Page 33 of Retrograde

‘Exactly. And like Jasper said, we’ll get you to attend some events in a few months’ time.

We’ll also keep posting content on the team accounts that shows you haven’t been permanently replaced.

Throwbacks, that kind of thing. I’ll make sure to give you a couple of shoutouts here and there, share your posts. ’

‘I can’t tell anyone else, can I? Not the guys at Havelin or Odesza?’

‘Jasper has made the entire crew at Revolution sign NDAs, although not everyone knows the real reason. If you want to tell Elliot or Casey or anyone, I suppose you can if we make them sign one too, although we would advise against it. Just think about whether you feel you need their support, or if the support you’ve got is enough for you. ’

‘You’re right. And to be perfectly honest, Luce, the only support I need is yours. And a therapist’s. And, I guess, Jasper’s so I get to keep my job when this is all over.’

‘You’ll keep your job, Anderson.’

‘Mmhmm. Anyway, enough of the emotional shit. Can we go tomato hunting?’

‘I mean, I don’t think “hunting” is the right word, but yes.’

‘Do we need to take a basket or something?’

‘Mum should have a couple of tin buckets we can use.’

‘Tour first though! I got so excited about the tomatoes, I almost forgot there’s still so much to see. Your dad was saying something about the water fountain they restored and how it’s got the most hideous gargoyle thing he’s ever seen.’

‘Oh, yeah. Mum won’t let him get rid of it. She said it adds character.’

‘We’ll see about that. We might have to start a petition to get it thrown in a skip.’

There was a long corridor just outside Brett’s room with big, beautiful, rounded archways that connected all the guest bedrooms and bathrooms, and as they walked through it, every footstep echoed.

It was bound to drive Lucie mad by the end of the first week.

You had to walk through the living area to get to the dining area and then the kitchen.

The lounge had cloudlike white sofas, which would be destroyed when the grandkids came to stay.

Rosa didn’t care about things like that.

She wanted a house that looked lived in, for once.

Lucie showed Brett the family photos on the wall, all in black and white with black metal frames.

There were photos of every Carolan, from grandkid to pet, and even a group shot of the Anderson family.

In the middle was Lucie’s favourite: a family portrait of all of them, in front of the Carolan Christmas tree back at their home in California.

That was five years ago, and every face had changed so much.

She barely recognised Brett’s younger sister.

To the left, where the television hung and there was a huge dark oak coffee table on the cream rug, Lucie admired the stone fireplace and the built-in bookshelves.

Between an array of crystal bookends, candles and film and television awards, was a perfect mix of motorsport history books, cookbooks, thrillers and romance novels. It summed up her parents perfectly.

When they reached the kitchen, Lucie gushed over the new addition to the house.

The terrace. Glass doors ran along the entire length of the room, opening up to the outdoor space.

Under a ceiling of vines and fairy lights sat a twelve-seater table with wooden chairs.

It was already set with beige cloth placemats, plates, wine glasses and cutlery, ready for Rosa and Mateo to host at any given moment.

There were candles in hurricane vases and more vine-type leaves covering the middle of the table, making it look incredibly inviting.

Lucie couldn’t wait to sit down for dinner tonight and spend the evening sipping on alcohol-free rosé under the cool evening breeze.

‘Let’s go take a walk. We didn’t explore properly the last couple of times we came.’ Brett gestured towards the fields. The existing barns where Mateo was housing his cars were all close to the house, but if they were to build more for Rosa’s equestrian dreams, they’d be further out.

After spending an hour trekking around in borrowed work boots, Lucie and Brett stumbled across a field of wild horses.

She assumed they were wild, anyway, unless they belonged to her parents’ neighbours, although she wasn’t sure how close they lived.

The two of them had gone way beyond the lines of the property.

They were probably trespassing, but Brett was like an excited child, and she didn’t want to deny him the adventure.

‘You ever ridden a horse?’ Lucie asked him.

Brett eyed her cautiously. ‘You’re not suggesting we ride these ones, are you?’

Lucie shrugged, letting what appeared to be a Maremmano nuzzle her hand, its chestnut-brown coat glistening in the sun. ‘Hmm. Maybe not. This one seems friendly but if they’re wild, I don’t think they’re going to be keen.’

‘You’re also not much of a cowgirl,’ Brett snorted.

‘Hey! I grew up going to the stables every weekend!’ she defended.

‘Okay, but just because you rode horses with a saddle and reins ,’ he emphasised, ‘doesn’t mean you can just giddy up and go with any old horse.’

‘I guess,’ she mumbled.

‘You’d look sexy as hell in a hat and cowboy boots, though.’

Lucie’s skin tingled with his compliment, and despite her keeping her attention on the horse, she could feel his gaze burning into her. ‘Correct, I would.’

‘With lingerie, too. Would complete the look.’ She could hear the smirk in his voice.

Lucie’s entire body heated up. ‘Will you behave?’

‘Ahh, it’s so beautiful here.’ Brett changed the topic fast, unaware of the effect his words had on her hormones. ‘Can we just live here?’ he sighed wistfully.

‘It would be nice, wouldn’t it?’ she agreed.

‘Not that I want them to go anywhere yet, but you tell your parents they’d better keep this place in the family. I want to be visiting here when I’m old and grey. Mateo can leave his car collection behind too, if he wants.’

‘That’s very morbid, you know.’

‘Just saying. Doesn’t get much better than this.’

