to say a word. No movement of his lips or even a nod of his head. I knew.
He’d done it.
I ran for him, almost forgetting I was holding an iced coffee, and landed in his arms. He lifted me off my feet and spun me around in a circle.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” I said. “Tell me they’re buying it. Tell me.”
“They’re buying it for the museum,” he said, his voice muffled in my neck.
Squeezing him as tight as I could, I squealed with joy. “I knew they would. Oh my god, I knew it. I’m so proud of you.”
He held me tight, sharing the moment with me. My body vibrated with excitement. I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh or cry or some crazy combination of the two.
All his hard work had paid off. Big time.
He loosened his grip and I slid down the front of his body until my feet touched the floor.
I bounced up onto my tiptoes. “I’m so happy I might puke.”
He tucked my hair behind my ear—and honestly, was there anything swoonier than when he did that? “Don’t puke.”
“I’ll try. This is just such a big deal and I’m having a hard time containing all my feelings right now.”
The corners of his mouth twitched in a smile and I could see that he was having a hard time containing all his feelings, too. He was just a lot quieter about it than I was.
He met my eyes and I stared into those mesmerizing whiskey browns. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
I grabbed his shirt and popped up on my toes to reach his mouth for a kiss. “Anytime.”
His expression darkened and I had a feeling I knew why.
Luke.
He approached with his hands in his pockets and gave Evan a short nod. “Bailey.”
“Haven.”
I briefly debated whether to step aside, in case this got ugly, or stay between them, in case this got ugly. But Luke’s face softened.
“The Pontiac looks… amazing,” Luke said, his brow tightening like it pained him to admit it. “You did right by her. Nothing but respect.”
My eyes flicked to Evan, a spark of hope flaring. Be nice to him, Evan. Or at least not mean.
“Thanks,” Evan said. “The Mustang turned out great. Well done.”
“Thank you.”
Evan stepped forward and offered his hand.
I bit my lip.
Luke took his hand out of his pocket and shook.
“Oh my god, you guys are so—”
Their gazes swung to me and I realized I needed to just… not.
“Never mind. Pretend I’m not here.”
They finished their handshake without any sign that either of them was trying to out-alpha the other. I didn’t have any illusions that they were going to become best friends, but not mortal enemies would be a big improvement.
I was so proud of them.
Luke stepped back and turned to me. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
I glanced at Evan. I didn’t need his permission, but I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, either. Especially today. He kissed my forehead—an act of possession that was both sweet and respectful—and went back to his car.
“Sure, what’s up?”
Luke pulled an envelope out of his back pocket. “I asked my great-aunt about John Haven, the guy in the racing photo. She didn’t know anything, but she had this box of old stuff and told me I could take a look if I wanted. I dug through it and found this, along with a first-place auto racing plaque someone had kept.”
He handed me the envelope.
“There were a couple of partial newspaper clippings about John winning a race. I guess it was a really big deal at the time because of the prize money. He won fifteen hundred dollars, which is the equivalent of something like thirty thousand today.”
I pulled out a piece of paper. It was a copy of two old newspaper articles.
“The first one is about the race,” Luke said. “The second one was attached to the first one.”
The second headline read Missing Auto Racing Champion Presumed Dead.
“He went missing, too?”
“Yeah. Crazy, right? Apparently it was right after he won and there was some sketchy stuff about the prize money. They suspected he was killed in a robbery, since so many people knew he’d won all that money. But it doesn’t sound like they found his body, although maybe they did later. It’s hard to tell from these, and there weren’t any other clippings in the box.”
“This is amazing. Thank you so much. But, can I ask what made you decide