The doorbell rang as I got up and made my way to the bus door. It was probably Waldo giving us an update. He knew I didn’t watch anything to do with the race on TV. From day one I thought it would be bad luck, so I didn’t listen to what they were saying as they talked pre-race shit.

Opening the door, I smiled. Adaline was standing there with an umbrella over her head as the rain came down steadily. “Hey. I had to ask which one was your bus. You’ve gotten a different one.”

My smile faded some as I nodded. “Yeah, well a lot of things are different now.”

Adaline’s face fell as she asked, “May I come in?”

“Um, yeah but Robert’s here and—”

Robert pushed past me and waved to Adaline. “Hey, Adaline! Great seeing you again. I’m headed back to the hauler, Emmit. See ya later.”

Slowly shaking my head, I shot daggers at my so-called best friend.

Lola barked and Adaline let out a gasp. “Oh, my gosh. There’s a dog!”

“Always were observant, Adaline.”

Adaline shot me a dirty look as she slowly nodded. “Well anyway, I’m sorry Robert ran off. I’ll let him know he can come back.”

Adaline turned and walked off as I squeezed my eyes shut and cursed under my breath. “Fuck!” I hissed through my teeth. Stepping out into the rain, I called for her. “Adaline, wait. I’m sorry, if you want to come in, you’re more than welcome to.”

Turning around slowly, Adaline raised an eyebrow. “Anyone else in there?”

I didn’t even care I was getting wet. “Like who?” I asked with a confused look.

With a shrug, Adaline walked back over to me and started up the steps as I stepped back in and told Lola to sit. Adaline stepped into my bus and looked around as her eyes widened in surprise as she glanced back toward the bedroom. “Oh, I don’t know, Cookie maybe?”

Holy living hell. Adaline was jealous.

Choosing to ignore her reference to Cookie, I said, “Ashley and her two friends are hanging out in the hauler.”

“Oh,” Adaline said, barely above a whisper.

I took her umbrella and shook it out as I placed it by the door. Lola quickly made her way over to Adaline. Instead of doing what she normally did, rollover and demand a belly rub, she jumped up on Adaline.

“Oh, my!” Adaline said as she took a hold of Lola.

“Lola! No, that’s a bad girl. Time out!” Lola jumped back down and ran back into the bedroom and jumped on the bed where she promptly began to pout.

“Wow. That’s impressive. She must be really smart,” Adaline said as she sat down on the tan leather sofa.

I sat across from her and smiled as I looked at Lola. Damn I loved that dog. “She is, but we also spend a lot of time together. I worked hard on training her when I first got her.”

Adaline looked directly at me as our eyes met. “Oh.” Adjusting in her seat, she asked. “Um, how old is she?”

“One tomorrow.”

Adaline smiled. “Did you get her a birthday present?”

My heart slammed against my chest as Adaline talked about Lola. Nodding, I said, “Yes.”

Looking away, she said, “Good.” Adaline glanced around my bus as her knee bounced nervously. “So, wow. You got a new bus.”

Looking around, I nodded. “Yep. About a year after you um . . . well, after you started school. I started making pretty good money, so I upgraded.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“Want to see all of it? I mean there’s really only the living room here, the kitchen, the bedroom, bathroom and the closets.”

With a grin, Adaline said, “Sure, I’d love to see it.”

My stomach felt like I was on a roller coaster. All I really wanted to do was tell her how much I’d missed her. I reached for her hand as I stood. When she placed it gently in mine, we both looked into each other’s eyes. I was almost positive she felt it too.

The love was still there.

As I guided her back toward the bedroom, I focused on my breathing. Stepping into the room, Lola jumped up and wagged her tail as Adaline started giggling. “I guess she thinks time out is over.”

I nodded my head and laughed. “She’s a good girl.”

Adaline sat down on the bed and began petting Lola. “How does she do on the long drives?”

With a shrug, I said, “Good. She doesn’t really know any different. She loves when we head back to North Carolina, though. I bought a new place with lots of room for her to run.”

Adaline glanced up at me. “That’s wonderful. I bet she loves it.”

Leaning against the closet door, I smiled and said, “Yeah. She does. She is the only constant in my life. I guess you could say she keeps me grounded.”

Adaline’s eyes turned sad as she looked back at Lola. “Have you, um, dated very much?”

I could either skirt around it, or just be honest. I decided to go with the later.

“No. I’ve fucked around a lot, though.” Adaline’s head snapped up as she looked at me as her mouth fell open. I could tell she was surprised by my honesty. “I’m not going to lie and sugar coat the last three years of my life, Adaline. My heart broke in two when things between us ended. The only thing I knew to do to try and forget you was drink and fuck woman.”

Adaline stood up quickly and headed back out toward the living room. “Like last night, Emmit. Did you fuck, Cookie?”

I let out a fake laugh as I shook my head. She was actually pissed off. Well fuck this shit. Who in the hell was she to get pissed at me? She turned me down.

“I almost did. Something about the woman you loved more than life itself showing up and acting like she has survived just fine since she ripped your heart out, well hell, it kind of fucked me up all over again.”

Adaline’s eyes turned dark as she placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her left eye at me. “Survived just fine? Really, that’s what you think, Emmit? That I survived just fine?”

With a smirk, I said, “Well you sure didn’t try and make things work, Adaline. You walked away like what we had meant nothing to you.” Not sure if it was anger or hurt that moved across her face, but whatever it was, it caused tears to build in her eyes. Turning her back toward me, she spun back around and walked up to me as she poked me in the chest.

“I was confused, Emmit. I wanted the life I had dreamed of too. I couldn’t have that life while you followed your dreams. I didn’t want to make you think you had to give up your dream for me to follow mine! If we had stayed together, I knew you would start feeling guilty and you would have come after me, Emmit.”

I took in a calming breath as I looked into her eyes before I started talking. “We could have made it work, you weren’t willing to try, Adaline.”

A single tear fell from Adaline’s eye as her shoulders sagged and she let out a defeated breath. “You’re so wrong, Emmit. I walked away from us because I loved you that much. Do you remember when I went to camp the summer of our senior year? I was gone for two months. You couldn’t stand the time apart, and you gave up two months of racing and came to camp. Do you remember that?”

“That was a few fucking dirt track races, Adaline. This is NASCAR. My dream. I would have figured out a way to see you and keep doing what I loved doing. Don’t blame this on me; you’re the one who doesn’t want this life.”

“I didn’t say that, Emmit!” Adaline screamed out. “I said I wanted time to follow my dreams. Traveling ten months out of the year, I would have never been able to go to college and get my degree. I did what I thought was right. It seems to me though you weren’t that heartbroken if you started bringing whores to your bed every night.”

With a toss of my head back, I laughed. “Oh please. Like you didn’t ever date or fuck other guys, Adaline. I’m not stupid.”

Placing her hand over her stomach, Adaline took a step back as she pressed her lips tightly together. Grabbing her stuff, she headed for the door. She turned and looked at me. “I dated a few guys, but none of them were you. I haven’t been with anyone since the last night we spent together. I couldn’t because I was still in love with you. I guess I’m the fool in this situation.” Closing her eyes, she let out a quick laugh. When she opened her eyes, she glared at me. “That is one situation I intend on fixing right away.”