I pause and look at her. She’s actively avoiding me. This is about more than a bad night of sleep.
Damn, I wonder if she heard about or saw that video. I curl my hand into a fist at the thought.
Once our veggie omelet, chicken sausage, and croissant breakfast is on the table, I hold a chair out for her before taking my own at the table.
“Did your dad fly back with you?” she asks.
I nod. “He took a flight back last night,” I tell her. “He doesn’t like being away from Mom for too long.”
I don’t tell her that I needed to stay longer for the meeting with the FIA officials.
Alyssia returns a half-smile.
I reach across the wooden table and take her free hand into mine. “I know the feeling.”
It physically aches to be away from her for more than a few days at this point.
Alyssia falls into another silence, again not making eye contact with me.
“Are you working from home today?” I ask.
She nods.
“Is there any chance you can take off?”
“Probably not.”
“Are you sure? I was thinking maybe we could have the day to ourselves. Maybe even drive into Italy for the day to do some sightseeing.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She sighs, still avoiding eye contact.
“Alyssia?”
She doesn’t raise her gaze to meet mine.
“Alyssia? Can you look at me?”
When her eyes finally rise, the misery in them makes my chest cave in.
I drop my fork and take both of her hands into mine.
“Baby, I’m sorry about what you had to find out?—”
“I saw Gunther yesterday,” she says out of nowhere.
She pulls her hands free, causing a tear in my heart.
“You told me on the phone last night that you ran into him,” I remind her.
Her gaze moves from her half-eaten breakfast back to me. “You never told me why he left F1 in the first place.”
It’s no longer the look in her eyes, or the fact that she can only meet mine for a few beats at a time. It’s the distant, cold tone in her voice that makes my chest tighten with something ugly.
“Alyssia.”
“You never mentioned that he was in an accident so fucking horrific, so terrible, that his damn car was ripped in two. Half of which burst into flames.” Her eyes fill with tears. “The half he was in.”
That hideous day comes racing back to the forefront of my mind. Gunther was in his burning car for less than half a minute, but it felt like an eternity. Never have I heard a racetrack become so quiet as the day of Gunther’s accident.
