The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 360: “I’m not any damsel in distress.”

Tuesday, May 12 – Dawsonville, Georgia

With a focus on relaxing in knowing their lives were about to crazy in the days ahead, Chase and Sarina were taking the day to spend at home with Abigail. It wasn’t just pure quietness, though, as they had gone for a bike ride for a daily workout (with Cindy watching Abigail then), and Sarina beginning to work through some of the suggested exercises from Dr. Grayson yesterday.

Their concentration – Sarina from her exercises, and Chase from playing with Abigal – was only broken by their phones going off at the same time. a glance of intrigue at each other, they both reached for their respective devices.

It was a mixture of glances in reading what they were seeing, as they took a look towards each other for a split second.

“So you have the same response as me to this announcement?” Sarina questions, only to get a confused glance in return from Chase. He wasn’t looking at an announcement on his phone, but rather an important e-mail.

“I know that we’re not looking at the same thing, so why don’t you go first?” Chase suggests, which just brought more concern and confusement in the room as now Sarina wondered what he was glancing at.

“NASCAR just released the details as to how they’re going to set the field, without qualif-”

“Typical rain delay policy?” Sarina shakes her head no, as that was the surprise in what she was reading before her. She didn’t expect the sanctioning body to get this creative with it.

“So for the first race of two, we’re going to have a qualifying draw. Positions first through 12 in owner points will draw for those positions, with positions 13^th through 26^th for those spots, and so forth.” Chase was actually intrigued by the format as he thought over the possibilities.

“So a short track re-draw, but not in a way that you will totally invert the field so performance still plays a role…” Sarina nods her head, as she had gathered that from the notes already.

“Then for the second race of two, they’ll straight up invert the top-20 – just like a Saturday night feature. We’re getting back to our roots, slowly…” Chase smiles as that was never a bad thing, certainly boasting strong memories from those days.

“I have no problem with that. If I’m being honest, I am excited to not only get back to the track, but the mid-week races, the no practice format. It’s a whole new element that gives me a new style of excitement.” Sarina nods her head in agreement, though perhaps that was just because she was ready to make laps anyway possible. She missed her racecar, badly.

“So were you looking at the same thing, Mr. Elliott?” Chase shakes his head no as he looks back towards the e-mail on his phone. He was surprised that Alycia had already gotten back to him, partially.

“I e-mailed Alycia about our idea in wanting to connect with your brother, Damien, and Carter to find if there’s any more truth to what Alison said and information. She was intrigued by why I wanted to push forward, so I did share with her what Alison said. I know we talked about not wanting to tell anybody, but she assures me that she’ll keep it quiet until we’re ready to move forward. She actually appreciates being in the loop for once.” Sarina wasn’t as quite on board with the idea, wondering what Alycia could possibly do with that information in her hands. Could she want to take action before they were ready?

“Do you trust her to wait until we’re ready?” Chase nods his head, having worked with her for quite a few years now, and grown close to her. if she could help him through the mess the past couple of years, what was different now?

“Alycia has been faithful from the moment that we had to get in contact with her about everything. I’m not worried. I think her knowing is a good reason because it gives her motivation to do what we want, even if she’s not totally on boar-”

“Do you blame her, though?” Chase lets out a sigh, shaking his head no. it was the same fight back that he got about seeing Alison in the first place.

“She contacted the facility that your brother is at, and unfortunately visitation rights are totally off limits there for myself. So I cannot go see him to get more information about Andrew.” Sarina wasn’t surprised, remembering how tight she and Chase wanted everything at the time to ensure that no chance of escape could happen.

“What about family provisi-”

“I thought we talked about thi-”

“So you’re going to prefer not getting any firsthand knowledge, possible ways that you can bring this guy down over wanting me to possibly rekindle past memories with my brother?” Chase bites his tongue, as that was only the beginning of his worries in relation to Chris.

“You’re dealing with a lot alrea-”

“And I can handle it. I keep telling you this, and I am going to tell you this until I am blue in the face and you believe me – I can handle this, Chase. I can do as much in this situation as you can handle. Just damn well give me a chance! I’m not any damsel in distress.” Chase lets out a sigh as he knew that better than anyone, believing in her strength and abilities. However, that didn’t mean he was going to tread lightly on the topic.

“I know how strong you are, but you’ve dealt with this all of your life and sorry if I am trying to do whatever I can to protect and help you. If that’s a crime, then sentence me now because I am not changing.” Sarina glances into his eyes, seeing the regrets from has happened, as she takes a deep breath. Maybe a different approach would help her right now.

“I believe you, and trust me, I appreciate everything that you’ve done and do for me. I know that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to keep me safe, and Abigail. But Chase, I am willing to do the same for you, too. We’re in this together. Let Alycia try that route and see where it goes, for both of us.” Chase wanted to say no, but without any other reasons to fight her with, what choice did he have? He just hoped he didn’t regret this later, too.

“Okay, I’ll do it.” He then takes a deep breath as he looks towards the message once again. “The good news, though, is we have clearance for me to go see Carter. To be honest, I am not surprised as I’m sure he’ll twist the knife in just as much as Alison, if not more. Getting information from him will be a long shot, but it’s a chance that I am willing to take.”

“Are you sure you can handle that with everything?” Chase looks up into her eyes, determination written immediately in his. There was no way that he’d ever let Carter think that he was the stronger man.

“Trust me, he needs to know that I don’t appreciate another man putting their hands on my lady.” Sarina wanted to smirk a little in hearing the strength in those words, but kept her emotions even-keel for the time being. “The same goes with Damien, so either of us can handl-”

“I told you that I’d take Damien, remember?” Chase nods his head, remembering the conversation. “Although, I think we should call Ron as he had a good handle on him right from the beginning.”

“I have to admit that Ron was pretty smart that day in figuring out his game right from the beginning and not offering any wiggle room.” Chase didn’t want to deter Sarina off her path – as he believed in her, but his want to protect her was figuring into sending the next text message. “What if we send Ron after him?”

“If Ron is up to helping you once again, I’d say go for it.” Chase smiles, sending the text message that he had half-typed already to Ron to see whether he was willing to help them out.

“I’ll let you know when Alycia sends back her next message….” Sarina nods her head, accepting, hoping he stayed truthful to those words. “In the meanwhile, how is my favorite princess?”

“Well, first of all, we know your favorite princess is the one right beside you.” Chase couldn’t help but smile as he looked over at Abigail, who was sitting beside him, tossing the plastic balls around before trying to chew on a couple. “But I am doing okay. Dr. Grayson wasn’t kidding when she said the exercises would be a little painful and odd, but I am getting through them. The cream is also helping with the infection, too.”

“And you took the pill this morning, right?” Sarina nods her head with a sigh, though it was nice to have him checking on her. “Just make sure you take it easy, okay?”

“Eye eye, captain – as long as you’re doing okay.” Chase smiles in response, blowing a kiss her way.

“As long as we’re safe as a family and doing good, that’s all that matters.”

Wednesday, May 13 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Chase glances over his mom’s shoulder, smiling as they scroll through the photos. It seemed Cindy was making good usage of her mother’s day gift already, with several images of Abigail to show-off.

“That photo is adorable,” Chase comments, as he selects one of the images. “It looks like she’s reaching or asking for something.” Cindy nods her head, remembering how she set that image up with her.

“She wanted the pig back that was in the previous image,” Cindy explains, re-showing the other image with the stuffed animal. “She thought if she was super cute, that I could not deny her. I definitely listened to her request, but I got this perfect photo first. By the way, the way she calls for you in saying ‘Dada’ just makes my heart swarm.”

“I immediately lit up the first day that she said it, in total disbelief. There’s still some days where I’m surprised in response to hearing it. Just wait until she says Grandma for the first time.” Cindy looks at Chase with a bit of horror.

“That’s going to take some time to get used to, as I didn’t think I’d be hearing that this soon.” Chase was initially taken back by the comment, but totally understood that given how things started off with Sarina and the fact the pregnancy was a surprise.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay watching her a bunch these upcoming months?” A huge smile formed on Cindy’s face immediately as she looked over at Chase.

“Do you really need to ask that question?” Chase lets out a sigh, as he knew the response already.

“I just wanted to make sure. I don’t want it to feel like I’m just dumping you on her, or taking advantage of you.” Cindy reaches over, grabbing his hand with her own.

“You could ever make me feel that way, okay? I love you, and I’ll do whatever it takes for you. You’re my baby after all.” Chase just smiles in response, understanding that more than ever with Abigail.

“Even if she is in a bit of a stubborn streak?” Cindy lights up a little in hearing the comment.

“Let me guess – her new favorite word is no.” Chase nods his head as Cindy couldn’t help but chuckle. “I recall another little boy who got stuck with that word for a couple months, and some days I’d just be totally shocked because I’d think I’d found the perfect thing to not hear it, and you’d say it. I’m also going to guess that she’s stubborn foodwise a little.”

“She was absolutely loving carrots mashed up – until the past couple of nights to where I’ve gotten full blown raspberries instead.” Cindy couldn’t help but laugh as she could only imagine the mess. “I’m just warning you…”

“I raised you, remember? I think I’m prepared for whatever is to come – as long as you promise me to be careful and safe, both of you that is.” Chase nods his head, accepting. It was a normal line between them through the years, but it had new meaning with everything over the past couple of years.

“You don’t have to worry about me, but I’ll be extra careful just for you.” Cindy smiles as that was re-assuring to hear, combined with the fact there’d be nothing going on too much lately.

“I hope so. I saw the news report from Darlington and my heart sank at first as I was brought back to what happened with you and Sarina. I was just thankful to know this time there’s no connection indeed.” The comment made a lump form in Chase’s throat, in remembering the current thoughts surrounding Andrew Nodding. What if this was the beginning of that?

“News report?” Cindy grabs her phone, loading the story to where a man was arrested for threatening to blow up Darlington Raceway in NASCAR’s return to racing this weekend.

“It seems that somebody isn’t happy that you guys are headed to Darlington.” Chase lets out a sigh as he wasn’t surprised, knowing people’s concerns surrounding the virus remained – and rightfully so. Though this certainly took the cake in responses that he’d seen.

“Well, I’m glad that they caught him ahead of time. But mom, like I told you, I’ll be careful. Just good luck keeping Abigail out of trouble.” Cindy chuckles, though felt confident there’d be no issues in spending time with the princess.

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 359: Concerns Realized

Monday, May 11 –Atlanta, Georgia

Sarina takes a deep breath, as she gets comfortable as she can in the chair with her mind swirling.

She had been just through the full examination required by Dr. Grayson to hopefully answer her questions surrounding the constant infections that she’d  been sustaining. If there was one thing, a simple doctor’s appointment would never feel the same again since her time spent with him.

A glance to her right, and it was comforting to have a hand to hold hers as they awaited for Dr. Grayson to detail the full findings and what they’d be doing moving forward.

“You were right to come see me in light of the bladder infections,” Dr. Grayson comments as she lays out her notes on the table before them. Chase could only wonder what the variety of papers said, almost wishing he could read them to get rid of the anticipation. “No doubt it means the original treatment offered is not working as we would’ve hoped. So therefore, the first step will involve prescribing a stronger medication.”

“Does she need to worry about any pesky side effects?” Chase wondered, knowing that’d be something to especially watch for with returning back to racing. Though knowing there was a treatment option did offer some comfort as he wanted to see Sarina feeling better.

“Fortunately, there should not be anything in that regard that Sarina needs to worry about. However, the root cause of why she’s been getting the infections should be of concern.”

“That’s why I wanted to see you,” Sarina comments, feeling her breath hitch in her throat as she lets the words escape her mouth. It was like her worst fear in setting up the appointment, and going through it was coming through slowly before her eyes. “So I am guessing that my prediction was right…”

“Unfortunately, a prolapsed bladder is common after hysterectomies as we spoke about,” Dr. Grayson confirms the diagnosis. “Thankfully, we’ve caught this early enough to where you’re only at Stage I, therefore there are several treatment options, and a very good chance that things will progress forward as we want them, too.”

“What if they don’t?” Chase wonders, having not heard the initial discussion about the stages and treatment options that Sarina and Dr. Grayson spoke of pre-hysterectomy. “Should we be worried?”

“If the unfortunate situation happens to where it progresses and she moves into other stag-”

“How many stages are there?” Sarina gives Chase’s hand a squeeze, seeing his nerves of worry taking over with the constant questions in trying to figure out everything possible at once about what they were facing.

“There are four stages, with each stage growing more concerning. Ultimately, if the beginning treatments show no improvement or we continue to progress to stage four, that would mean surgery is the only option at that point.” Chase swallows the lump in his throat, as he immediately went back to sitting in the waiting room by himself waiting for her hysterectomy to finish, and remembering the small complication and delay they were faced with. What if that came up again? What if things didn’t go smoothly? His mind couldn’t help but ask all of the questions that it shouldn’t.

“Obviously we want to try the other treatment options first and hope that they are successful,” Sarina comments, taking a deep breath, trying to remain calm despite the conversation they were faced with. “What are those options?”

“We  could install a pessary into the vagina to support your bladder,” Dr. Grayson starts, causing a pair of disgusted faces to look at her in return as neither seen that going smoothly. “Measures are taken, and they are comfortable once installed properly so you don’t have to worry about being sore, or issu-”

“Even with going 200 mph on a weekly basis?” Dr. Grayson chuckles, knowing that she was certainly faced with unique circumstances with the pair of patients before her.

“Even with that, Sarina. I can assure you that there’s ladies right beside each day who may have one and you would never even notice. There’s also certain pelvic floor exercises that you can add to your daily routine to re-strengthen and re-train those muscles, and if successful, it can hold the bladder in-place. Another type of therapy is electrical stimulation and biofeedback. Electrical stimulation is where I would apply a probe to those muscles, and deliver an electrical current causing muscle contractions. Alternatively, biofeedback uses a sensor to monitor those muscles so we can recommend the right exercises.”

“I am going to guess that some of these are a little painful….” Dr. Grayson nods her head, as Sarina lets out an immediate sigh. She was certainly not looking forward to this one bit.

“It’s like when you’re stretching or exercising any muscle. I’m sure you’re aware of that.” Sarina lets out a sigh, as she’d gotten used to it with her workout routine. “

“I am also going to prescribe you with estrogen medication pills. After menopause, woman experience a decrease in production which weakens the vaginal muscles. The new cream that you have for the infections has some estrogen built into it, too.”

“So we’re starting off with medication and seeing if that helps?” Chase questions, hopeful that would be the solution as he wasn’t looking forward to exploring all of the options that were laid on the table.

