Chapter Twelve #3
“Don’t come crying to my corner of heaven when she knocks your soul back down to your body and you gotta float all the way back up again,” I say with my hands up.
Her eyes fall into tiny slits. I can’t lie, it’s adorable. “Get out of the car, Micah.”
“As you wish, Storm.” I take a sick pleasure from seeing how the nickname riles her up, but the name is so fitting.
Dani is an alluring thunderstorm. She’s indestructible and fragile at the same time, and the contradiction of that creates this electricity she can’t control.
I’m willing to let that storm consume me.
I join her at the door to the unit and slide the key in the lock. We each let out a tiny breath when we hear the unmistakable click.
“Victor’s ass lives to see another day,” Dani murmurs.
“Tanya’s is still in danger?” I needle.
“It will be if you keep running your mouth.”
I once again zip my lips shut, but before I can throw out the imaginary key, she pretends to snatch it from my hands and trample it with her foot. Message received. I try not to smile as I pull up to the unit’s gate.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when we found this key, but it definitely wasn’t a light blue 1965 Lincoln Continental.
Is it an original? If it is, it’s in great condition. But why would Tanya have it in a storage unit and what does it have to do with our next clue?
Dani lets out a sharp whistle as she runs her fingers along the hood of the car. “This is nice. She would have this lying around.”
Unable to resist, I move to the driver-side door and tug on the handle, ecstatic when it gives way to my pull and opens. I lower myself into the seat carefully, not wanting to damage anything, while Dani pulls out her phone and wordlessly takes a picture of me in the car.
She slips into the passenger seat and starts searching.
When she flips open the visor, a postcard falls out.
On the front, there’s a picture of a house that says “Newberry Cove, South Carolina” beneath it.
On the back is a line in Tanya’s handwriting.
“If I could give anyone anything, it would be the gift of music.”
Dani pouts her lips as she types something on her phone.
“Not sure what she means by the note about music, but look.” She holds her phone out to me.
“I just looked up Newberry Cove and they only have a population of seven thousand people. I bet if we go there and throw a rock in any direction, we’ll hit a family member or someone who knew Tanya. ”
“When did you become so violent?” I say in jest.
She lightly jabs me in the ribs right as her phone rings. “Well, hello, Victor. Did you get my picture?”
She winks at me as she puts the phone on speaker.
“I did. That’s a very nice car.”
Nice is putting it lightly.
“It is a nice car. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?” she asks.
“Mmm, nothing that comes to mind.” There’s no inflection in his tone.
Nothing to indicate whether we’re on the right track or not.
I get the feeling he’s getting a kick out of us playing detectives.
This must be why he and Tanya got along so well.
He seems like a stick in the mud, but he’s got a petty side to him that I’m sure Tanya appreciated.
“Just when I was starting to like you, Victor.”
His laugh lasts only a fraction of a second, but its effect is instantaneous. Dani holds her free arm out toward the phone as if she’s reaching through it to strangle Victor.
“The car looks like it’s in really good shape. The owner probably took great care of it from the time they bought it,” he adds.
Yeah, he’s definitely getting a kick out of this.
“And if you had to guess, when would you say the owner probably bought this car?”
“Hello, Micah. Glad you two are sticking to the rules. If I had to guess, I’d say the owner probably had that car since they were nineteen. They probably used every dime they saved up from working since they were fourteen to buy that thing. If I had to guess.”
I still have my first car. It’s at my parents’ house for safekeeping. Honestly, the only reason I bought a new car was because Bailey made me. She little-sistered her way into my pockets to buy a brand-new car that she could also drive, so I understand why Tanya kept this baby.
I’m honored she’s leaving it in our care.
“Well, Micah and I were thinking of visiting Newberry Cove, South Carolina. Just feels like the right next step, you know?”
I don’t hear his response because while Dani talks, I slip out to run my hands along the wheel wells.
When I was younger, my granddad used to always hide his spare keys here.
I wonder if Tanya had the same idea. My hand hits metal on the driver’s rear side and I’m able to free the spare from its hiding spot. Bingo.
Sticking the key in the ignition, my eyes close when the engine purrs to life.
What memories did Tanya have in this car?
I can imagine her racing down the beltway with her hair tied up Thelma & Louise–style to keep the wind from destroying it.
