Chapter 21 Koby
Koby
I’m walking on air, glancing over at Rayna falling asleep in my arms. Unable to imagine a better sight right now.
In light of our agreement to maintain sleeping in separate rooms, and the fact she fell asleep before I could hear any different, I slide my arms out from around her and leave.
Good call too, as I can’t sleep straight away.
I shower and settle into bed when I see a message from Mitch. He went camping with family, so I hadn’t had a chance to run through the opportunity for him moving from the bikes to Rayna’s rally team as yet. He messages that he is available now, if I am.
I hit call, and hear his voice through the phone. “Hey Kobs! How you going, man?”
“Good thanks, mate. How are you going? How was Chrissie camping with the fam?”
“Tops, hey. Really enjoyed it. Great getting away with the folks. We had a bunch of the cousins and their families join too, so it was massive. Definitely what dad needed after this year. How about you?”
“Had some water trouble at the house, so have been staying at Rayna’s while some work gets done.” I catch him up.
“Lucky to have friends close by.”
“Definitely is. Sorry to have left you such a cryptic message, but I wanted to run something by you.”
“Yeah, shoot, boss.”
“I’ve been working with Rayna on some rally crew changes for next year, and she has two crew members who are going to have some parental leave next year. However, no one on the team who’s ready yet to take those roles on. Would it be something you would be interested in?”
“Whenever you and Rayna get together, you both cook up something intriguing. Can you give me overnight to sit on it and I’ll call you tomorrow?”
“Of course. I’ll have Rayna on the horn too, so any questions, you can ask her.”
“Cheers, boss. That sounds like a plan. Chat to you soon.”
“Chat then.” And the line goes dead.
Placing my phone on the bedside, I pull over my laptop, checking my calendar for anything work-related tomorrow. Just two calls about the second motorcycle racing team. I click away at the laptop for thirty minutes of planning before my mind starts to wander.
Thinking about the glorious creature sleeping across the floor from me. How I am finally about to be with her in the capacity I have been yearning for all these years. Which I thought I could live with ignoring when they returned. But I could never not feel this way about her.
Closing up my laptop and setting it aside, I curl up to continue my thoughts of Rayna and everything I plan to do with her.
The next morning I’m up and promptly downstairs to make sure I am the first in the kitchen to make breakfast. I hear Rayna’s door creak open, and my heart rate accelerates.
Seeing her descend the stairs will never get old.
Her feet reach the last step, beaming a smile that shoots right through my chest, and I have no choice but to return the smile.
“Good morning!” I step over to her on instinct, just to be near her. My hands meet her waist. Wrapping around her and pulling her close to me. Her hands meet at the back of my neck, and I melt into her. Dropping my mouth to hers, she presses her lips softly to mine.
“Good morning, it is.” She breathes as we part.
“Hungry?” Taking her hand, and leading her to the kitchen stools, motioning her to sit down.
“Starved. Chilli eggs on the menu today?”
“Absolutely.” I take her hand, flipping it to kiss her palm.
Getting to work making the eggs, she asks, “Did I hear you on the phone last night?”
“Yeah, I was chatting with Mitch.”
“Is everything okay?”
“He’s great. He just got back into a reception area and wanted to make sure all was good on my end.”
“And you got him up to speed with our proposal?”
“He wanted to think about it overnight and said he’ll call me today when you are around to discuss the arrangement together.”
“Sounds like a plan. Did you have any other meetings today to work around?”
“Just two for the new motorcycle team. But a free spot at two, if you are available?”
She pulls out her phone, scrolling through her calendar app. “All clear at two. Set it up.”
“Sure thing, captain.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that.”
We both have meetings intermittently throughout the day but come together to have our meeting with Mitch, which was essentially him saying ‘yes’ and wanting to get on the phone to thank Rayna for the opportunity.
Leni called a few days after Christmas and emphatically accepted Rayna’s offer. We all got on a call, and Rayna shared that she plans to stop in at the start of the rally season to show her support.
My other meetings regarding my secondary team were interesting, and I need to think about who I trust to put in that crew.
I have some great people on my teams, but I have had a number of them gain development opportunities.
Same problem Rayna has been having with her teams. Which is great that we have such knowledgeable team members but hard when we need to replace them within the teams.
I start making a list of the crew and where their skill set levels are at when I come across Felix’s name.
He has been a quiet achiever, which isn’t hard with a few of the bigger personalities within the team.
He’s stepped up a few times this season when Mitch had some urgent family things to sort out back home.
I think he would be able to step in and show what he's capable of while Mitch is over at rally this coming season. When Mitch returns, I’ll move him over to the secondary motorcycle team, but I think Felix could easily continue to fill his shoes in Ghostly Flux.
I pick up my phone and send a text to Aria, asking to call me whenever she’s available.
She calls instantly.
“Hi Dad, how’s it going?”
“Heya, sweetpea. Yeah, all good, thanks. How was your time away with your mum?”
“Great. We had a ball. Beautiful place. I’ll need to head there more often.”
“Yeah, you really should!”
“Calling about some two-wheel news?”
“Ha, how did you guess?”
“It’s been enough time that you would have deemed it appropriate to call and run through some more questions.”
“You know me so well.”
“Of course. What did you have in mind?”
“I want to tap into our own teams as much as I can, however I do have Rayna’s crew that I can poach, as she has nicked a few of our own. But I wanted to see if you think there are any of the enduro crew who you think are ready for the opportunity?”
“I have been thinking about this since you mentioned it at Christmas. There are definitely about five that I can’t offer much more development opportunities currently, so they might really benefit from moving over to gain more experience.”
“That’s brilliant!” Relief washes over me.
“Leave it with me and I will put some feelers out and come back to you with some more gauge on their interest and where they could slot in.”
“Ah, you are a lifesaver. Thanks so much.”
“No problem at all.”
“Have you had a chance to call Nan and Pop?” I’ve spoken to my parents a few times over the break. Lucky we didn’t plan a trip over this Christmas. They are experiencing a high snow dump, and they have been stuck indoors most days.
“Yeah, bloody hell, it sounds a little too perfect. I feel bad they aren’t able to head out, but Nan is loving just sitting with Pop by the fire.”
“Maybe next year we head over?”
“That would be nice. How are things going with you and Rayna?”
“Really well.”
“I’m so happy for you, Dad.”
“Thanks, sweetpea. It means a lot.”
“Okay, let me get onto these five, and I’ll call you back when I have collected everything.”
“Thanks! Chat to you soon.”
“Chat soon.”