“I want you to begin with the medicated cream and pills, combined with some light exercises as described on this piece of paper,” Dr. Grayson states, passing over a booklet to Sarina with the prescription slip on top. “Give it two weeks and then let me know if there’s improvement. If there is, then we’ll just keep par the course. If there isn’t, then we may explore the biofeedback so that we can see where we need to target this.”

“I can do that,” Sarina states with confidence as she picks up the booklet and prescription slip from the table. “Are you going to be on NASCAR’s traveling road crew?”

“Per the guidelines, I am one of the few doctors that will be at the races moving forward the next two months. I actually will be unable to treat other clients during that time, due to the risk of exposure and the amount of races going on. So that said, you’ll have me as a primary open book.”  Chase felt comforted with that information, knowing that he’d probably have some questions for her in the weeks ahead as they progressed through this next step.

A couple comments more around the group in general relation to going back racing, Abigail, and clearing things up from the appointment, and the Elliotts were headed out the door to return back home.

“Are you okay?” Chase questions as he drives out of the parking lot, knowing it’d probably be worth having a conversation between themselves to digress everything Dr. Grayson had to offer.

“It went just as I predicted Chase because we know nothing can be easy,” she comments with a sigh, as she glances out the side window. It seemed to the story of her whole life caught up in a nutshell. “I just hope that we don’t get to where we have to use the pessery as I still can’t wrap my arms around allowing someone to do that.”

“I couldn’t take it if it was me to be honest.” Sarina glances over at him, knowing they both understood the feelings in relation to that. it wasn’t about the actual insert of the product or reasoning, but rather the action of doing it all because their minds were marked by what had happened to them. “We both know how I reacted to you at Dayto-”

“Hey, but you have allowed me to touch you there a bit since so there’s been progress. I told you to not hold your head over what happened there.” Chase lets out a sigh as he didn’t want to, but it was the first thing that came to mind with discussions like these.

“Just promise me that you’ll be honest through this on how you’re feeling and what we’re doing moving forward, together. Just like everything to this date, I love you and support you through every single decision.” Sarina nods her head, remembering those words from when they elected to go through with the hysterectomy.

“I want your opinion as we-”

“It’s your body, you should make the cal-”

“But you’re my husband, and I value your opinion and what you have to offer. It’s nice to hear someone else’s thoughts when struck with adversity.” Both of their phones then go off at the same time, which wasn’t always a common occurrence. The first thought was Cindy trying to get a hold of them in relation to Abigail, but they both knew she was fine watching their little girl always without problems. The second thought was investigators, but they hadn’t shared the details from Alison with anyone just yet. Sarina picks her up her phone, opening the notification, with relief in seeing the e-mail. “NASCAR has laid out the regulations and rules for our return to racing.”

“Any surprises?” Sarina glances through the list, shrugging her shoulders at most of the regulations as they were to be expected. “Masks must be worn by everybody on the premises, with a pre-health check entering the facility?”

“Temperature check to be performed, with a questionnaire for everybody to fill out.” Chase wasn’t the one bit surprised as he just smiled. That was to be expected with what he had heard in general to what was happening. “If someone does show symptoms, they will be not be admitted and directed to a doctor to be tested. If they test positive, they and anyone they had contact with at the track would likely have to self-isolate at least for 14 days.”

“Hence why everybody is being told to social distance and not contact with others. That follows along the lines with the government regulations.” Sarina nods her head, having seen the latest notes issued by the Georgia government. While she wasn’t one to pay attention to politics mostly, she had been checking in with the briefings since the pandemic started. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially with her past health scares and a toddler in her house.

“Qualifying is cancelled for every event, except the Coca-Cola 600. The format has yet to be announced, but I’d hope it wouldn’t be owner points. You’d hope NASCAR would make it interesting with an invert of some sort.” Chase smiles, knowing where she was going with the theory immediately.

“How about a top 10 or 15 invert like some classic short track events?” Sarina just smirks as she thinks about the fun had with those events where that was offered. While the risk of being stuck with slower cars presented issues at times, it was mostly a fun experience.

“Limited media will be in attendance, which is no surprise either in wanting to keep the amount of people down.” Chase nods his head, having heard rumors about that already. “The driver’s motorhome will be there so the driver can get changed into his uniform, and remain away from everyone else. The motorhome driver parks the motorhome the day before and then must leave. This way, the driver is totally isolated. They will then be called the grid 10 minutes before the race.”

“Aren’t you glad that you have the XBOX there now?” Sarina nods her head, knowing it’d be quite boring spending hours there by her lonesome. She wasn’t looking forward to the weird feeling it’d offer in not having Chase or Abigail to keep her company, or the option to pass the time with her team. “Guess that means that there will be pre-packed lunches in order for yo-”

“I do have some cooking skills, thank you very much. I just allow you to do most of the cooking since you do such a nice job.” Chase just smiles back in response, although still knew he’d be sending her with snacks for reassurance for himself. “Following the completion of the event, the winning driver will do live TV and radio interviews near start/finish with the use of a boom mic. The driver will then go victory lane, taking photos with trophy and win sticker alone with no other crew members. The driver will then leave, which after the crew may come get the car to take it to post-race technical inspection.”

“Seriously?” Sarina nods her head, having read that section to herself once before outloud with a bit of disbelief. “That’s going to be the most odd victory lane that I’ve ever experienced.”

“I feel terrible in a way that they’re doing that. The guys deserve to celebrate as much as we do for all their hard work.” Chase nods his head, knowing that was always one of the best parts in winning as a group. “Oh, and the teams have been told that no celebratory behavior including direct contact with crew members, from handshakes to hugs and fist-bumps, will not be allowed.”

“Seriously?” Sarina nods her head once again as Chase just shakes his head in disbelief.

“So the guys can work together, handle the equipment and car together, probably spend time together the race weekend, but yet they cannot celebrate together. Am I missing something here, Chase?” Chase looks over slightly confused, though simply shrugs his shoulders in response. “Oh, and a fight does violate the terms, FYI. Anybody that violates the terms shall be fined anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000.”

“I want to take guesses that JGR will be the first.” Sarina looks over shocked, especially as Kyle Busch works there and they were decently close. “Sorry, but they’ve broken most of the rules in recent years.”

“I cannot deny with that, but you’d hope they’d be pretty smart through this. Joe has certain standards..” Chase nods his head, but still wanted to stick by his prediction. “Only 16 crew members will be allowed for each team on the premises. No business executives, social and PR marketing, or sponsors.”

“Ah Joey won’t have a bodyguard anymore.” Sarina couldn’t help but chuckle, but her first thought surrounded Kyle Busch.

“If someone pisses off Kyle, I suggest they hide as he has nobody to keep him straight – even if he has matured a lot.” It was now Chase’s turn to be surprised by the comments.

“The lady who respects and thanks that man for helping her through stages of her career, speaks highly of him, goes and throws him under the first bus that passes.” Sarina could only shrug her shoulders, knowing past instances backed up her theory.

“If you’re involved in a wreck, the driver must keep their helmet on and then put on a mask once the helmet is taken off – and typically done before heading into the emergency vehicle.” Chase wasn’t surprised  by that regulation, as it went along the rule about wearing masks. “Basically, everything is by the book that you’d expect – except for the lack of celebration for winning.”

“It just means that once we’re allowed, we’ll need to win just as much more to make up for it. I say we should make this year’s playoffs very memorable, Mrs. Elliott.” Sarina couldn’t help but smile in catching the reference immediately. She was all for that happening, knowing that was the ultimate goal for them both.

“Let’s just focus on the weeks ahead and make the most out of those. I want to see some trophies added to the collection.”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 358: Martinsville

Friday, May 8 – Martinsville Speedway

“Are you ready to go?” Chase questions, earning a nod from Sarina in response. “Your qualifying effort doesn’t quite match what you’re saying.”

“I wouldn’t talk Mr. I suck at video games,” she replies, to which Chase gives her a glance of surprise in response. “It just means that I have to pull my socks up and drive my ass through the qualifier. No pressure, right?”

“No pressure. Have fun tonight.” Chase then leans in, giving her a quick kiss, before leaving the room so she could focus on the task at hand.

As a result of a mistake in qualifying, she’d ultimately be starting deep in the field for her qualifier – ninth out of the 10 cars. There’d be chaos right off the start in the first two laps, though, with Sarina avoiding the chaotic spins that took place. It’d work in her favor, as she was able to move her way into fifth, which was a qualifying spot should she remain there.

Chase, meanwhile, had taken focus on the battle behind her as it seemed to getting heated for the last qualifying spot. Austin would give Christian a slight bump for the spot, with Christian giving him full force retaliation and spin back in response at the other end of the speedway.

Chase wanted to feel bad and have a differing opinion as to what happened, but he couldn’t deny that some of Austin’s actual driving had called for someone to eventually pull a move of that nature. Besides, he wanted to see Christian make it into the main show.

The rest of the qualifier would go smoothly, with Sarina scoring that solid fifth-place finish so she could transfer to the main event.

Starting 20^th, everybody knew it’d be about avoiding the impending chaos early and trying to gain track position along the way. It didn’t take long for the action to start, though, as a car would get spun near the front of the field. As Sarina slowed up to avoid the incident, contact from Logan Seavy would spin her around on the frontstretch.

“Come on guys…” Chase comments, rolling his eyes immediately as it seemed a repeat of the past couple of weeks was developing. “You’d think this wouldn’t be a shit show anymore with everybody having gained experience.”

In making repairs to the damage, Sarina would ultimately go a lap down to the leaders. She started to fight back, keeping it clean and taking the wavearound at Lap 32 to be back on the lead lap. The track position was also there, as she was back inside the top-20.

“Just keep her clean,” Chase comments, with a deep breath. He knew that wasn’t going to be easy, considering the race had been messy since the green flag, and was probably going to continue that way.

Sarina would follow the instructions as given, until all hell broke out once again. As she was coming down the frontstretch, she’d move her way towards the bottom lane, though ultimately hadn’t cleared the front of Jesse Iuwiji. There’d be contact, sending the No. 9 into the inside frontstretch wall.

“Not clear!” Chase shouts, glancing up to see they were only on Lap 57. It’d been a crazy start to the event.

“I need a new spotter!” Sarina replies back in response, rolling her eyes through the whole process. This wasn’t how she envisioned having a fun night of racing.

Despite the incident happening, she’d  keep fighting, making the repairs necessary and gaining ground as she had found the secret (finally) to avoiding incidents. The efforts would pay off, with her getting back on the lead lap with 20 laps to go.

Restarting from 17^th, she’d avoid the chaos in the final 10 laps that saw cars spinning and wrecking all over the speedway to score a ninth-place finish.

Sarina makes her way upstairs, smile planted on her face as she walks into the kitchen, catching up with her dear husband.

“Did I prove something tonight?” She questions, to which he just glances over with a small smile.

“That was one helluva comeback considering how your night started,” he answers, leaning in for a kiss. “I’m impressed, but you’re still no Willie B.” She couldn’t help but chuckle in response to the comment.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be as good as Willie B.” Chase nods his head in agreement, knowing that’d be difficult for any of them to top. “All that matters, though, is we’re both better than him come Sundays.”

“I like the way you’re thinking.”

Saturday, May 9 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Although he was not competing in the iRacing event at North Wilkesboro, Chase and Sarina had both tuned in to see the action that was ultimately set to take place. With both having a bit of love for the history of the sport, it was nice to see the place revived – even if just virtually.

It was also neat in seeing the announcement made by the service, in that they’d be loading in some ‘ol school cars to go along with the track revival.

“I may have to get on there a little more just for that reason,” Sarina comments, to which Chase nods his head in agreement. He felt some pride in helping put the pieces together to have the car scanned for the game.

“You know that you won’t be getting the ‘ol 9 if you’re racing against me,” Chase offers, to which she just chuckles back in response. The comment hadn’t surprised her one bit.

“Don’t worry, I have no problem adopting those wrangler colors to kick your ass.” Chase looks over surprised as she just grins back in response. “We may have to ensure that we have two simulators because honey, I have a feeling that things are fixing to get interesting around here.”

“We could make it even more interesting with a bet on the line.” She then cuddles up a little closer to him, already knowing what was flirting through that beautiful mind of his.

“No matter who wins those bets, let’s face it – we both win.” He smirks back in response, leaning in to kiss her lips. He was about to cuddle her even closer, when they heard a familiar voice of the baby monitor. “I’ll go get her.”

“Okay…” Chase could only smile as he watched her head upstairs to get Abigail from her room, though knew they’d finish what they started later tonight.

Taking a deep breath, he knew there’d been a lot of things going on lately – ranging from dealing with the pandemic to the latest situation with Alison, to Sarina’s own concerns about how she was doing health-wise. The stress could be seen at times by both of them, as their minds were always wondering what to do next.

As he glances towards the stairs in seeing her walk down with Abigail in hand, he knew that he had to make tomorrow very special for her. Oh, and make sure to pay a visit to his Momma as well.

Sunday, May 10 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Chase walks into the bedsroom, carrying Abigail in his arms with a bouquet of flowers. He glances at the brown eyes looking back at his, and couldn’t help but smile in response.

“Do you want to know what today is, sweetheart?” Chase questions as he looks over at the little girl in his arms. “Today is mother’s day, where we celebrate how special momma is.”

“Momma..” Abigail rambles off, to which Chase nods his head as he places her on the bed alongside Sarina.

“Because Momma is so special, I got her some flowers from both of us.” Sarina smiles as she easily accepts the bouquet from Chase, followed by a quick kiss. She then looks over at the little girl on the bed beside her.

“Momma..” Abigail makes her way across the bed, to which Sarina’s heart swarms immediately. Though it was clear what she wanted instead, reaching for the flowers.

“No sweetheart, you cannot eat these,” Sarina comments, putting them up on the night table. At the same time, Fletcher jumps up on the bed, making his way up to where Sarina and Abigail were, licking Sarina’s cheek.

“I think someone understand that it’s mommy’s day, too,” Chase offers, as Sarina couldn’t help but smirk in response as she looked at the dog sitting on the bed with them. “I’ll be right back….” Sarina looks on intrigued in watching him hurry out of the room.

“No matter what daddy has to offer, I can tell you both this – you complete my world, both of you.” Sarina then picks up Abigail, placing her on her lap as the little girl tugs at the buttons on her pajamas. “You are perfect, every bit of you. I could have never expected to have a daughter as special and cute as you are. You are my everything. I love you, forever.”

“Ala bala Nana Aga…” Abigail rambles on, perhaps to which could be thought of singing a song. “Alala….”

“If only I knew what you were saying…” Chase chuckles as he re-enters the room, seeing the scene before him with Abigail sitting on Sarina’s lap as Fletcher laid down, tucked up right alongside.

“Maybe she’s singing you a song since it’s your day,” Chase comments, catching her attention. Her heart could only swarm once again, as he had delivered a breakfast platter, with everything from orange juice and yogurt, to bacon and eggs.