‘How the hell do I know if a tomato is ripe?’ Brett stared at the plants in awe. ‘I cannot let Rosa down with this. She’s depending on me to save the salad and the lasagne.’

He had taken his tomato-picking duties seriously and told Lucie to let him take charge, right up until they’d arrived at Rosa’s vegetable patch, and he’d realised he didn’t have a clue what he was doing.

Lucie had done farm work in Australia for a month during her first season with the IEC, so she smugly came to the rescue.

‘Look for the colour first. They should be quite a rich, deep red. They should also be firm, but they should have a little give when you squeeze them. They should also separate from the plant quite easily when you give them a tug, but you can just use the pruners if you want.’

‘Awesome. Thanks, Gardener Luce. You’re basically the modern-day Alan Titchmarsh.’

‘Who?’ Lucie watched as he picked his first tomato, admiring it and gently placing it into the bucket like it was made of fine China.

‘He’s a famous British gardener.’ He raised an eyebrow, as if she should know who that was.

‘You’re clued up on British gardeners now, are you?’

‘Nah, met him at a fundraising event in Oz about eight years ago. Nice bloke. I aspire to be just like him one day. Going to rival the Garden of Eden.’

As Brett continued to add to his impressive collection of round, red fruits, Lucie studied him.

He was completely in his element. Maybe he wasn’t going to live the playboy lifestyle forever…

Eventually he’d settle down, buy a house with some land and spend his days doing exactly this.

He just said this was what he wanted one day.

Was Lucie really that delusional if she thought she might get to be a part of it?

‘Which fruits are ready to harvest? I want to make smoothies for everyone.’ His voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

‘Strawberries, peaches, apricots. You’ll have to wait a bit longer for anything else. We were lucky to get this many tomatoes so early on, I thought we’d have to wait another few weeks, at least.’

‘How do you know so much about everything, ever?’

‘I’ve learned a lot on my travels.’

‘Yeah, like the fact I am amazing in bed.’

Lucie felt her cheeks immediately flush at his remark and turned away. ‘Could your head get any bigger?’

‘Probably, if I tried. Oh, look! That one looks perfect!’ Brett pointed at a tomato he’d spotted, hidden away. He reached over the plants on his side of the planter, almost falling face first into a mass of leaves and soil.

‘Go round the other side, idiot,’ she sighed.

‘Got it!’ He leapt up, victoriously holding the tomato in the air before losing his footing and stumbling backwards. Right into the bucket full of fresh, ripe tomatoes.

Lucie keeled over, her body trembling with laughter. ‘Oh, my God.’

‘My babies!’ he cried out, his devastation distracting him from Lucie whipping her phone out and capturing the moment for the world to see. ‘Don’t just stand there!’ He held his hands out for her to help him up. It was a big bucket, which meant he’d sunk into it.

‘Have any escaped unscathed?’ She peered into the bucket, studying the aftermath.

‘I hope so, but I haven’t.’ He twisted to look at the back of his shorts, which were covered in wet, juicy tomatoes. ‘These were expensive,’ he whined.

‘I knew we shouldn’t have tried to do any form of work until we’d been shopping. You’re worse than Gabriel, sometimes. The pair of you are so clumsy.’

‘Hey, that’s cold.’ He feigned hurt. ‘I’ve never run over plant pots in a golf cart.’

‘No, but you’ve just destroyed dinner.’

‘Shit! Have I really?’

Lucie reached into the bucket and pulled out the remnants of a tomato, promptly launching it at Brett.

His T-shirt wasn’t expensive. She would know, because she’d bought it.

And the shorts were beyond saving. When it made contact with his shoulder, Brett’s face lit up with the challenge.

Then Lucie remembered what she was wearing. A white dress. ‘Oh, no.’

‘You started it, Sunny.’ With a wicked smile, he shot a tomato at her. She tried her best to dodge it, but Brett was trained to have good hand–eye coordination. It was part of being a racing driver. She had no hope.

The tomato splatted right in the middle of her chest, almost winding her. What had he used, a catapult? ‘Ow!’

‘Did that actually hurt? Luce, I’m so—’ She cut him off by firing one back. ‘You snake !’

They spent the next few minutes hiding behind various plants and trees throughout Rosa’s garden, neither one surrendering. Lucie’s dress was more red and orange than it was white, and she had already said her mental goodbyes to it.

Brett stripped off his T-shirt, attempting to use it as a shield.

It caused a momentary pause in their battle, during which Lucie shamelessly admired him.

She couldn’t help herself. His hair was clinging to his forehead with sweat, his body glistened from the heat, and he had that look on his face.

The look she tried to avoid, to shut down at any opportunity.

But the Tuscan sun must be getting to her, because when Brett made advances towards her side of the battle zone, she didn’t stop him. She didn’t step back, didn’t launch another tomato in his direction. She just waited for him to close the gap across the garden and take her in his arms.

He tastes like tomato . That was her first thought when his lips met hers.

His hand tugged at her claw clip, setting her hair free from its grip and replacing it with his own.

Once the shock wore off, Lucie let him pick her up, wrapping her legs around his waist while he held her with one arm.

It was so much easier to kiss him like this, when they were a similar height and she could focus on the way his tongue parted her lips and danced with her own.

It was magical. But she didn’t want it to be magical.

She wished she could hate kissing him. She wished he would just let her down, and they could go about their day as if it hadn’t happened.

Except they had a family dinner to get through.

A family dinner where she was going to take one bite of a tomato and be taken right back to this moment.

Every time she tasted a tomato for the rest of her life, all she was going to taste was Brett.