Page 60 of Speeding Hearts

Then, what Colin had just said hit me. “A new mechanic? So, you knew I’d be leaving?”

“Come on, you were already halfway gone. You’re a helluva fine mechanic. Not a bad driver. But you’re the best manager this Speedway’s ever seen. Even Betty said that, and she once had the job herself.”

“I’m not the manager,” I said.

“That’s just it—along with mechanic and a half-dozen other staff positions you suggested, I’ve also got an opening for general manager. A manager who might like to transition to part owner, down the line.”

I gawped as it all landed. “You’re retiring,” I said.

“Like I said I was.”

He’d been hinting at it since I started, but I always thought he was joking; that he was threatening retirement because of how poorly the Speedway was doing.

I sat back in the chair. “Colin…”

“Now, you don’t have to say yes right away. But I will need an answer soon. If not you, I’m going to put out feelers for someone else. I’m too old to take on all the work you’ve lined up for me.”

I was touched. More than that, if it weren’t for those shadows hanging over me, I’d have been elated. I’d liked running my garage back at home, and I loved racing—all the parts of it that didn’t involve driving a car. Running the Speedway would be a dream come true, and I’d be damn good at it too. But that one shadow, the big one under all of it—Dean—was too heavy, too dark.

I cleared my throat. “I’m honored, Colin. Truly. But I can’t take it.”

Colin frowned. “I told you, you don’t have to decide just yet.”

“I came here to hand in my resignation, yes, but also to tell you I’m leaving Oak Bend,” I said, sitting up as straight as I could.

“No,” he said.

I let out a laugh. “What?”

“You don’t want to leave this behind.”

I opened my mouth to tell him it didn’t matter what I wanted. This was what was happening. But I couldn’t get the words out. For a brief moment, I pictured staying in this town, running the track. It would be incredible. The thrill I got raising this place from the dead had been a thousand times better than the thrill of racing cars. I didn’t have an ounce of doubt that I could do it.

But could I stay in Dean’s town without being with him? Because no matter what we’d said the other morning, I knew we couldn’t go back to being friends like we’d once been. He’d said it was what he wanted, but I had the strongest feeling that Dean Hughes didn’t know what he wanted. And that didn’t work for me.

“Colin, it’s kind of complicated.”

Colin sighed, steepling his fingers beneath his chin. “Dean,” he said.

“Yes,” I said. There was no point in lying. I got up from the chair. The race was in twenty minutes—I needed to get down there.

Colin sighed. “That damned kid. Even if he’s the reason you want to go, I should thank him for bringing you here.”

I paused, turning slowly. “Dean didn’t bring me here. I came here on my own. I called you for the job.”

Colin’s eyebrows went up. “Really? I told him we had no need for another mechanic. We didn’t have enough business. But he pleaded with me to open a spot up, said he knew someone perfect. And you know what? He was right. If you want to stay on as mechanic, you can do that too.”

But I was frozen. Dean told me way back in Jewel Lakes that a position had opened up at his uncle’s racetrack. He’d said it casually, like he’d just heard about it.

It hadn’t opened up. He’d made it happen.

The loudspeaker outside buzzed, and Colin’s phone rang. “I’m on my way!” he barked into it, before getting up himself. “I’m needed up in the booth,” he said. “The race is about to start. You come back to me by the end of next week with your decision, Stella. And make sure it’s the one you truly want to make.”

* * *

When I reached my car,I should have been buzzing with the excitement of heading to the starting line. Instead, I kept turning Colin’s words over and over in my head. Dean had asked his uncle to make a job for me. He’dwantedme to come to Oak Bend.

My heart lifted for a moment as I thought of what that meant. Then, it plummeted once more, crashing at my feet. He probably just wanted his best friend here with him.Our friendship is everything.

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