Chapter 24
‘Please tell me this was for Halloween or something?’ Marco held up a photo from behind a mountain of plastic boxes, a grin plastered across his features.
Savi climbed over the boxes to get a closer look, immediately snatching it from his hands and hiding it behind her back. ‘I can’t believe you found that.’
They were in the basement, sorting through the Harts’ family photos purely to embarrass Savi as per her teammates’ request. So far, he’d taken photos on his phone of at least fifteen of them, and she just knew he would bring them out at the next team bonding event.
He’d even sent some into the group chat already.
‘The green isn’t even the right shade!’ Marco cackled. ‘And the costume is so big on you.’
‘Because I was six! Monsters, Inc. was my favourite film, and it was last-minute, so we just used the only green paint we had in our crafting supplies.’ She smiled fondly at the memory.
‘There’s a photo somewhere of Weston dressed as Sully; we stuck bits of purple and blue fabric to a t-shirt, hat and gloves with a glue gun. Well, I say “we”, Ma did it.’
‘I would pay good money to see his Sully costume.’
‘Didn’t you ever have a fancy dress fail?’
‘I was and still am amazing at fancy dress. Just last year I went to a Halloween party at Julien and Faith’s house in Hawaii dressed up as Michael Myers. Remind me later and I’ll find the photos. His kids were terrified, Emmy smacked me across the face when I picked her up with my mask on.’
‘I’m not surprised! They’re still babies!’
‘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 and Savi, 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 at Le 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 need him . 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 ever be a 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.’
‘Okay, note to self, wake someone up to hold my hand if I want ice cream.’
‘Someone, or me?’ she asked, her cheeks flushing. ‘Well, you’re hardly gonna take Wes down in the lift, are you? That’s a lot of effort just for some mint choc chip. His lift takes forever.’
‘I’d take your dad,’ Marco shot back and hurried ahead to hold the door.
She followed him with a grin and walked in to a chorus of ‘hellos’ and ‘long time no sees’ all courtesy of the usual patrons who took up residence in the old red leather booth seats surrounding the edges of the restaurant.
She loved it in here. It was cosy, you knew what you were going to get and there were no airs and graces from the staff.
It didn’t try to be anything fancy; it just served good food, cooked from scratch by the chefs who always made themselves visible to customers.
‘This the boyfriend?’ Delores greeted them at the door, ready to take them to a table. ‘Also, why didn’t you tell me you were coming home? I’d have made you an apple pie as a welcome present. You know that’s my thing.’ The elderly woman who had worked here for years frowned at her.
‘This is Marco, yes. Mars, this is Delores. And I didn’t tell you I was coming because I tell you every time I’m the only one who eats apple pie at home, and I can’t eat the whole thing on my own. It’s too much, and I’m on an athlete’s diet.’
‘Excuses, girl. You’ve got this one to share it with now, I’ll see about bringing one by Mustang Ridge in the week before you leave.
’ Savi rolled her eyes. Della had always tried to take care of the Hart kids, providing them with somewhere to do their homework for years and a place for them and their friends to come and grab milkshakes on weekends.
‘Nice to meet you, Delores.’ Marco reached out to shake her hand and she turned her nose up, staring at his open palm like he was diseased.
‘Call me Della, and don’t shake my hand. I do hugs.’ She held her arms out for Marco to step into, winking at Savi when he looked to her for confirmation. ‘Come on, boyfriend. I ain’t got all day, got all these old biddies to cater to.’
Marco quickly jumped into action, giving Delores a hug that turned into an almighty squeeze, which would be cute had she not whispered loudly in his ear about not daring to hurt Savi otherwise she would cut off a certain body part.
He nodded in agreement and followed her to the table, one in the back corner.
‘Gotta give the VIPs some privacy from prying eyes. Don’t get too handsy, though.
Bobby over there might have a heart attack, don’t think he can handle the excitement.
