Page 45 of Retrograde

Brett had raced home, determined not to shirk on his dinner responsibilities for Rosa, and there was a lot he wanted to do before then.

Primarily a lot he wanted to do for Lucie.

They still had four hours until dinner, which was plenty of time.

She was in for a treat; she just didn’t know it yet.

He was thinking an hour by the pool to blend in their T-shirt-line tans that were threatening to develop from days working outside, followed by a shower to cool down.

But if he had anything to do with it, they would need a second shower after the first to wash off any trace of their activities.

Maybe a third, if she stayed in his room to hang out and watch an episode of Narcos .

He wasn’t particularly interested in the plot of the show.

They had restarted multiple episodes this week, trying and failing to pay attention.

He didn’t know if that was a sign that the show wasn’t all that great, or that he and Lucie were addicted to one another in the kind of way that was going to leave him devastated when it was all over. Probably both.

He should stop. He knew he should stop before he hurt her.

Before he inevitably freaked out at the first sign of any kind of commitment.

But he’d waited years to be able to touch her again.

Spent years reliving that hiking trip. But Brett was starting to realise it wasn’t just him.

She made the first move sometimes, too. She would look at him with her doe eyes, and he would abandon his task, pick her up and carry her to the nearest surface.

Rosa and Mateo spent so much time next door that it both helped and hindered them. Helped them because they didn’t have to keep their newfound intimacy behind closed doors, and hindered them because they weren’t getting much work done.

Mateo would sometimes return home and question what they’d been doing all day, but Brett could see that he had worked it out.

He had once teased them about setting a date for their wedding, but they’d both stuttered their way through a denial, and he hadn’t mentioned it again.

Brett knew Mateo didn’t want Lucie to be on her own.

He wanted his daughter to find someone. And it made sense to everyone except Lucie that that someone should be her best friend.

He wanted so badly to be the right man for her, he just didn’t know if he had it in him.

Not in the long run. He had thought about it before, about what it would be like to be with her, what their wedding day would look like, and then the reminder of Sienna cheating on him had weaselled its way into his thoughts and fear had got the better of him.

Until he could stop running away from his feelings, he had to keep commitment off the cards.

Otherwise he would end up leaving Lucie in the dust and shattering their entire world.

‘You got visitors, Sunny?’ He peered at the dark-grey SUV up ahead, parked on the driveway. It looked out of place next to the vintage pastel paint jobs of Mateo’s collection.

‘I don’t think so.’ Lucie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and it took everything in him not to laugh. She was a terrible fibber.

Abandoning the van on the courtyard, they headed inside with the two paintings, Brett carrying them both because, frankly, they were bigger than Lucie. She wouldn’t have managed without tripping over or ramming into the newly painted walls.

They were barely through the front door before Brett heard two additional voices chatting to Lucie’s parents.

He’d know that weird hybrid Dutch-Belgian accent anywhere.

It was Julien. But it wasn’t Marco with him.

He left the paintings leaning up against the wall and rounded the corner into the kitchen. Jasper.

‘Ah! You’re home!’ His boss came forward first, embracing him enthusiastically before stepping aside to let Julien slap his best friend and teammate on the back.

‘Good to see you, Anderson.’

‘What the hell are you guys doing here?’ Brett was stunned, a huge grin spread across his features as he caught Lucie’s eye. ‘You knew?’

‘Surprise. This is why I got you out of the house today,’ she grinned back. ‘I mean, obviously I did need the artwork, but it had to be today specifically.’

‘Yes, come through to the study!’ Jasper herded everyone down the corridor towards Brett and Lucie’s bedrooms, and it was at that moment Brett realised he’d left his bedroom door open this morning and Lucie’s lingerie was right there. On the floor. In perfect view of anyone passing.

He glanced at Julien, who looked between him and the lingerie and smirked. ‘We’ve already seen it, mate,’ he whispered. Great. He was never going to be able to look her parents in the eye again.

‘Ta da!’ Jasper threw open the door to Mateo’s study, revealing a state-of-the-art racing simulation set-up.

It was the only thing in the room aside from a treadmill and some weights.

