She kept shaking her head as I dragged her into the store.
“What’s your favorite color?”
Isabella grimaced.
“Red.”
I smiled. Of course. Ferrari red, I was betting. Before she could protest further, I grabbed a red phone and headed to the desk. I looked at my watch and prayed we would have enough time. After a few questions, they added the phone to my plan, and thirty minutes later we were walking out. I handed it to her.
She sighed.
“This was too much. Really.”
“No, it wasn’t. Think of it as trying something new. And if you don’t want your parents to know about it, keep it on silent but remember to check it so you can get my messages. I’m calling you later. Is there any place private you can go so you can talk?”
Isabella crinkled her brow but nodded.
“I’ll call at nine. Or would ten o’clock be better?”
“Nine”
I was talking and driving fast, but I didn’t want her family’s first impression of me to be of breaking her curfew. She looked at me quickly.
“Hey, I have a brother and sister that go to our school too. We need a plan. They won’t believe we just started to date all of a sudden. On my end, things will have to look like they progressed a bit more slowly than on your end.”
Nodding, I slipped through a yellow light.
“Okay. We can work out most of the details later. What days are you generally free? I know now Mondays aren’t great for you.”
“Wednesdays and Fridays are good. And weekends.”
I smiled.
“You don’t work on the weekends?”
“Occasionally, but my parents really want us focused on school so we only do a few shifts during the week and sometimes on a Saturday if it’s busy.”
“Great. Weekends are really when I get stuck dealing with Cassidy, so that will help. What about Marco?”
She bit her lip.
“I see him almost every day. He lives next door and works for my uncle.”
How she lasted this long seeing him that often was beyond me. She was way stronger than I was.
As we pulled up to her house, I was relieved to find that I had five minutes to spare. I made her stay in the car as I walked around and opened her door, and she smiled at me as I opened the tiny trunk and grabbed her bag. Both of our backpacks barely fit in the storage area, but it’s all we needed.
The cost of having such an amazing car: storage space.
She quickly tucked the phone inside it.
“Thank you for taking me home.”
I grinned.
“I told you I liked driving.”
Looking at the car wistfully, she whispered, “Now I believe you. I’d love driving, too, if I had this car.”
