I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d called off the date and gone home to his children. Iknewit was a bad idea to ask out one of my student’s parents, especially one who was very clearly still grieving his wife.
But I’d been selfish. I’d been so caught up in trying to do something for myself, to be brave, that I’d forgotten how it might affect another.
And yet… I wasn’t reallysorry.Did I feel guilty? Absolutely. But as I sat in the car with my rear end slowly warming, my belly full, and my cheeks hurting from smiling, I had to admit it was the best night I’d had in years.I loved my job, my career, my life, but this had been something only formeand me alone.
Ben was so sweet. So kind. Did I see pain in his eyes, and did he sometimes linger too long between words, his mind drifting somewhere that I would guess was pretty awful? Yes. But how could I fault him for that? He’d been through something truly heinous and had come out on the other side to be an amazing father who was raising a wonderful little human being.
Being so damn giddy around a person was such a freeing sensation. The flutters of twitterpation were tiny shocks of a past life that had gone off to leave me in the dust. It was welcome.Exhilarating.
I was a little sad that the night was ending, but man, it was a brilliant beginning to the new leaf I was trying to turn over. Contented, I punched my address into the car’s GPS just as the driver-side door opened.
A hand twisted into my wig, yanking me back, then went for my throat instead.
What the fuck?
I opened my mouth to scream, but then the hand let go of my throat to clamp over my mouth.
“Be quiet,”hissed a voice that did not belong to Ben.
Oh shit, were we being carjacked?
With me in the car?!
He stared at me like he was waiting for something. Once my brain came back online, I nodded slowly.
“Good,” he said, then peeled out of the parking lot.
I was in shock. It was all that could explain the borderline preternatural calm that settled over me.
I was a first-grade teacher, not an action star or badass hero, but I’d trained for what to do in the unfortunate and terrifying event of a school shooter. Perhaps that was why I wasn’t freaking out, and why my breathing was so steady.
Jeez, what bad luck did I have? My first date in years, and I was being kidnapped. All I could do was hope the guy would ditch me on the side of the road once he felt it was safe for him. And I was going to let him. Ben’s car was not worth my life. Besides, during dinner, it seemed like money wasn’t an issue for him.
Granted, he’d be shaken up. A panic attack, then both his car and date stolen all in the same night? I wouldn’t blame him if he never left the house again.
Life really liked to pick on some people.
The man was cutting in and out of lanes, not even using his blinker. While I got that he was in a hurry—after all, he was committing a crime—he was going about it all wrong.
“It would be better for the both of us if you put both hands on the wheel, since you’re in an unfamiliar vehicle.”
His head snapped in my direction, brown eyes boring into me with a fair amount of incredulity.
“Eyes on the road, please.”
He didn’t comment, but he did look straight ahead. There was a very direct rage radiating from him. It almost looked like he was vibrating.
Was there any chance this wasn’t random? Was Ben involved in something dangerous?
No, I didn’t believe that.
I wished I had my phone, but it was in my purse, which Ben had gone to get. Damn, talk about a chain of really bad luck.
We drove in complete silence for far too long, and every single minute seemed like its own personal epoch. Five passed, then ten, then fifteen. We weren’t only headed out of the city but out of the suburbs completely.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
