April 29, 2001 – California Speedway

Junior leaned against his car and stared at the track. The fans were screaming, cheering on their favorite drivers. He was oblivious to them. His mind was on two things. One, winning the race and two, wondering where the hell his wife was. He knew that she was going to work, but she wasn’t coming home to him afterwards.

“You awake?” Jade walked up to Junior and looked him over. “Where’s Noelle? I gotta talk to her.” Junior shrugged. “Didn’t she come out here with you?” Junior shook his head. “What’s going on?”

“We fucking split up, ok?” Junior let the words fall out of his mouth for the first time. “Now go away.” Jade walked away, knowing it was better to leave Junior alone when he was in a bad mood. Junior turned around and put his head down on the top of the car, letting his anger fade away. He resisted the urge to pound his fists into the top of the car. “Damn you Noelle.”

“Junior.” Another voice said. Junior looked up to see his sister-in-law walking toward him. “Got a minute?” He nodded. “I’m just letting you know that Noelle is ok. I would have told you sooner, but you looked a little hung over Friday night and then I couldn’t find you yesterday.”

“Where is she?” he asked. Hollie shrugged. “Hollie…”

“She’s safe.”

“If she’s with Harvick, I’ll fucking kill him.” He yelled and then realized that people were watching him. Hollie walked around to the side of the car that he was on and pushed him back up against the car. “Hey!”

“Listen here you asshole. I heard what you accused her of and you’re fucking lucky that I’m not beating the shit out of you myself. You fucking hurt her and I swore to you that one day that I’d fuck you up if you hurt her. The only reason I’m not doing it is because I promised my sister I wouldn’t.” Hollie yelled at him. “Get your head out of your fucking ass and realize what the fuck you lost. You just lost a wife and your daughter. But then, you’re ego is so fucking big that all you can think about is yourself, so this doesn’t’ surprise me one fucking bit.”

“You done?” Junior asked. Hollie nodded. “Relay this message to her then. Tell her if she’s done, she needs to get her shit out of my house.” He pushed past Hollie and went into his pit, leaving Hollie staring after him.

****

The race ended with Junior coming in third behind Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon. After the photos, interviews and the obligatory post-race press conference he got on the DEI plane and flew home. Noelle still wasn’t there. He had no idea where she was and part of him was hurting more than the rest of him would allow anyone to see.

He grabbed a few beers from the fridge and went out on the front porch and sat down on the swing that he and Noelle used to sit in and watch the stars. He sat and drank beer after beer until he felt ready to pass out. Finally, he stumbled upstairs and went to bed.

Chapters: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19/20/21/22/23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30