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I’m hugging LJ to my chest with his face buried in my neck. Kalum gently slides his hand in soothing strokes over his back.
“Hey, kiddo,” Kalum says softly.
“Hey,” LJ chokes out.
“I have an idea. If you promise to keep this a secret? What if I said I could let you hear the real thing?”
LJ’s head snaps up. “How?” he asks, his voice breaking.
My gaze lands on Kalum’s and my heart melts. He is so good with him. How LJ is drawn to him when Kalum has a solution to everything. He would make a great father someday.
Kalum sits down on the bed. His biceps bulge with the movement. He gives me a wink, and I swear my heart skips a beat.
“Remember when I told you that your daddy and I were very good friends?”
He sniffs and wipes his face with a tissue I hand him from the nightstand.
“Yeah,” LJ says.
“He built something for me a while back, and I would like to show you. No one knows he modified the engine for me, so it is a secret. You want to see it?”
LJ looks up at me with bright eyes. “Can we, Momma?”
“Yeah, baby.”
We dress warm and follow Kalum to the detached garage on the side of the house. I haven’t opened any of the four garages since staying here.
Kalum presses the button on a fob, and the garage door opens, revealing a Lamborghini SVJ. LJ looks at me with a bewildered look on his face. His forehead creases like his father's when he is unsure about something.
LJ points at the car. “My father built the inside motor of that car?”
“Yep. I like Lamborghinis, and even though he doesn’t, he said he could make it go faster, and I believed him.” Kalum walks to the back and shows him Lane’s signature tag mark on the back of the engine. “Built by Turner.”
LJ smiles, his eyes lighting up like the Fourth of July. “He did! Mom, look, Daddy worked on this one.”
“Told you,” Kalum says, giving him a grin.
“Lane modified this?” I ask as I rub my hands together over my gloves. The smoke of my breath swirls in the air.
“He did. I asked him one night, and he said he would work on it for me and only me. You know he preferred Japanese imports, but this one”—he points—“he modified it for me. It is one of a kind.”
He unlocks it and opens the door upward. “I can’t go above a certain speed since you have to hold Lane in front, but I can figure out a safe way so he can fall asleep by listening to it. There is a road right out here that is quiet. I won’t go past second gear and will rev it slowly so he can feel the engine and hear the sound.”
“Is it loud?” LJ asks with excitement.
“Very.”
Kalum buckles us in tight and makes sure we are secure, and slides in the driver’s side.
“Ready, kiddo?”
LJ nods, and he snuggles closer, strapped snuggly in the red leather seat. Kalum starts the massive car, and the engine purrs to life. The exhaust rumbles, and my head angles slightly. A sense of déjà vu washes over me when I’d done this with Lane. My eyes close, and I feel the vibration of the engine behind us.
Kalum plays “Faded” by ZHU as he rolls the car slowly without giving it too much speed but roars the engine so LJ can feel it. After fifteen minutes, LJ slowly drifts to sleep. Kalum drives down the road for a while. When LJ is completely asleep, he drives slowly through the metal gate down the driveway.
He places the car in park and slides the back of his fingers over the side of my face. “I just wanted you to know that I’ll do anything for you both. I’m here, Aura, and I’ll never leave you two alone.”
“Thank you.”
