“Ellie...”
“Turn left, follow the signs for 57.”
I did as she directed.
“You drive like shit.”
“I do not.I took lessons from Timo Bernard.”
“Get your money back.You’re going to get eaten alive during rush hour.”
“Timo Bernard is one of the best drivers in the world.”
She stared at me.“Then you didn’t learn much.Exit.”
I cut across two lanes to make the exit she pointed at so casually.It dumped me off under the expressway.The location was sketchier than the railway warehouse I’d visited earlier.“This isn’t safe.”
“Welcome to Chicago.Turn right at the KFC.”
“The what?”
She groaned in frustration.“Kentucky Fried Chicken, surely you’ve had the truly American gourmet dining experience of chicken in a bucket, right?”
“Don’t make fun of me.”A memory flashed through my head.“If you do, I’ll tell you the story about how Don Manca taught me how to make pollo al guazzetto from the coop to the table.”
“I’ll pass.What’s the address for your current Hotel Continental.”
“We’re not staying at a hotel.”
“Don’t you watch—nevermind.Address?”
I rattled it off.
“Oh, we should have stayed on the Stevenson.”
“I thought we were on the Dan Ryan?”
She let out a mighty sigh.“Pull over.”
“No.”
“Listen, you don’t belong behind the wheel if you can’t understand the freeway system here.”
“Maybe if it made sense, I could.”
She huffed.
Luckily, the streets took on familiarity, and I navigated to the high-rise building without her aid.
Ellie craned her head to peer at the facade just before I drove into the underground parking level.I flashed my card at the gate and wound through the levels to find my reserved space.
I warned her, “Don’t touch that handle,” then popped the trunk, grabbed her suitcase, and opened her door.
She affected an awful accent and spouted off something that sounded like, “Thank you, Jeeves.Lead on, my good man.”
Crazy.Certifiably so.
And I wasn’t referencing Ellie.I was talking about myself.The way things were going I’d have to check myself in somewhere.Or perhaps disappear for years in the mountains to get my head on straight again.That’s how badly she’d tied me up in knots.
