He looked at me again, tension in his brow. “That kid Patrick still giving you a hard time?”
Ugh, Patrick Webber, the bane of my existence. Seriously, the guy wound me up all the time. Constantly going on about how tall I was, calling me lanky and saying I was like a boy just because I was into cars. Honestly, one of these days, I was going to punch him right in his perfect nose.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” I shrugged.
“Well, if it gets to be too much to handle, you tell me, and I’ll sort him, okay?” My dad chucked my chin with his finger.
I smiled back at him. “Okay, Daddy.”
He looked back to the road.
“Dad?”
“Hmm?”
“I just…I want you to know that I don’t worry like Mum does when you drive ’cause I know you’re the best driver in the whole world. Not because I don’t love you.”
He stared at me for a long moment. Then, he reached over and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to him. He kissed the top of my head. “I know, kiddo. I love you, too. And you’re right. I am the best driver in the world.” I could hear the grin in his voice. “So, are we taking this baby up to maximum speed or what?” he said, releasing me as he turned onto a stretch of clear country lane.
“Maximum speed!” I yelled, laughing, putting my arms up in the air like I was on a roller coaster.
He let out a rumble of laughter, his foot pressing down on the accelerator. “Scream if you wanna go faster, Andi.”
“You know you’re not supposed to actually touch the cars.”
I’m jolted out of my memory at the sound of Carrick’s voice. My hand recoiling from the car, I swing around to him.
As I stare into his face, my heart thumping wildly. I see concern cross Carrick’s brow, and I realize that my cheeks are wet with tears.
Turning my face away, I quickly brush them gone with my hands.
“Hey, are you okay?” His voice is soft, caring. He takes a step toward me, his hand reaching out, but then he stops before he touches me, as if catching himself.
“I’m fine.” I force a bright smile onto my face.
“You don’t look fine.”
“Well am I. I’m great.” I lift my voice. I know it sounds unnatural, but I don’t know what else to do.
Because I won’t explain to him why I was just crying while standing before William Wolfe’s car.
I see his eyes flicker to my dad’s car, and then they come back to me. I can see his mind working.
Don’t connect the dots. Don’t connect the dots.
“I thought you were at that dinner tonight?” I quickly go for a change of subject.
He stares at me for a long moment. Thankfully, he decides to let it go. “I was supposed to go, but then I heard about this showing today, so I ducked out. Sent my dad on his own.”
He was going with his dad. The relief I feel at that is immensely scary.
“Was he angry?”
He shrugs, a smile teasing his lips. “A bit, but I’ve ditched him to come to a car show, not to go out partying, so he can’t be too mad.”
He gives a cheeky grin that makes my erratic heart swell in my chest.
And that makes me take a step back.
“Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were coming. If I had, I wouldn’t have come.” I don’t know how true that is. I would have come because I had to see my father’s car. I would have just come when I knew he wouldn’t be here.
“Wow,” he says with an incredulous tone in his voice and a hurt look on his face. “I know we’re in a weird place right now, but you hate me that much?”
My eyes widen with shock. “No. I don’t hate you. Of course not. And ‘weird place’ is putting it mildly, Carrick. You can hardly bear to be in the same room as me. When I said I wouldn’t have come, I meant, for your sake. I know it’s bad enough that you have to see me at work.”
“Jesus…Andressa.” He rubs his forehead with his fingers and then takes a step toward me. “That’s not…I just…fuck.” His eyes blink in earnest at me. “I’m really fucking sorry for the way I’ve behaved lately. The way I’ve treated you…I’ve been a complete bastard.”
I wrap my arms around myself in protection. “You have nothing to be sorry about. It’s me who should be sorry.”
He shakes his head. “I think we’ve both been at fault in one way or another lately. I just…I don’t deal well with rejection.” He shoves a hand through his hair, looking awkward. “When I’m rejected, I act like a total prick.”
“I know. You’ve told me that before. In China, remember?”