“Hey, Quentin. Hey, Dad. My birthday was good. What’s going on this morning?” he asked.
The string of words didn’t sound like they went together as he let them just tumble out of his mouth while he continued to stare at me.
“This is Kelly Hollister. We’re interviewing her for the open mechanic’s position,” Quentin told him.
I tried not to freak out as he said that. I, of course, knew that’s why I was there. But the introduction and explanation were made more than a bit awkward by the fact that neither of those men were aware I already knew Darren. Biblically.
“Mechanic?” he asked, looking between his brother and father, then back at me.
His voice had more of the uncertainty and questioning in it, but I wondered how much of that was because they’d never had a woman as a mechanic, and how much it was because he didn’t know that’s what I did for a living.
“Yes,” I said, thrusting a copy of my resume at him so he could see it.
I stood exactly where I was, doing my best not to show any sort of emotion or stress as I watched him read over the paper. He was doing the same thing, not giving anything away, and that made me feel even more on edge. I could feel the other two men watching us, but I stopped myself from looking to see if I could read their expressions. I wanted to seem casual, calm, and collected, and searching everybody’s face in desperate hope of some sort of recognizable reaction didn’t go along with that.
The whole thing had gone straight to hell. It was such a mess, I didn’t know how I was going to get myself out of it, and I considered just walking out and going back to Canada. It might not have been the ideal solution, but at least I wouldn’t feel like I was flailing around in quicksand just waiting to be swallowed up.
Darren finally looked up at me. I waited for a reaction, but he didn’t say anything to me. Instead, he looked over at Quentin and his father.
“I got this,” he said.
He didn’t give either of them a chance to say anything before he grabbed me by the hand and pulled. He was insistent, and I didn’t really have a choice but to follow him wherever he wanted to take me.
7 Darren
I was totally going to count this as a belated birthday present from the universe.
It was a complete shock to go into the garage and find Kelly standing there with my father and brother. At first, I had no idea what to think or why she would be there. It was possible she had hunted me down to talk to me, but that didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. First of all, I gave her my phone number so if she wanted to get in touch with me, all she had to do was call. And the look on her face when she first saw me standing there at the door didn’t look like somebody who’d found the person they were searching out. She’d looked shocked and like at any second, she was going to break out in a full run just to escape being near me.
I was surprised, too, but in the best way. I couldn’t believe she was there, and I couldn’t believe it even more when my father told me she was the candidate they were interviewing for the mechanic position. We’d been looking for a new mechanic for a few months to fill a gap left by one of our long-standing team members who’d decided to retire. So far there hadn’t been any particularly promising prospects. Some came with skill and experience, but without the personality to fit in with the rest of us. Others had the idea that a bike racing team didn’t really need a skilled mechanic and that they could just have basic abilities and skate by.
The worst were the ones who came onto the complex pretending to be interested in working with us but were obviously sent by other teams. They were assigned to scope out our facilities and spy on our operations so they could report back and use that information to better themselves and their potential in future races. As much as they would have liked to think they were good actors and could fool us, they were easy to spot.
I was starting to get frustrated, but the week before Dad and Quentin let me know they got an application that looked impressive and were going to be interviewing the candidate on Monday. They seemed optimistic, but I’d wait to have any sort of investment in it until they went through the first stages of the interview process and it was time for me to get involved. As the former owner and current owner of the company, Dad and Quentin were the first barrier when it came to anyone joining the team. With the exception of people working in the office without direct involvement with the racing itself, they were the ones who met the candidates first, talked with them, and decided if they were qualified to move on to the next stage. That next stage was me.
Meeting me meant getting grilled about their skills, asked questions about how they would handle specific issues related to the bikes, and put through tests of their abilities. So far not many had gotten to me, but this time there was something in Kelly they both saw that got her all the way down to the garage. I was stunned the instant I realized she was who they were interviewing. It was like the universe was giving me exactly what I wanted, and no matter how thrown off by the whole situation we both were, I wasn’t letting her get away again.
Taking her by her arm, I pulled
