Millionaire Boss (Freeman Brothers 1)

Next, I checked in on Darren. I found him just like I had after the first race, standing in the middle of the garage surrounded by the parts of his dismantled bike.

“Wow,” I said. “Twice in a row. Getting serious this time.”

“The wreck did a little bit of damage,” he said. “And I want to see if there’s anything that can be done to stabilize it more. I thought the modifications we made after last race would make it safer and more responsive, but apparently not so much.”

“You know that wreck wasn’t your fault. And the fact that you stayed up for as long as you did and didn’t completely get smashed tells me the bike was performing well,” I told him.

He nodded. I knew he was upset about his performance, and it would take him some time for the physical and emotional effects of it to go away. All I could do was support him.

The next day I finished up some administrative work and then headed to Cole’s place. When I pulled into the driveway with lunch, I got a text telling me to come around to the back. This was the first time I’d seen the new place he got when he came back from Tibet, and I instantly saw what he liked about it. The house and the land around it was exactly what I would have pinpointed for him. It wasn’t lost on me, though, that instead of choosing an apartment or something small just for him, he’d immediately chosen a house with plenty of space for a family. That was Cole. Even with the bad experience with his wife, he hadn’t lost sight of the future and the possibility of someone sharing it.

When I walked through the big wooden gate leading into the backyard, I immediately saw the house wasn’t the only new thing in Cole’s life. He was running around with a tiny yellow puppy, laughing as he threw a ball and the puppy went after it with all his legs seeming to go in different directions.

“Hey,” he called when he saw me.

We went up to the porch and spread out the food on a table with a blue-and-white striped umbrella to block the sun.

“I see you have a new friend,” I said when he dropped into the seat across from me.

“Yeah. I just adopted him. I didn’t even mean to. That pet supply store by the supermarket was having an adoption day and he was sitting out front when I went to grab a few things. I couldn’t resist him.”

Trying not to be too obvious about it, I evaluated my best friend. He looked calm and happy. It was a major improvement from the time right after the divorce when it seemed like he was going to fall apart at any moment. It was really good to have him home. There were times during those six months when I honestly thought he might not ever make it back. I hated feeling so helpless at that time, not being able to do anything to make him feel better.

It wasn’t just that I didn’t have the personal insight and experience. I definitely didn’t. I’d never been through something even close to a divorce, so I didn’t know how he felt and what might make it easier for him. But it was more than that. Just like he said, Cole needed to find himself again. He needed to figure out who he was and how he was going to move forward without his wife. That was something he had to do on his own, and there was nothing I could do to make it any better. My only option was to make sure he knew I was there for him and would be when he made it back home.

We talked about the puppy for a few more minutes, and then he asked about the race.

“It was kind of a mess, to be honest,” I told him. “I mean, Greg did awesome. He came in first, and it was a really smooth race for him. But some other teams were really aggressive, and one rider caused a wreck for Darren.”

“Damn. Is he doing okay?” Cole asked.

“He’ll be fine,” I told him.

“Sorry I missed it. Getting used to this new job is a little more complicated than I thought.”

“How is it going for you?” I asked.

“Really well. I’m enjoying it. It’s just getting used to how different it is than actually being in the classroom. I have to approach everything in a totally different way. I never really thought about how I’d have to change my approach to just about everything because I wasn’t going to be in the classroom with the people,” he told me.

“I can imagine that would take some getting used to,” I said.

“How about you?” he asked. “How are you doing?”