Chapter Four #2
“I’d really rather he not,” Mom interjected.
“Okay, so, a day of drivin’ this warrior of a woman around will do him some good,” Hatch said.
Before I could argue, Echo walked back in, worry knitted in the tight features of her face. “My sister needs her car. Um, and to be honest, I’m a little nervous about the loaner. Would it be okay if I drove it around the block to see if I feel comfortable?”
“Of course you can,” Hatch said. “Archer’ll go with you in case you run into trouble. Let me grab you the key.”
After handing me the key to the 2007 Volkswagen hatchback, I led Echo out to the back, and we climbed inside.
“Okay, the clutch can be tricky on this car,” I said. “You’ve gotta ease it out, and—”
“I’m sure I can figure it out,” she said.
“No back seat driving.” I raised my hands and sat back. “Got it.”
We pulled out of the lot and headed onto the street beside the shop, and Echo, did in fact, figure it out. Too fucking well, in my opinion.
“How’d you learn to drive stick?” I asked. “Never met someone else my age who can drive a manual. Well, other than mechanics. ”
“My dad’s a pilot, and he made us all learn. He was always tinkering on planes for as long as I can remember. He would joke that cars were just planes without wings.”
I smiled. “Sounds like my buddy, Flash.”
“Oh, yeah?”
I nodded. “He’s a helo pilot. Flies planes, too, but helicopters are his passion. He’s got a company—”
“Sorry, Archer, can I just focus, please?” she interrupted, the clutch now sticking as she tried to change into third.
“Pump it twice.”
She glanced at her feet, pumping the clutch twice, and was able to slide into third, but the car lurched forward as it did, and she let out a frustrated grunt.
“You’re okay, Echo. You’ve got this.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything as we continued down the road… where the clutch slipped again. She pumped it twice and the car lurched forward, but this time she pulled the car over and turned it off, setting the parking brake and getting out.
“Whoa,” I said, rushing to follow and found her pacing the sidewalk as she wrang her hands in front of her. “You okay?”
She held her hand out, palm up, and nodded. “Please give me a minute.”
I nodded, crossing my arms, and leaning against the car.
“I can always take the bus,” she said, continuing to pace and wringing her hands.
“Oh yeah, the bus is great. Have you ridden it lately? ”
She glanced my way. “Well, no, not since I was a teenager.”
“Oh, it’s great. Guys openly play with themselves, old men listen to YouTube without headphones.” I grinned. “It’s fun.”
Horror covered her face, and she let out a groan. “I don’t think I can drive that car, Archer. I don’t want to break it and I’m not sure my insurance will cover it if I do.”
“You were doing really well,” I said.
“I didn’t feel confident, and when I don’t feel confident, I make mistakes.” She looked at me briefly before pacing again. “I can’t see my patients if I’m not feeling confident.”
I tried to give her a gentle smile. “I’m happy to drive you.”
“Oh, yeah, Driving Miss Daisy is exactly what you signed up for, huh?”
“Who’s driving my sister?”
“No, it’s a movie. From the eighties. You’ve never seen Driving Miss Daisy?”
I shook my head.
“Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman?”
“I haven’t seen it, beautiful.”
“It’s really good.” She let out a sigh. “Heavy, but good.”
“Look, Hatch has given the okay for me to drive you, which means it’s a paid day to drive a pretty girl around. I like to drive, so it’s a win-win.”
“I’m not getting on a bike.”
Doing an internal fist pump at my ‘win,’ I grinned. “I have a truck. ”
She pressed her lips together. “You really don’t mind?”
“I really don’t mind.”
“It’s a long day. Seven a.m. start and may go until seven, depending on how long each patient takes.”
“I’ll take you to dinner afterward.”
“You don’t need to do that,” she said.
“It’ll be fun.”
“I could also wait until my sister doesn’t need her car to bring mine back in.”
“You could do that,” I said carefully. I didn’t want to spook her, but I also wanted to spend the day with her. “But Hatch also has the time over the next week, so it’ll take him less time to fix it. You never know when he’s gonna get swamped, and right now he’s got a break in his schedule.”
“Oh, I didn’t think about that.”
“You do whatever makes you comfortable. I’m just giving you facts.”
She nodded, her hands starting to relax as she stopped her pacing. “You really don’t mind shuttling me for the day?”
“I really don’t mind.”
“I have to keep everything confidential. I can’t discuss any of my patients. I can’t tell their names, why I’m seeing them, or anything really.”
“I’ll pretend I’m Uber.”
“I’m really straddling the line of HIPAA here, if not crossing them,” she said, starting to pace again.
“Look, I get it. We’ve got nurses in the family. I won’t ever tell anyone what we’re doing. I really will act as just a driver. We won’t talk about your patients. You can trust me on that,” I promised.
“Okay. Thank you, Archer. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” I grinned. “You want me to drive back to the shop?”
“God, yes,” she breathed out and I chuckled.
With a plan in place, I drove Echo back and waited for her to fill out the paperwork for her car. Unfortunately for me, Maisie was still there and offered to drive her home since she discovered she lived close.
I had wanted that pleasure, but with her phone number and address saved in my cell, I was ready to pick her up early the day after tomorrow, so I was going to have to be satisfied with that.