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"I told you I was superior, American"
"I never doubted you, Kitty"
"Hlance over at our table to find Shane watchingat him the same way, al to join us when Orla shouts his na up the phone to indicate he has a call With a regretful look in my direction, he heads behind the bar and picks up the phone For so at the back of ularly since childhood, a sense that I need to be on uard needs to be firnore it, put my attention back on Kitty, but when Shane’s face slowly loses color, I knoas right He looks up, gaze zeroing in oninto the phone, jotting notes down onto a pad of paper
A s up and ht back the need to turn and run out the door So and I don’t want to face it When he reachesroup of swaying bodies
"What’s up?" Iat ht of it "That waspractice They have an alternate, but he has no experience on this particular track"
I nod, as if I could even process that inforive me the bottom line "Okay What does that mean?"
"They need me for the Italian Grand Prix Tomorrow afternoon"
Chapter Twenty-Three
There’s a horrible feeling you get when you wake up on a Mondayits Saturday Then you slowly remember, as you enter wakefulness, you have a whole week ahead of you instead of a lazy day off watching television and eating bagels Thisto et my week I didn’t have a chance to prepareblindsided me I’m in the deep end with no time to make it back to the shallow side And if I’ht now, the cantaloupe-sized crater in ht I could have readied myself for this
"Willa"
Shane snapsmy name for a while His handsome face is a mask of worry, instead of elated, the way it should be This is his drea team needs him back behind the wheel In a matter of days, his future has been sorted out for him Yet he looks like his world just caved in It hits me, then It’s because of me He doesn’t want to leave h to keep hiive me the week he pro er If he says no to the race, that is
Disgusted, I push that idea over the side of a cliff If I’m even partly the reason for the fear in his eyes, I will never forgiveThere will be more races More offers I can’t expect him to turn them down This is what he’s wanted his whole life
Underneath all these valid reasons is the one that I’ve been trying to ignore But it’s there, circled and underlined with a black Sharpie It’s the uglyto joinleft