Page 5 of Speeding Hearts

All that had changed when I met Stella.

But Stella and I were never in any kind of relationship. That was the difference. And Stella didn’t know about my past.

Victoria did. And somehow, she still wanted to be here with me. Even though I had no interest in the same. Though, I was apparently too chickenshit to tell her.

“Dean!” my dad’s voice cut through the room like a car backfiring.

Relief surged through me.

I never thought I’d be happy to hear my dad barking my name.

“I better go see what he needs,” I said to Victoria. “Thanks for coming over.”

“It’s sure nice to see you looking out for your dad,” she said, not making a move to leave. “Instead of fighting like you used to.”

“I’ve grown up a lot since you knew me, Victoria.” That was putting it mildly.

She pouted. “Sure. Okay. Well, a couple of us are going to Gino’s on Monday night—it’s the only night that works for Sheila with her new baby.”

Just what I needed—seeing high school people and remembering they all had their shit together. Unlike me.

“You want to come? You haven’t seen anyone since you’ve been back, have you? I mean,” she laughed drily, “you didn’t even tell me you were coming home.”

A surge of frustration ran through me. “Vic, we’re not… together. I don’t actually have to report my comings and goings to you.”

Victoria stiffened next to me.

“Dean!” Dad called again.

“Coming!” I called, moving towards the hall.

“I know that,” Victoria said. “I just thought you’d have let me know.”

A pang of guilt replaced the frustration. It wasn’t unreasonable of her. “I’m sorry, Victoria. Everything happened so fast, it’s all been kind of a blur.”

That wasn’t a lie, either. Once I’d realized the only way Dad was going to get the care he needed—and the only way his garage wouldn’t go under—was if I came back home to take care of things for a bit, everything had happened fast. The decision to do this had shocked no one more than myself. My dad and I weren’t exactly close. But if I didn’t look after him and the garage, who would? I’d already messed his life up enough, the least I could do was make sure his garage didn’t go under.

And he didn’t die.

The past two weeks had been a mess of trying to finish up my last contract with the builders I’d been working with and dealing with living arrangements and moving stuff on both sides.

After promising I’d think about Gino’s tonight—I was actually tempted by the thought of Gino’s famous pepperoni, which I hadn’t had since I got back—I shut the door behind Victoria, still guilty about the way I’d handled the visit. I’d wanted to make it clear we weren’t getting back together again, which I hoped I had done, but I didn’t have to be a dick about it, either.

I sighed, catching a glance at myself in the bathroom mirror as I walked past the open door towards Dad’s room. I paused, angling my head, still shocked to see myself like this. I’d buzzed my hair before heading home, like having a new haircut could somehow make everyone forget who I’d been.

When I’d left home at eighteen, I wasn’t exactly at my best. After high school, I’d trained as a mechanic like my dad had wanted me to, but mostly because I hadn’t known what else to do. I’d worked in Dad’s shop, where Dad and I had spent as much time working as getting into giant fights.

I wasn’t happy. I spent my early twenties working, partying too much with my buddies, breaking up and getting back together with Victoria, and sneaking off to Uncle Colin’s racetrack to occasionally partake in a practice run, where I took too many risks. Colin let me ride, I think, to spite my dad—they didn’t speak to each other. When Mom found out I’d been going back there—after what had happened when I was a kid—she was livid. She made Uncle Colin ban me from the track. But I was a grown man, unlike the first time. It was only after she’d broken down in tears that I realized I needed a change of scene. I left town, moving to a few places over the years, seeing a few women, and even trying my hand at living in New York City for a few years before realizing big city living wasn’t for me. I’d ended up in Jewel Lakes a couple years ago and stepped away from mechanic work. I took a job framing houses. Rented a cabin on a lake.

Met Stella.

I had a good couple of years there. The best in a long time, mostly due to my friendship with Stella, which I protected at all costs. I’d never once acted on any of the urges I had to take things further, not that she would have had me.

Then, Mom had called to tell me about Dad.

My phone rang now as I turned from the bathroom mirror.

I looked down at the screen and almost laughed. I answered the call.

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