She thought of tucking what she owed under her plate, but she was diverted by the sight of Hartgrave darting behind Willi and stuffing his money down the back of the man’s shirt. Well, that was one way ...
“Let’s see you get that out in time to throw it at me,” Hartgrave said, grabbing her elbow and towing her toward the door.
“Wait,” she said, looking over her shoulder.
“Yes, you better run!” Willi’s attempt to untuck his shirt was undercut by his decision to also shake a fist at the man.“Mistkerl!”
“Have a safe trip, Em,” Bernie called into the fray.
“You are welcome of course anytime, Dr. Daggett,” the voice of the proprietor declared the moment before the door slammed shut behind them.
“Well,” Hartgrave said, letting go of her, “that was better than usual.”
She threw up her arms. “But my bill!”
“I covered it.”
“Oh. Well—here’s my share,” she said, holding out thirteen dollars.
He waved it away and set off toward campus, head down against the wind.
She caught up with him. “Don’t make me stick money downyourshirt.”
“Next time, you pick up the check.”
Nexttime?
“Now, as I’d like to collect on that IOU, let’s discuss this trip to your parents’ house,” he said.
She stuffed the money into her coat pocket. “What am I going to do? It never occurred to me that there’s magic in cars.”
“Has yours ever done anything inexplicable?”
She nodded. “I’ve never gotten into an accident, but I haven’t driven it much.”
He lapsed into his middle-distance researcher stare. As the seconds turned to minutes and they crossed onto campus, she could take it no longer.
“Please, there must be something I can do,” she said. “I can’t stay here over Christmas—I really can’t. They’re expecting me, and I miss them.”
He sighed. It sounded different, somehow, from a huff of irritation. Almost sad. “When are you leaving?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
“And tomorrow? Do you have plans?”
Working on her research paper. But rather than get into that, she simply shook her head.
“You do now,” he said. “Expect me at 8 a.m.”
Grateful and horrified in equal measure, she said, “You’re going to give me lessons all day?”
“I am.”
She groaned. “I’ll just be wasting your time—I’m getting nowhere.”
“Perhaps you simply required a deadline,” he said.
She groaned even more deeply. How many deadlines carried a risk of actual death if you missed them?