“You are spoiling me,” Sarina offers as she shifts Abigail off of her lap, taking the tray out of his hands. She then leans in, stealing a quick kiss.

“I told you – today is your day, and you deserve it to be special.” He then retreats out of the room, only to grab Abigail’s high chair and get her situated in it. He then returned back with breakfast for himself and Abigail.

“You didn’t have to bring breakfast to be-”

“You deserve it, for how special you are to me and Abigail. Oh, and Fletcher, as well. But I also couldn’t do breakfast alone downstairs so here we are, as a family, in your bed.” Sarina just smiles in response, savoring the taste of the fresh cooked bacon.

“I can never pass up a home cooked breakfast from you. I still want to find out your secret to making really nice crispy bacon.” Chase chuckles, knowing that she had regularly bugged him about that.

“Considering all I got you for mother’s day was flowers and breakfast in bed, that could possibly be arranged as a present.” Sarina glances over at Abigail, snacking on the small bits of food before her, followed by looking towards Chase.

“Nah, I’m good without any presents. I have everything that I need right here in this room right now, Chase.” Chase nods his head, accepting, knowing that it was pretty special to have this time as a family.

“I can also assure you that whatever your other dreams may be moving forward for this family, they are going to come true. We are going to grow together and have fun doing it.” The smile only widened on Sarina’s face in the sentiments expressed by Chase, as she hoped he was right about his predictions in relation to the future.

“So does that mean that you will be completing more of those online classes with me this week?” Chase bites his tongue, as he personally wasn’t a big fan of the forced online teaching classes that the adoption agency was ensuring that he and Sarina took before moving forward with the process. With assurance that they’d pass the home inspection, he knew it was the only thing standing in their way before moving forward.

“Even though I want to pull my hair out the entire time at some of the repetitive annoying things that they have to offer, I am willing to do it if it means that we get to move forward with the adoption.” Sarina smiles, though knew that his sentiments matched her own. That was why she had called Ashley (Allgaier), Lindsay, and Samantha (Busch) to share the ridiculousness that they offered over wine with the girls.

“The next class that we have to do is about safety of the home. It’s supposed to cover things that you need to do make your home safe for the toddler or chi-”

“Babyproofing the cupboards, stairs, anything that can cause them harm. If you have any alcohol or guns, they need to be locked up by safe and key. Cue the stories of babygates and why they can be important, and making sure that your gates to your yard are secured so that way they cannot escape. Isn’t this all common sense?”  Sarina nods her head, having already made the same conclusions about the title of the class.

“They’re also going to touch upon first aid, knowing CPR and that importance, and certain signs to look out for of distress. Considering we’ve been through every crazy thing that we can think of, I’m pretty sure that we can ace that class.” Chase lets out a sigh, though couldn’t help but also chuckle in her sentiments despite knowing where they were coming from. “I signed us up for the class this week, as I figure we better squeeze another one in before our schedule gets crazy moving forward with mid-week events and our dates not lining up.”

“I’m game for that, and to show my commitment to you, I say we should do at least one class each week, no matter what’s going on. Let’s pick a day that we’re both free and knock one out as the sooner we knock these out, the quicker we move forward.” Sarina raises her glass of orange juice, knowing she was up to the challenge. She knew it was his schedule that would make it more challenging than hers to coordinate everything together.

“I’ll raise my glass and salute your commitment, but are you sure we can do that with everything else that we have going on?” Chase thinks it over, knowing that it was going to get chaotic with the NASCAR schedule. Then if you combine raising a toddler, traveling, and the fact they wanted more answers from Andrew, perhaps the plate was getting a little too full.

“Like I said, I will do whatever it takes for you, and my family.” He forgoes the tradition toast of glasses, instead leaning in for a kiss to which gets a series of giggles in response from Abigail.

Chase walks into the kitchen, pausing at the doorway as he could only shake his head in response in seeing Cindy working away washing dishes.

“With it being mother’s day, I thought Dad would’ve given you a break,” he comments, catching her attention. She looks back, a smile forming on her face immediately as she sets the latest plate back down in the sink.

“Do you honestly trust your dad to do the dishes?” Cindy questions, walking over to where he was standing, easily accepting the hug that he was offering. “I recall that he put away the pan with bits still stuck in it, hoping that I would not notice.”

“You go to let that go. That was a onetime incident.” Cindy wasn’t quite ready to believe him, though loved where the sentiments were coming from. “I just wanted to stop by and tell you Happy Mother’s Day..” He then hands her a bouquet of flowers, along with a box.

“You didn’t have to get me a gift, Chase…” Chase knew that, but he wasn’t about to not take care of his momma. After all, they were pretty close and that was something that’d never change.

“You know that you’ll always have a special place in my heart, forever. I love you..” She then glances over at him, offering a quick kiss on the cheek, before beginning to open the box. “You’ve been looking at that lens for months, and after looking up the specs myself, I could see why you wanted it.”

“I can’t believe you’d get this for me…” Cindy pulls the camera lens out of the box, looking it over with amazement on her face. “Chase, thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. I look forward to the amazing photos of your granddaughter that you’ll be able to get with it.” Cindy smiles, as it had certainly become obvious to both of them how much Cindy loved taking photos of Abigail, whether posed or candid. It seemed to become even more fun than she had doing the motorsports photography previously.

“You know that I can never spend enough time with her, and I look forward to all the babysitting to come these next couple months.” Chase chuckles, knowing that was certainly in the cards with both him and Sarina busy back racing. Though with having spent all these weeks with Abigail at the track, he knew it’d feel weird being there without her – or his parents for that matter, either.

“It’ll  be assuring to know that she’s in good hands.”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 357: Now what do we do?

Sunday, May 3 – Dawsonsville, Georgia

After giving each other some time to calm down and process the news that they were handed – including Chase being able to enjoy some dinner, it was time to have the necessary discussion that they were faced with.

“So it’s obvious that Andrew had a connection with your family, and your brother,” Chase starts, to which Sarina nods her head, having already acknowledged that. “Alison got involved with him due to being down on her luck and needing a pick me up, to which he offered in financial compensation. That obviously went astray very quickly.”

“Did she by chance mention Carter?” Sarina questions, catching Chase by surprise. He hadn’t expected Sarina to bring up his name in this conversation in an effort to not revisit those past memories.

“She told me that she doesn’t know whether they have a connection, or what could be going on for them. Perhaps Carter was lured into the same plan as she was, or perhaps he was involved beyond just you and other means of the cartel.” Sarina lets out a sigh, nodding her head as neither of those scenarios would surprise her.

“If he was indeed coaxed into this mess, I want you to know that there’s no way in hell that I could ever forgive him.” Chase looks her straight in the eyes, knowing those feelings matched his. It was something that he was glad to hear, in hopes that carried over to Chris as well.

“He made the decision to associate with Andrew, accepting whatever risks there may have been for what he did. Therefore, he accepts responsibility for whatever comes about that. It’s the same thing that I told Alison. I am sorry to hear her story and that this happened to her, but there’s no way that I could offer forgiveness or give her a second chance. I could only wish that she makes the best of what she has right now in answers and her treatment.” Sarina swallows the lump in her throat, not wanting to bring up her brother right now in hearing Chase’s direct stance.

“Did she have much to say in response?” Chase shakes his head no, remembering that Alison kept her words back in reply very short.

“She understood, and emphasized her apology.” Chase thinks things though, remembering when he brought the question up to Alison about Carter and the motivation behind it. Perhaps he had asked because he wanted to know just how at fault and why someone would do what he did. “Alison said that she realized her involvement through continued therapy in things coming to light. I never want to see or speak to Carter again, but perhaps it’d be worth seeing him to see whether he knows anything about Andrew and if he is willing to sha-”

“I can’t do it, Chase…” Chase reaches over, clutching her hand with his own.

“I know, and I wouldn’t ever make you face him, again. I would handle it, just like I handled Alison today.” Sarina didn’t feel as comfortable about that, remembering the rage and regret that Chase had about what happened.

“And what if he totally plays you? What if he has nothing worthy of sharing?” Chase knew that was very well possible, as that was still likely about this whole situation that Alison put on his shoulders today, even if she had a name right.

“Just like I am doing with Alison, I am taking what they’re saying at face value. I know there’s a good chance that this could all just be a whirlwind of games and confusion, even if some names make sense. I would do the same with anything Carter said, and I would also make sure that no matter what he has to offer, he isn’t getting any second chances.” Sarina bites her tongue once again in hearing those words, still keeping her brother’s name out of the conversation for now in that regard.

“Okay, that sounds fair. You can go forth in asking Alycia to set-up that meeting.” Chase nods his head, accepting, though wasn’t about to pull the trigger quite yet. That was mainly curiosity in seeing Carter. He knew that Chris could probably offer more answers in response, and it wasn’t like Carter could do anything to help them if Andrew was planning something else now.

“I don’t think we necessarily are at that stage yet, though. You mentioned Andrew’s connection, and how that reflects back to Austyn and how he was brought down. Clearly your brother was involved with these individuals and the drugs, and that leads to believe that he knows a lot about both Andrew and Austyn. This is about gaining answers and see why Andrew is back in the picture now, and how we could finally end this – and what we need to watch for leading forward. I want history, ans-”

“So in other words, you want to talk with Chris and see what he has to offer about both?” Chase slowly nods his head, knowing this was going to get touchy quickly, probably.

“Chris has had dealings with them, so he’ll be able to give us the intell that we need to know. I want to know more about the dealings, why the target is on our back, where the guy hides out, the size of his crew. I want whatever information that we can have so we have the advantage this time.” Sarina takes a deep breath, as the reality was hitting more and more that they weren’t out of the woods as they had hoped and felt yet. Just like everything in her life, it seemed to keep hitting.

“Well then, let’s set-up a meeting with myself and Chri-”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She then lets out a sigh, not really surprised by Chase’s revelation for her. She had hoped to at least see him.

“What if he doesn’t trust you?” Chase knew that was a possibility, but was rather ready to accept the risk vs. the potential things that could happen should she handle business.

“If he doesn’t trust me, then I’ll send you to see hi-”

“Why are you wasting time he-”

“I don’t trust you doing it, okay?” She looks at him, intrigued, as he takes a couple calming breaths. He hadn’t meant to snap in that matter. “You have a personal connection. You even admitted to me that you were curious about Alison’s reasoning due to your brother. You wanted to know if he was forced, and possibly see what that meant for the future forward. Now knowing that something is up, I could see you twisting the key – not because you should, but because your heart takes ove-”

“And how can you fault me for that, Chase? if it was your sister, I’d bet you do the same.” Chase nods his head, knowing he’d do anything for his family.

“You’re right, and roles reversed, I’d let you handle speaking with Brittany or Starr. However, that’s not the case here. I am just trying to protect you from having to face those feelings or that situation.” She lets out a sigh, knowing that he was probably right at the end of the day.

“Thanks, I guess. Just promise me that you’ll be nice…” Chase bit his tongue before speaking, knowing the first thoughts to enter his mind wouldn’t go over well.

“I was nice when I went and saw Alison. I’ll treat your brother the same.” But Chase knew the whole time that he’d be biting tongue in keeping the comments he wanted to say to himself, just like he had done (mostly) with Alison.

“Are you also going to go see Damien, too?” Chase then paused, remembering another set of critical words from Alison that had remained in his mind.

“She mentioned that Damien may have been an agent of Andrew’s, and how he was able to get into certain places and do things. It fits what we figured out, too, in seeing as that was how everybody was able to squeak into unwarranted places. While I don’t think it’s necessary for information or moving forward, it’d be interesting information to know.” Sarina knew he was right in that thought, even if they were both curious about Damien’s involvement.

“What if he is willing to hand over the information about how Andrew goes about his business?” Chase thinks it over, as it would be interesting information to have. Considering if they were on his target list, it’d be nice to know how they’re going to be reached.

“So are you saying that we should go see him?” Sarina thinks it over, knowing that she couldn’t sit on the sidelines and allow Chase to take all of the risks. If she was reason why this all began, then she needed to handle things.

“How about you let me go see Damien?” Chase thought it over, obviously not comfortable with her being near anybody that presented any danger.

“Are you sur-”

“I can handle it, Elliott. I got us in this mes-”

“It’s not your fau-”

“He’s after me because of my family, and I am the target.” Chase takes a deep breath, knowing he wasn’t going to be comfortable with this in anyway.

“Alright, you can go see Damien then while I handle Carter and your brother. For the record, though, this may be a totally left field situation. I mean, Alison said he did it by corrupting people into his circle and re-mapping their brains. It sounds totally science fiction to me.”

“It sounds far-fetched, but we’ve seen experimentation done on mind control. There’s actually one of the investigators that I know whom went through that, and is now one of the best on the job.” Chase glances over, slightly intrigued, though wondered why he hadn’t heard of this mentioned sooner.

“I want to do the right thing here. I want to take the steps necessary, but also have the cops on the know. I’m just afraid of them going in questioning first as they may not get the co-operation and answers that we will get. I had planned on sharing everything once we put the pieces together – as long as it’s not too late.” Sarina understood where he was coming from, considering justice had let them down in every situation before with consistent mistakes.

“What if I reach out to this individual, share the story? That way we have some eyes on our backs, someone in the know should trouble begin to arise, and yet we solve things the way we want.” Chase nods his head, accepting, even if he felt a tinge of worry in doing so. Considering new pieces to her story kept becoming open, did he want to welcome someone else?

“As long as you know that you can trust him…” Sarina nods her head, knowing that without a shadow of a doubt. “I also think we should share with Lindsay.”

“Absolutely. Do you want me to do the honors?” Chase nods his head, knowing it’d be easier with how close the ladies were. Though as the truth was revealed, he knew Ryan would be at his doorstep. “Have you told your father and Alan?”

“Alan knows, but my dad doesn’t know anything. I just told him that the meeting didn’t give me any clear answers.” Sarina shakes her head, knowing it was a light lie.

“The only thing that worries me is that family was good in using whoever they could to get what they want. So if they can’t get to me through me, or you, they may go through another avenue. I don’t want your parents to be caught off-guard.” Chase understood, as that certainly caught a couple nerves. He also remembered his moment with Alison at the race shop, as she threatened his parents.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be smart. Everybody has learned from past experiences.” Sarina leans her head against his shoulder with a sigh.

“I feel terrible, for everything…” Chase wraps an arm around her shoulders, holding her close in his arms.

“It’s not your fault. You could’ve never guessed what was to come. We’ll get through it, just like everything else. On a bright note, we get to go back racing soon.” Sarina couldn’t help but smile at the thought, knowing that Darlington was going to be a lot of fun.

