One Track Mind Read Free Page B

contract to buy. He’s willing to pay the full asking price, and the speedway, as per your wishes, stays a speedway.”
    “Good grief,” Lori said, light-headed with disbelief. Was she dreaming? “Who? Who’s offering to buy?”
    “I’m not at liberty to say at this point,” Ms. Stribley stated firmly. “But I assure you it’s a legitimate deal. The buyer prefers to stay anonymous for now to avoid publicity. He’s a very private man and a long-respected client of our firm. He’ll personally introduce himself to you and offer you the contract.”
    Lori, too astounded to be businesslike, said, “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.” Her hands shook so hard that she had to grip the phone more tightly.
    “Well, I hope there’s no need to cry,” said Ms. Stribley kindly. “Our client does have one condition of his own. He knows the speedway’s been a family business for years, andthat you, as acting president, know it better than anybody. He wants you to stay on for one year, with pay, to help him make the transition to get the facility fully functioning again.”
    “He’ll pay me to stay on?” Lori asked in amazement.
    “Yes. Three and a half thousand a month.”
    Good grief—that’s a lot more than I’m clearing now, Lori marveled. It seemed like a fortune. The speedway, to her sorrow, had become a bottomless money pit.
    “Our client is an efficient and decisive man. He wants to meet you and have you give him a tour of the place. Tomorrow. At 10 a.m. sharp. Are you amenable to that?”
    “Oh, yes,” Lori answered, fighting to keep from stammering. “I’m amenable. I’m completely amenable. I couldn’t be more amenable.”
    I’d meet him at 3 a.m. I think I love him.
    “Very good,” said the woman. “I hope that this works out well for both of you. You’ll see him at the facility tomorrow at the designated time. I’ll give you our number in case you need to get in touch with us later…”
    When Lori set down the phone, she was ready to fall to her knees in thanks. She was saved. She put her face in her hands and indulged herself in a few tears of gratitude.
    Who was her rescuer, her knight on a white horse? A wrinkled old millionaire who remembered Halesboro Speedway in its heyday and didn’t want its rich history lost? Or some eccentric who wanted to keep a once-great track open and functioning?
    Whoever he was, she blessed him. She hadn’t failed her father after all.
    Again she thanked this unknown champion. Even if he were as odd and ugly as a troll, she wanted to hug him and give him the longest and most heartfelt of kisses.

CHAPTER TWO

    T HE NEXT MORNING, AT fifty-nine minutes to ten, Lori sat tensely in her father’s office.
    In summer, she usually came to work in shorts and a T-shirt, but she hoped she looked like a semiyoung professional who had neither overdressed nor underdressed. Feminine, but not too feminine, sensible, tidy, and orderly—that’s how she hoped to appear.
    She wanted to impress the man who’d be the new owner, so she’d rooted through the pathetic contents of her closet until she’d found a modest white linen sundress with cap sleeves and only a barely visible stain at the hem. It had been a long time since she’d had money to spare. A very long time.
    Her old white sandals were polished to a snowy sheen. She wore her hair pulled back and pinned decorously into place with a white barrette. And once again she’d covered her freckles.
    She’d given the staff orders that she didn’t want to be interrupted for any reason that morning, although she’d told nobody of her mysterious visitor. For the last thirteen minutes, she’d been doing deep-breathing exercises to calm herself.
    She didn’t want to show her anxiety or to burst into tears of relief—or, as she was still tempted to do, fall on her rescuer’s neck and embrace him as if he were a hero delivering her from barbarian captors.
    So she sat very straight in her chair, her hands on her