Sitting in the driver’s seat makes me feel as though she’s right here next to us.
I tune back in to hear Victor’s next words. “Safe travels, you two. Oh, and if I had to guess, I’d say a car like that probably rides best with the top down.” He hangs up without ceremony.
“That settles it. To Newberry Cove we go,” Dani exclaims.
“Right. I do just wanna say that taking a seven-hour road trip in a fifty-eight-year-old car is a choice.” And maybe not the best one.
Dani raises her brows and chews on her bottom lip.
“Yeah, but the seats feel so nice.” She snorts when I look less than amused. “Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“Remember when you asked what’s the worst that could happen?” I ask as I put the hazards on and work my way to the shoulder of the road.
We got on the road first thing in the morning, and four hours into our drive, just as we were about to get through Lynchburg, Virginia, the car sort of tapped out.
It still moves, but it won’t go any faster than twenty-five miles per hour, which might be fine on back country roads, but not the highway we’re currently on.
Dani grits her teeth as I’m finally able to get to the shoulder. “In my defense, it could definitely be worse. At least it still runs.”
“Yeah, at this speed we could probably get there by tomorrow morning.”
She huffs at my response. “Well, now what?”
A sly grin stretches across my face. “Now, princess, we pop the hood.” I get out and wait for her at the hood of the car, peeking around it when she doesn’t join me.
She sticks her head out the window, her brows knitted in confusion. “I’m sorry, you actually wanted me to join you?”
“Why do you think I said ‘we’?”
“You’ve taken up French in Duolingo? I don’t know!”
The first night we met, we played the assumption game.
We wanted to know everything about each other, and that seemed like the quickest way.
One of her assumptions about me was that I spoke Arabic, which I don’t.
I don’t even remember why she thought that, but I remember how adorable she looked when she was explaining her thought process.
So, first Arabic, now French. She thinks I’m a damn polyglot.
My lack of response works though, and she joins me.
With her lips in a full pout, she asks, “Need me to hold a flashlight?”
“Nope. Just wanted your company.” I practically wheeze at the way her jaw drops.
It takes me a few minutes to realize one of the hose clamps broke in the engine. It’s an easy fix, I just need a new one. The problem is getting one.
I explain the issue to Dani, and she pulls out her phone. “There’s a general store five miles out,” she says softly.
“Okay, why are you saying it like that?” I ask, looking down at her foot tapping on the ground.
“I just don’t love being stuck in a city with the word lynch in it.” She rubs her hand up and down the front of her neck with her lips turned in a frown.
I throw my head back and laugh. “How about this? I can put the hose back in, but it’s just gonna fall back out until we get the part. We can ride with our hazards on until we get to the next acceptably named city.”
She claps and jumps in place. “Yes, please.”
“Oh, fuck off!” Dani shouts to the car beside us. Since we’ve been crawling down the road, cars have been speeding around us, some going about their day and some, like the one on Dani’s side, have taken to honking and flipping us off.
“Idiot,” she whispers to herself as the car finally moves on.
“I didn’t take you for a road-rage person.”
She balks at me. “Please. If you think that was road rage, you’ve never been in a car with Evie. I’ve seen her throw soda cans at cars that pissed her off.”
I chuckle as I make a mental note not to get in a car with Evie behind the wheel. “Fair point. Pass me a peach, please.”
She holds a peach ring up to my mouth and I make a show of biting it.
She shakes her hand as if I bit her too. “Animal.” She turns to look out the window and I catch sight of her weary reflection. “God, it’s been so long since I’ve been on a road trip.”
“Why’s that?” I ask, eager to learn any part of Dani’s story.
She turns to me slowly. “No time. I usually have to get in and get out.”
I run my hand along my beard. Curiosity nicks me like a sharp blade. For someone who sells experiences to the masses, it doesn’t seem like she’s had many experiences that were strictly her own.
“When was your last road trip?”
Her responding smile is laced with memories. “When I was seventeen. Me and my parents drove to Michigan to see the Wolverines play.”
My jaw drops in shock. “You like the Wolverines?”
“My dad does. Me and my mom just like my dad.”
There was a time when I used to imagine Dani’s parents. I used to envision meeting them, growing close to them, knowing them as more than just a passing anecdote.
“And? How was the game?”