Thursday, May 7 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Chase lets out a sigh as he awaits for Bubba to choose the next track that they were going to tackle. While it seemed his best friend was mastering the game pretty easily, it had been a struggle thus far for him. It seemed no matter which track they chose, he couldn’t find the right line to lay down a lap close to Bubba’s.

“Let’s try a track that you were decent at the other night,” Bubba suggests, as he loads Singapore for the next event.

“Anything would be better than I’ve been today,” Chase comments. “I’ve just been terrible.”

He would start off steady, laying down decent lap times in practice that seemed plausible for mid-pack consistency. Of course, the confidence disappeared immediately once in the event, as contact with the wall on a couple occasions would see him a fight for last place as Bubba dominated.

“Thank Gosh you haven’t chose a profession as a F1 driver,” Sarina jokes as she enters the room, with Chase simply just rolling his eyes in response. “I thought you would’ve been better with your road course expertise.”

“Nah, I’m just terrible,” he replies back, as he shakes his head in disgust, as he finished the event in last once again.

“Are you sure Bubba hasn’t figured out some cheats that he hasn’t shared?” Chase had to chuckle a little in response, though shook his head no.

“Easy on my boy, now…” Sarina just rolls her eyes in response, knowing her opinion of him wasn’t set to change anytime soon. That was just something they’d have to continue disagreeing about. “We’re going to probably play one more rou-”

“I know how it goes, Chase. You’ll be down here for another couple hours. Besides, weren’t you going to stream a little?” Chase nods head, knowing that was the original plan. He couldn’t wait for the total embarrassment in showing his lack of ability to the world. “I just wanted to come ask you to keep your schedule clear on Monday. Dr. Grayson says that she’s willing to see me then before we go back racing to discuss what we talked about.”

“Are you sure right now is the right time?” Sarina nods her head, remembering the exact discussion they had surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and appointments. It was all about being safe right now. While she had initially thought about putting off the discussion, she was beginning to feel nervous about the possibilities with how she had been feeling.

“Chase, I can’t keep doing this…” Chase looks at her a little puzzled. “It hurts more than I share, okay?” He slowly nods his head, accepting. “Besides, she says that she takes the proper precautions with patients, and entry. I feel safe in making this decision.”

“As long as you’re okay with it, I’ll be there. I’ll ask Momma to babysit.” Sarina smiles, knowing that wasn’t going to be a problem as Cindy loved spending time with Abigail.

“Thank you, I love you.” She then leans in and gives him a small kiss before heading out of the room.

“Yo dude, you just seem off your game tonight,” Bubba then starts, catching his attention. “Do I wanna know what you were just talking about with her? Is everything okay?”

“Everything will be fine, don’t worry,” Chase comments as he takes a deep breath. He knew there was lots going on, from Sarina’s health concerns to the recent news surrounding Andrew Nodding. However, just like they had talked about on Sunday, everything was going to work out for them – eventually.

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 356: Alison’s Story

Sunday, May 3 – Phoenix, Arizona

Although his eyes were focused on her and he was trying to fully pay attention to the story that she was about to share, his mind kept going elsewhere. Simple reminders of their past encounters kept flashing through, bringing forth a sickening feeling, sometimes anger in the same process. The anger only built when he realized the other harm that Alison caused in relation to those around him – all that seemingly feeling placed on his shoulders at times as he was the interested target.

“The first time we met each other was at Indianapo-” She begins, to which he rolls his eyes immediately. He wasn’t intrigued in having a trip down memory lane in her repeating each of their meetings in her story.

“You came after me as a result of Bethany, or so you told me at the time,” Chase cuts her off, recalling her testimony in court. It was why he had decided to let her off lightly on those initial charges. However, that was certainly something he’d come to regret in the years that followed. “If you’re going to tell me once again that Bethany is behind everything, we know that’s far from the truth considering how long she’s been behind bars. Do I need to remind you?”

“She isn’t the soul person behind this, Chase, so no, I am not repeating that story once again for you.” Chase lets out a sigh as that was a relief, but he still wondered if they were going anywhere today. “She did play the initial part there. I was down on money and luck, and she offered payment for the service completed. Either way, I should not have taken her up on that offer, and I do apologize. She isn’t the reason for what followed, either.”

“Then who is?” It’d be just so simple if she’d spit out the name so they could be done.

“I just established that I was down on money and luck. I wasn’t landing anything anywhere, and I was just about broke, nowhere to go. I was also battling some mental health issues at the time, which certainly didn’t help confidence or my choices. I made a decision to try drugs for a quick fix, and that’s how I found myself associating with the same individuals that Chris socializ-”

“Did Bethany associate herself with those individuals, as well?” Chase couldn’t help the intrigued curiosity, but all he could remember was how Bethany and Shelley wanted to get Chris out of the mental institution. He remembered Bethany coming into their lives, trying to push her influence on Chris and perhaps driving home the decisions more than necessary.

“She was aware of the individuals, but I never saw her make a purchase from them or use their products. Does that surprise you?” Chase wondered as to why Alison would even care to ask. Perhaps she was trying to create an even dialogue back-and-forth – or perhaps she was trying to find an advantage to slip through later on.

“I was just curious, okay? You may continue…” He wasn’t about to bite any bones that Alison threw his way.

“Needless to say, those drugs did not help my issues as I didn’t see them as my fix – never was into that stuff anyway, and I was still out of money and dealing with shit. One of the guys offered for me to meet a friend of his, and said that he could probably do something to help me. Now, you know miracles don’t just happen overnight but I accepted the guy’s offer. He led me to a gentleman named Andrew Nadding.” Chase repeated the name a couple times in his head, wanting to make sure that he didn’t lose it as that as probably why he was sitting here the whole time.

“So Andrew Nadding is the man that you’re blaming for everything – although he was supposed to help you, as you tell me.” Alison chuckles back in response, as she remembered the initial conversations and false promises.

“Andrew is an interesting individual. My initial discussions with him, he promised me that he could do wonders for me in helping me find my true self and through my issues. It started out simple, with those usual self-improvement classes. He then asked me to dive into my issues, and I obviously brought up one of my recent wrong-doings – which was the stunt with you in Indianapolis and Bethany. He asked me how I knew you, and more importantly, Chels-”

“Sarina Elliott, you are to call her by her proper name. Nobody is to use that name.” Although Chase brought it up in passing conversation with her, he knew that she wanted to disregard it entirely from usage due to all the past ties that it ensured.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you; I was just simply repeating Andrew’s wording.” Chase nods his head, accepting, even if put off a little by the simple mention. How would this Andrew know Sarina’s real name and why would he ask about her. “I simply told him that my connection was Bethany, nothing more. That ultimately ended the conversation for the tim-”

“So you have no idea why he asked about my wife?” Alison takes a deep breath, shaking her head no. it was a puzzling piece to these details that certainly had bothered her ever since, and were now going to bother Chase moving forward. If he had any connection to Sarina’s past, why hadn’t she brought his name up sooner? He also wondered if it would’ve been better to contact Chris instead of Alison as that may have led to further details. “Continue….”

“Things went quiet for a couple days, but he then reached out and told me that he wanted to try his next level treatment with me. I was skeptical, because of what we discussed, but I accepted – and for the wrong reasons. I needed money badly, as I couldn’t afford rent or food or anything, so I accepted so I could cover my ass.” Chase watches her intrigued, as he could only guess as to what she was about to say next. Furthermore, he wondered if she wanted to offer the full story in an effort for sympathy and plea deal – which he knew was never happening, ever. The current flip flops of his stomach spelled that out clearly.

“So what was this next level treatment, and how does this connect back to me?” Alison takes a deep breath, eyes focused down on the table, as she could tried to remain as calm as possible.

“Mind warping. It took me a lot of speaking with Dr. Francis and the staff here to recall all these details, but it came to me as to what he did. He told me that he could do some mind work to therefore help me, something along the lines of correcting my brain wave lengths. He would pay me a big sum to undergo this as it was still experimental and not FDA approved yet, so therefore I was subjecting myself to a study. I accepted. Probes were placed on my head, signals were sent through my brai-”

“I’m sorry, but this sounds straight out of a sci-fi movie. Are you sure you’re not just bullshitting me today?” Alison looks up from the table, straight into his eyes, as she shakes her head no.

“This is the straight ass truth, Chase. You can even contact Chris and get the story from him, as he underwent the same technique as well. But you see, while it was supposed to help me, he was rather re-programming me. He only increased the impulses and bad habits, while placing a target and fixation on me – which was you. Hence why I became stalkerish, not believing the fact that you didn’t want my advances, continuing to pra-”

“I don’t need any reminders!” Chase takes a deep breath, knowing getting hot under the collar would get him nowhere, especially when there was still so many questions to be answered. “You were locked away in a mental institution, until you escaped. You were also locked away another time, and manage to kill a doctor and escape. You also prayed on me at the hands of Carter. If this memory control was happening then, how did you become to realize what was happening?”

“Detailed therapy with Dr. Francis, combined with time away, allotted for me to snap from the treatments. Ideally, I think someone within the facility in Delaware is working with Andrew Nadding and was able to keep the same signals going. I can only think back to some of those days there being a little shaddy, and then things going off the handle afterwards. Though talking with Dr. Francis, diving into every bit of my history, we pulled that from there and the conversations, combined with what happened and transpired afterwards, it’s the only answer. I’m being straight up honest here with you, Chase, but if Andrew hadn’t gotten his hands on me, I would’ve left you alone after you let me go – the same way I handled the photoshoot reboot.”

“So someone going after you, warping with your mind, increasing your target sensation with me, resulted in everything that has happened…” Alison nods her head as Chase takes a couple deep breathes, trying to still process it. “I still don’t know if I believe you, simply because I don’t know or have heard of this Andrew Nadding before. Let’s also be honest – it sounds like something straight out of a movie that could never have happened.”

“Trust me, it took me awhile to come to grips. That’s actually where I began o write the letters. As I tried to come to grips with it, I began writing the letters in expressing what I knew and the feelings. I wanted to offer a warning if I was damn near close to the truth.” Chase almost wished he had opened those letters now, but didn’t regret the reasons initially why in leaving them sealed.

“I appreciate that for what it’s worth, even if part of me is saying you’re full of shi-”

“How about you get a hold Chri-”

“How do I know that you’re both not conning up this story to plan your escape so we can start the cycle all over again?” Alison glances at the table, knowing that certainly an interesting theory by Chase.

“You’re right, as you don’t know what to believe here. All I can say is that I haven’t had contact with Chris since he was put away; I didn’t want that association anymore. The only reason I know that he knows the name is because Dr. Francis contacted Chris’ facility to see whether a mention had arose. Supposedly, Chris had mentioned the name so therefore it proves some factoid to my story.” Chase knew the only way to confirm that would be to speak with Chris himself, and see whether he had answers to offer about who Andrew was in the process. However, he knew that he couldn’t offer Sarina that glimpse of hope as that may open pandora’s box with Sarina expressing that she hoped her brother was ultimately innocent. It also left another question in Chase’s mind.

“What about Damien or Carter?” Alison shrugs her shoulders as she keeps her eyes focused on Chase.

“I don’t know their relation or possible connection to Andrew. I was just following the orders put in place by everybody in that deal. Perhaps Damien was an agent of Andrew’s as he was the one that put the plan in motion that day in Delaware.” Chase takes a deep breath, immediately clearing out the flashback to that trail of events that occurred. He almost wondered why if Andrew was up to something, why he hadn’t been injected that day or subjected if Damien was in fact connected.

“Okay, thank you….” Chase glances at the table, still trying to put everything in motion in his mind as he tried to figure out his next move. He also knew that he had to deliver Sarina some sort of information once he got home. What was he going to tell her? “I want to thank you for sharing all of this information with me, even if I am still trying to figure out what to do now with what you’ve told me. I appreciate you wanting to do the right thing now. If everything that you told me is true, I am sorry that things played out the way that they did for you in what you were subjected and put thro-”

“I don’t deserve that apology from you, Chase, because everything that I put you through is 10, maybe 100 times worse than what I endured. I can’t even imagine the pain that you have dealt with through this. It makes me sick to think how twisted someone can be to do that.” Chase nods his head, knowing that he had certainly painted a very twisted mental picture of Alison in that process.

“You don’t even want to know my thoug-”

“Then I won’t subject you to this any longer. All I can say is I hope you find the answers that you want out of what I’ve told you, find peace in what happened, and peace for you and your family in the future.” Chase was actually shocked to hear the sentiments offered as he was ready for Alison to try and stretch out their time together as long as she could.

“Thank you, and I hope that you can continue to strive as much as you can here.” Chase glances down at the table, knowing the next words didn’t need to be said, but he knew all cards should be laid on the table. “I entered the day telling myself no matter what you told me that I would not allow you to escape or put together any plea dea-”

“I respec-”

“I also told myself to take what you said at face value, considering all sides of it, and figure the best way to move forward with the information. Nothing has changed about that. While I may feel bad for what you’ve endured, I can tell you that I can never forgive you and the simple sight of you before me is making me completely sick to my stomach. For that reason, no matter what comes of this, nothing is changing. Your fate is written and you’re staying behind bars where I know myself, my family, and my friends are protected. I’ve given people too many chances before and watched it bite me in the ass.”

“I understand, and for what it’s worth, I am sorry.” Chase nods his head, accepting, as he stands up.

“Thank you for telling me what you knew…” He then leaves the room, shutting the door behind him as he takes a careful deep breath, leaning back against the door. “Now, what do I do?”

Sunday, May 3  – Dawsonville, Georgia

With returning home past dinner time, Chase didn’t feel like putting together a meal once he was inside. Truth be told, he wanted to relax as much as possible as he still tried to digest everything that he was told. He wanted to believe her and go somewhere with this, but it felt so far out there in left field that he kept asking himself about the reasoning behind it.

He almost called Alycia to set up a meeting with Chris or Damien on the way back home, but stopped himself as he knew rash decisions right now may not go well. He had to properly weigh everything as associating with any of these people was probably bad news.

Now he sat on the couch at the home, bag of wings and bottle before him, he also faced a different type of music – Sarina. Obviously, they had said before that they would talk about the content of the conversation, but Chase wasn’t sure just how much he wanted to offer. If everything was true, it was the perfect gateway for Sarina to prove her brother was innocent and played multiple times. Did he really want to risk giving Chris yet another chance?

“Alison offered me a name and a story behind the name as to how things happened,” Chase begins, to which Sarina nods her head accepting. She wasn’t surprised by the details thus far as that was why Chase had gone to see her in the first place. “I am going to tell you the name, and I want your honesty about this name. Andrew Nodding. Does that ring any bells?”

