𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕃𝕖𝕗𝕥 𝕋𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕤

Nineteen

Bailey was engrossed in her work at the bustling Hendrick Motorsports facility when a knock on her office door snapped her attention away from her computer screen.

"Hey, Mr. H, what brings you by?" she greeted, motioning for him to take a seat.

"Hey, Bailey. I see you're hard at it," Mr. Hendrick remarked with a smile as he settled into a chair across from her. "What's keeping you at the office today?"

"I'm just here waiting for the haulers to roll in," she explained. "I've got a little project on hand – airing out those smelly firesuits."

Mr. Hendrick raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Smelly firesuits?"

"Yeah, the hauler's starting to reek of sweat, especially with everyone's gear packed in there," Bailey elaborated. "I'd love to use Febreeze, but apparently, Chase claims the unscented stuff makes his suit itchy."

Mr. Hendrick chuckled. "Typical. So, what's your plan?"

"After each race, I hang up all the suits for a good airing-out session," Bailey explained. "I even ask the hauler drivers to keep those doors open as long as possible to let some fresh air in."

Mr. Hendrick nodded in understanding. "Well, I've got some news for you. The haulers are starting to arrive now, including Chase's. Do you think you could work your magic with all of them?"

"Consider it done," Bailey replied with a grin, already mentally planning out her strategy to tackle the hauler odor situation.

"I can talk to the other PR people about it. I also make sure the correct firesuit for the race is in the hauler for all the guys on my team. That's only because I know what firesuit they're going to need. Like for Homestead, in a few weeks, the only firesuit in my team's hauler will be the Hooters one." she smiled, quickly finishing what she was doing on her computer before shutting it down. "I don't know which firesuits the others will need other than the 48 because Ally is sponsoring every race."

"I understand. Let the other team members know what you're doing, and they can follow suit."

"I will." Bailey smiled, grabbing her folder on her desk and placing it in the tote bag she had brought into work with her. "I will head down to the haulers and start cleaning it out. I'll see you later, Mr. H."

"One last thing," he said, "How are you and Chase doing?"

"We're doing well. We had a small argument after the 600, but we worked it out, and it has been pretty smooth sailing since." she answered, "Why do you ask?"

"Chase seems much less tense than he did before, and it's nice seeing him so happy," he smiled, "I'll let you get down to your boyfriend's hauler. Have a good rest of your day Bailey."

"You too, Mr. H."

Mr. Hendrick got up from his chair, bidding his goodbyes to Bailey and heading to his office as Bailey made her way down to the haulers.

She went into the hauler and grabbed the firesuits, gagging at the pungent odor coming from them. She quickly exited the hauler, pulled out the clothing rack in the small closet, and hung the firesuits on the frame.

Once the firesuits were hanging and drying, Bailey returned to the hauler with a garbage bag and began cleaning up all the garbage the team had scattered all over the hauler.

"And they wonder why I put fewer and fewer snacks in the hauler," she quietly grumbled to herself, grabbing the last snack wrapper on the floor. "That reminds me, I need to restock the hauler. Damn, it."

~~~

"Bailey!" Avery's voice echoed through the apartment as she, Ryan, and Chase stepped inside. "Bailey! Where are you?"