Recovery

I

"This kinda feels like deja-vu to me" Ashley's soft voice whispers just loud enough I can hear it over the light breeze and rustle of the leaves that surround us. I turn my head to the right so can see her light blue eyes against the blue and black of the hood of my car.

"What do you mean, Sweetheart?" I reply softly and slightly squeeze her hand in mine.

A bird tweets away in one of the surrounding oak trees. "Well, I don't know" she slightly giggles, "All of this. Laying on the hood of your car, parked in the middle of a grove of trees, all during the late afternoon. Seriously," she smiles one of her gorgeous, white teeth, smiles. "All of this".

I smile back at her with one of my dorky smiles, "You seem to be having those a lot recently".

She shrugs and sighs, "I don't know, Nick. Just found it amusing".

I pull her hand up in-between our faces and kiss her hand while never breaking eye-contact. "You never cease to amaze me" I say.

"Oh hush!" she giggles and pushes my chin, rolling my head to the left and bouncing back to face her again.

"Okay then, Miss Fortune-Teller" I say playfully while rolling over to my side, propping my head up with one hand and placing my other hand onto of her stomach. "Tell me whats gonna happen as I lean in here to kiss you".

"Well" she says with a seductive smile, "Probably-" she starts but gets interrupted with a light kiss to her lips, "Um-" she tries again but gets another kiss. "You'll probably get interrupted by a phone call again, like last time".

I stop in my tracks, my face just inches away from hers. "Probably" I laugh and go back to kissing her on the hood of my car.

Not five seconds later, my ringtone of the rift from "Song 2" plays off the roof of my car.

"You have got to be kidding me" I say, gazing into her amused blue eyes. She cracks up into a laugh and I reach up to pick up the phone.

The screen shows a picture of Michael and it reads, "Incoming call from: Michael Dugger". I slide open to answer and put the phone up to my ear, still leaned over Ashley.

"Whats up?" I ask.

"First of all, I wanna tell you how great it is to have you back in town!" Michael exclaims into my ear.

I chuckle and roll over off the hood of the car and lean against the drivers side fender. "Bro, Ashley and I were gone for literally a week"

"I don't care, Dude! There ain't no competition when you aren't here! Everybody's askin' when you will be back and stuff. I said next week, but it felt like everyday someone new was calling me about you".

"Mikey, I'm here now. A little busy at the moment, but-"I look behind myself and make eye contact with Ashley, who's smiling and silently laughing.

"Never mind that, Nick, Nick, Nick!"

"What?! I exclaim.

"We have this guy here, goes by the name of Ace, and he's looking to race you"

"I don't know Mikey, I'm with Ash right now..." I reply, not really wanting to go race at the moment.

"Just bring her over, let her watch you beat his ass, and then you can go. Simple"

"Mikey..." I sigh.

"Listen, he says he was a good friend of Fetzer" that grabs my attention, "He was like family".

My body stiffens up, and Ashley notices. Her expression changes and slides over to my side. "I'll be there. When?" I ask.

"In an hour".

"Sounds good, I'll-" I start but Mikey interrupts.

"One thing though!" he exclaims.

"What can that be?" I ask.

"You need your bike. Bye!" and the phone clicks.

I look dumbfounded at my silent phone. "Well Ash".

"Yeah Babe?" she says and pushes her head against my arm.

"Mikey just called, and I have a race to participate in. His name is Tommy and he says he knew a really good friend of mine" I say to Ashley. I lean down and kiss her forehead, "Come on, Sweetheart".

She places her hand in mine and I help her off the hood before getting in the passenger door. As her door shuts on the other side of the car, I pull the key chain out of my pocket with a handful of keys and a Chevy emblem tag on it.

The door pops open, and I slide down into the black leather bucket drivers seat. The air suspension in the rear of the car slightly compresses with the weight of my body getting in the car, as I slide the GM master key into the ignition. With my left hand, I reach out and pull the door closed by the black leather handle against the black door panel.

Bang! The whole car shakes as the door slams shut. I turn the key into the "On" position and a chime rings out from somewhere in the dashboard. Ding! Ding! Ding! I put the transmission into "Neutral" and pump the throttle a few times. A rapid clicking sound comes from under the hood as the throttle cable flips open the four-barrel carburetor a few times to let in a few gushes of fuel into the intake manifold.

With the torque of my wrist on the ignition, the engine turns over with a roar and the whole chassis shutters with the intensity of the exhaust system. The engine slows to idle and the whole car rumbles with power.

"I'm never gonna get tired of this Z/28" I say to Ashley.

"You boys and your toys..." she sighs as I shift into first.

"Babe, it's not a toy. It's a monster. This bad boy has a 5.7L V-8 with over 450 horsepower" I say enthusiastically to Ashley, while wiggling the car through the grove of trees.

"You do know that all you just said to me is just numbers, and I have nooo clue what you are talking about" she reminds me with a little grin.

"Yeah yeah..." I roll my eyes.

The car rolls up to the edge of the road, and I look both ways down the road to look for oncoming traffic.

The straight-piped, V-8 rumbles loudly, as we idle waiting for a Minivan to pass by. But around us, it's a beautiful evening. A gentle breeze flows through the open windows, the sun is sitting below the cloud line and the sky is a beautiful light orange.

My hand rests on the shaking black pistol-grip shifter, and the other on the top of the steering wheel. Ashley is leaned towards the passenger door mirror, and is looking at her eye in the reflection while making a hilarious face.

"What in the world are you doing?" I ask while chuckling.

"I, got, an eyelash, in my, eye. Got it!" she stutters and then sits back triumphantly.

"Jesus" I say and laugh. The minivan finally passes in front of us. "You want me to show you how bad this Camaro is?"

"Sure. I don't think it makes a difference what I say though. You just want an excuse to-" she says but gets interrupted by the squealing tires, roaring engine and the g-force of the car springing out of the grass, sliding sideways onto the road, and kicking back inline.

"HAHA!" I exclaim with a huge smile, and shift into second. I look at Ashley with my huge smile and she's smiling right back at me.

"I love you babe, just don't kill yourself on that bike tonight" she says and grips my hand on top of the shifter.

"I promise, Ash. I'll be fine".