Tyler Bailey wins the NASCAR Cup Series Championship was probably the most disgusting string of words ever, but they were true.

Team Moretti was the place to be next season, and the fourteen car was mine in every way but officially. In a way, it almost felt more official and personal than signing a contract with RTR, and that had to be a good sign. After leaving for a while, driving a robot in Canada, and returning to the sport, I was due for something to go right. Just one thing. That was all I was asking for.

The best way to escape the disgusting reality that Tyler Bailey's season was cemented in history was to rebuild a bridge that I had burned to the ground during my public spat with Roger Truscott. With Griffin at the wheel of my Corvette, I was heading back to my hometown Akron, Ohio for a little bit, although I had no plans to stay any longer than I had to.

After half a day on the road, the only sounds between us were the potholes and Dire Straits on the radio until my phone rang.

Annie?

I smiled. Annie. "Hello?"

"Oh my god. I meant to call you earlier, but I've been so busy with work and applying to schools that I didn't have the time. How are you?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it, babe." I laughed. "I'm pretty good. How are you besides busy?"

"I don't have the time to be anything else. But I wanted to tell you that I saw you on TV the other day, and damn girl, you looked good. You looked pissed, but you looked hot as hell."

"You saw me?"

"Yeah, during the race. The announcers were talking about you and Griffin and how you're dating and all that. It seems like everyone is happy for you, especially after everything that happened this year. Oh, and congratulations on the deal." She laughed. "Well, I guess it's not official yet, but—"

I interrupted her. "What deal?"

"Is it not true? I read a report that said you just about had a contract worked out with that guy with the Italian name."

"No, it's totally true, but I don't know how anyone knows about it. It's a handshake deal." I paused. "Wait, who wrote the article you read?"

"Give me a second." She fell silent for a minute or so, then spoke again. "It was someone named Daniel Henderson."

I bit my lip. At least he finally got a story out of me. Maybe he'd leave me alone for a while.

"But anyway, I wanted to tell you that I'm really happy for you, even if you didn't make it into the final tournament for BattleBots. You still accomplished so much more than anyone could have ever expected, and I'm glad you were a part of the team. In all honesty, with as much money as you invested, you'll be a part of the team for years," Annie said.

I let out a sigh. She still didn't have much of a filter to keep the complete truth out of her compliments, but that was Annie, and it was nice to have someone so rooted in reality.

"You're still going to hold up your end of the deal, right?" she asked.

I hesitated. "What?"

"Well, when we were first planning a new future for both of us, I said that I'd go back to college if you went back and got your high school diploma. You're still gonna do that, aren't you?"

"Annie, I don't think I can. I'm not smart enough."

"Of course, you are. You're one of the smartest people I know. It's just that you're not great at studying or reading."

As a familiar world passed by in the window of the car, I turned to look at Griffin. He probably had his diploma. Fucking overachiever.

There was no doubt that he was the better driver and person out of the two of us, and maybe it was my own fault that I didn't live up to what standards he set, especially at RTR. But I brought a little bit of fire—sure, it was an uncontrolled fire, but that wasn't the point—that no one else did.

"Did I really promise that?" I asked.

"To be honest I don't remember, but we definitely mentioned something like that. And I think it'd be good for you, just in case something happens with racing again. You need a backup plan," Annie said.

"You're my backup plan. If I lost my job again, it would be so much more fun this time around, don't you think?"

"Katie."

I forced out a loud sigh. "Fine. We'll learn shit that we should have learned a long time ago together."

Annie squealed. "This is going to change everything for us, Katie. Everything."

There was definitely a lot more out there for her than there was for me, but that was fine. I had what was really important to me right in my sights.

"I'm sure you're busy, so I'll let you go, but you better call me sometime soon, okay? I miss you," Annie said.

I smiled, even though she couldn't see it. "Of course. I'll see you soon."

"Is that a promise?"

"If you count the first week of February as soon, then yes," I said. That was the Daytona 500, and even though it was still months away, at least there was something we could see through the windshield.

We wrapped up the phone call, and before I could turn the radio back up, Griffin glanced over at me for a second before focusing on the road again.

"Annie, right?" he asked.

I nodded. "She's just the cutest thing ever. There's this part of me that wishes that I was more like her in some ways, so now I privately apologize and shit, I guess."

He laughed. "I'm sure AA will appreciate the gesture. So where am I going?"

I pointed out an intersection a few lights ahead, and although the streets were all so familiar, time had faded the mental map I made in my mind.

I had been a lot of places and driven so many miles, but no place ever felt like home. Not Ohio, not Ontario, not Baton Rouge, not Madrid.

Maybe Charlotte would. After all, I won the All-Star Race there.

No, it wouldn't. It would only feel like the place Griffin and I would try to start a life or some shit.

"Does it feel weird to be back home?" Griffin asked.

"Were you just reading my mind or something?" I smiled.

"You're one of the most straight-forward people on the planet. It's not like that's difficult."

"Well, this is the place that I grew up, but there's not much here for me anymore. There are blood relatives, but they don't mean anything to me. They're not my family."

"I understand that. I don't know if you have anywhere you have to be, but once we're done here, we could head to St. Louis. It's always pretty there in the fall."

"You know damn well I have nowhere to be," I said. "You want me to meet your parents?"

"I mean, yeah. You can borrow my family. I don't give a shit."

