“So, there are cars involved?” I said, wanting to get back to the matter at hand, crazy as it was.
“Yeah, twenty-two to be exact. And we’re bringing them down from the dead guy’s house in Boston. I guess she’s selling that place or something.”
I hadn’t known that, but really, why would I? I had a sneaking suspicion that my mother did, though. She always seemed to be up on all things Caroline Stratton. Or Betsy or Joey.
I could attest to the fact that she’d grilled me for the rest of my holiday break once I got back from the wedding weekend. Every friggin’ detail, asking me to describe all the people, what they were wearing, everything that was said.
I left out the crude comments about her that spewed from Edgar Prescott. Not because I wanted to spare her feelings, but more because I thought she’d take it as some weird-ass compliment that he remembered who she was.
“And some of these cars have been pretty neglected over the years. Still in great shape, just not the pristine condition that apparently her dad used to keep them in.”
“Andyou’rethe one restoring them?”
“Yep.”
We were out of the area with the gorgeous estates and heading back toward Chesney. Crazy, I know, but my breathing became more normal, my heartbeat slowed down. Just like it had when I was a kid and we’d be driving away. Relief would flood through me that nobody had seen us—caught us.
“What? There’s nobody in Boston that can restore cars? That’s a little hard to swallow.”
“You have problems swallowing, Jane? I can help you out with that. It’s all in releasing the back of your throat. I can teach you all about loosening up your gag reflex.”
“Screw you,” I said.
“Well, yeah, there’s always that too. We could skip right to it.”
I was about to throw another verbal volley when I realized that was what he wanted.
“Keep dreaming, asshole. Now, back to the cars. Isn’t it kind of like handing the key to the henhouse over to the fox?”
“I told you, I’m done with that.” There was a forcefulness in his voice, and it was deeper and a bit growly.
I believed him. For no reason really other than I just…did. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t continue to bust his balls about it. “Yeah, we’ll see. I suppose it would be pretty stupid to steal what you’ve been entrusted with. And you may be a thief, Stick, but you ain’t stupid.”
“And I’m no longer a thief. So I guess that makes me a smart, stand-up guy.”
“I didn’t say smart. Just not stupid. There’s a difference.”
“Never give an inch, do ya?”
“Give an inch, they’ll take a mile.”
“Christ, and I thoughtIwas guarded.”
It shouldn’t have made me bristle, but it did. Still, he wasn’t wrong, so I decided to just let that one slide.
“So, back to the cars,” I said.
We were driving through Chesney now, and I watched Stick’s handling of Yvette at the stop lights, trying to store it in my memory.
“Yeah, you’re going to need to practice with lights. And the first couple of times you’ll probably stall out and the assholes behind you will honk their horns and start yelling. And that will tense you up and make you stall out again. Block ’em out and just listen to Yvette. She’s the only one whose opinion matters when you’re behind the wheel.”
I was grateful for his words, because no doubt a bunch of people honking and yelling at me would tense me up. And then no doubt that I’d strike back, flipping them the bird and starting a nice little road-rage incident.
As we eased through the last light in town and hit open road toward Schoolport, Stick opened Yvette up and let her run. I again wished it was warm enough to put the top down.
“You’ll be a master at driving her by the time it warms up enough to have the top down,” Stick said, eerily reading my mind. “And then, man, will you be a sight on this highway. And down the freeway? To DC? Shit, they won’t know what hit them.” It wasn’t like he was even talking to me. And perhaps he wasn’t. He might have been talking to Yvette, because there was just a bit too much admiration in his voice for it to be directed at me.
The feel of her beneath us, so strong, so powerful—exactly the way I pretended to be and wished that I truly was. I admired her too, and was quickly becoming quite attached to my new baby.
