Dan drove back home in utter disbelief. Abby was right—he couldn’t control everything, but he knew that already.
Tonight, for example—he’d imagined being victorious, impressing Abby and bringing her back to his place to stay for the rest of the weekend where they’d make love and binge-watch shows together. They’d have breakfast, lunch, dinner together. Make love some more.
She would’ve finally fallen for him—completely in love and happy to stay in his life for as long as it worked for them. He’d be able to see her all the time—her smile, her piercing, studious eyes, her lovely figure, her ever-changing hairstyles. He’d be able to hear her cute, tinkling laughter, inhale her delightful vanilla scent.
Instead, here he was alone, with Abby furious and talking about not wanting to see him anymore.
He’d endured a silent drive taking her home, her heavy emotions filling the car. The only words exchanged between them had been at the very beginning of the drive and at the end when she told him to leave her alone and stormed toward her mother’s home.
Now he was enduring an empty ride back, his mind racing in various directions—Abby, the crash, the future, the past.
Dan didn’t blame Abby for getting frightened at the event—she had witnessed something terrible and gotten a bit traumatized; she didn’t even know if the crash victim was going to be all right. Thankfully, things hadn’t turned out worse and the man was fine for now.
Dan absolutely understood Abby needing a bit of space to process the night’s events, but she’d hardly let him get a single word in! There was a point when he almost insisted on saying his piece, but her flashing eyes, the level of outrage she’d reached—she clearly needed time to cool down before she could hear anything beyond the fear and worry he’d caused her.
Dan recognized what was going on with her, even if she didn’t. At least, he hoped he was right.
But it seemed pretty obvious that Abigail was so angry with him because she cared deeply for him, maybe even much more than that—the thought of which made him swell with hope.
So after some time and space, Abby would, no doubt, come to her senses and take back what she’d said about not wanting to be with him. If not, he’d have to come up with a plan to get her back in his life.
Meanwhile, he needed to figure out what else was going on inside him.
Dan figured he’d take the rest of the weekend to check on his fellow racer—the crash victim—and get certain other affairs in order. He had all kinds of things to keep him distracted for a while—one of which was officially taking over the house he’d brought Abby to.
He’d already started the process—once he’d decided he was going to date Abby seriously, he started preparing Eric’s mansion for her visits. It was the only place he wanted to show off to her, bring her home to.
He’d been renting it out—to celebrities and others with deep pockets, including for use on TV shows and movies—but he hadn’t been able to put it on the market for sale since it’d been such a big deal to his brother.
He’d rented it out recently, and the previous renters hadn’t done too much damage, so he was able to whip the place into shape and make it look as if he lived there at least some of the time.
It amazed and amused him that he went so far to impress Abby—she probably would’ve been just as impressed by his penthouse. But he didn’t want to take her there; it didn’t seem appropriate to bring Abby to what he’d always seen as his bachelor pad.
Sure, he was technically still a bachelor, but he’d wanted Abby to see a home like this was in his possession. And since he technically had control of it, he didn’t feel as if he was misrepresenting himself exactly—the house was still his whether he lived there or not. He could do with what he liked.
He’d tell her all about his mild deception once he got the chance—about this other way he’d sought to impress her, though again it was more than that. The house had been too big to live in by himself, but with Abby in his life, he no longer felt indecisive about what to do with it.
Now he knew he wanted to keep it, and he wasn’t sure what that really meant.
“How are you feeling?” Dan asked Peter, who’d been incredibly lucky in the crash, having held onto his life and all body parts. Dan didn’t know him well but felt obligated to check on him personally in the hospital.
“Just a scratch,” Peter said wryly, his mouth curving up a bit in a smile. He had on an arm sling and was clearly bruised in several places. The hospital bed didn’t look all that comfortable, either. “No life-threatening injuries so I’m getting released tomorrow! This all looks worse than it is.” He indicated his body with his uninjured hand.
“And how long until you can race again?”
“Well, I’ve gotta wait for this arm to heal, so six weeks at least. Maybe even two months. I just have a few small fractures.”
“And are you definitely returning to racing?”
“Hell yeah! Think I’m gonna let a little crash stop me?”
You got lucky, Dan thought. Next time, you could die.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Peter said wearily, as if tired of hearing the same thing spill from everyone’s mouths, “but it’s in my blood. I can’t imagine not doing it. I’m happy to keep taking the risk—it’s worth all the rewards.”
Dan realized he didn’t feel the same—racing wasn’t exactly in his blood. It was just something that distracted him when he needed a distraction, gave him a death-defying thrill.
Unlike Peter, he absolutely could imagine not doing it. He’d still own fast cars, of course, and maybe he’d still mess around on his own and play with bursts of speeds every now and then, but actual races…
“You and I have yet to go,” Peter said. “I’ll find something to beat that Lambo of yours; I’ve got time.”
Dan shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said, feeling more and more sure as the seconds ticked on. “I think I’m retiring from racing.”
“What? Don’t tell me a little thing like this is scaring you off,” Peter said, indicating his damaged body again.
“No, not that. Actually, it’s something much bigger,” he said, thinking about Abby.
Dan sent Abby another text and waited for her response. She still hadn’t responded to his first one, so he knew he could be in for a long wait. He used the time to examine his residences, mentally say goodbye to his bachelor pad. He’d hold onto it as long as he needed to, but he knew the time was coming to let it go.
He took a more careful, critical look at the house Eric left—the house he’d finally decided to keep and make his completely. He thought about decor and changes he might want to make. But he wanted Abby’s input, so he didn’t want to do anything drastic right away.
It wasn’t just her opinion on redecorating and furnishings he would seek—he wanted Abby there; it seemed right for the two of them to live together in it. Plus, the property was a better place to park his cars with its attached four-car garage, especially now that he’d installed better security. The mansion was also the perfect size for a family…
Family? Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself there, buddy? Who said anything about a family?
Yes, he was letting his imagination get away with him. Just because the house had five bedrooms, didn’t mean he had to fill them. He and Abby could repurpose those extra rooms. Though the place already had a gym, a home theater, and a room dedicated to a home office, they could convert one of the bedrooms to a darkroom or a gallery for Abby’s black-and-white photography.
They could perhaps convert another bedroom to another office—they’d both probably need one, after all. And it was fine to have more than two guest rooms.
Dan sighed, checking his phone again to see if Abby had texted him back and seeing that she hadn’t.
First thing’s first—he had to make sure she wasn’t mad at him anymore, that she forgave him.