Page 30 of Faster

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cece watched as Jocelyn ginned up fake tears for the camera.

To be fair, they could also be real tears.

Her husband had just announced his retirement, and she would be devastated to leave the paddock.

She doubted he would return as a broadcaster—he might be a huge personality, but none of the networks would risk him dropping a hundred f-bombs a minute during a race.

Unlike Jocelyn, who never met a photo lens she wouldn’t flirt heavily with.

“We’re just so grateful for all the opportunities this has given us as a family.

” She was grateful for all the brand deals that kept her in designer clothes and high-end skin care.

“But it’s time for us to really put down roots back in Finland as a family.

” Cece tried really hard not to laugh—especially given that she faced a somewhat uncertain future—but she just couldn’t picture Jocelyn chilling in a hunting lodge while Heka snowshoed across the Finnish steppe all winter long.

Ethan approached her and put his arm around her shoulders.

They had a few hours before the race, and the drivers parade would start in a few minutes.

Because Imola was one of two home races for Scuderia Lupo, which was headquartered in Italy, he’d been mobbed since they’d landed here on Tuesday.

There were photographers everywhere, and fans where the photographers couldn’t go.

Racing was religion in Italy, and Emiliano Lupo—the founder of the team—was a minor god. If Cece had to guess, he ranked somewhere between the Virgin Mary and Jesus himself. He was definitely above the pope.

Cece’s mother had crossed herself and walked straight into a church when Cece had shown her a prayer card with Ethan fashioned as a beneficent saint on it.

Her mother wasn’t even religious—she was just wary of people using religious imagery in a mocking way.

Cece didn’t tell her that she and Ethan had sometimes played “confession” after that.

It was starting to feel normal to have Ethan touching her casually again. It had only been five months since he’d cheated on her, but she was starting to think they could put their marital problems behind them.

“She’s really putting on a show.” Ethan didn’t know Jocelyn well.

He’d always said he didn’t need to know her individually; he knew the type.

At first, Cece had been offended at the idea that Ethan was stereotyping a certain type of woman, but she kind of got it after knowing Jocelyn for half a decade.

She was a type, and Cece had never felt entirely at home with her.

“I mean, I sort of get where she’s coming from.

She’s going to miss this.” Cece was very much like all the other girls, but her motivations were different than Jocelyn’s.

Her erstwhile friend had grown up in privilege, but Cece had known struggle.

Maybe it made her more grateful and more aware of how fake all of this was at the same time. Or maybe it just made her more wary.

“Do you have money on how long the marriage will last into retirement?” Cece looked up at Ethan.

His mouth was twisted in amusement, but there was something in his eyes that told her he wasn’t just asking about Jocelyn and Heka’s chances.

Was he thinking of retiring? Or was he just wondering about the chances of their marriage lasting if they didn’t have this lifestyle to keep them together anymore?

“I think she loves him.” She honestly didn’t know if Jocelyn actually loved Heka. But she was speaking for herself at that point. “But who knows if they even fit together anymore.”

He squeezed her shoulders and moved so they were pressed together, side by side, as another reporter pushed past them in the crowd. “I think they fit together in ways only they understand.”

When he said that, something clicked inside Cece.

She didn’t know if she and Ethan could make this work forever, but they’d always fit together in ways only the two of them could understand.

That’s why it had been so difficult to explain to Luca why she’d chosen Ethan in the first place.

But he’d always offered her a kind of security that only came with generational wealth.

Although that security had been rocked by his cheating and then hers, it was still there.

They’d both made mistakes, but mistakes could always be confessed and forgiven. Maybe they needed to play confession for real this time.