Page 60 of Rush
‘Didn’t help that every adult there was dressed as something equally creepy. Jasmine was a horrifying version of Moana with fake blood and contacts. Scared even me.’ He fake-shuddered.
‘You like being an uncle, don’t you?’ Savi slipped the photo into an old photo album which still had space left over. None of their family photos were in order, they were a semi-organised chaos with two plastic boxes dedicated to them.
‘It’s one of most important roles I’ll ever have. I probably see Julien’s kids more than I see my brother’s, but I love them all the same. I love their little imaginations, how they just say what’s on their mind and cause havoc.’
‘I hope I get to be an aunt one day. If Wes ever gets his shit together and starts dating again.’
‘He might surprise you.’ Marco put the lid back on the box he’d been rifling through.
They’d mucked out the stalls already, beating the ranch hands to it for the day, and were only inside for a breather and some refreshments. Marco had complained the entire time, but what he hadn’t realised was that he was a damn good worker and got his side done twice as fast as Savi. They just needed to fix the gate and put some hay in there, and the extra stall would be good to go.
‘Did Jasper reply yet?’ she asked. The flights wouldn’t be a problem; the jet was already coming to collect Marco andSavi, and Kodie was already in France so that was one less stop. The hotel was tricky; they’d need an accessible room for Weston and if the hotels were already booked up by the IEC teams, there might not be anything left.
‘Let me check.’ Marco pulled his phone from the back pocket of his new jeans. ‘He said their hotel rooms are booked as of this morning.’
‘Oh my god.’ Savi clapped a hand over her mouth, trying not to burst into tears. ‘Ma and Wes get to see me race for, like, the first time ever. And atLe Mans.’
‘Hell yeah.’ Marco high-fived her. ‘We’ll have to take them out for lunch on the first day. I know a good Italian place; I’ll reserve us a table.’
‘This is all I’ve wanted for years.’ She breathed out. ‘Even in my junior championship, they never got to come to a race. The timing was off; as soon as I made it out of karting and into the big leagues, Wes had his accident. He needed them more than me.’
‘Yeah, and now you needhim. And it looks like he might be realising that.’
Another hour passed, all of the boxes were put away and they’d had a pitcher of homemade lemonade between them. ‘Ready to do some retail therapy?’ Marco came out of his room wearing his cowboy hat.
‘Yep. I think I might donate Mocha’s riding gear to this new horse and buy my baby something new, so maybe we’ll grab that while we’re out.’
‘What are you going for? New saddle and reins?’
‘I think so. She should have something bold, stand out against the crowd.’
‘Sounds like a girl I know.’ His voice was right behind her, sending shivers down her spine, and she realised he must have intentionally moved in closer to her.
‘Boundaries,’ Savi muttered under her breath, marching on ahead. She grabbed the keys to her dad’s truck, having already got permission to use it this morning.
‘What was that?’ She whipped around to see him smirking.
‘Boundaries.’ She said it louder this time. ‘You’re blurring them.’
‘Only if you let me.’
He was right and it only set her more on edge; something was there under the surface, and she couldn’t decide if she should ignore it and hope it would go away or tackle it head on, letting him know it wasn’t the right time. There might not everbea right time. Maybe he didn’t feel it at all, perhaps he wasn’t flirting, and he was just comfortable enough around her to not have to filter himself.
Savi blasted the radio on the way to the first store on their list for the day, filling the truck with the sound of Jesse’s country twang and hoping it acted as a warning sign to Marco that she was nowhere near ready. It had been less than a month since she had broken up with the man singing love songs about her through the speakers, and less than three days since she had discovered just how far he was from the man she’d believed him to be. Having said that, she was more okay than she had expected to be and it didn’t make sense to her.
‘Wanna grab something to eat first?’ Savi lowered the volume on the radio as they neared the next town over, where the best hardware stores were.
‘Sure, but will there be places that do vegan stuff? I notice everyone’s quite big on meat around here, there are deer heads on the wall in the store and in your basement.’
‘Shit! Dad was supposed to take Henry down.’
‘Henry?’ Marco quizzed.
‘He’s not real. My family don’t hunt, and we don’t like taxidermy, either.’
‘Oh. Now I feel stupid.’ He laughed as Savi found the perfect parking spot, metres away from one of her favourite restaurants. She knew they had a decent vegan menu which was rare to find around here, but they were famous in the area for it.
‘Don’t. We were still going to take him down because he’s pretty realistic and we didn’t want to freak you out. If you were to go down there in the dark to grab ice cream from the freezer, you’d jump out of your skin. He just sort of looms over you.’
