Jump Start

35. Epilogue

Epilogue

Thomas

W inning the GT Championship in the past year had been one of the most exciting times of my life. My hard work had finally paid off and I was in the position to allow myself to enjoy it. Chris, Harper, and the team had supported me unconditionally and I was so grateful.

Now, as I sat here with my beautiful girlfriend, drinking coffee, I couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest man in the world.

Could this get any better?

***

Harper

Thomas and I were enjoying our morning coffee on the deck one sparkling Sunday morning, when we received a Facetime call from Chris, which, in itself, was unusual.

Thomas leisurely picked up his phone and answered.

“THOMAS! HARPS! ARE YOU READY?” Chris’s excited face shone through the phone, and we huddled together to get in frame.

“Clearly not as ready as you are, mate,” Thomas said in his usual disapproving tone.

“Well hold on to your hats, people!”

“Just spit it out already, Chris!” I yelled into the phone between breaths.

“Echidna Racing has been accepted to compete in the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium in two years! Which is fucking great as we need that time to re-build the cars.”

“What the fuck?!” Thomas squeezed my shoulder with his free hand.

“That’s huge, oh my god!” My own excitement was starting to skyrocket.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Chris responded.

“Well fuck, we have so much prep to do, right?” Thomas asked.

I could tell this was about to go into technical car talk, so I excused myself to go and make another coffee, to let the boys dream about their now impending twenty-four-hour race in the picturesque Belgium countryside.

** *

Belgium, two years later

Thomas leant over me for a better view outside of the airplane window. We were both desperate to see out, as neither of us had been to Belgium before. We were about to land at the airport closest to the elevated Spa track.

Echidna Racing had been successful in testing and was officially a contributing team. The lead-up to our arrival in Belgium had been nothing short of stressful. Working out how to get the equipment needed overseas was a logistical nightmare on a scale the team had never seen before.

“Well, honey, it’s just you and me for a couple of days. Anything you want to do?” Thomas asked me as the plane gently descended.

“I just want to be with you. I always have.” I smiled up at him. His face was unreadable for a split second, before his lips turned into a huge smile, his eyes luminous as they caught the afternoon sunlight through the window.

“I love you, Harper.”

I would never get sick of hearing those four words from him.