meanings of the various flags, I could hear the angry rasp of the GT-R firing up, followed not long after by the BMW.
“I’ve seen the BMW before,” the marshal said, “But that Nissan- that’s new to me. It looks like today is gonna be one hell of a fast day out there, so all of you, be safe, and keep your heads on your shoulders.”
“So, the guys tell me that you’re completely merciless on the track,” Geoff said as we walked back to the pits.
“She puts Ming to shame,” Teddy Bear said.
“Ming?” Geoff asked, not getting the reference.
“Ming The Merciless, from Flash Gordon- ah, you know what, never mind,” Teddy Bear said. “She won’t crash into you or run you off the track, but other than that…”
“It’s not like that at all,” Stein said. “Just keep your lines nice and tight and don’t worry about her at all.”
“What do you mean?” Geoff asked.
“Well, she’s going to pass you any time she wants, right? As long as you accept that you’re just a rolling chicane for her to go around, you’ll do fine,” Stein explained.
“You know I’m right here,” I said.
“Well, it isn’t as if they’re wrong,” James said.
“Alright, I get it. I’m an axe murderer,” I said, throwing up my hands.
“I’ve never driven this track,” James said, "so I’m going to take it easy for the first hour or so.”
“Not too easy,” Reggie cautioned. “Gotta keep heat in the tires, especially on a cold morning like this.”
“Noted,” James said.
“Just remember, when the track goes left, turn left. When it goes right, turn right. When it straightens out, floor it,” I said.
“Wiser words have rarely been spoken,” he laughed as he pulled his helmet on.
I hustled over to my car, where the guys were pulling the warmers off the tires. They dropped it while I put my helmet on and cinched the strap.
“We have it set up like last time here,” Joachim said, leaning close so I could hear him despite my earplugs. “We know we got good base settings, so don’ be shy about letting it fly out there.” I gave him the thumbs-up, then climbed into the driver’s seat. HANS device engaged, I rolled away to the hot pit lane where the marshal stood, holding the red flag. He looked up and down the line of cars forming up one last time, then handed the red flag off and took the green. He pointed at Maddie and Jimmy, the first two in line, and signaled for them to go. The rest of us crept up, then after ten seconds or so the marshal waved Geoff and Stein on. Then it was Teddy Bear and James, then me last of all.
I used the first few laps to reacquaint myself with the track and remember my markers, not really concerned much with speed until I realized that I was dawdling behind Teddy Bear’s pretty gray Corvette. Seeing an opportunity, I hugged a tight line coming out of ten and sailed past him onto the back straight. Sure, his supercharged Z06 had at least fifty horsepower on my GT3, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t smash your foot flat to the floor.
The field had spread out pretty well by that time, so I could set up my passes with plenty of room to spare. After a while the track started emptying out as people pulled into the pit for one reason or another before coming back out onto the track again, but I stayed out and let myself get lost in the sounds, the smells, and the feelings of driving that BMW at speed.
When my fuel light came on and interrupted my groove, I reluctantly pulled in for more gas.
“We only put in half a tank this morning,” Joachim confessed. “Because we knew you’d be out there until you ran out of gas. We wanted to get data and make sure everything was working right before you really got into it.”
“It didn’t work,” I told him. “I was already into it.”
“You see, that’s what makes you such a natural,” Joachim said. “You’re a pure driver. When you’re out there, that’s all that matters.”
“No, it isn’t like that at all,” I said as he pulled the data from the car.
“No?”
“When I’m out there, that’s all that exists,” I said.
“Heh,” he said, looking up from his laptop. After a minute or two of looking at the information, he asked, “You want it tighter or looser today?”
“Let’s start out tight. We can always loosen it up later,” I said.
“What’s all this?” Jimmy asked as he strolled up, a Red Bull in his hand.
“Tuning the car for the track,” Joachim answered distractedly. “She wants it nice and tight this morning, so we gonna adjust the aero package for more downforce and we’re gonna firm up the rear suspension just a little bit…”
“Are you kidding? Is he kidding?” Jimmy demanded.
“No, he’s not kidding,” I replied. “I really do want it nice and tight.”
Jimmy gave me a sardonic look, and said, “I meant about adjusting the car. He’s going to make all these changes just because you want it to feel a certain way?”
“Jimmy, why do you think these guys are even here?” I asked. “To help me go as fast as I can,” I answered. “And part of that is setup.”
When Joachim and the guys finished with the car, I went back out again. The track felt really empty, since nobody was really clumped together they way they were at the start of the day. As the track warmed the grip improved, my speeds picked up and I felt myself slipping back into the flow, the world around the car narrowing until the only things that had any meaning for me were the track, the other drivers, and my car.
The checkered flag to come in for the lunch break took me by surprise- I’d been out for over two hours non-stop.
“How she running?” Joachim asked once I had my helmet off. The two of us watched as the guys lifted the car and checked the tires before wrapping them in the warmers.
“Real good,” I said. “Real good indeed.”
“You happy with the feel?”
“It’s perfect,” I agreed.
Geoff and Teddy Bear had joined us by that time. Teddy Bear wandered over to the front of the car and took a long look.
“So that’s what it looks like from this angle,” he said. “I swear, that big ‘M Power’ logo on that spoiler is gonna haunt my dreams.”
“You know, Leah, I have to admit that all this time I though the guys were exaggerating, talking about the way you drive on the track,” Geoff said. “But I was wrong. You really are an axe murderer.”
“Right?” Teddy Bear said. “But Like Stein said, just keep your head down and try to ignore the loud, angry white car passing you at any given moment and you’re O.K.”
“Yeah, I get that, I really do,” Geoff said. “But it gets a bit unnerving sometimes.”