Fred Munson likes his job as a traffic cop. He’s good at it. It’s his personal life that could use some improvement. With no friends, and being too shy to talk to anyone while out of uniform, when Fred is forced to use some of his vacation time, he has nothing to fill his days. At least not until he comes home to find his driveway blocked by a stranger with car troubles. A month after losing his father, Zen Zeppelin Cave has also lost his place in the world. The only thing holding him together is focusing on a charity junk car race to raise money for cancer research. And he's crossing that finish line even if he ends up replacing every part of the car along the way. Zen had planned on completing the race on his own, but a spur-of-the-moment decision changes that when he invites the adorable, blushing police officer whose driveway he’s blocking to tag along. Going with a stranger on a road trip is completely out of Fred’s comfort zone, so when he accepts the invitation, no one is more surprised than himself. Together, Zen and Fred head south. But will the old junk car hold together long enough to reach their destination? And will crossing the finish line mean the end of the road for a budding romance, or will they find there’s more to their journey?

Banger Challenge

“I didn’t mean you should have anyone on your payroll. Just keep track of all your vouchers, put them in a binder according to date, and you hire an accountant to help you with the taxes.” Fred didn’t think it was too hard, he’d have to check what was needed, but many idiots ran businesses successfully. Together they could do it. Fred didn’t mind paperwork.


The wide-eyed look Zen gave him had him wondering if he’d said something wrong.


“I’ll make mistakes, I know I will. I’ll fuck it up, I always fuck things up.”


“You will not. I will help you. Well, not in the garage obviously, but the rest is numbers, right? Numbers make sense.”


“Numbers do not make sense!” Zen’s hold on the steering wheel tightened.


Calmness settled over Fred. Zen was worried, maybe even frightened—his confident Zen. “Easy.” He patted his thigh. “We’ll solve it. You have nothing to worry about.”


The sound Zen made was closer to a whine than a laugh, but Fred guessed laughing was what he was trying to do.


Chapter 33