Page 82 of Not So Fast
“Wow. That’s so amazing. That means so much. Thank you.” With a flourish of her hand, Mia presented her mother. “This is my mom, Amy Neal. She’s one of my biggest supporters.”
No, that hadn’t been true for much of the history ofNot So Fast, but it had been true for Mia’s life. And that was what mattered.
“Hello, everyone.” Her mom delivered a feverish wave to the crowd then quickly became distracted by a woman who’d cross-stitched aNot So Fastpillow. “Oh, my goodness. How adorable is that? Can you make one for me?”
Mia greeted her guests, noticing how she didn’t feel as overwhelmed as she had the first time. Although, that wasn’t entirely true. Shewasoverwhelmed. With good feelings from genuine well-wishers. Xander should’ve been there. She wouldcall him the instant the event was over, although he’d probably be somewhere over the Atlantic.
After a good twenty minutes of saying hello and deflecting questions about Xander, Mia had to get her show on the road or they’d be there forever. She used her old trick of climbing up on a chair and cupping her hands to shout. She still hadn’t learned how to perform one of those taxi-cab whistles.
“Hello, everyone! If you can take your seat, we’ll get started. I’m so thankful you’re here. If we haven’t had a chance to talk yet, there will be time afterward.”
“Is Xander coming to this?” someone in the crowd asked.
“Nope. Sorry. Hopefully, I’m enough.”
“You are!” a woman yelled in response.
As everyone found their table and the room filled up, Mia thought about how far she’d come. This roller coaster she’d put herself on had given her a lot of ups and downs, but she’d proved to herself that she was resilient. She could make it through the storm. And she was proud of herself for taking a breath and a step back when things became too much. The Mia of old would’ve squirreled away all her problems, gathered them in a pile and examined them under a microscope. The Mia of today couldn’t bring herself to focus that hard on the bad. She’d rather look ahead at the good.
She stepped to the front of the room and started her recorder, then turned on her microphone. She’d rehearsed this at home in her apartment many times, but she’d been so nervous, which was slightly hilarious since she’d been by herself. Now that she’d witnessed the outpouring of love and was looking out at this sea of friendly faces, she felt none of that. She only felt a strong conviction that what she was about to say was the right thing.
“Welcome, everyone, for this special episode ofNot So Fast. I want to thank everyone for coming today, and for those of you who couldn’t be here, listening at home, I thank you, too. I want you all to know I appreciate your support and I also appreciate your criticism. My listeners are the entire reason I do the podcast, so I listen to everything everyone has to say.”
“We love you, Mia!” someone in the room yelled.
“Thank you. That’s so sweet. I love you all, too.” Mia started to tear up. She hadn’t realized how badly she’d needed to hear that. Call her human or imperfect, it meant a lot to feel appreciated. “I have to be honest. I have always been a quitter. Just ask my mom.” Mia pointed to her mother, who looked around then offered a thin smile that seemed to ask,Mia, honey, what in the hell are you doing?“Amy Neal, everyone.”
The crowd gathered offered a hearty round of applause while her mom stood and waved. It was adorable and slightly nerdy, which Mia had the utmost appreciation for.
“Be sure to say hi to her before you leave today,” Mia said into the microphone. “Now, as I was saying, I’ve always been a quitter. I’ve quit more jobs than most people will ever start. I’ve spent my whole life looking for something better, but I can admit there were usually one of two factors in place when I set something aside and moved on to something new. I was either bored, or it became difficult. In the last few days,Not So Fasthas become difficult. And I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about quitting.”
No! Don’t do that!
We don’t want you to quit!
Mia held up a hand. “Thank you. Spoiler alert, I’m not going to quit.” It felt good to say that out loud and not keep everyone in suspense. “But I do want to tell you all what happened. From the very beginning ofNot So Fast, I prided myself on being fully transparent and brutally honest. Granted, when I first started there was very little for me to be transparent about, but that was my approach. And that’s part of where I went wrong when things began to get complicated.”
She sucked in a deep breath, thinking about how dramatically things had changed since she’d embarked on this journey, but in many ways, talking to her listeners felt like a full-circle moment. She’d put a lot of miles under her, and a lot of things had changed, but her desire to speak honestly to her fans was still front and center.
“I never expected to meet Xander Bishop and I certainly never expected that he and I would become romantically involved. Believe me, I was just as surprised as all of you.” The audience laughed, making Mia smile. “But I think Xander and I recognized something in each other that we both needed. Xander needed someone to really see and appreciate his struggles. And honestly, I needed that, too. So when I started going easier on him, it wasn’t a conspiracy. It was me genuinely seeing exactly how hard he was working and how it had been a little too easy for me to stand at a distance and criticize him. But it’s a very different thing to get invested in someone, to stand by their side and to help them. So, it was never something that either of us planned. It just happened. And I suppose that’s the best way to fall in love, isn’t it?”
A rumble of voices broke out across the room. Mia realized she’d said the L-word.
“That’s true. I love Xander. And he loves me. And yes, he’s a public person and I somehow ended up becoming one, too. But I deserve happiness just like every other person in this room deserves happiness. And if anyone wants to get madat me for falling in love with Xander Bishop, then I suppose they’d just better go ahead and get mad.”
* * *
Xander held his breath, his heart swelling as he stood in the back of the bar and listened to Mia’s words. He’d already known she loved him, but hearing her say it out loud, in front of a room full of people and to all of her listeners… She’d shouted it from the digital rooftops. And after they’d both invested so much energy into keeping it a secret, it was a huge relief to have it out there in the world on their own terms.
He was so in awe of Mia, and not just for the things she was saying, but for the fact that they’d managed to find each other. There were millions of people in the world…millions of chances to get it wrong. But somehow, he’d gotten this part right. And there she was, in front of the people whose opinion she most cared about, professing her love for him.
Could he be any luckier? He didn’t think so.
* * *
Mia froze when she spotted the suspiciously tall guy at the back of the room. He was not one of the people she’d greeted earlier. She knew that frame and head of hair anywhere.Xander.Where in the hell had he come from? He wasn’t supposed to arrive in Austin until tomorrow. Either he’d remembered she was having this meet-up or he’d listened to the last episode of the podcast. Either way, it meant so much to her to know that he’d change his plans to be on hand for this pivotal moment. And it was no small thing that he’d been willing to brave a packed room of Formula One fans to see her. Even better and slightly more hilarious…that he’d worn a disguise.
“Hey, can I tell you all a little secret about Xander Bishop?” she asked the crowd.
