Page 44 of Speeding Hearts

“There’s someone else,” Dad said, as I stormed to the door.

“What?”

“It’s not that girl from high school. It’s someone else getting you bothered.”

My stomach did a little lurch. How the hell was he so perceptive?

“Why do you care?”

“Because you look like you want to hide when I say the other one’s name, and you come in here like a bat outta hell when you’re supposed to be the reasonable one,” Dad said, surprising me with his tone. And his words.

“Since when do you know anything about lo—about women?” I asked.

“Never said I knew anything about women. I just know when a man’s messed up over one.”

I almost laughed. But my father was looking directly into my eyes, boring a hole into them. We’d never talked about my personal life like this. It was always my mom’s purview. I’d thought she was the only one who cared.

I might have asked him more, but he’d shifted in his chair and sworn a blue streak when his back acted up. I’d been half an hour later than I’d originally planned because I’d had to drop by the pharmacy to renew his prescription for pain meds. Now, revving the engine on the newly running Studebaker, I thought about what a sad, pathetic mess his life had become. And I couldn’t help but worry I was going to end up just like him.

Chapter 14

Stella

I tookthe first corner of the Oak Bend Speedway track at perfect speed.

“Cornered like it was on rails!” Freddie told me when the race was over. He was practically jumping when he helped me out at the finish line.

The crowd, when I got out, was actually cheering.

“It’s the car,” I said, laughing.

“It is the car,” John agreed. He’d told me the car Colin had lent me was his best street stock. “But it’s the driver, too.”

I beamed, clapping our head mechanic on the back. Only a few hours ago I’d been working at a fever pitch with him, tuning up my competitors’ cars—something I thought I probably shouldn’t do going forward if I was going to keep racing.

That was the big question, and I knew even through my excitement, John could see my trepidation too.

The head mechanic, my buddy in the Speedway pit, had gone from skeptical on my first day last month to proud papa, staying late to watch me practice over the past two weeks.

I still couldn’t believe it had only been two weeks. Or that I was measuring time from the last time I’d seen Dean.

From the window of my helmet, I scanned the crowd in the stands. Even though my efforts to help Colin with marketing had managed to triple the size from the last race here, it was still small enough I was fairly certain he wasn’t there. Especially because I’d seen Victoria near the front, her blonde hair dazzling in the midsummer evening light.

I pulled off my helmet, and more cheers erupted from the crowd, which was probably about a hundred and fifty people strong. Only a third of the stands were occupied, but it was still such a change from the normal handful that everyone at the Speedway was in a buoyant mood. Even Colin.

The normally grumpy old guy had taken over the mic in the announcer booth. Betty said it was the first time he’d done that in years.

As he read out the times, I caught my name.Stella Archer… sixth place.

My heart leapt.

I’d run a cautious race. Sixth place wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was enough to qualify for the Oak Bender next month.

Then, my palms sprung a new sheen of sweat just thinking about it. What had I done?

Exactly what you set out to do.

I forced myself to forget about my nerves for the time being, and instead, celebrate my accomplishment.

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