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I skipped into the garage and saw Hayes standing beside one of the backup machines. It wasn’t as fine-tuned as the starting cars, but it was still competitive. I stroked my hand up the side lovingly.
“Climb in, Tally. Let me know how it feels.”
My heart pounded in my chest as I climbed in, slipping into the cockpit like it was a glove. So different from a stock car. What if I fucked this up?
Hayes squatted down beside me, holding out a helmet. “This is just like old times, baby. You’re taking her out on a test lap, just to get a feel for it. We aren’t competing for pole or points.”
I nodded. We went over the rest of the checks and attached the steering wheel, then I was being pushed out onto the test track. I was glad they couldn’t see my face from my helmet, because I was grinning so wide that my face threatened to break.
I’m back, baby.
I sat and watched Mickey go around the track first, his twenty laps getting progressively faster and faster until he was flying past at unbelievable speeds. It was amazing to watch.
But when Rocco rolled out, it only took him two laps to get the feel of the car before he showed us all why he was getting paid the big dollars.
Why commentators had been calling him a once-in-a-generation driver for so long.
Why I’d had posters of him on my wall, though I’d never wanted to drive anything but NASCAR.
The guy was poetry behind the wheel. He made it look so smooth, so easy, like he was out for a Sunday drive rather than edging close to two hundred miles per hour. In practice. He was definitely getting laid tonight.
Forty laps later, he rolled back into the garages, and it was my turn. Ari Rome’s voice came over the radio. “Get your bearings, Tally, then put her through her paces.”
The car was started, and once everyone was clear, I pulled out onto the track. I rolled it around the course once.
“Everything feel okay?” Ari asked through my earbuds.
I fiddled a little with the tension in the back anti-roll bar, and it was fine. “Feels good.”
“Then green, green, green, make her go!”
I accelerated, my focus going to the track in front of me as I navigated the best lines. I’d studied this. I knew this track. Picking my lines into the corners, I got more and more confident as my speed increased and the scenery whipped by.
I was flying. This was magic.
Newton was a bit of an asshole when he said what goes up must come down. Sure, that was great for gravity, but it sucked when it came to emotions. After the pure elation of the test drive, getting a missed call from my family lawyer was like a lead weight there to drag me back down to Earth.
I waited until I got home to return her call, but I knew what it would be about. She’d given a copy of Bobbi-June’s DNA test to the Willtots’ lawyer, which meant everything could progress.
“Hello, Tally. How are things?” my lawyer, Serena, asked.
I slumped back against the office chair. “Fine, thanks.”
“That’s good. We have a court date for three weeks here in San Francisco, because it’s the baby’s home state. We’ve been assigned a judge, and honestly, he’s got a pretty good record for finding in favor of the mother. I shouldn’t have to say this, but I don’t think he’s easily bought either.”
I let out a mirthless laugh. Not easily bought definitely doesn’t mean he couldn’t be bought, but I’d take it. “Thanks, Serena.”
“No problem. Anything else I need to know?”
I chewed my lip. “Other than Brick having his private investigator following Jesse and the baby around town a couple of weeks ago, it’s all been pretty normal. Jesse might have threatened him a little, though, just in case they bring that up.” I’d told Serena almost immediately about Jesse and Hayes’s place in mine and the baby’s life. She had prepared against the idea that perhaps Brick’s lawyers would use it as some kind of indication of my morals. It helped that we all lived together, were in a committed relationship, and all wanted what was best for Bobbi-June. We just had to hope that the judge was open to some new-age ideas, otherwise it might go badly.
We talked over some other things for a little while, including the fact that Bobbi-June may technically be the beneficiary of Buck’s fortune, and his trust fund. I didn’t want his money, and if they thought they could buy my baby, they were insane.
I finished up my call with Serena and headed downstairs. By the sound of it, Bobbi-June was awake. When I made it to the ground floor, Hayes was holding her out. “Look at that head control, Mama. Tell me you’re the child of race car drivers without telling me. She’ll be able to drive in Formula One before you know it. Isn’t that right, Short Stack? You're going to take the racing world by storm in seventeen years, aren’t you?” he cooed, and I shook my head.
“Maybe she’ll hate cars. Maybe she’ll want to be a librarian,” I teased.
Hayes sniffed. “Then she’ll be able to carry twelve books on her head, with this kind of neck control.”
