Page 98 of Promise

“I think we needed to get it out of our system. We’ve been circling each other for weeks. Close proximity and all that.” I huff, knowing my romance-reading girlfriends understand.

“Don’t I know it,” Genie admits, as she spent time living with Judd before their friendship-turned-fake-engagement turned into more.

“I’m the one who initiated it,” I admit.

“Good for you,” Vale says, tipping up her head to look at me again in the rearview mirror.

“So how was it?” Genie wiggles her brows.

“It was . . . hot.” A little giggle escapes before I run my fingers over my lips, thinking about the kiss we just shared.

We haven’t been kissing. We haven’t been intimate again, but we have been sharing my bed. And all the little touches feel so intense.

His hand on my hip. My palm against his chest. Sometimes, I wonder what he’s waiting for. Why haven’t we done more again?

“Based on the kiss I just saw, I bet.” Genie fans her face.

Vale smiles, but then her lips slowly drop. “How you doing with all this and Mirabelle?”

“Mirabelle is amazing,” I say with pride. “And Dart is amazing with her.”

“He’s going to manny, or do we call it danny . . . Daddy nanny?” Genie laughs at her own joke.

“Yes, he’s agreed to watch Mirabelle while I transition back to work. Until he finds a job.” I turn my head toward the window, because there’s still a twinge of fear that Dart will leave. The track will call him. Or Velocity will.

I tug at the hat on my head, torn between tearing it off my head and keeping it on.

Let everyone know you’re my girl. While it might have sounded possessive, it was also said with pride. He’d be happy to call me his again.

I glance down at my naked fingers, wondering if I should have slipped my wedding bands on again. Wondering what he’d think if I did.

“You okay with letting Dart get close to Mirabelle?” Vale’s question is asked cautiously. She had to think about her son when she got closer to my brother. But Hudson was also eleven when that happened.

“She’s just a baby,” I state as if that changes things. As if Mirabelle doesn’t already love Dart in her infant way.

I’m certain Dart loves her. Could he leave her? Would he?

“Think Dart will stick this time?” Vale asks.

I shrug, squinting out the window once more. Because this is my only fear. I don’t doubt Dart loves me. Or that he loves Mirabelle. I worry that he isn’t fulfilled, doesn’t have his purpose without racing. And what if racing wants him back?

“Do you want him to?” Genie adds.

I turn toward my friends. One straining against the seatbelt to glance at me over her shoulder. The other flipping her gaze from the road to the rearview mirror, assessing me.

“Is it wrong if I say yes?”

Vale chuckles. “I don’t think there’s ever a right or wrong when it comes to love, honey.”

“You love who you love.” Genie backs up Vale’s statement.

“Yes, but is it wrong to want to love him when he hurt me so much?”

“If you can forgive him, and work it out together, then there’s no wrong answer there either,” Vale offers. She smiles softly, knowing she had to forgive Cort before she could give in to him again.

A story I know more details about than I care to admit.

I slowly smile at her. Do I forgive Dart? Have I forgiven him? Do I forgive myself for my part in our separation? Because I can’t point the finger at him alone.