“Noah,” I sighed. “He’s welcome to come, but there’s no room in my car. You know that. For us, sure. But not...someone like him. He’d have trouble getting into it. So you can ride with him and I’ll drive my bug.”
I didn’t remark on the fact that I didn’t enjoy driving. I hated it as much as him. But I did drive when I had to. Like to the store, and back to the parents’ house when needed. It's just...cars always felt so big and scary to be in charge of. Which is why I loved my little bug that matched someone’s eyes.
“No. We’ll all go in my car.” At Beckett’s firm voice, I jerked, splashing coffee over my hand.
“Fine.” I huffed, although inside I was thankful. I really didn’t have the mental capacity to drive that far, there and back. Thirty minutes was nothing to most people, but for someone like me, it was ten times longer.
“We gotta get a present first.”
“First, breakfast, little one. What would you two like?”
I was good with just coffee, which I held up as an answer.
Whatever expression Beckett made caused Noah to giggle beside me.
“We’ll stop to get food before we go.” Beckett decided. “Now, Noah help clean up the mess before you get ready to leave.”
“But-“
“Nope. None of that.”
Beckett was magic if it got Noah to actually help clean up the pile of stuff on the floor. I sat back, sipping my coffee and letting it help finish wake me up and Noah began to fold each blanket and put them into the small closet that was meant for coats and shoes.
The few times we had camped out in the living room, Noah would take a shower while I did all the cleaning. I never minded that our chores were just whatever we did.
Beckett even helped. No one told me to do anything, so I finished my coffee, wondering how long I could secretly enjoy these two in my space like this.
Chapter 34
Beckett’s car was not what I expected. I sat in the back, the leather seats clean, like he never dared to dirty them. The same with the outside. Dark red four-door Honda. Low enough to the ground but roomy enough to fit someone his size. Between me and Noah, we’d fit in anything easily.
I sat in the back, behind Noah, and stared out the window. I had my headphones in, not wanting to hear the two of them talk. Plus, I just wanted to ignore the little fact that I was letting someone else drive me and Noah to my family’s home.
I may feel a tad bit sorry for what Beckett was going to be walking into. But I also wanted to see him respond to the craziness that would no doubt ensure.
I was slightly nervous, knowing that Beckett would possibly want to run and hide.
I sure had when I first got introduced to them all. Being sixteen, everything had been overwhelming. I didn’t know who I was then. That fact hadn’t changed, unfortunately. But for a teen going from knowing what to expect day in and day out, to being thrown into a family type of life had been jarring enough.
I watched out the window, toes tapping to the beat of the song as the car moved. Pastures filled with cows and a few horses. Some corn. Some nothing but weeds.
I wondered, and not for the first time, how it’d be to live out here. Where things weren’t within walking distance and where I’d have to drive to get anywhere. I bet it’d be peaceful.
I could get a house somewhere out here and live a lonely content life. I had more than enough money thanks to the savings Scarlett demanded I have, plus all the tips from working.
“Asher? What’s the address again?”
I took a headphone out of one ear and rattled off where Scarlett’s house was at. “Remember, it’s a bit down a dirt road.”
She had gotten the house built by her brother and husband on the land her family owned. It was big enough for four people to live in comfortably, plus a few more.
Over the years, a few things had been added to it, but it was still cozy. But not quiet. Someone always came and went there, mostly her family. I still had trouble remembering who was who to each other half the time. So I gave up a long time ago.
“Am I driving you to my own death?” Beckett laughed lightly, although maybe he was a bit frightened of driving all the way out here before he knew what to expect.
Oh well. Too late now to try to tell him anything. Although, I hadn’t tried too hard to begin with.
Before long, Beckett found the dirt pathway, slowing the car down as we neared the house. Once we got closer, there were already a good amount of people, which kinda sucked. For me, not anyone else.
