“You must be fun at parties,” he said.
I laughed. “Surprisingly, I’m rarely invited to parties. I can never figure out why.”
“It’s a goddamn mystery.”
Despite the fact that he was being adorably interactive, Bodhi still sported a sickly pale shade and I watched him wobble like a newborn colt taking his first steps.
“Dude, you need to sit down. I’m pretty sure you puked out last week’s breakfast.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted. “I can probably drive now.”
“Um, no.”
“What do you mean ‘no’? This is my car… sort of.”
“What do you mean by ‘sort of’?”
“Well, I might havesort ofstolen the car.” He was so matter-of-fact in his statement that I almost applauded his cool.
“So, here’s the deal, Bodhi. There’s no gray area when it comes to stolen vehicles. Either you have permission to drive them or you don’t.”
“I don’t.”
“You don’t.” Grimacing, I retracted my hands from the steering wheel like it was a hot potato. “Wonderful. I hope the owner has insurance.”
“It’s the nanny’s. But I’m sure there’s insurance. And anyway, without me, the nanny’s Range Rover would be very dead.”
“Wait, you have a nanny?” I asked. “That’s…unexpected.”
“Notmynanny. Jesus. How old do you think I am—ten?”
Pressing my lips together, I bit back a smile. “I was more insinuating you had kids of your own, not that you were the kid yourself.”
“Oh.” He laughed. “Sorry. Okay. Totally misinterpreted that. I’m used to people thinking I’m a teenager so I just… never mind. Okay, that was embarrassing. Anyway, no kids. The nanny’s car belonged to the house I was staying at. I stole it to stay alive.”
“Well then, I think you’ll be forgiven.”
It was clear Bodhi had been closer to the flames than me and, although I was more than curious what happened to him higher up on the hill, I instinctively understood he wasn’t ready to talk about his trials with me, or anyone, just yet.
Misunderstanding my silence, Bodhi took it as ambivalence.
“Look, if you don’t feel comfortable driving this car, I’ll take over.”
“Nah. What’ll they do, sue me? I don’t have anything to take anyway.”
“That’s the spirit.”
We laughed together as he lowered himself back into the passenger seat. “It’s just as well that you drive because, not only is this not my car, but I was driving without a license too.”
“Of course you were.”
“Again, not really by choice. My driver’s license and my phone are both currently burnt to a crisp.”
I eyed him with interest. “You’ve had quite the night.”
“You have no idea.”
The amusement faded at his solemn admission. I sought him out in the ambient lighting and, when our eyes met, an understanding passed between us. Choices had to be made tonight that neither one of us wanted to make but we’d survived and were stronger for it. Maybe I didn’t know the extent of his ordeal, but I had an inkling of the terror. I touched the knot on my forehead. Yes, I could sympathize.
