“Yeah, but three rows? It seats seven. That’s five kids.”
I smiled. “Yeah. I never said we had to fill all of the spare seats. Two or three would be good.” I saw the relief immediately. “Sweetie, did you think I nudged you toward this one because I wanted five kids?”
“I didn’t know, actually. I mean, it’s so nice. Like, really nice.” Duncan rubbed his hands up and down the steering wheel and then over the center console. “The Land Cruiser would have been plenty.”
I nodded. “Yes, it would. But they didn’t have one in blue, and you wanted a blue one. Besides, if we have two kids in the middle row, that leaves room in the third row and cargo area for all of our stuff. What if we decide to take the kids on vacation? Luggage takes up a lot of space.”
Duncan blinked several times. “Yeah, okay. I wouldn’t know about vacations, but I’ll take your word for it.”
I sighed. “We’ll get there. I’m tickled that you’re letting me spoil you.”
Duncan looked around the SUV. “I mean, it’s really nice.”
I shrugged. “Consider it a mating present.”
Duncan’s brow furrowed. “Is that even a thing?”
“It can be.” I leaned in and stole another kiss. Duncan smiled. “Are you ready to go home?”
“Yeah. I’ll follow you though, okay?”
“You got it. Give me a minute, and I’ll pull up behind you over there.”
“All right. Don’t drive too fast, okay? I don’t know if I’d be able find the house yet. I’ve never been to this side of Portland.”
“I won’t,” I told him. “If you need me, just use our bond, and I’ll pull over if you need me to.”
“Okay.”
I couldn’t help but steal another quick kiss, and then I closed the driver’s door. Duncan pulled on his seat belt and then started the SUV. He wasn’t wrong. It was expensive. But a lot of vehicles were, and this one would be more capable in the winter if we ever had a rare storm. We didn’t get a lot of snow, but there was always the chance that everything would align perfectly and we’d have a significant storm.
I left Duncan to get sorted in the SUV and walked across the parking lot to my truck. After I climbed in, I pulled out my phone and quickly checked the messages.
Silver: You won’t believe this. Flint found his mate! He’s not sure he’s too happy, but she came into the office today and our brother looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
I snorted.
Me: That’s awesome. Hopefully he doesn’t mess up too much. Can’t talk now though. Duncan and I finally made it to the dealership. He picked the color.
I hit Send and then started the truck. I quickly put on my seat belt, and after checking behind me, I backed out of my spot. I slowly pulled up behind Duncan and then just passed him. When he backed out from the spot, I pulled forward more and then around the parking area. Getting out of the lot would take a bit more time because I didn’t want to pull out unless Duncan had a chance to pull out right behind me.
We made it out and onto the street without much issue, and then we were on our way back to the house. It wasn’t that we were terribly far from the house, but we did have to leave Whispering Pines to get to the dealership. I was learning new things about my mate all the time, and I was surprised that he hadn’t really ventured far from Whispering Pines. But then I thought about what all he’d done in the last six years, and it made sense to some extent. He’d just survived. Which made me sad that my wonderful mate hadn’t had any fun in his life yet.
“How are you doing back there?”I glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled. It wasn’t difficult to keep track of Duncan’s SUV. The blue was quite bright.
“I’m probably going to white-knuckle drive the entire trip home. This thing is gorgeous and huge compared to my station wagon. What are we going to do with it anyway? We can’t leave it on the street.”
“No, we can’t. I thought we could sell it, and then you could put that money in your account.”I knew from talking to Silver that it had been a positive thing for Charlie to not lose everything that he’d had when they first mated. That was why they rented out his bungalow instead of selling it. If Duncan was able to sell his car and put that money in his account, hopefully, he would feel a little more relaxed about things. Maybe.
“I can get probably five hundred for it.”
“You get what you get. But it’ll be yours, and you can do with it what you wish. The Sequoia is yours. It will always be available for you to drive, so you won’t have to worry about not having a vehicle.”And I wouldn’t have to worry about him not having a reliable one.“Are you really that nervous driving it home? Would you feel more comfortable driving my truck?”
“What? No. The thought of driving your truck terrifies me, actually. I’m good back here.”
I peeked at him again in the rearview mirror, and he seemed like he was doing okay. We would maybe need to take the SUV out and about in the neighborhood. Perhaps driving it around in a familiar area would help him become more comfortable driving it. It was quite a bit bigger than his car, but that didn’t take much.
Every turn as we drove from the dealership toward the house, I double-checked and made certain Duncan was right there behind me.