“Are you absolutely certain that she said the name Andrew Nodding?” Sarina repeats, to which Chase nods his head. He could tell immediately that the name set off alarms in Sarina’s minds, meaning that Alison wasn’t totally bullshitting in the name that she chose to say. It also made sense as to why Andrew would ask Alison about Chelsy, as there was some sort of connection there.

“She repeated it multiple times through the story. It caught me off-guard as I never had heard the name before, but it seems you recognize it.” Sarina takes a deep breath, allowing herself to reach back into the memory bank as she thought back to her childhood.

“Andrew Nodding’s father Austyn was the leader of the drug cartel in my neighborhood.” Chase glances down immediately hearing the revelation, knowing that everything was beginning to click with Alison’s story, combined with why this Andrew person would have elected to take charge against Sarina.

“I’m going to guess that both your parents and Chris had dealings with him.” Sarina slowly nods her head, trying to recall some of the faint conversations that she heard between everybody.

“Austyn was the Godfather if you will, and he was ultimately brought down on charges for drug trafficking, murder, and more. It was his second in command that shot my father that fateful night, and one of the others who pulled the trigger on my mother. They retaliated in the fact of my brother trying to bring them down to pull my brother out.” Chase didn’t need any more details as he was seeing everything together in his mind.

“Austyn brought down on charges following a thorough investigation and traces, ultimately led by your father as he was the chief and in charge of the case. So enter Andrew Nodding now, who is ready to take revenge for his father’s wrongdoings. But with the parents dead, his target turns to the children of Chief Victor Dryer.” Sarina takes a deep breath, as she remembered one of her initial conversations with Chase when things started.

“I told you from day one that I had a target on my back, and it connected with my past. Well, here goes the giant slap in our faces of reality.” Sarina goes to get up off the couch, when Chase reaches out, grabbing her arm firmly with his hand.

“I didn’t run when you told me the story. I didn’t run when Chris was initially found to be behind everything. We’ve come far together, and we have a family now together with our daughter. Sarina Elliott, I told you when I married you that we were stuck together for life, till death do us part. Nothing is changing that. I’m not running, and you are not either.” She then glances back at him, tears in her eyes as everything comes to reality for them both.

“Then what do now? Because Chase, I’m not putting you through this shit once again.”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 355: The Monster Mile

Saturday, May 2 – Dover International Speedway

Standing at the back corner of the room, Chase couldn’t complain as he watched qualifying finish up, with Sarina ultimately ending up posting the 11^th quickest lap.

“No comments from the peanut gallery tonight?” Sarina questions, to which Chase just simply chuckles back in response.

“I couldn’t do any better myself so I figure I better keep quiet,” he answers, as she smirks back in response. “I am going to go put this little one down, and get set for a fun show tonight. Hopefully the monster likes you.”

“I know someone that loves Miles just as much as her parents.” Chase smiles, as Abigail had already made her way to her dresser when in the her room to get a closer look at Miles. When either of her parents picked her up, rather than be scared of the monster trophy, she had checked him out with a pet or giggle.

“So you’re actually agreeing with my decision to put the monster in her room now?” Sarina nods her head, though admittedly never had an issue with it as she loved the meaning behind Chase had done it.

“Goodnight sweetheart. Be an angel for daddy and go to bed so he can watch mommy kick some ass – I mean, butt.” Chase just smiles in watching kisses traded between Abigail and Sarina, before leaving the room to take her up to bed.

https://twitter.com/NoahGragson/status/1256755654708035584

Starting off third in her heat, Sarina was able to lay down solid laps, even though she got passed by Christian Eckes midway through the event. She was able to stay smooth all the way, ultimately scoring a fourth to be one of the six drivers to transfer.

Although Chase couldn’t help but chuckle at her contact with Myatt Snider coming to the flag, as Myatt was running middle of the track despite being a lap down.

“You think he would’ve learned,” he comments to himself with a sigh, remembering the discussion with Sarina and Myatt earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Although Chase was mad at her ultimately spinning Myatt on purpose, perhaps it was the right move considering his attitude since.

Starting 15^th in the main event, Sarina would begin to make moves right from the start, looking to make way forward. However, slight contact in the process courtesy of Drew Harring would send the No. 9 Chevrolet sideways. Sarina would have her hands all over the wheel, though, ultimately getting the car back underneath her without going around – though now near the tail of the field.

“Most epic iRacing save ever!” Chase lets out as he made a mental note to save that full clip for future sharing once she was done the event. He could only shake his head in disbelief in watching the replay on the broadcast. “Keep driving like that princess, and I may have to treat your ass tonight.”

“I was waiting for you to just purposely wreck Drew (Haring) for being a dumbass,” Chase comments as Sarina comes upstairs. She could only chuckle back in response as she entered the kitchen, leaning on the counter across from him.

After her initial spin, she was able to begin making up ground into the top-15 portion of the field, before Drew came down into her right side, sending her into the inside wall head-on. She’d ultimately be credited with a 21^st-place finish following the repairs.

“I thought about it, honestly,” she starts, to which didn’t surprise Chase one bit. He had been surprised by the lack of frustration heard from her end. “But then I remembered a couple things. I cherish my iRacing privileges more than he does, so I wouldn’t want to get suspended. I also know that I am a much more talented driver who has received and will be given much more deserving opportunities than he shall ever receive. On top of that, I also have you.”

“Look at you, Ms. Maturity,” he comments, to which she just chuckle back in response. “I’d give you full credit for everything you said – except for poor Mya-”

“He’s been an idiot in real life so he doesn’t deserve any passes, especially when he’s a lap car blocking to be a complete ass. Let’s face it, you know he was doing it on purpose because it was me.” Chase shrugs his shoulders, though ultimately understood where she was coming from and could see that being a very strong possibly. “Considering my iRacing capabilities, you should’ve allowed me to pilot the ‘ol No. 9 tomorrow for you. I may have been able to beat Denny Hamlin for you.”

“I think you need a little more practice to get his level. Besides, Willie B will take care of him for us.” Sarina wasn’t about to argue about that, as William Byron’s iRacing skills were at a whole different level – no surprise based on his experience on the service. “Besides, a princess needs her mother’s full attention tomorrow.”

“It would’ve helped keep my mind from thinking, though…” Chase walks around the counter, wrapping both arms around her from behind, lying his head on her shoulder. “I know it’s just a simple visit and I’m certainly, as I told you, interested in what she has to say because of my brother. But I can’t help but get these ill feelings when it comes to Alison. It just brings a bad taste to my mouth immediately.”

“I know what you’re saying, and don’t worry, it won’t be all smooth games for me tomorrow. But I need to do this due to curiosity, and all of our safety.” Sarina takes a deep breath, almost ready to yell out that he shouldn’t go. However, a fight the night before he went to see her wasn’t probably in their best interest, especially if she wanted him to be as transparent as possible once he returned.

“Just promise me that you’ll be careful, please….” Chase spins her around in his arms so that they were looking straight into each other’s eyes.

“I promise you, because no matter what happens, I will be coming home tomorrow night to my girls. I love you, both of you.” He then leans in, lightly brushing his lips across hers.

Sunday, May 3 – Phoenix, Arizona

Kevin steps off the plane, taking one glance at his co-pilot with a deep breath. After the last trip that they made up here together, he didn’t envision another happening.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kevin questions, as Chase takes a deep breath. Although the original plan was for Kevin to handle the flying. Chase had taken the honors for the trip out there. It was all about trying to stay as relaxed as possible, and there was nothing like flying through the clouds to help with that. Besides, he hadn’t been in the seat for a couple weeks and it felt good. “We can turn around and head hom-”

“No, I’m ready for this,” Chase answers with assurance as he begins to make his way out of the aircraft.

“Alright, I’ll go get us checked in, and don’t worry – I have discretion on the mind as talked about.” Chase nods his head, accepting, remembering the conversation that they had on the way to Phoenix.

The world would not know about this trip as they would simply hear the words ‘family obligation’ as to why he was missing today’s Pro Invitational Series event. Most people probably thought that there was a family dinner going on, and that wouldn’t had surprised Chase in everybody missing each other right now.

Only a few would know that they made their way to Phoenix to visit Alison at a psychiatric facility, and that list included just those whom Chase wanted to share the news with. He had taken Sarina’s advice in sharing his dealings with both his father and Alan. The resistance and arguments that occurred in response were no surprise, but he understood they came from a good place.

Kevin walks into the main office, taking a deep breath as he lays down the log books and notes before the secretary at the desk. He just hoped with the pandemic measures in place that things went quickly and smoothly.

“I would like to park the aircraft in a hanger – although not required, for the day before leaving this evening,” he states as everything is checked over accordingly. With being a private aircraft, it was required that they check in and state reason for travel and why the plane was there – but usually that was the length of these meetings.

“With COVID-19, you understand that air traffic and travel is being restricted for everyone’s safety,” the officer responds in response, to which Kevin simply nods his head. He was hoping to not have to pull out court documents and such to back-up his reason for travel, but had copies from Chase if necessary. “Why have you made the trip from Georgia to Arizona?”

“It’s not for personal pleasure, but rather a legal matter.” He then takes a deep breath, remembering the critical keys of trying to be as discrete as possible. Although he believed these individuals wouldn’t spread any rumors or stories, he wasn’t about to take chances. “My client has a meeting with one of the inmates at the Arizona State Psychiatric Hospital for the Criminally Insane.”

“Usually meetings of that nature are restricted to only their lawyers or family visitation. Does either of those apply here?” Kevin shakes his head no, fingers still crossed the documents remained hidden. “Do you realize that we do not like to enable travel by criminals?”

“I can assure you my client is not one of those indiv-” It almost made him laugh to consider Chase close to remotely on that type of list.

“How do we know without a name, or proof of the scheduled visit?” Kevin bit his tongue as he knew the next step would be pull the documents out of the folder, breaking the trust that he had hoped to keep with Chase.

“They’re going to the hospital for the criminally insane, correct?” The officer’s partner then begins, catching everyone’s attention. “If this person is a criminal, they’ll be caught there as you know background checks and identity must be screened before entry. Let them handle that there, and you sir, bring us back a signed copy stating that you were at the facility. You can black out your client’s name or such, but we need something when you return.”

“Thank you sir,” Kevin says graciously, with a sigh of relief as he knew that’d play within the boundaries allotted. He then signs the paperwork, before heading out with the hanger keys twirling around his fingers.

He makes his way back to the plane, seeing Chase had gone through the usual post-landing process while he was busy. The quicker they got the plane parked and out of there, the sooner they’d be on the road to getting this entire process finished up.

“Did everything go smoothly?” Chase questions as he follows Kevin across the tarmac to the hanger, knowing the pull cart was ideally inside of it.

“They’re asking more questions than normal due to COVID,” Kevin starts, and immediately he catches a hitch in Chase’s step. “But don’t worry, everything handled accordingly, client. We just need to bring back a signed sheet that we were there, with your name blacked out for identity purposes, to prove that was our reason for traveling.”

“Thank you, Kevin…” Kevin just flashes a quick smile, as they open up the hanger.

Chase takes a deep breath as he makes his way through the halls, following the officer in toe. Just in the minutes prior, he had passed their screening for the virus, followed by checked for any personal belongings as he was allowed to have nothing within the walls. Now everything was becoming real in being within the hallways of the institution.

He was led to one of the rooms, with instructions to sit down at the table. He simply follows the instructions, allowing himself to go through the motions, with a focus on remaining calm and not allowing his thoughts to overcome his emotions.

He feels his breath hitch in his throat for a second in watching the door open, with Alison being led inside by one of the officers. He watches as she is sat down across from him, with handcuffs affixed to her hands. Taking a series of deep breathes, he had to keep his emotions at bay and simply focus on the task at hand – the information she had to deliver.

“Are these really necessary?” Alison questions, holding her hands as much in the air as she could with the handcuffs affixed to them. Although Chase wanted to believe in the greater good with being here, that her information was genuine and she had taken a turn for the good, he felt security in seeing that they were taking the measures necessary with the set-up that they had chosen for the meeting.

“You are locked in here as a criminal, so therefore you are to be treated as such,” the officer states, earning a grunt in response from Alison. Certainly frustration on her part was probably not a good idea in Chase’s mind, as he wanted things to go smoothly as possible for easy information transfer. “We are required to do it for Mr. Elliott’s safety. Mr. Elliott, should a problem arise, we will be just right outside the door and as soon the button before you is hit, we will enter and alleviate the situation. Ms. Reynolds, you are given a button within reach of your cuffed hands for the same reason.”

The officer then backs away from the table and heads for the door, opening and closing it. Chase felt his stomach flip flopping the whole time as his eyes focused on Alison, every single emotion from what happened previously coming back to him. Combined with his mind wanting to play up possible theories, and he could’ve almost threw up right then and there.

“Thank you for agreeing to see me,” Alison starts off the conversation, catching his attention. He saw what he hoped was a genuine smile on her face in saying the comment. Obviously the feeling wasn’t replicated back in response.

“I’m just here for the information that you have to offer,” Chase states, just wanting to get in and out of there as quickly as possible.

“I offered the information on the day of our trial, and yet you turned me down. However, you came crawling right back to my clutches.” Chase could see every single previous manipulation she played on him back in his mind in the way she had to choose her wording.

“Let me make this clear – I don’t want anything to do with you. You tormented me and my family for months, so obviously I don’t want any trace of that back in my life ever again. That was all that was on my mind when we sat in that court room. However, thinking about it, I realized that the information you had I wanted for the safety of my family moving forward.” He hoped that some sympathy would result in her easily sharing the information in reminding her of the results of her past deeds.

“Your curiosity got the best of yo-” Why did this feel like another day with Alison all over again?

“You told me that somebody else caused everything from what you and Chris did. Who is that person?” Chase wasn’t about to allow her to spin the tables anymore. He had stated it before and he meant this time – he was done playing games.

“It’s easier if I just start at the beginn-”

“Give me the nam-”

“You want the information, you’re going to have to co-operate or I’ll just hit this button and boom, our meeting is over. I want you to fully understand who this person is and why they did it so you can know what to watch out for in the future.” Chase wasn’t here for story time or reminders of what happened, however he was intrigued by her comments. Being as prepared as you could would allow you to do what was right by your family in the best way possible to protect them. Maybe he needed to actually allow this to happen as she warranted.

“Alright, start from the beginning then.”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 354: Chase’s ‘family obligation’

Thursday, April 30 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Sarina makes her way into the living room, watching Chase full of intrigue.

Since asking the question earlier in the day, Chase had requested that they put off the conversation until later, wanting to have a one-on-one conversation when Abigail went to sleep. It pegged every part of Sarina’s curiosity as her mind wandered with theories, but it was the only way that Chase was set to reveal the details because he knew the conversation would probably go all over the place.

