I tried again. The engine caught. The clutch came up slowly. The truck lurched forward, then steadied. I let out a startled laugh as it rolled several feet.
“I went somewhere!” I said.
Kitty squinted. “You were supposed to shift.”
“I was not ready to shift,” I snapped.
Mom stepped closer. “Should it smell like that?”
I inhaled and immediately regretted it. “It smells like new fluids were put in.”
Meri finally looked up from her book. “You’re tense.”
“I am driving a machine that predates my birth. I am allowed to be tense,” I gritted my teeth.
Lucy pushed off the railing and came closer to the driver’s side window. “You’re doing fine,” she said quietly, so only I could hear. “And even if you weren’t, this isn’t a performance.”
I swallowed. “It feels like one.”
Lucy tilted her head toward the small cluster of my family. “They’re rooting for you. Loudly, poorly, but sincerely.”
I took a breath and tried again.
The truck rolled forward. Not smoothly, but steadily. I held my breath, eyes fixed ahead, foot trembling on the clutch and the other on the gas.
“Look at her go,” Kitty said, impressed.
“She’s doing it,” Jane whispered.
The truck stalled.
I slumped back in the seat, laughing despite myself. “Okay. That one hurt.”
Lucy grinned. “She’s not quitting.”
Meri marked her page and closed her book. “Of course she isn’t. Lydia hates quitting more than she hates failing.”
That landed somewhere deep.
I straightened in the seat and turned the key again.
The engine caught.
I pressed the clutch, shifted, and eased off, slower this time, calmer. The truck rolled forward, just a little, just enough to count.
I smiled, wide and breathless.
“I am doing this,” I said.
The truck stalled again, but I was already laughing.
Behind me, headlights swept across the parking lot.
I froze, hands tightening on the wheel.
A car pulled in and parked near the entrance. The engine cut. A door opened.
Ephram stepped out, jacket zipped against the cold, posture relaxed in the way of someone off duty but never fully disengaged. His gaze moved immediately to the unfamiliar truck, then to the garage, where my family stood watching.
