A few hours later, Cecelia received a second phone call, this time, a FaceTime from David.

"Hey Dave," she said cheerfully, angling her phone so the young man could see her face more clearly. "How was the race?"

David pursed his lips, looking at Cecelia with an expression of sadness.

Cecelia's brows creased with worry. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"We can talk about it in a minute," said David. "Is Emmy with you?"

Cecelia tilted her phone to show David her two-year-old daughter. "We're coloring right now." She turned her attention to the tiny brunette. "Can you say 'hi' to Day?"

Emmy's round face grew into a grin. "Daddy!" she cried when she saw Cecelia's phone.

"Hi, Mimi," said David, his expression of disappointment replaced by a sad smile. It was clearer than ever that he missed his goddaughter.

David had helped Cecelia raise Emmaline during the first year of her life. He'd continued to live with Cecelia after Emmy was born, up until SJ's college graduation, when the best friends moved to California together.

David had seen Cecelia through her lowest days, always there to cheer her up or watch Emmaline for a day if she needed a break. Even though he had a practice session early the next morning, he had been present at Emmy's birth. The young man had always gone above and beyond in being present in Cecelia and her daughter's lives.

The kind actions had not gone unnoticed. Emmy, or Mimi, as David called her, would refer to David as "Daddy," even though he and Cecelia constantly reminded the two-year-old that he was not her father.

"Can you show Day your picture?" asked Cecelia. She spoke to her daughter in Swedish. She wanted Emmy to be able to communicate with her uncle and grandparents in their native language, even if they weren't living in their home country.

Cecelia held up a coloring page of a princess with yellow squiggles for hair to show the camera.

"Wow, that looks really pretty, Mimi," said David. "Is that Sleeping Beauty?"

"Mama," replied Emmy.

"That's me?" asked Cecelia. "That's so sweet, honey."

Emmy nodded proudly before snatching the coloring page from her mom's hand and returning to her coloring. As soon as Cecelia noticed she was focused on her work again, she turned her attention to David's face on her phone screen.

"How did the race go?" she asked. "You finished faster than I thought you would."

David pursed his lips. "Thank Power for that," he said.

"What?" asked Cecelia, tilting her head to the side.

"I tried to overtake him and he took me out of the race," said David.

"Shit," said Cecelia. "I'm really sorry, Dave."

"I could have won, Cece. I am a complete idiot," said David.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," said Cecelia. "Let me take a look, I'm sure it wasn't your fault."

"Cece, you don't have to do that," said David. "It doesn't matter."

Cecelia knew he was trying to protect her from the memories of Gateway three years ago, but things were getting easier. She could handle watching one video.

She pulled up YouTube on her laptop and quickly searched for the footage of the incident. It was exactly how David told her it would be: he tried to overtake Will Power, who blocked him and sent the younger driver into the wall.

"Shit, Dave," said Cecelia, closing her laptop. "That sucked. But I rest my case. That wasn't you're fault at all."

"Are you sure?" asked David.

"Almost one hundred percent positive."

"I'm just so pissed off about it," said David.

"I know, I would be too," said Cecelia.

"He yelled at me after he crashed out," he said, running his free hand through his curly blond hair.

Cecelia furrowed her brows. "Who did? Will?" she asked.

David nodded. "He crashed on the restart and yelled at me in the medical center."

"I'm really sorry," empathized Cecelia.

She knew what that felt like. As a former race car driver, she knew firsthand how high emotions could get after a race gone poorly. She'd been on the receiving end of those emotions as well.

"It's alright, I'm feeling a bit better now," said David. "Seeing you and Mimi helped."

"I'm glad. We both miss you a ton," admitted Cecelia.

David smiled, his face turning pink. "I miss you too. How's SJ? Is she around?"

"She's not home yet, she's still at work," said Cecelia. "I'll tell her you said 'hello.'"

"Thanks, Cece. How about you? What have you been up to today?"

"Same old, same old. I went for a bike ride this morning. I did that trail that we ran when you came to visit."

"Oh yeah, that one's really nice," interjected David.

"And after that, we made some breakfast and ran some errands. I went to the gym in the apartment complex for a bit," said Cecelia. "Oh, and I baked those cookies from my Instagram."

"Dang, you've been busy!" exclaimed David. "Also, were those cookies that bad? There's no way you screwed them up as bad as you said you did."

"They were disgusting. Way too much almond extract, and that's coming from me. I'm honestly surprised they baked properly."

David winced. "Gross."

"I know. But anyway, I have news," said Cecelia, unable to suppress her grin.

"What is it?" asked David, matching his best friend's excitement.

"I'll see you in Portland!" squealed the blonde.

"You're coming to visit?" asked David.

"Not exactly," said Cecelia. "I may or may not be driving in the Indy NXT race."

"Wait what?" shouted David. "You're coming back to racing?"

"Just for this weekend," explained Cecelia. "But I'm planning on coming back full-time next season."

"With what team?" asked David.

"Andretti," she said.

"No way! That's so exciting, Cece!"

"I know, I'm really looking forward to it," said Cecelia. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't want anyone to get their hopes up if it didn't work out."

"Don't worry about it, I understand," said David. "I'm just really happy for you. Are the girls coming?"

"SJ has work," said Cecelia. "And I'm going to see if she can watch Emmy for the weekend. I think it'll be stressful enough without dealing with a two-year-old."

"Bummer," said David. "I get it though."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure SJ will be at Long Beach," said Cecelia.

Cecelia had been trying to set up David and SJ on a date for years, but nothing ever happened. SJ was too set in her ways that she would never date a driver. And David was, well, David. There was no changing that either. So the three settled as a trio of normal good friends. Except for the part about co-parenting a toddler, they were the perfect young adult friend group.

"It's been great talking to you, Cece, but I should probably go. We're driving back to Indy tonight," said David.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize I was preventing you from going home," said Cecelia.

"Cece, it's fine. I really needed that," said David. "Thanks for calling."

"You called me, Dave," joked Cecelia.

"Well, if you're going to get specific, thank you for picking up, Cecelia," said David, his tone stern, but the expression on his face was one of pure joy. "I'll see you in Portland. I love you."

"Love you too," said Cecelia, before hanging up on her friend.

...

an: sorry i've been lowkey neglecting this fic, but i've been really inspired to write my franco colapinto fic (it's an enemies to lovers, second chance romance called midnight rain, check it out). anyway, i'm hoping to write this one more consistently, but we'll see! i love you all, willow <3