“So what’s the family obligati-” Sarina starts, unable to bear waiting any longer.

“I am going to see Alison,” Chase cuts her off as he keeps his eyes locked on the floor by his feet. Sarina can only look at him with pure shock.

“Seriously?” Chase slowly lifts his head, looking over at her with a nod. “Okay, please enlighten me as to why you’re going to see her.”

“Do you remember her words in the court room, that she never meant to do it, your brother never mea-”

“There was an outside reason according to her? Yeah, I remember those words. I also remember a conversation that we had about that and your curiosity.” Chase bit his tongue, remembering the anger shed by Sarina in relation to that conversation. He could already sense that returning based on her tone thus far, and almost regretted saying anything.

“I told you that I was curious. If we’re being honest, we know that we can’t believe any words that come out of her mouth as she’s manipulated us time and time again; that’s just how she works, right? However, no matter the conversation I’ve had with you or anybody else, curiosity has simply gotten the best of me. I’m curious as to what she has to say so here we are.” Sarina takes a deep breath, having remembered that she felt the same thought as there was always a slim part of her that wished her brother was innocent. It would be nice to get that family piece back together again, right? Though, she also remembered the second chance he got and how that went, along with all the pain endured in the years that had followed thanks to Alison and Carter.

“So you know that you won’t believe her, but you’re still curious….” Chase nods his head, taking a deep breath. At least she was giving him a chance to explain himself. Perhaps this was a good time to have the discussion.

“Let’s just say that someone else is involved. Sure, we haven’t dealt with anything for the past several months, but what if something creeps up? It’d be nice to have a name and an idea for a direction to go just in case.” Chase stands up and walks over to Sarina, clasping her hands with his own. “I would do anything to protect you, and Abigail, and I feel the best way to do that is to have as much knowledge as I can about everything. That’s why I am doing this – curiosity, and not wanting to let you down.”

“Chase, what happened wasn’t your fau-”

“I know, but I don’t want it to happen again, so it’s time that I take charge of the situation. The first step is making sure we know what to watch out for, right?” Sarina lets out a sigh, though couldn’t help but nod her head as she’d do anything in her power to protect Abigail. Thankfully, that little girl had no knowledge or feeling as to what her parents had endured and that was something Sarina didn’t want to change.

“But are you sure that you can handle it? We both know how much Alison hurt you, affected you, and how long it has taken you to move forward. Heck, we just discussed the other week that you’re totally over what happened. Are you really ready to look that in the face once again?” Chase takes a deep breath, as he had certainly been toying back and forth with that thought over the past couple of weeks since putting things in motion with Alycia.

“It won’t be easy, but I feel that it’s absolutely necessary because of the reasons that we’ve discussed.” Sarina nods her head, accepting, as she thinks everything through.

“I admit that I wanted no more to do with her or Carter or anybody for that matter, but I understand why you’re doing this. I also am curious if I’m being truthful because I want to know why my brother truly did what he did, every single part of his thought process including the second chance. So if Alison can give us any answers, then I guess I can accept them because it’ll help with that closure.” Chase looks into her eyes, nodding his head with sympathy as that was certainly probably part of why he was pushing this agenda himself.

“No matter what she says, it doesn’t change our stance. She’s getting no deal or breaks by sharing this information. Her sentence remains unchanged or altered and I have no intentions in changing that. No matter her reason, she can’t make up for everything that happened. I would also say the same goes for your brother, Carter, and Shelley as well. We took a chance before and we both know what happened.” Sarina nods her head, as it still broke her heart in finding out that her brother had played her all along, and the eventual events that transpired in July a couple years ago.

“How long have you been looking into doing this, Chase?” Chase didn’t expect her to ask the question as he slowly walks away from her, feeling every bit of the betrayal in having hid the information.

“I messaged Alicia a couple weeks ago and it’s all been about getting the right approval, followed by setting up the meeting to take place.” He then takes a deep breath, ready for the blunt of it from her now. “I know I should’ve told you right away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just remembered our initial conversation and how angry you were at me about the thought of doing it, how I wanted to let Allison in my life again, and I didn’t want to face that music once again. I’ve been debating ever since, almost spit it out the other night. Truth be told, I was settled on going no matter what you said and probably would’ve simply told you the night before.”

“I understand….” Sarina takes a deep breath, trying to resist the urge to let out every initial feeling that arose through his confession. However, she knew doing that would just create a divide between them – as he originally spoke of, so she didn’t want to do that once again. She wanted trust so that way she’d be told the full details later on. “I may not totally agree with your intentions and am still questioning whether this is the right thing to do, but I accept what you’re about to do for the reasons that we’ve discussed tonight. So therefore, Chase, you have my full support.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that.” He then returns back over to where she was standing, as the pair share a hug together. “I love you, and it bothered me to try and do this secretl-”

“Then how about you just damn well tell me next time?” He smiles, nodding his head accepting. “So you’re obviously heading up to Arizona to see her on Sunday. Is there anyone going with you?”

“I asked Kevin (Coleman) to fly me up and fly me back, because obviously with her, I wouldn’t probably be in the right frame to fly back.” Sarina absolutely nods her head in agreement, feeling relief immediately that he was taking the smartest steps necessary. It also wasn’t a surprise that he told Kevin due to not only his flying skills, but the fact that Kevin flew him up there to see Alison about the letters originally. “Outside of you and Kevin, nobody else knows about the idea for Sunday.”

“Well, I appreciate you allowing me in your small trust circle. However, I would suggest perhaps sharing with your father and/or possibly Alan so that way you have people to lean on after if necessary.” Chase takes a deep breath, not sure if he wanted to have those conversations as he expected pushback immediately, especially from his father.

“I’ll think about it, okay?” Sarina nods her head, accepting, as that was certainly a step in the right direction.

Friday, May 1 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Sarina makes her way out of the kitchen into the living room, glancing over Chase with a bit of a surprise.

“Are you okay there, mister?” She questions to which he just lets out a sigh in response.

“Did you raising a child could be so tiring?” He offers, to which she just chuckles in response. It had been a been a busy morning thus far already, as Abigail was more active than usual with her travels around the house, and wanting someone – daddy – to play with her. Combined with making breakfast and doing laundry, it seemed now with her down for a nap, Chase was headed to the same spot.

“Perhaps you both should’ve gone down for a nap together.” He shakes his head no as Sarina places a drink on the table for him, before retreating back to the kitchen. “Hey Chase, what are the protective measures in place for Sunday?”

“In relation to Alison?” Sarina nods her head as she begins to loads the dishwasher, seeing the sink had filled up quickly with dishes.

“I thought travel was supposed to be limited due to the virus….” Chase lets out a sigh, having grown used to her worries surrounding the virus as it seemed to be a daily topic of concern from her. Although he was well aware of the situation and taking measures in his decisions, he felt relaxed considering the current numbers and articles he’d read.

“Kevin and I are flying out in his plane. All individuals at the hospital are tested on a regular basis for the virus, and a psychiatrist who contracted it was put in isolation immediately. Nobody else in the institution has it. Furthermore, they asked for Kevin and I both to submit for a test in advance – and it’s come back negatively, obviously. We’re flying down, attending, and flying back – no other stops along the way.” He then gets up off the couch and makes his way into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around her. “Don’t worry, I will be careful in every aspect for us, okay?”

“I believe you, honestly…” She then leans back, easily accepting a kiss from him. “Did you see the latest state numbers, by the way?” Chase lets out a sigh as he lets her go, having read that there’d been 1000 new cases over the last 24 hours in Georgia.

“Have you also noticed that they’re doing more testing than they’ve done through the previous months? Obviously, the more tests that you do, the more chances that you have for positiv-”

“But 1000? It can’t just be coincidence, considering that the state has opened up.” Chase wasn’t about to argue, understanding the concerns with things opening up if there were people walking around unaware that they had the virus – hence being cautious himself.

“Certainly it doesn’t help issues, especially in Atlanta and the state hot spots where you have walking cases. But let’s not get caught up in the worry, okay? Have you realized that Dawson County is still on the low-end with just around 60 cases? As long as we don’t head up to Atlanta or anywhere busy, we’re doing our part and we’ll be fine.”

“How do you stay calm through this?” Chase leans on the counter, thinking it over. Perhaps all those years of wondering about the various conspiracy theories and studying them out of curiosity were calming his mind for anything that came, or perhaps there was another reason.

“We’ve been through everything to get this point, so I think we’ve covered our crisis training pretty well.” Sarina nods her head, though couldn’t but let out a sigh in reflecting through everything.

“And even with that said, you’re still certain about what you’re doing on Sunday?” Chase nods his head, knowing that he couldn’t turn his back now. If he did, it’d only come back ten-fold in his mind in regards to the curiosity.

“You love me, you believe me – just trust me on this, okay?” Sarina takes a deep breath, as she reaches out clutching his hand with her own, eyes locked on his. “Please…”

“I always have your back, no matter what. I married you and when I did, I accepted every part of that came along with that. Like I said, you’re stuck with me – till death do us part.” She then pulls him close, kissing his lips once again. “But right now, you’re being such a distraction. No dishes are going to get done with you interrupting me.”

“Well that’s what you get for interrupting my nap…” He then slowly lets her go, retreating back to the living room.

“By the way, I contacted Dr. Grayson after our discussion the other day.” He then freezes, stopping in his tracks immediately to turn around and face her. He wasn’t about to escape a conversation about her health. “She told me that I was right to contact her as there certainly be some complications that have come up, whether with the incision site itself or perhaps my bladder itself.”

“So what did she recommend?” Sarina takes a deep breath, trying to erase the worries as she remembered the exact specifics from the conversation over the phone with Dr. Grayson.

“We’re looking to set-up an appointment despite everything going on so she can do some tests and then we’ll see where we go from there. She says if everything comes back fine, then it’s just a flux of infections and we need to be more careful in that regard. Though if something comes up, it’s better to have answers, right?” Chase nods his head, as that’s why he had suggested that she contact Dr. Grayson in the first place. “I expressed my concern over the virus and health facilities, so she said that once measures are in place and such with her office, she’ll contact me and we’ll schedule a date.”

“Hopefully sooner than later as it’d be nice to have answers before we head to Darlington.” Sarina nods her head in agreement, knowing constant bathroom trips while there wouldn’t be pleasant.

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 353: “Looks like Momma is going to get to go fast once again very soon.”

Wednesday, April 29 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Chase takes a deep breath as he thinks everything over.

He knew what was necessary to happen this weekend. All of the arrangements had been made for Sunday for everything to take place as scheduled. Now he just made to ensure the rest of the puzzle pieces, and be there as he was supposed to.

Glancing at his phone, he knew the phone call had to be made to Morgan. Although he had originally planned to not let this interfere with anything, there was no way to schedule this meeting for a different day than they had decided upon. Not wanting to put it off any longer with the current break, he went about scheduling anyway.

“Hello Mr. Elliott,” Morgan answers the phone, surprising Chase in saying not only his name but in a formal matter. Normally she was pretty laid back with things – making him even more nervous about the phone call. “What do I owe the pleasure of your call today?”

“Based on how you sound, I hope you’re having a good day,” he replies, hoping to break the ice before turning her world upside down. It was always nice to be polite, right?

“Everything is fine here, from scheduling things with team members to keep sponsors happy. I just didn’t expect to see your number appear on my phone.” Chase couldn’t deny that comment, as he normally wouldn’t be reaching out to Morgan unless it was important. This fell under that category, obviously.

“I am going to be unable to run this weekend’s iRace at Dover.” It was simple as that, right?

“Now just because you haven’t had that much luck, or the fact that you’re getting an your ass stunk by your teammates, it doesn’t give you a right to just throw in the towel.” Chase lets out a sigh, as that was far from what he wanted to have this appearing to be doing. If anything, he was stepping up to face his fears and do right by his family. Although, he had to admit that she was right in having watched William and Alex both win.

“Hey now, I am not as bad as Jimmie.” He heard her chuckle on the other end, as they both knew that he was right in that comment. “No seriously, I’ve had something come up that will be taking my time so I am unavailable.”

“Do I get to learn the details?” Chase bit his lip, as he had been scared to tell anybody anything. The only person that knew any details thus far was Alycia, and that was because he needed her to set everything up.

“Nobody knows, so please keep this between us, but I am going to visit Alison. She made mention that there was someone who resulted in what she did, along with Chris, so I am going to see if she is willing to share that as she wanted to a month ago.” He hears a sigh on the other end, hopeful that the same thing that occurred with Sarina in the mere thought of going did not begin right here again. He didn’t truthfully have the energy for another argument.

“As long as you promise to keep me fully in the loop on what’s going on so I can look out for your safety and the guys, it’s a deal. I thought we were fully done with everything.” Chase was glad that he had her co-operation, though the second comment sent a shiver down his spine.

“I thought we were, too. Nothing has happened or come up since she was sent to jail along with Carter. Truthfully, I don’t even know if I believe her at all. But I don’t want to take any chances so I figure I’ll let her deal.”

“I don’t blame you. Promise me you’ll be safe and I’ll cover for you with family obligation as the standard excuse. Rick shouldn’t push on the issue, but if he does, I’m sending him your way.” Chase takes a deep breath, hopeful that wasn’t the case as he knew he couldn’t go forth in telling Rick.

“I promise. Thank you Morgan. See you as soon as we’re allowed.”

“Looking forward to it. Bye Chase.”

“Bye Morgan.” Chase then hangs up the phone, letting out a sigh as he leans back against the counter. Now he just needed to make everything happen on Sunday.

As he had done in the previous days, he loads the latest articles about the coronavirius, once again letting his curiosity get the best of him in reading the variety of theories and opinions. Although some of the conspiracy versions behind the virus were intriguing, the fact that Georiga had seen 200 new cases since opening certainly did not sit well with him.

Taking a deep breath, he knew even with the restrictions reduced that he was going to remain diligent and careful. It was all about protecting his family, the same reason he was going to Alison on Sunday.

Thursday, April 30 – Dawsonville, Georgia

Chase glances towards the stair case, slightly confused in seeing the appearance before him as Sarina makes her way into the kitchen where he was with Abigail in her high chair.

“It’s not race day, and we have all the groceries we need, but yet you’re changed out of your pajamas,” Chase comments, to which Sarina nods her head accepting his observation. Even she had to admit that he was right in it being odd based on circumstances lately.

“Can’t a girl change out of her jammies?” She questions back in response, to which he just shrugs his shoulders. He wasn’t aware an observation could be taken such the wrong way.

“It’s just odd as I’ve gotten used to lounging around the house in your pajamas with us not going anywhere.” She then grabs a drink from the fridge, setting it on the counter, with a sigh. She knew that she couldn’t dodge the topic forever.

