“Exactly,” she said, laughing nervously and tap-tap-tapping her finger against her leg.
My heart raced. Holy shit,she thought we were doing something wrong. And if she thought we were, then we most definitely were. We were both on the same wrong page.
Dear God. My knees felt weak.
“In-laws,” I told her. “That’s the word you were looking for, right?”
She brightened. “That’s it! Brother-in-law.”
Oh, yes. Thatdefinitelysounded wrong. Like some kind of porn category.
“Let’s call my dad,” she suggested. “He’ll fix your Jeep. He’s a genius.”
“Call him up.” That’s right. Let’s get your dear ol’ father’s blessing. What did I care? Couldn’t be as bad as my dad. I was gambling everything today and suddenly filled with a strange kind of joy that the Skeleton King had broken down.
Her ears turned a little pink as she waited for her father to pick up. “Just… whatever you do, don’t called him ‘the chauffeur,’ okay?”
Track [14] “SOS”/ABBA
Jane
“You need new crankshaft positionsensor wiring,” Dad said, ducking out of the hood of Fen’s Jeep. “Maybe a new sensor. Wires are corroded and shorting out. I don’t have those with me, but we can run by an auto parts store and pick them up. The wiring and harness set is maybe fifty? You’d be talking a hundred for the sensor, though.”
Fen blew out a hard breath. “Don’t have it right now. My aunt does payroll on Tuesday. I can probably borrow it and work it off with my other aunt, but it may take a day or two.…” He shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to drag you out for no reason, Mr. Marlow. Even if I have to leave it out here, it’s good to know what’s wrong when I get it towed into a shop.”
Cars whipped past us on the freeway. “Not a problem. It’s my off day.” He squinted at Fen. “Just surprised, is all.”
“That I’m broke, and my family’s loaded? Guess Jane forgot to tell you that story.”
Dad leaned against the front of the Jeep and looked at me, then Fen. “I know a little of that story, but it didn’t come from Jane.”
“Dad,” I pleaded. He’d been doing so well. No scene. Noweird vibe. This was the opposite of Eddie at the airport. Everything had been fine so far. Fen hadn’t called Dad “the chauffeur” or made any off-color jokes about domestic life, and Dad hadn’t freaked when I told him about being stranded on the side of the road.
“Look,” Fen said. “Whatever you’ve heard about me is probably true. Eddie and I don’t get along, and Jane knows that. Honestly, if fratricide were legal, I’d be hunting him in the streets like it was the Purge.”
Dad raised a brow.
Frida barked and stood on her back legs, pawing at Fen’s shin. He scratched her head. “It’s not murder if they deserve it, right, little pup?”
“He’s joking,” I explained to my father. “Dark sense of humor.”
Dad wiped his hands on his jeans. “I get satire, Jane. I just don’t get why the two of you are stranded on the side of the road together.”
“Told you, this lady has a record collection—” I started.
“There’s nothing going on,” Fen told my father. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”
I froze, mouth still open. Why would he say that?
But he didn’t stop. He just kept on talking. “We reconnected in the record shop. I was surprised to see her, since it had been a couple of years… you know, since the dam incident. And we have common interests. Music. Eddie. Or my family, at least—my mom.”
“I like your mother,” Dad said. “Very nice lady.”
“She’s pretty amazing,” Fen agreed. “We rode with you once in your car a few years ago. I’d hurt my leg at a fundraiser downtown. You probably don’t remember.”
“Wrong about that. I remember everything,” Dad said, squinting one eye closed at him.
Ugh. This was going off the rails. Bad feeling in stomach.
