“Can’t talk to strangers,” she replied.
After turning on my hazards, I double-parked and raced around the front of the car. I stepped in front of her to block her path.
“Excuse me.” She glared at me.
“Lexi, please talk to me.”
“I have pepper spray,” she yelled, holding up a small pink canister.
“Very mature.”
“And it’s also very mature to attack and threaten someone when they’re trying to be nice.”
“That man wasn’t trying to be nice,” I snarled.
“You don’t know that.” She was infuriatingly stubborn.
“And you don’t know that man at all.”
“Yes,” she said, “I gave Alfie a compliment, and he offered me a ride.”
I crossed my arms. “What’s his last name?”
“Well, um … Russo?”
“Uh-huh. Phone number?”
“727—”
“That’s a Florida area code.” I cut her off.
“Jiminy Cricket.”
“That’s what I thought.” I took her elbow.
She shrugged me off. “I’ll just walk.”
I had enough of it.
“I’m trying to look out for you.” I picked her up around the waist and physically carried her to my car.
“No, you’re not. You’re giving in to paranoia and negative thoughts.”
I opened up the back door and stuffed her in the car.
Her phone immediately connected to the sound system, and “A Whole New World” started blaring out of the speakers.
“Listen,” I said, turning around in the driver’s seat to look at her. “If you really want to walk, you can. Or I can drive you somewhere.”
“A billionaire moonlighting as an Uber driver on the weekend. I hope your shareholders don’t know you’re hurting for cash.” She clambered over the center console.
She was wearing black leggings, ballet flats, and a loose bright-purple sweater over a long pink tunic top that displayed the menagerie of Disney princesses. Some of her hair had escaped the ponytail, and she lifted her arms to pull out the sparkly scrunchie and comb her fingers through her red curls as she retied her hair up.
The image of her, her arms extended above her head as she basked in the sun, reappeared.
“If you wanted to come to see me, you should have just called last night,” I said, voice sounding harsh to my ears.
“Didn’t know if you’d pick up,” she said. “Besides, it was an apology present. You can’t just call the person you’re trying to give an apology to and ask for a ride.”