All the boxes had been removed, along with the desk where Mateo still did occasional production work on short films, and there was a shelf on the wall above the racing sim containing Brett’s trophies and photos of him and the team.

‘You guys did this?’ He blinked at them all. Between Lucie’s pride and Jasper and Julien’s sheer joy, he was on the verge of tears.

‘We had the delivery arranged for this morning. It arrived about ten minutes after you left, and we followed half an hour later,’ Julien said.

Jasper patted his shoulder, his paternal nature coming through as it often did when it came to his drivers. ‘It’s a gift from the team. We wanted to make sure you know that we’re invested in your future with us, Brett. We don’t want you thinking we’ve forgotten about you.’

‘But you’d better sit your ass in this seat every day, Anderson. I don’t want a shit teammate next year; we’ve got races to win,’ Julien teased, but Brett knew it was a partial threat.

As it should be. Moretz and De Luca shouldn’t have to pick up the slack because Brett hadn’t kept up with his training, especially not when his break from racing was his problem.

He’d already caused enough stress within the team.

He’d do anything he could to make his return to the sport easy on everyone.

‘Yes, sir.’ Brett let a smirk creep onto his face, earning a playful shove from Julien.

‘This is the same racing sim we have at HQ, isn’t it?’ Brett asked, inspecting it closely.

He didn’t often go to HQ because each driver had a set-up like this in their own homes.

Julien’s was in Malmedy, Brett’s in Sydney and Marco’s in his flat in Monaco.

But with Brett being banned from HQ for a while anyway and not planning on leaving Tuscany until he was sure he was on the straight and narrow, this surprise set-up was exactly what he needed.

Jasper nodded excitedly. ‘I contacted the company and got you a new one, it’s had upgrades so it’s even better than the ones we’ve got at the moment. Sit in it, go on. You and Moretz are the same height so we’re pretty sure everything should be in the right position for you.’

Brett lowered himself into the chair and gripped the steering wheel, and immediately felt at ease. At home. ‘This is perfect. It feels so much better than my last one.’

‘I’ve been playing around all day, and I think the settings are spot on.

They should match what our actual car feels like,’ Julien said.

‘They’re the settings I use, anyway. Oh, and I know you don’t usually use a trainer these days, prefer to crack on with things yourself, but my trainer is happy to help you out, get you set up with a programme, if you want.

You can do it all online, weekly video calls. We could even train together.’

‘Cheers, Moretz. And you, Jasper. I really appreciate it.’

Lucie closed the door on her co-workers, leaving them to play around on the racing sim.

It was a serious, strict part of training, but all three of them, their boss especially, were getting carried away with testing how the steering wheel responded.

It was the second crash paired with cheers that she took as her cue to make a swift exit and find her parents.

‘I can’t believe we pulled that off.’ She heaved a sigh of relief as she collapsed onto a stool at the breakfast bar, gratefully accepting a glass of water from her mum.

‘I can. You’re a good girl, Luce,’ her dad smiled, but there was a sadness in his eyes that she hadn’t seen many times before.

‘What’s that face for?’ she frowned, but he looked nervous. Her mum matched his expression. ‘Guys, you can be honest with me.’

‘We’re just worried about you, that’s all. You’re putting a lot of your time and energy into work and Brett’s recovery. Have you thought about how long you and Brett are going to stay here with us?’ Mateo asked.

When Lucie stayed silent, unable to provide an answer, her dad sighed.

She didn’t think he was disappointed in her as a person, just perhaps wishing his daughter’s life looked different right now.

They were mid-race season, and that usually meant she and Brett were jetting about all over the place with the team.

This was the first year they’d stayed in one place, and although Brett had to work on his sobriety, Lucie shouldn’t feel obligated to stick it out with him.

Except she didn’t really feel obligated, it just felt like the right thing to do. She wanted to do it. To be here, guiding him and supporting him.

‘He’s healing, Luce. We sit outside and drink alcohol every evening, and it’s like he doesn’t even notice.

He turned his nose up at the smell of your dad’s whisky the other night.

But as much as we love him, he has dragged you through hell.

That isn’t his fault, it’s just what happens when someone’s mental health deteriorates. ’