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

“Here we go.” He got the bike rolling and waved goodbye to Justin who’d follow them shortly.Epilogue


Fred sat across from Raymond in the café in Nortown, sipping on his coffee. Jason, one of the guys working in the café, had tried talking him into a cinnamon roll, but he’d gone with the cheesecake, wanting to remember the last time he’d sat here.


The sun was shining, but it wasn’t as hot as it had been during his trip to Manheim. And while he still believed Nortown was one of the best places in the world, there was no place he’d rather be than at home in Waterside Cross.


Raymond had mostly grunted since he got back on duty, but Fred didn’t care. He could grunt all he wanted. What was eight hours of grunting when he got to go home to Zen when his shift was over?


Chapter 38