Gina Cresse - Devonie Lace 04 - A Deadly Change of Power by Gina Cresse Page A

eliminated is his willingness to honor the wishes of the oil companies that pull his strings.  Ronnie said he basically does whatever they tell him.”
    Craig and I watched the couple stop at the end of the dock.  Ronnie wrapped her arms around Jake’s neck and he returned the gesture by holding her close and kissing her.
    “If that picture doesn’t scare the heck out of every oilman in the world, I don’t know what would,” I said.
     
    Jake, Ronnie, Craig, and I sat around the dining room table eating the best meal I can prepare in less than thirty minutes — spaghetti with toasted garlic bread and a green salad.  Craig poured red wine for all of us.
    “So, Jake.  How’d you and Ronnie meet?” I asked.
    Jake and Ronnie exchanged glances, then they both laughed.
    “We met last year at Daytona.  My company had given me a pit pass.  One of the perks of working for World Motors — I get to play on their dime.  Anyhow, Lance was racing, so Ronnie was there, working on his car.  I spotted her cute little…coveralls, buried halfway under the hood.  Not too often you see a woman mechanic at the track.  I was intrigued, so I introduced myself.  Offered some advice on the timing — sounded a little off to me.  Anyhow, she let me know that my advice was neither needed nor appreciated.”
    Ronnie shot him a defensive look.  “I was nice to you.”
    “Like heck you were,” he shot back.  “If I had any less self-confidence, I’d have run away with my tail between my legs instead of hanging around to take more of your abuse.”
    “Abuse.  You don’t know abuse.  You’re just too sensitive,” she joked.
    Jake grinned at her.  “So I hung around and pestered her until she finally told me she had to leave.  She climbed into her souped-up golf cart and peeled out like she was driving one of those racecars she works on.  The tires actually burned rubber on the pavement.  I’d never seen anything like it.”
    I caught Ronnie’s attention.  “Your engine?” I asked.
    She shook her head.  “Not the same one that’s in my car.  I put a little steam engine in the cart.  That one I showed you my plans for.”
    Jake continued.  “I followed her to the team’s trailer and begged her to tell me about the golf cart.  I was fascinated and offered to buy her dinner if she’d show me her other engines.”
    Ronnie shook her finger at him.  “Admit it.  You were just interested in getting a date with me.  You used the excuse of wanting to see the engines just to get on my good side.”
    “Guilty as charged,” Jake admitted.  “Anyhow, after the race was over, I bought her dinner.  Somehow in the conversation about all her inventions, she told me where she lived.  The next week, I flew to California, then I drove out to her place.  She wheeled a funny-looking motorcycle out of her garage — looked like a little Yamaha two-fifty, but with an engine like I’d never seen before.  She sat on the seat and told me to climb on behind her.  Then she told me to hang on.”  Jake smiled and rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, right.  But the thing wasn’t even running yet.  I thought she was crazy.  She told me, again, to hold on.  I asked ‘what for?’  Then she spurred that thing on, and I fell right off the back.  Knocked the wind out of me.”
    Craig chuckled at the thought.  “No kidding?  Had some kick, did it?”
    “Kick?  You can say that again.  She literally knocked me off my feet.”
    We all laughed. 
    “But Ronnie said you live in Detroit.  That’s taking the term ‘long distance relationship’ to a new level,” I said.
    Jake smiled and nodded.  “I’ve tried to convince her to leave the land of the short thermometer for Michigan.  I just don’t understand why she wouldn’t want to move.  I mean, once you get used to the ice storms and the sub-zero temperatures in the winter, and the heat and humidity in the summer, what’s the problem?”
    “Can you blame