June – Michigan Int’l Speedway – Post-Race
She felt bad, real bad. She never meant to get into him. But when the tire blew, she had no control of the car and felt the contact right away. Why did she have to wreck him? Why not somebody else?
“I just want to go apologize,” she told Ricky as they were packing their bags in the motorcoach. Ricky, meanwhile, had a decent run as he had finished 13th. “I’ll be right back.” She gave him a kiss before heading for the door, knowing that he’d be ready by the time she got back. She walked through the motorcoach lot, knowing exactly where she was going. She had been by his motorcoach plenty of times, talking to him about an array of things.
Meanwhile, inside of his motorcoach, he just wanted to scream as he thought he had the car to win that day. He thought that at the end of the day, his team would be celebrating in victory lane. Instead, he was wrecked out with about 15 laps to go because of her flat tire. He knew he couldn’t be mad as it was an accident, but it still pissed him off.
“Figures he’d win,” Dale commented aloud as he shut off the tv, not wanting to watch anymore of the post-race blitz. He had already heard enough to make him want to puke. “Why couldn’t someone else win? Anybody but him!” He then threw the water bottle in frustration, watching it burst open as it bounced off the one wall. “Fuck!”
“Dale?” He heard, startling him. Who was that? Why were they there? What hadn’t he closed the door after Lindsay left to go get something? He turned around, surprised to see Danica standing there. Hadn’t she left already with Ricky?
“Hey.” He didn’t know what else to say. She had probably seen the hissy fit.
“Hey.” She then walked up the steps slowly, knowing that he was mad by what she had witnessed. It was expected though as he had dominated the race before the wreck. Though, that wasn’t of concern anymore. He had been standing there topless, racing suit tied around his waist. She had gotten one look at his back and wanted to scream. She could see a trail of bruises, from his shoulders to his waist line. What was going on? She also saw scratches down his arms, which continued to grow her concern. She sat down on the couch as she watched him furiously try to pull his suit, knowing that now he wanted to hide it. “I just wanted to apologize for getting into you there.” She then grabbed his hand, stopping him, wanting to ask him about, still curious. “What’s going on?” She watched as he froze up, pulling him down to sit with her. Something was seriously up. She eyed the scratches more closely, trying to determine their depth. Had he simply fallen? Maybe he had gotten it from playing with the animals? Or was something a miss? “Dale, you can tell me. I promise I won’t say anything to anybody. What are these bruises and scratches from?” He then looked away, taking a deep breath, not wanting to talk about it. He knew exactly what it was from and wasn’t willing to speak of the details.
“It’s nothing, Danica.” He then stood up, pulling his racing suit back up, hoping she’d get the idea that he just wanted to be left alone with his own frustrations. “I just fel-”
“Like hell!” He then turned around surprised by those words. Did she really say what he thought she said?
“Can you leave please? I appreciate the apology and I know it wasn’t your fault, but I’d like to left alone.” She stood up, seeing the fear in his eyes, knowing that there was something that he was definitely hiding and it made her sick. Why wouldn’t he say something?
“Dale, I know these are caused from somebody hurting you. Now, who did it?” She wanted to be there to console him, help him. She hated seeing him like this. There was only one thing that she could think of. Somebody in particular wasn’t there at that moment and now he wondered if that’s why she had to leave so suddenly. “Dale? Did Lindsay do this?” He turned around, eyes full of shock. How could Danica say that when she knew how much Dale loved her? Oh wait, it was possible. Most times you see bruises on somebody you think of their significant other.
