“Is he single?”

“What?” I replied, frowning at her. “You’re missing the point. Why on earth would I want to be attracted to someone like him? I think so long as he can find somewhere warm and wet to put his dick, that’s all he cares about. You know me better than that!”

Jillian laughed. “Well, Ava, you know, it’s been a while.”

She may have been right about that, but giving it up for a guy like Dyson was not something I wanted to do. That was doubly true because of Simon. Even so, I would have felt the same way if I didn’t have a child in my life.

But the fact was—I did.

I loved him more than anything. And even though he was an awesome kid, I’d never dated a guy who felt the same way. Sooner or later, everybody I got serious with eventually broke it off because he didn’t want to raise another man’s child. I had no doubt—none—a man like Dyson Vix fit squarely in the same category.

Deciding to move on from her nonsensical questions, I changed the subject.

“Did the mail come?”

She nodded and unwrapped the towel from her head. “Yeah.”

“Well? Did I get the letter?”

“Yes, I think so.” Jillian said as she turned and walked towards her desk. Picking up an envelope from the top of it, she headed towards me, extending it in my direction.

Sure enough, it had arrived.

I took it from her hand and rolled my eyes. “They took long enough to send this to me.”

I flipped the envelope over and tore into it. Within seconds, I’d pulled out its contents and unfolded it. My eyes traced the markings on the page. Before long what began as hope dissolved into heartbreak.

“Shit,” I groaned, plopping down on Jillian’s bed. “This can’t be.”

“Oh no, what does it say?”

Almost too sick to my stomach to read it a second time, I unfolded the letter from the Board of Education and gave Jillian the bad news.

Apparently, due to a series of cutbacks, we were going to lose the scholarship money that kept Simon in private school. It was the exact opposite of what I’d expected to read. Namely, that the school would receive payment for him as usual.

According to the letter, only students coming from the direst of financial situations would continue to receive grant money. Although we weren’t poor, things were far from great. Even so, what we did have was above the minimum threshold for support.

Jillian covered her mouth with her hand. “That’s terrible. Poor Simon.”

I felt a lump gather in the center of my throat. I’d worked so hard to get him out of the public school.

“I know, I know,” I began, fighting back the heat of tears.

She sat down next to me. “What are you going to do? If he has to go back, the bullying…”

I dropped my hands between my legs, crumpling the paper at its edges. I had no words for the feelings inside. My poor nephew. He’d been through so much at such a young age. He was finally happy, and now, it looked as if all of that was about to be ripped away from him. The worst part of it all was there was nothing I could do about it.

Jillian draped her arm around me. “He’s come out of his shell so much over the past year or so.”

I nodded and stared down at the wrinkled page.

“What about you?” she said, as she leaned away. “I mean, you’re never going to get back into school at this point.”

I just shook my head. “I don’t care about that, Jillian. Right now, I’m just worried about Simon. What the hell am I going to do?”

“Aunt Ava?”

I swallowed hard and snapped my head upward. My seven-year-old nephew stood in the doorway. How long had he been there? I only hoped he hadn’t heard.

“Yes, honey?” I replied.

“What are we having for dinner?”

I let out a shallow, uneasy exhale, relieved for the moment that he didn’t know. Dinner was the last thing on my mind. But still I managed a smile for him.

“How about pizza?”

He smiled in return. “Extra pepperoni?”

“Extra pepperoni,” I said. “Now go get cleaned up. Aunt Jillian and I will get it taken care of soon.”

He started to walk away, when I remembered my conversation with Dyson.

“Simon, wait,” I began, gesturing for him to walk in my direction. He drew close and I took his small hands in mine, wrapping them in the warmth of my own. “I wanted to talk to you about something, but I’m not sure if you’re going to think it’s cool.”

I noticed Jillian leaning away from me. I hadn’t mentioned the invitation to her. It would be a surprise for both of them and a much-needed one at that. I proceeded to tell him all about the race and going to watch qualifying as a special guest of one of the drivers. I honestly had no idea if Simon would be excited or not. While he was talkative and engaging with people he knew, he could be far from it with strangers.

“So, what do you think?” I said, leaning towards him and smiling. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

To my surprise, he wasted no time in replying. He nodded his head and smiled right back at me. “Yeah!”

Later that evening, after we’d ordered pizza and eaten, I got Simon ready for bed and began to do the same. In less than a day, our entire lives were turned upside down, and to top it off, I was apparently going to have to deal with Dyson Vix at least one more time.

DYSON

Gearing up for my runs, I was talking to my head mechanic when I noticed her.

I gotta be honest. I didn’t think she’d show. Things had gotten off to a bit of a rocky start between us. That didn’t bother me so much. Just because a woman’s angry doesn’t mean she’s not interested.

On the other hand, since we hadn’t really talked, I didn’t know much about her. And, I didn’t suspect she had a kid. I watched as she, a boy and another woman walked around the pits looking at the cars. I guessed that could be her friend’s boy, but if it wasn’t, then she made my decision to come on to her a no-go.

The last thing I needed right now was to raise someone else’s son.

My mechanic, Jesse, distracted me for a second with a question.

“You said the oversteer was the worst in turn three? Right Dyson?”

I looked down at him and nodded. “Yep.”

I immediately looked up towards her again. Before long, Ava noticed me noticing her. Unbelievably, she gave me what appeared to be a smile, followed by a wave of her hand. Surprised, I nodded in return and gestured for them to come over.

Just then, Jesse, fired up the engine. I reached down and patted him on the shoulder.

“Be right back!” I yelled.

He nodded and returned to what he was doing. All around, teams were doing the same as us - getting the cars set up and ready for qualifying. I loved the buildup, the tension that came along with getting ready.

So many things have to go your way if you want to have a chance to win out here. The way we’d been running the past month or so, I felt fucking awesome about our chances. Everyone else knew how close we were. It was a matter of time before we got things dialed in. What we needed right now, more than anything, was consistency.

We’d get there.

Or I would die trying.

Approaching the three of them, I nodded my chin in Ava’s direction.

“Glad you could make it.” I began, gesturing towards their badges. “Any problems picking everything up at will call?”

“Thank you for having us. And no, no problems at all.” She paused and looked around for a second. “Wow, things have sure gotten busy since the last time I was here.”

“Yep, that’s the way it works.” I pointed in the direction of the woman and the boy. “Who’s this with you?”

“Oh,” Ava began, rolling her eyes. “Sorry about that.”

She finished talking and looked in the direction of the woman first.

“This is my roommate, Jillian.” Next, she tilted forward at the waist and put her hand on the kids shoulder before looking back towards me. “And this, is my nephew, Simon.”