’ She pointed to a man who was around the same age as her, hunched over a newspaper at the counter but peering over it, in their direction.
‘Thanks, Della,’ Marco smiled, taking the menu but not looking at it until she left.
As she went, Savi heard her mutter, ‘Polite, I like him.’
‘Savannah, they do vegan pancakes!’ Marco gasped.
‘How are you the size that you are?’ She scanned the menu, choosing to try something vegan herself but instead settling on an all-day full English breakfast. She’d tried one in London the previous year and grown obsessed, choosing to have it for breakfast in every hotel that had it on the menu.
It was because of her that the diner had started serving it.
‘I swear I do eat vegetables, but these sound so good. I can’t resist.’ He looked as though his mouth was about to water. ‘So, spoken to Kodie the last couple of days?’
‘Yep. She touched base, said she’s sorry for overreacting and she’s going to miss me for the next two weeks. Asked if we could go for a drink in Le Mans. Just one, obviously. Got to be in top shape for a race like that.’
‘I’m so excited for you girls to experience it.
No driver ever quite understands the magic of Le Mans until they get to race it themselves.
There’s nothing else like it: all the history, the unpredictability.
The whole pit lane is just electric for the entire week, and in those twenty-four hours it’s like you’re in another world,’ he said, the excitement shining in his eyes.
Savi loved hearing other people talking about the industry.
It was the way Gabriel spoke about the IEC with so much passion that had made her want to excel at karting, so he saw her value and helped her get there.
She had worked hard so that she could feel that love for the industry for herself, and it still didn’t feel real that she was here. She’d made it.
‘Mars, we need to talk about this fake-dating thing. Enough time has passed that we needn’t worry about the photos, but… the only other reason for doing it was to keep Jesse and I’s relationship free of any suspicion. Isn’t it about time we stopped?’
‘Are you ready?’ he frowned. ‘To face the publicity that will come with our fake break-up whilst you’re still healing from a real one in private?’
She sighed and shrugged, because that was just it. She didn’t know if she was. ‘Probably not, but it’s not fair to keep you tied to me. You have your own life to live, Monaco.’
‘Savannah, are you serious?’ He rolled his eyes. ‘This is my life right now, and I am very okay with what it looks like. I’m not tied to you. I’m choosing you. So if you need to keep up the pretending for a little while longer, I’m game.’
‘Really?’ she asked, her heart melting a little at how sure he looked. ‘You don’t have to do this, Marco. I can handle it, if you change your mind or if there’s a girl you’ve got your eye on or something…’
‘My mind has been somewhat occupied.’ He smiled. ‘How does keeping me on as your fake boyfriend until the end of the season sound?’
Savi reached out for a handshake. ‘You’ve got yourself a deal.’
She let Marco take control of the conversation all the way through lunch, listening to him tell her all about his, Brett’s and Julien’s antics before she and the others came along.
It sounded like even Faith and Lucie’s influence hadn’t completely tamed them.
There were stories of mechanical bulls, bouncy castles, stolen golf karts and trips to Paris where they’d rented bikes and caused havoc across the city.
Marco spoke like she would soon be part of it, and while she would be somewhat involved because she was part of the Revolution Racing team, it sounded like they did a lot of things as couples and Marco tagged along as an extra.
She wasn’t sure she would always be welcomed like she was truly one of them.
By the time they got back to the ranch, the truck was loaded up with not just equipment for Mocha, Java and Cappuccino, but for all the other rescue horses they had at the ranch and up to three more.
Saddles, reins, bridles, coats. Everything they could possibly need.
She had spent a fortune, but she’d been able to buy all the things she had dreamed of having as a little girl.
‘What in the world?’ Bonnie’s eyes went wide at the number of items in the back of the truck. ‘I thought you were just fixing the gate!’
‘We really went for it,’ Marco grinned. ‘The final reveal will be on Friday, please do not enter the stables until then.’
‘Okay,’ Bonnie blinked. ‘Let Cal know if you need any more tools.’