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“Kat” came a gruff voice.
My eyes flew open and I scrambled to sit up. I knew that voice. It was Alejandro.
We had not seen one another since that night in Hungary. After Jason had been taken to a local hospital the race had resumed and Alejandro had finished in a very respectable eighth place. No one had felt like celebrating, so the team had quietly packed up and returned to our respective hotels. I heard that Alejandro had not even spent the night, but left for Spain on his private jet the moment he was cleared from the post-race press conference. Jason had remained in the hospital for a few days to evaluate for any brain injuries before being flown back to the United States to rest with his family. For my part, I’d returned to England and taken a much needed vacation. Which brought me back to the present moment.
“How did you get here?” I asked.
“The usual way,” he replied dryly. “By plane and then by car and then on foot.”
“Ok, but how did you find me here?”
He snorted and rolled his eyes. “I have Instagram, Kat.” Oh yeah, I had posted an image just that morning featuring my beach towel and a book. My caption was just a heart, meant to be mysterious, but of course I was very obvious. I hadn’t been hiding, just didn’t think anyone would come looking for me. His gaze softened. “May I sit?”
“Oh, of course!” I scrambled to make room on my towel and gestured. “Sorry I don’t have better seating.”
He smiled as he sat. “No worries. I am quite accustomed to sitting on a towel.”
“Well, ok then.”
“I wanted to talk.” the nearby toddler squawked angrily, causing him to wince slightly. “Well, at least try to.”
“Yeah? What about?”
He took a deep breath “Us.”
“You and me us? Or the three of us us?” I asked.
“The three of us us.” His voice grew softer. “Listen, Kat. I know I probably have no shot, and I do not really deserve one after the way you were treated by the press because of me. But I want us to all try again. For real this time. Publicly.”
My mouth hung open and I could do nothing but blink. He chuckled softly and leaned forward, hooking a finger under my chin and closing my mouth slightly. “I know it is shocking.”
“Um, yeah,” I said hoarsely. “Bit shocking for sure. I thought you wanted nothing to do with it. You said .. .”
“I know what I said. And I was wrong. I love you, Kat. And I love Jason too. I love the promise of what we can build together if we are willing to try. But obviously I can’t build it by myself, so I was hoping you’d be willing to try building with me.”
“What about the team? What about the press? What will people think?”
“Ok, first off, I don’t care what people think. I only care what you think. The press will always make up whatever story they want, but I like to think people will be supportive of three people finding happiness together. And as for the team,” here he paused and looked down for a moment, “I am retiring.”
“You’re what?” I yelled. A few bystanders looked over our way and I winced. “You’re what?” I asked again at a lower volume.
“I’m retiring.” He repeated. “Watching Jason’s crash and seeing how freaked out you were got me thinking. I am lucky to have made it this far in my career without a major incident. I am older and the days of me challenging for a world title are pretty much behind me. I do not know what I am going to do, but I know if I keep going my chances of a serious injury will grow and I do not want to risk missing a life with you. So I am retiring. I do not expect Jason to, but I want to be able to go to him next time something happens instead of getting back into my car and finishing a race. And before you say anything, I already told Mr. Hansen. I asked him not to tell you or Jason until I got to talk to you. So, what do you say?”
He looked so worried and hopeful. My heart swelled and I leaned forward. “I say I love you two, too.” I said and kissed him.
