Revived (Revved Series Book 2)(85)

My life has changed beyond recognition since Leandro came into it. Not that it was bad before him because it wasn’t, but the moment he came into it, he brought more color into all our lives.

After Leandro retired from Formula 1, we took some time to settle into our lives together, finding our groove with each other. We lived separately in the beginning, but more and more, Leandro started staying over at my place until he was practically living there.

It was the smoothest way to do the transition for us all. After all, it had been just the three of us for so long, and I didn’t want Kit to feel pushed out in any way. I made sure to be careful of Kit’s feelings, but the house was definitely getting too small with the four of us living together.

Then, when Leandro took me to his restaurant, the place where we’d had our brief first date, and he asked me to marry him after us being officially together for six months. To say I was surprised would be putting it mildly, but I was elated. Of course I wanted to say yes right there and then, but I was concerned about Jett and Kit and how they would react. Getting married would be a big change. Then, when Leandro saw my hesitation, he told me that he’d gotten their blessing before asking me. Once I knew that, nothing could stop me from saying yes.

After we were married, Leandro had another surprise for me. He had bought us a house in Buckinghamshire, a few miles from where Carrick and Andi live. I’d gotten quite close to Andi, which is strange considering how I first met her, but now, she and Petra are my closest friends.

Jett had helped Leandro pick the house out. But I was worried about Kit and where he would live. I didn’t want him to think we were getting rid of him by getting married and moving into the new house. Because, to be honest, I wouldn’t know how to live my life and not have Kit close by.

But Leandro was way ahead of me. He already had it all covered. It was like he had thought of what all my concerns would be and covered them, ensuring I would be happy.

He had bought another house for Kit to live in, less than a five-minute walk from ours. Even though Leandro could afford to buy the house for Kit without a second thought, Kit being Kit wouldn’t accept it and said the only way he would live in the house was if he paid rent. Leandro reluctantly agreed.

Kit and Petra still live there now. And it finally became their house, when Leandro gave it to them as a wedding present. Leandro always gets his way in the end. I love that about him.

I am the luckiest girl in the world that I get to have the man I love and keep the family I love close to me, too.

So, I was a married woman, and Jett was thirteen and independent, hardly needing me for anything. I was starting to feel like a spare part. I had no job. My license, as expected, had been stripped from me at the hearing, which was held a few months after we’d gotten back from Leandro’s Italian race. Although I’d expected that to be the case, it didn’t make the knowledge hurt any less. I sold my practice to another therapist, hoping he would enjoy his time there as much as I had.

I was bereft, but I wasn’t alone. Leandro was in the same position as me.

There was, of course, Jett’s karting, which he had gotten really serious about at that point, to keep us busy-ish, but Leandro and I are workers. We’d both worked our whole lives, so we needed more.

Then, one day, after one of Jett’s races, Leandro came home with a great idea. He’d heard of some land going up for sale a few miles from where we lived. He suggested we buy it and turn it into a karting track and also a kind of youth center. A place for kids who have nowhere to go to race and have fun. I immediately loved the idea, as it meant I could be helping people—kids who were just like Kit and I had been—lost with no real place to go. And it would also be a place where Jett could train.

So, Leandro put in a generous offer the next day. It was quickly snapped up, and six weeks later, the place was ours. It took a good few months to get it up and running, but Silva-Harris Karting officially opened its doors seven months after we’d put in the initial offer.

We charge no entry fee to the kids, and the money to run it comes through charity donations and fundraising, which I’m in charge of. When we put on races, we charge for the ticket entry. Of course, Leandro’s name pulls people in, and we also call in favors from famous driver friends of Leandro’s. Namely, we get Carrick to come to as many races as we can when he’s not off at the Prix. And Leandro also puts a lot of his own money into the center, but he—well, we can afford it.

It’s amazing, running the center. Leandro helps train kids on the karts, and we have people working there, too. He’s heavily involved with Kit’s career now, and that takes up a lot of his time.