I laughed. "You do give a shit, and I'd like that a lot. Having two families would be a hell of an upgrade after so long with none."

"Who's the other one?"

"A combination of you, Drake, and Annie, I guess. And who knows? Maybe I'll find another one with the entire fourteen team. Moretti's making me start from scratch."

"I'm glad you're thinking that way." He looked over at me. "I worry about you sometimes."

I shook my head. "I've told you a million times that you don't have to. If I've made it this far without driving off a cliff and killing myself, I think I can handle just about anything."

He laughed, and I looked down at my wrists, which I had decorated over the years with a few tattoos—a compass so I'd never lose my way and a key so I could unlock whatever doors came at me. They worked out pretty well for me, didn't they?

The Alcoholics Anonymous building was on Main Street. Of course, they were the ones who got the party started by trying to sponsor me, their hometown representative, some seven months ago for a single race. While it was partly their fault I got fired, I couldn't blame them completely. Ninety-nine percent of the blame fell on Roger Truscott. And the last half of a percentage point was mine.

Most of the leaves had fallen off the trees already, and when we finally arrived, we headed inside to undo a little damage. And if they wanted to sponsor me for a few races or forever, that would be cool with me.

"Hi. I don't know if you know me—"

The lady at the reception desk interrupted me. "We know you quite well here, Katie Moore. Are you finally looking to join—"

"No, no. I'm good." I put the note I wrote (with Griffin's careful proofreading) on the desk. "I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier this year with the whole sponsorship thing. I don't want anyone here to think that I don't respect the help you're giving people with addiction problems. I do, and I shouldn't have dragged you into my personal matters with Roger Truscott. So if you could give that note to whoever's in charge here without making a big deal out of this, that'd be great."

"Well, thank you. We actually do have a meeting going on—"

I interrupted. "Not interested."

"Are you sure?" she asked with a little too much fake concern.

"For fuck's sake," I muttered under my breath and grabbed Griffin's wrist. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, and a notes app apology on Twitter wasn't going to feel like it meant anything for either one of us."

Before she could respond with anything else untrue, unflattering, or humiliating, I took Griffin out the front door where we had come in.

"That was awkward," I said as soon as the door shut behind us.

Griffin laughed. "Yeah, that was, but you did the right thing, even if you definitely need to cool the temper down if you want to stay in one place for a while."

"The only place I can tolerate for that long is the road." I looked up at him, but the sun was surprisingly bright for a November afternoon. "I'll try my best to like North Carolina, though."

He smiled. "I don't think we'll have the time to like it. Our lives are moving fast all the time, you know?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not really, but sometimes I wish we had more time to do nothing."

"Well, we have a few months until next season starts, so I'm down for whatever. If you want to spend a month in a hotel in Missouri, then let's fucking do that."

But we didn't have that kind of time even during the offseason. From finding a place near Charlotte to winning over sponsors, time was a luxury I didn't have like I did in the Sacrilege house with clocks everywhere.

I lost a lot of time in there, but it wasn't wasted. I finally had some friends to buy tickets for.

"And the worst part of this restart is that I need to get back in shape. You'll help me, right?" I asked.

He laughed. "Sure. It makes driving the car a hell of a lot easier."

We paused in front of the Corvette. How many times did he try to explain to me that fitness was an investment? That was bullshit. Ice cream was a much better way to spend money than a gym membership.

Of course, he just wanted the best for me and my career, but wasn't there a better way?

"I know this was hard for you. All of this," Griffin said. "But you never let shit get to you."

I smiled and shook my head. "It wasn't that bad. I'm driving a NASCAR Cup car next season. How bad can my life be?"

One of the most dramatic features of my Corvette was the long hood and front end, and Griffin took a seat on it. When I first bought the car from Drake, there wasn't much to it besides a frame and a lot of faith. Griffin wouldn't get the full story of what it meant to me even if I explained it all to him, but he appreciated a good-looking car.

"Good point. You're dating me, for God's sake," he said with a chuckle.

I took my spot beside him. "I could be with the Cup Series champ right now, but no. I have to be with a loser."

"Win a regular season race, and then we'll talk."

I smiled. "I will."

Now that the last word was mine, I leaned in closer to him and kissed him to make up for the quiet, lonely hours on the road. And it wasn't about our road trip to Akron; instead, it was about all the time we spent apart.

There wasn't much to the kiss—no wandering hands, no destination in mind—but it was different in that I could feel that he loved me. With every movement of his lips, his mind wasn't wandering back to something or someone else. It was just me, and it was just him in that AA parking lot. I never thought I'd be the type to care about something like that, but it wasn't a bad change at all.

Classy.

But before either one of us could get carried away, he pulled away and put the keys in my hand. "So where are we going?"

I shrugged and gave them back. "Wherever you want. I'm done calling the shots for the week."

"Really?"

"I mean, I brought us to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. There are much cooler places to be right now." I laughed.

"What about that trip to Vegas you promised me? You think this car can handle the mileage?"

"I guess we'll see."

The two of us climbed into the car, and although I wasn't entirely sold on a trip to Vegas in the moment, it sure as hell was one of the luckiest places on Earth.

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Howdy, y'all! How's it going? Thank you so much for reading!

We have one chapter left, so is there anything you would like to see in it? Are there any plot holes I've missed?  Any final thoughts on characters, the plot, anything?