Chapter 10
TEN
REGAN
I can’t believe that I’m stuck doing this event with Dixon. These are the consequences of my own actions, though. The main thing that’s getting me through this is knowing that I’m going to make some kids’ day by getting to talk to them and hang out with them.
We’re at the local children’s hospital today that one of my sponsors donates money to. We’re seeing kids who are really sick and are stuck here most of the time, undergoing treatments.
The first room we walk into is a girl around the age of ten, Amy.
She brightens up as soon as she sees both of us walk in.
She’s wearing a blue hat with my number on it.
It never gets old seeing kids, especially little girls, wearing my gear.
I want to be a good role model for them.
To show them that they can be anything they want to be.
“Hi, Amy,” I greet. “It’s so good to meet you.”
“I can’t believe you’re here, and I get to meet you.” Her grin is nearly touching her ears, it’s so big.
“I hear you’re a big fan,” I say as I point to her hat. “Does that make me your favorite?” She smiles and nods. “Good choice. Girls are better than the boys anyway, right?”
She laughs. “Right. Girls rule and boys drool,” she says and then gives Dean a raspberry.
I turn to look at him. He actually looks like he ran a comb through his usually unkempt hair. It’s still close to his shoulders, but looks like he got it trimmed recently.
“Hey now. Don’t hurt my feelings over here,” Dean says, clutching his chest in mock offense. Amy giggles at that. I didn’t realize Dean would be good with kids. Something about that makes my heart squeeze inside my chest. This is a side of him that I’ve never seen.
It’s kind of…nice.
We hang out for a bit longer with Amy, taking some pictures together and giving out some signed merch, as well. Then we leave for the next child's room. We do this throughout the hospital for multiple kids.
Usually, having to be near Dean for long periods of time sets me on edge, but seeing him here, being so nice to every kid, even if they aren’t in his gear…makes me kind of like him.
But only a little. Can’t get crazy here.
We’re at the last room for the day. The sign says the room is for Daniel, who’s twelve. I glance over at Dean. He’s hesitating before entering the room. I wonder what’s going on in his head right now.
“Are you ready to go in?” I ask. The question seems to catch him a bit off guard.
“What? Oh, yeah,” he says and walks in front of me to go into the hospital room.
“Hey, buddy,” he calls to him. “Nice hat, little man.” He taps Daniel’s hat where there is a bit of dark hair coming out from the sides of it. Like most of the other children, he’s hooked up to monitors and tubes coming out of multiple places in his body.
“I’m not little,” he huffs.
Dean holds his hands up. “I’m sorry, you’re right. Big man.”
Daniel smiles. “I wish I could race like you.”
I resist the urge to clutch my chest. All this kid wants to do is race, but he’s stuck here, sick.
Life truly isn’t fair. I watch as Dean talks to him.
He seems different with Daniel. I’m not sure why.
There is this look of almost longing that’s in his dark green eyes that makes me want to comfort him somehow.
“Well, maybe you can one day. How about I see if I can get you a special trip to the Charlotte race coming up? What do you say?” He glances up at Daniel’s parents, who beam at him and nod in agreement.
The PR team who’s with us starts to hustle to make that happen, and begins to make plans with Daniel’s parents.
We take more pictures and give him some signed merch before we start to head out of the building. I’m still a bit surprised that he did something like that for Daniel, but also, it’s nice to see this side of him.
“That was really nice what you did for that little boy.”
“It’s nothing. Just wanted to do something nice for him. He just reminded me—” He trails off. “Never mind. Just wanted to give him a nice experience.”
Remind him of who? I wonder.
I can tell he doesn’t want to talk about that, so I let it slide. We make it back out to the parking lot and Gwen, the PR manager, catches up to us.
“Alright, let’s do one final photo of you two to show we are on good terms, yeah?” Gwen says. She coordinates all the outside events for SCORS. “Come on, closer,” she coaxes, pushing some of her dark hair away from her face. “Dean, put your arm around her. Just pretend you like each other.”
Dean turns to look at me. His green eyes shine in the sun. “Well, you heard the lady.”
“Fine,” I grumble, giving in with an eye roll.
He puts his arm around my shoulders, smiling wide for the camera, and I do the same. My stomach pitches when he touches me, the warmth of his hand seeping through the sleeve of my blue team polo. I’m not sure if it’s from disgust or something else.
Disgust. It has to be disgust, right?
He’s so close that I can smell his cologne. It’s mixed with a scent of laundry soap and something else, something more…masculine. Something musky.
I kind of like it.
After Gwen is done with the photos, I quickly step away from him. I turn to look at him again and he seems almost disappointed that I put space between us. Not sure why, but I kind of feel the same way.