Page 35 of Race to the Beach

“When I restored the car, I made notes of everything I did.I noted the tools I used and which parts I replaced and most of all, where they came from.”She flipped through the pages until she reached the middle section.“Here it is.”

As he continued to stare at the notebook, he asked, “Did you draw that?”

She glanced over at the opposing page where there was a detailed drawing of the driver’s side of the engine compartment.She had gone back and put in bold arrows pointing out the areas she’d worked on.

“Uh, yeah.”Then she turned to the next page because she hadn’t found the part she needed.

“That’s really good.You’re very talented.”

“Thanks.It’s no big deal.”

“No.I mean it.You could be a professional artist if you wanted to be.Have you ever considered it?”

She’d had dreams as a kid of being a famous artist, and other times she wanted to be a singer, but those weren’t practical careers.It was what her father told her all of the time.She needed a practical job, he’d tell her—something that could put food on the table.

Her father had started taking her to the garage when she was still in elementary school.He took the time to teach her everything he knew about automobiles.It took years for him to impart all of that knowledge.

And after her mother died, her father convinced her to drop out of her senior year of school to go to work for him.Her dreams of escaping that life had died the same day her mother died.

Instead of getting into all of that, she shook her head.“Being an artist isn’t practical.”

His brows drew together.“Says who?”

She shook her head.“It doesn’t matter.”

“Then someone told you the wrong thing.You should follow your heart wherever it leads you.”

She couldn’t decide if he was too positive about things or if he was just that anxious to make their arrangement work.Dreams were for other people, not her.

This week she had to stay focused on the race.And the only way she would win was if she spent her time figuring out how to fix her car, not thinking about daydreams that had passed her by.

If for the next six days, Owen wanted to tell people that she was his girlfriend, so be it.After the race, she was leaving town.And this would all be a distant memory.

Chapter Fourteen

Shewasimpressive.

The next day, Owen straightened with a hand to his lower back and a slight groan.He’d been bent over the engine most of the day.He normally enjoyed the solitude of working on his car.It gave him time to just zone out or a chance to puzzle out a problem with the coding he’d written for the digital game he was working on.But working alongside Maxi was a totally different experience.

All day, he’d been able to observe her.She moved around the car with such confidence.Owen thought he knew a thing or two about what was under the hood, but Maxi had shown him more than a thing or two.

“Did you write down the brace we need?”Maxi asked with her head still under the hood.

“Yeah.I got it.”He moved to the workbench and looked at the sheet of paper with a long list of parts.It wasn’t going to be easy to get it all.But he didn’t want to focus on it now.“Are you starting to get hungry?”

“Hungry?”She straightened and looked at him.There was a smudge of grease on her cheek.

He couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and wipe it away.He noticed how soft and smooth her skin was.His gaze dipped to her lips.He wondered if they were just as soft.

“What are you doing?”Maxi backed away.

“Sorry.”He lowered his arm.“You had a smudge on your cheek.”

“Oh.”She grabbed a rag from her coverall pocket and wiped it over her cheek.

“So, what do you want for dinner?”

She shook her head.“I don’t.I mean, I already have plans.I promised my aunt that I’d have dinner with her.In fact, I need to call her.”Maxi grabbed her phone from the workbench.

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