“My pajamas are in the wash right now, for your information. Not because I was getting stinky, but rather it was a necessary wash.” Chase sees the concern written on her face as he watches her closely.

“Is something wrong?” Her eyes remain on the counter, as she was still debating whether it was worth saying something.

“Bladder infection as I can feel the similar pain and stinging feeling when I am peeing. I have the cream and the pills, so I just went about changing to wash so everything is clean and following the steps. I mean, it’s normal with girls sometimes so I shouldn’t be concerned.” Chase nods his head, having remembered that conversation when she got the first one. “But the fact that I’ve gotten three separate infections in the past couple months is a little concerning, don’t you think? I mean, I know some people get them like that, but I went from hardly getting any to now three separate.”

“Are you having any other issues? Like, do you think it could  be a bigger issue?” Sarina takes a deep breath, as his questions matched those flooding through her mind already. It was almost like a slap in the face with this conversation.

“I don’t know, but there’s been some minor back pain at times and we discussed the fact that there was pain with intercour-”

“But the doctor said that can be normal, and recommended the KY jelly which has helped.” Sarina nods her head, remembering the conversation and how embarrassed they were to bring it up.

“I brought it up to Samantha the other day because it just rubbed me the wrong way. She told me that it wouldn’t hurt possibly mentioning something to a doctor because there may be an underlying issue, considering all of this didn’t begin until after I had surgery.” Chase takes a deep breath, remembering the long wait in the waiting room and small complications that made the process longer than scheduled. A realization that there may be more effects going on wasn’t very comforting.

“It may not hurt to contact Dr. Grayson and see what she has to say, considering she knows your full history and everything. If anything, it’ll ease your worries. Though on the other side, if something is wrong, then she can help you.” Sarina nods her head, accepting the advice as Chase walks over, wrapping both arms around her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“It’s like another slap in the face that hey, are you sure you made the right decision? Sure, I got rid of the period pains and all those issues, but yet there’s the potential that I brought on a whole other charade. The fact that we’ve gone back and forth on this so much, I doubt myself sometimes…” Chase rubs her back, taking a deep breath, as in these moments, it was so hard to find the right words to say for her to help her feel better.

“When it came down to the decision, you took your time making it – a couple months. We both weighed the positives and negatives in what you were deciding. You also got opinions from not only professionals and myself, but those around you whom you trust. We also know that the simple fact you cannot carry a baby doesn’t close all doors, as we have adoption and surrogacy as options. Therefore, I still feel that you made the right decision in solving the pain that you were dealing with and the pregnancy risks.” She nods her head, letting that weigh all through her head once again.

“Even if there is something else wrong right now?” That was something that Chase didn’t want to face, feeling his stomach flip flop immediately.

“Even if that’s the case, because whatever it is, I know that we’ll figure it out and get through it together, as a family. I love you, and I’m here for you always.” He then kisses her cheek as she glances back at him with a small smile.

“I love you, too. Thank you..” He then lets her go, returning back to finishing up getting lunch together as Abigail finishes eating her bite-size snacks that he had given her. “By the way, did you see the latest update from the state in the virus? Even though they’ve opened up everything, they’re asking elderly and those in the risk categories to remain home until June 12.”

“I read that morning, and texted my parents that if they needed anything to let me know and I’d handle it. All Momma said back was to make sure that we’re keeping Abigail out of trouble, and she can’t wait to spend some more time with her granddaughter soon.” Sarina chuckles back in response, not at all surprised by Cindy’s response to the message.

Once lunch was made, and eaten by the family together, they headed outside into the backyard. With the weather being really nice, it was the perfect way to soak it up together. Abigail had certainly fallen in love with the little swingset and playground put together by the parents, while Fletcher was always up for running around the backyard chasing his ball.

As Sarina pushed Abigail on the swing, she hears her phone go off on her pocket, pulling it out intrigued by the notification. She opens it, with a mixture of happiness and surprise immediately forming in the message received.

“Looks like we’re going back to racing sooner than expected,” she says out loud, catching Chase’s attention as he tosses the ball once again for Fletcher. “Darlington, May 17. No fans in the stands with strict procedures for everybody to follow in accordance to public health and such. This will include social distancing in the garage, facial masks, checking people as they enter the grounds, and more.”

“Well Jimmie did say that he heard NASCAR was getting ready to go back racing with the states opening up,” Chase replies, to which Sarina nods her head remembering the conversation. They had openly talked about it when hearing that North Carolina dubbed race shops as essential, which had caused them all to chuckle a little at the time. “Considering South Carolina is among those opening up slowly, it makes sense – although I expected Charlotte first.”

“Oh don’t you worry, we’re going there too.” Chase looks on intrigued as Sarina re-loads the message on her phone. “So you’re going racing at Darlington that Sunday, followed by me on Tuesday, and then you again on Wednesday. Then you head to Charlotte on Sunday, followed by me on Monday, trucks on Tuesday, and then you again on Wednesday.” Chase could only look on in disbelief as he tried to process all of that together.

“So we’re running four races in the span of two weeks at two different tracks?” Sarina nods her head with a smile.

“Oh, and there will be no practice, with only qualifying for the Coke 600.” The latest comment only caused Chase’s jaw to drop further.

“Oh man….” Chase throws the ball once again, as he processes it.

“It takes me back to our late model days, if I am being honest. Traveling all over, only going to a track for a day and jam-packing a show in before heading to the next.” Chase smiles as that was certainly a fitting comparison.

“I can’t deny being excited to get back in the car. I mean, I’ve missed it – you understand that. I also agree that the measures they’re putting in place should do the job that they need to. But having no practice – that’s going to be interesting.” Sarina nods her head, honestly split on her thoughts in regards to that right now. Who wanted to go full bore into turn one on Lap 1 of the race with no idea what the car would do?

“You always said that some weekends we had too much practice and those who are fast are always going to be fast. Looks like your theory is getting put to the test.” Chase chuckles, though was also surprised by how accurately she remembered those comments.

“You can only gain so much in practice and thus far, we’ve been good at unloading some quick cars so I honestly like our chances. But that initial uncertainty causes a couple nerves, if we’re being straight up. However, I trust my guys and I know that they’ll give me a good piece and it’ll be safe, so here we go right?” Sarina smiles, nodding her head in agreement.

“Looks like Momma is going to get to go fast once again very soon.” Chase couldn’t help but smile in seeing Sarina’s face light up in saying the words.

“Momma! Momma!” Abigail then begins chanting herself, causing Sarina to stop dead in her tracks as Chase looks over surprised. It just brought the smiles in the backyard out even bigger for the couple.

“Did she just say what I thought?” Sarina questions, to which Chase nods his head in approval.

“Dada Dada…” Abigail’s arms reach out towards where he was standing with Fletcher, causing Sarina to roll her eyes.

“What a way to burst my bubble there.” Chase just chuckles as he walks over, lifting her up out of the swing.

“Do you want to go on the slide with Daddy?” He questions, to which her eyes light up immediately as he walks over to where the little playground was set-up.

“Hey Chase, Justin mentioned something about you not running the Pro Invitational event at Dover due to family obligations,” Sarina starts, causing Chase to stop instantly in his tracks. “What’s up with that?”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 352: Talladega

“Look who it is – what an ugly ass yellow. I ain’t pushing you, absolutely not, fool. If I could give him a bird, I would, but he can’t see it.”  – Chase Elliott

Saturday, April 25 – Dawsonville, GA

Chase checks her seat length to the pedals, confirming it was set right back for her to be comfortable. He then takes a step back as she gets logged in and set to go for the evening of fun.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” He questions, to which she just chuckles in response.

“Is anybody honestly ready for the chaos that is promised in a virtual Talladega event?” She answers, to which he had to join in the chuckling with a shake of the head.

“Based on the wrecking in practice the past week, my advice to you is simple – hold on.” She nods her head, accepting. “Good luck, princess.”

“Thank you Peach.” Chase then makes his way back up the stairs to the main floor with Abigail in his arms, getting comfortable with her on the couch as he turns on the broadcast. He also had loaded a video feed of her directly on his phone, knowing that he’d want to be keeping tabs of her at all times.

“Thankfully, it’s virtual so your daddy doesn’t have to worry like he’d normally be doing – but trust me baby girl, the butterflies are still there.” He then glances down into her eyes, smiling as she cuddles up even more in his arms. “You should be upstairs in your bed very shortly, but if you promise to be quiet, you can stay here a little while longer and fall asleep right here. I have no problem spending more time with you.”

His concentration on the broadcast was only distracted by hearing his phone go off, as he reaches for it without trying to disturb Abigail in his arms.

“I suggested the meeting being as we discussed – proper prison protocol with glass in-between and the phone call,” he reads the e-mail from Alycia, taking a deep breath in the process. “They denied that, as Alison would prefer to meet you face-to-face at the psychiatric facility, without the psychiatrist present. The warden and judge would prefer to have him present for the safety of everybody, which I entirely agree. The ball lies in your court now.”

“If we don’t do what we she wants, she may not offer the information that we want,” Chase begins typing, taking a careful deep breath in the process. “Therefore if I am going to do this, I am going to follow her request to hopefully ensure it goes as smooth as possible.”

He almost cursed himself as soon as he sent the message, knowing that once again he was following her orders, doing as she wanted. He knew every other time that resulted in trouble as she was able to manipulate the situation into what she wanted.

However, if she was truly ready to come clean and not to blame, he didn’t have nothing to worry about, right?

Chase had no more time to worry about the text messages and Alison situation, though, as his eyes locked on the TV screen before him to watch the heat race action. Seeing that Sarina had a decent starting spot – not quite as high as you’d prefer but towards the front, it offered some hope that things would go smoothly. However, a deep breath and a quick butterfly flutter reminded him anything was possible here.

The tummy prediction was right on target, as a wreck would ensue right at the front of the field, with Chase Cabre turning Josh Berry. Sarina was able to avoid most of the carnage, sustaining just minimal damage to the rear of the No. 9 Chevrolet as she escaped the madness.

“Damn it!” Chase let out, though, still frustrated as it was still something and he wondered if it’d cause issues. He also felt it in relation to Josh, knowing that he was very strong at these tracks and seeing him out of contention early in the heat sucked. A little wiggle in his arms grounded him, though, as he looked back down at her cute face. “Sorry….”

The worries about the damage were not to be concerning, as she was able to hold her ground through the remaining laps of the heat, scoring a sixth-place finish to transfer to the main event.

Despite a whole ton of concerns of the main event turning into a total disaster, things started of smoothly with the field managing to run side-by-side throughout without any contact. Sarina also managed to hold her line in the process, running inside the top-10 to give herself a good chance for when the event got into the second half.

Though just as Chase got comfortable with how things were going, the race would turn upside down – literally – in a matter of seconds. Scott Stenzel would hook her entering turn three, resulting in contact with the wall that sent her up into the air. After contact from Harrison Burton, she’d ultimately get stuck in the catch fence.

“Ugh….” Chase lets out, knowing the familiar feeling after his adventurous flip at Bristol a couple weeks ago. “Some people shouldn’t be allowed to play.”

He half-expected her to simply hit the reset button as she hadn’t used it yet and get back going, but that never happened. Instead, he watched the feed go blank before seeing her come up the stairs a couple minutes later.

“Didn’t you have a reset left?” He wonders, to which she just shrugs her shoulders in response.

“I tried to hit the button and follow the protocol with a tow to pit road, but it never came,” she explains as she sits down beside him. “It seems that if you get stuck in the fence, you do not get a tow back.” Chase lets out a sigh as he hated to see her iRacing adventure done early for the second straight week in a row.

“Now you know how I felt a couple weeks ago…” She nods her head, as she finally glances over into his arms, a small smile forming.

“I see someone never made it up to bed, but rather took advantage of some time with daddy.” Chase just smiles back in response, as he looks down at her face once again.

“I want to savor these moments before our lives are turned back on their heels hectic again and she grows up. We keep saying it, but she’s growing more and more – almost too quickly some days.” Sarina couldn’t argue with that, as she had been trying to spend as much time as she could with her, in-between trying to make headway on the book.

“We’ve said this from when she was born, but she’s certainly a daddy’s girl.” That  comment always brought a wider smile to Chase’s face as he was proud of that fact.

“But we also both know that she loves her momma very much, too.” Chase then leans over, placing a kiss on Sarina’s cheek, before slowly getting up. As much as he was enjoying their cuddle time, he knew that she needed to go down in her bed for the night. “She’ll just have to make sure to share with her daddy.”

“The same goes the other way around, which I see being very difficult as she’s your total princess.” Though as Sarina watched them head up the stairs together, she couldn’t deny the smile on her face as it was purely amazing watching the bond they had together. She always believed that he’d be a great father, and it was great to be seeing that play out right before her.

Taking a deep breath, it brought her back to the decision  she made in January, and what that meant for their future together. Here, he was the perfect amazing father, but yet she had ripped all chances of expanding that family away naturally for the simple reason of wanting peace of mind and comfort. Part of her thought it was a pure selfish decision, as she had taken away a lot of opportunity for not only Chase, but for Abigail in her family moving forward.

“You did the right thing, no matter how much it hurts at times,” she comments as she stands up and makes her way up the stairs.

Besides, she hadn’t totally killed the chances of expanding the family, even if it’d done differently than you would normally. Both options had a good chance of happening, and that was good enough for her. Truthfully, she couldn’t even to began to make demands, anyway, as her life had turned out much better than she could have envisioned.

A glance into the nursery in seeing Chase laying down Abigail for the night, and that was all she needed as she was blessed.

Sunday, April 26 – Dawsonville, GA

With Chase not having a promising qualifying effort, Sarina wasn’t sure if she’d be alone on the couch for long in the front room, considering his iRacing luck (and skill) through the beginning stages of the virtual season. However, taking a deep breath, she tried to have as much belief as she could have in her husband.

Things would start off strongly as Chase would get hooked up with Jeff Gordon, with the pair using the draft together to work their way through the field. Sarina honestly looked on a little surprised in seeing the progress that they made, as they made their way up to seventh and ninth.

“I got my good buddy Chase helping me here,” she heard Jeff on the broadcast and couldn’t help but smile. It was nice to see the throwback in them working together, even if just in the virtual world this weekend.

Though as she got wrapped in the fun of the broadcast and Chase doing decently, it was all erased just like that with a smidge of contact. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ty Dillon would make contact at the front of the field, collecting plenty of others, including the Hendrick teammates as Chase wrecked with Jeff going flying.

“Uh oh…” She hears over Chase’s broadcast over iPad, catching her attention as she just shakes her head in seeing the on-board view of the incident. “Well, there goes one reset.”

“The 47 got turned,” his spotter comes over shortly thereafter to inform him on what happened.

“Stenhouse causing a wreck, just like real life,” Sarina comments as she sits there shaking her head. “Anybody could’ve predicted him causing the first incident a mile away. What a tool.”

While normally the grudge would be held, she couldn’t help but let it slide off her back and laugh at the ensuing behavior on the broadcast with Jeff and Clint’s laughter in response to what happened. it brought a smile to her face as this was accomplishing exactly what everybody wanted – a fun distraction with some laughs for everyone.

“Don’t ever change Clint, don’t ever change,” she comments as she gets comfortable. Taking a deep breath, she knew it’d be interesting to see if Jeff and Chase could make their way back forward.

It seemed that the progress moving forward was happening rather quicker than expected, as Chase and Jeff got hooked back up again.

“Look who it is – what an ugly ass yellow,” Chase comments as he makes his way forward, ensuing in a series of chuckles from Sarina. “I ain’t pushing you, absolutely not, fool. If I could give him a bird, I would, but he can’t see it.”

Ultimately, she was glad that Chase was joining in the fun that the broadcast had already been having with the event. It was nice in comparison to the frustration the past couple of weeks.

Even if it meant having to dodge a couple text messages from Lindsay, who she debated whether she was chuckling while typing this message or not.

“You can tell your husband that his orange is ugly – pumpkin orange is much prettier,” Sarina reads the text message, breaking out in a series of chuckles. “Can’t believe him, and then Ryan decides to go and push him.”

“That’s Ryan’s payback for being an ass of a crew chief,” Sarina types back in response, still shaking her head at that exchange a couple weeks ago. It was crazy to think how long it’d been since the four of them had spent some time together.

“What can I say? Look who he was working with, sweetheart.” Sarina honestly looks on shocked, though had to chuckle as she’d even admit that Chase struggled with the game.

“We’ll see who ends up better today…”

Sarina’s eyes tuned back to the screen before her in seeing that Chase had just completed his green flag pit stop, thankfully not enduring any mistakes or penalties. He had also managed to keep some track position.

Though once again just as she got confident about the situation, he would get turned by Brennan Poole and caught Jeff while going for a slide across the infield pavement.

“Ugh…” was all Sarina could let out as she watched the scene before her.

“We are golden,” Chase reports over the radio. “Nothing wrong with this thing.” While she liked his confidence and was glad that damage was minimal, she knew restarting back in 26^th with just 10 laps to go probably wouldn’t turn so well.

Chase walks up the stairs, and lets out a sigh as he heads straight for the kitchen and grabs a drink. After starting out the day very promising, he ultimately was scored 28^th at the checkered after getting turned into the wall going into turn one on the last lap.

“That went just as well as I expected,” he comments as he leans against the counter.

“Maybe you should get Fletch to drive for you,” Sarina offers to which he could only chuckle back in response. It was certainly nice to see Alex win if he couldn’t as Alex’s skills in the game had certainly improved since the first couple of weekends.

“Alex ran a smart race, and managed to escape the incident that he should’ve been stuck with us in. I may have to ask Finn for some driving tips.” He then makes his way into the front room, sitting down on the couch alongside Sarina.

“For what it was worth, it was very entertaining to watch. The idea of having both Clint and Jeff in the race made for some pretty interesting banter back and forth. If I was take a bet, I’d say that Jeff had enough fun to return once again.” Chase looks over slightly surprised as he thought he’d be frustrated after getting caught up in a multitude of wrecks.

“He was certainly great to work with through that event. Jimmie is right about Jeff being the perfect team player at Talladega.”

The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina’s Story – Chapter 351: A Post-Race Surprise

Sunday, April 19 – Dawsonsville, Georgia

Chase finished putting down Abigail for the night, placing the book back on the shelf. He then flipped on her night light, before flipping off the main light switch. With one more glance towards her crib with a smile on his face, he leaves the room knowing that she was certainly in lala land by now.

“I can’t believe you missed the top 10 by one position,” Sarina comments behind the close bathroom door, taking one more glance at herself in the mirror. It had been awhile she had adorned this very outfit, though was quite pleased with the fact that it not only fit, but in her opinion appeared hotter than before. “Just think of all the fun we could’ve had tonight.”

“Guess I’ll need to get some practice in and be luckier at Talladega,” Chase replies as he heads into the bedsroom, flopping down on the bed. He was ready for a nice quiet relaxing evening after the dramatics of his iRace and then how much Abigail wanted to play before bed. “That is probably going to be a total disaster next week.”

“I agree with the sentiments of others – we need unlimited fast repairs if we have a hope of having any cars at the end.” Chase couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Maybe our strategy should be to run at the back, let them all wreck and use their repairs, and then make our move.” Sarina actually thought it over, wondering if that was the way to go. However, she also remembered Dale’s advice back in February about restrictor plate tracks and how that worked out for her in Daytona.

“Nah, I’m going to treat it like a rental go-kart race as after all, it’s virtual so who cares, right?” Chase just chuckles once again.

“I can’t believe Dale gave you that advice in February, especially being that the wrecked cars are money coming out of his pocket.” Sarina was admittedly surprised by the comments then, too, but was proud that she took them to heart.

“Now, back to our dilemma tonight…” She then emerges from the bathroom and walking to the bedsroom, leaning against the doorway. “You worked your ass off today so maybe I could offer you a reward.”

“You know you just want it as bad as I do.” He then takes his eyes off of his phone, looking up at her, as his jaw drops immediately, glancing her over by head-to-toe. “And you know that I will do anything when you’re in that outfit.”

“Anything?” Chase licks his lips, as a whole range of thoughts cross his mind all at once in the sight before him.

“Come here and let me show you my lady.” Sarina purposely takes her time making her way over to the bed, allowing the boots to make their perfect click of the floor with each step. Chase easily inches his way to the edge of the bed, wanting to get his hands on hers sooner rather than later. “You know it’s not nice to tease.”

“I’m just admiring this desperate peach before me.” She gets to the edge of the bed as he crawls down, sitting up, instantly wrapping both arms around her. He keeps her held close, as he slowly lets his lips meet hers, brushing across them ever so slowly. “Clyde…”

“Like I said, I know you want it badly…” He then brushes his lips across hers once again as he backs up on the bed, allowing her to crawl on top with him. With both of them on the bed, he fully wraps his arms around her, bringing her down onto the comfort along with him.

“And as I said to you, you’re very desperate tonight.” He then crawls on top of her, looking straight into her eyes.

“I just want to get a very good view of you tonight…” He then leans down, allowing his lips to brush across hers, while running his hand up under the edge of her t-shirt. “Besides, I know how to get to cave very quickly.” He slowly lets the edge of his finger tips brush across her stomach before reaching her breast, slowly massaging it as she lets out a moan. “You wanted this no matter where I finished, isn’t that right?”

“I don’t see you complaining…” He then slowly lifts her shirt off, with Sarina running her fingers across his bare chest. “I could get used to this view before me. Your workout routine and bike riding is keeping you well toned.”

“Gotta keep myself looking good for the ladies.” She then looks at him a little surprised, tugging on him to bring him down closer to her level. She then bites on his collarbone a little.

“There’s only one lady that you should be concerned about, Mr. Elliott.” He then smirks back in response as he brushes her hair out of her eyes.

“Don’t worry Mrs. Elliott, you’re the only one that has captured my heart.” He then leans down for another kiss, while purposely allowing his crotch to brush against hers through the fabric that they were still wearing.

“Well then I believe you have too much fabric on for what you are trying to do there…” She then reaches to brush her fingers across his crotch, doing so, feeling him freeze up immediately. She catches the glimpse in his eyes, immediately pulling her hand back away. “Chase, I’m sorr-”

“It’s okay.” He then relaxes for a moment, taking a couple of deep breathes as his mind fills of Allison. He couldn’t also help about the conversation to come in the following days. Though if he wanted this tonight, and he truly did, he needed to let that witch leave his mind immediately. “I’m sorry, I just can’t do tha-”

“I know, it’s okay…” She then runs her fingers along his cheek, catching his gaze into her eyes. “If you don’t want this, we don’t hav-”

“No, I want this, I want to be fully inside of you. I just can’t take that yet. No matter what I think about, she comes to mind as soon as you reach for there.” Sarina nods her head sympathizing. It was the same reason that Chase knew pinning her against a wall wouldn’t be the smartest choice right now. As much as they had moved forward, there were still feeling the effects of what happened.

“Okay, I won’t do that. I love you, Clyde, forever and always.” He smiles as he looks into her eyes.

“I love you too, forever and always.” He then leans back down, brushing his lips across hers slowly. “Now, where were we?”

“I believe we were about to remove this fabric that is causing us both a headache right now.” He chuckles a little, before reaching down to slowly remove her skirt, even more intrigued by the fact that there was no underwear underneath.

“I see we were going a little risky tonight.” She then smirks back in response, surprised that he hadn’t noticed sooner.

“I know that I can put it all on the line and be safe with you.” He nods his head back in response, as he finishes slipping off the skirt, being careful to leave the boots on fully intact.

“That’s for sure, as I’ll always do whatever I can to protect you.” She then reaches over, slowly sliding the boxers down his legs, a moan escaping her lips in seeing everything in full view.

“I can also see that your little peeper there wanted this badly, too.” His cheeks go a little bed, but he couldn’t hide just how turned on he was by the sight before him.

“Like I said, you do strange things to me lady…..” She just smirks back in response, though lets out a moan as he inserts himself inside of her.

Friday, April 24 – Dawsonsville, Georgia

Chase takes a glance through his phone, having read a bunch of the latest news stories. With Georgia electing to open up the state, it seemed that everybody had an opinion – and some were more interesting than others. Although he was debating which way to swing his thoughts, it was intriguing enough to see the various virus theories.

“What are you reading?” Sarina wonders as she finally takes her eyes off the game that she had been playing for the past 20 minutes. It’d appear as though she’d finally ran out of Candy Crush lives.

“Just scrolling through the various media reports,” Chase answers as he turns his phone around for her to see, although there was a trust between them that it wasn’t necessary. “Some people have called (Georgia Governor) Brian Kemp absolutely crazy for choosing to loosen restrictions, while others say that we should be fine as long as social distancing is in place.”

“Look at me. Do you see what I am wearing?” Chase nods his head, not complaining one bit about the pink silk pajamas as they looked good on her. “Do you see me going anywhere today? I don’t care what they say right now, I am not going anywhere unless absolutely necessary. If you consider the amount of cases across the United States, combined with the continued numbers just in the state of Georgia alone, I don’t necessarily agree with his decision, either.”

“So what standard would you set for re-opening things, and what would you do to curb the economy issues?” Chase wasn’t wanting to pick an argument, but rather see how she viewed things in compared to everything that he had read.

“Does the economy really matter when you’re talking about deaths? I mean, does your health come before how much money is in your account? I’d rather have my family and friends around in the months to come, then perhaps having to watch the dollars I spend due to an economy downfall.” Chase nods his head, understanding the viewpoint, as that’s why he was being careful right now.

“But what about those business owners that can’t stand to be closed for months on end losing income?” Sarina takes a deep breath, as that wasn’t as easy to handle in respect to her viewpoint. Though regardless, she wasn’t about to change her stance.

“I fully sympathize and feel for those who are stuck in a bind and may have to close their doors as a result. But is the stability of that business more important than my health? No, so therefore I will not be going forth in following the ability to go out. However, where I can and how I can, I will support businesses via curbside pick-up and online ordering so therefore everybody can stay safe at the same time.” Chase nods his head, accepting, as it seemed very valid considering everything that was going on. “Why? Were you considering going out and getting that hair cut?”

“I thought you liked the curls.” Sarina smirks immediately, as she reaches over, twirling her fingers with a couple of them.

“Trust me, they’re a favorite of mine and I would expect you to keep them forever to make me happy. Can we make this a permanent hair style?” Chase lets out a sigh as he had debated back and forth. He didn’t mind it being long and it didn’t look bad, but with how sweaty he got in the summer and maintaining it didn’t seem appealing.

“I don’t think that’s in the cards right now..” Sarina immediately turns her smirk into a pout. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know you ladies do it. Just promise me that you’ll keep doing it.”

“Don’t worry, I love my long hair too much to go cutting it off.” Chase smiles as that was certainly what he liked to hear.

“Thank you, and I’ll do what I can to help you at times.” He then leans in for a quick kiss before standing up and heading to the kitchen. He goes into the fridge, pouring himself a glass of milk, before warming it up in the microwave.

“Are you having bad dreams again?” Chase glances over towards her confused, though looks towards the glass in the microwave. Taking a deep breath, he remembered when he began drinking these glasses – in an effort to help calm himself more at night when he was flooded with nightmares from his previous occurrences with Alison.

“No, I just felt like a nice glass of milk.” Sarina still felt some concern as she watched him re-enter the room and sit beside her.

“Are you sure everything is okay?” Chase glances over at her, nodding his head. If truth be told, Alison certainly entered his mind every now and then, especially in awaiting the next e-mail from Alycia in regards to the planned meeting. “If she is bothering you once again, we can talk abo-”

“Sarina, trust me, everything is okay. I would tell you if something was bothering me, okay?” Sarina nods her head as Chase bites his tongue, knowing that was partially a lie – again. Why did he keep doing this to himself?

“On that note, do you want to talk about Sunday night?” Chase takes a deep breath, remembering the small pause that took place in the midst of their fun night together. He knew that it had thrown off the chemistry of the moment and the rest of the night in thoughts of Alison not being the most pleasant during a sexual occasion.

“We both know how she went after me, her end goal, and what she approached me in many times. That turned out to be her M.O because she knew how much it got to me, probably more so than her other ideas.” Chase takes a deep breath, also remembering the ultimate goal that Alison wanted in having his baby. “I’ve gotten over mostly everything that she did, and I’m being truthful in saying there’s no nightmares, or even thoughts of regrets. But as soon as I feel someone touch that area, it immediately takes me back to the fear, sickness, guilt, pain that I felt when she went after me that way many times. It all comes back overwhelming at once that I can’t even begin to process it, or try to separate it from what is happening. So I just freeze up and if you would’ve continued, I probably would’ve panicked again like I did last July. I can’t explain why or how; it’s just natural instinct happening. Maybe my brain and hear trying to protect itself from that – I don’t know. I hate it just as much you probably do to see it, and I wish it could be different. I wish we could move forward like nothing happened. But here we are….”

“I can understand why you do it, though, as we both know it wasn’t easy dealing with everything that she dealt you. That’s why I am so thankful that you are free of her, and she’s away where she can’t hurt you, or anybody else for that matter, ever again. Knowing how you feel, what it does for you, I’m willing to avoid it for however long necessary. I love you, I care about you, and will do anything for you.” She then leans in, lightly kissing his lips. “You’re my forever and always.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.”