Chapter 27
I turned my key in the ignition for the fifth time, and like the four other times before it, my car let out a choking sound that faded into nothingness.
My bags for the weekend in Paso were in the trunk and I was ready to go.
Of course my car would choose now to die on me.
After I’d just boasted to Oliver that she had never let me down.
I picked up my phone and dialed my dad’s number.
“Hello, love,” was how he answered.
“Hi, Dad. I’m going to let you listen to a sound and you are going to try to guess what it means.”
“Ooh, I love this game,” he said. “Okay, ready.”
I held my phone away from my ear, put him on speaker, and turned the key again.
“Um…” he said as though seriously pondering. “The beginning of a song? A dying cat?”
“It’s my car. What do you think it means?”
“Did you mistake me for your dad who is a mechanic?”
“No, but I thought I’d have a better chance with you than Mom.”
“Because I’m a man?” he asked.
“Because you drive an older car that I assume has broken down more.”
“True,” he said. “But I have no clue.”
I groaned. “How would you like to let me borrow a car this weekend to drive four hours away?”
“When would you need it?”
“Now? And I’d need you to drive here and drop it off.”
“Oh, hon, you know I’d do anything for you.”
“If the word but comes next in that sentence then I don’t know that,” I teased.
He laughed. “I’m sorry. Your mom is running errands all day in our only reliable car.”
“No, it’s okay, I understand. I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Good luck.”
I could rent a car, but that would render the moneymaking aspect of this weekend pointless. I dialed another number.
“Hi,” he answered after a few rings, a smile in his voice. “How are you?”
“Meh. Do you know anything about cars?” I hadn’t seen Oliver since Tuesday.
We’d exchanged texts every day and I felt like we’d fallen right back into the friendship we’d had for the past several weeks, like I hadn’t confessed my like for him three days ago.
I tried not to think about how sad that made me feel.
“Because I’m a man?”
I snorted out some air. “You are the second person to say that to me today.”
“I was your second call?”
“My dad was my first. Sloane would’ve been my second but she’s out of town at a film festival.” Her car parked at the airport forty-five minutes away, useless to me. “You’re my third choice.”
“Ouch,” he responded.
“Listen closely.” I turned the ignition.
“Battery?” he said. It was obviously a guess. “Starter? I don’t know, Margot. I’m pretty useless in the car knowledge department.”
“You don’t have an extra car that I can borrow for the weekend lying around, do you?”
“Only one that comes with me attached to it.”
I paused, staring at the logo in the middle of the steering wheel, assessing his sentence. “Are you offering to take me?”
“Where exactly?”
“I’m doing a research trip to Paso Robles for an author.”
“Oh… I…”
His hesitation spoke volumes. We were obviously in two completely different places. I wasn’t going to beg someone to like me back. My eyes stung and I blinked several times, trying not to be hurt over this. “Never mind. You don’t have to take me, Oliver.”
“Can I get back to you? If I can move one thing on my schedule, I will.”
My heart thudded twice and I wanted to say Yes, please , but I heard myself say, “No, I can’t let you do that,” instead.
“How else am I going to get my coffee fix?”
“This favor is worth more than a coffee,” I said.
“Two coffees?” he asked.
“This is worth a weekend of favors. I will provide as many as you like,” I said, a smirk coming onto my face.
“You’re terrible,” he said.
“I don’t know where your mind went. I meant that I’d buy you food all weekend.”
He laughed. “I’ll call you back.”
“Okay… thank you,” I said, realizing he really was my only hope to make this happen. And his willingness to do it made me think that maybe we were closer to the same place than I thought. Maybe time really was what he needed.
I threw my small suitcase in his open trunk, shut it, then joined him in the car with my backpack. His car was pretty—a Lexus, with leather seats and fancy gadgets and screens.
“This is a new car,” I said, running my hand over the tan dash. “Not the one I have a history with.”
“You had a history with my car?” he teased.
“Yes, we were good together. So. Good. He held me up when I needed support. Cradled my ass perfectly.”
He laughed. “Hopefully you and this car will get along just as well.”
“We can test that out right now.” I patted the console as if assessing its capabilities.
He nodded toward the screen. “How about we start with an address. See if it can handle that much.”
I gave him the address and he entered it in as I buckled my seat belt.
“I packed snacks.” He pointed to a bag on the floorboard behind his seat. “If you’re a road-trip-snacks type of woman.”
“Is there any other type of woman?” I lifted my backpack. “I also brought snacks. Should we see if our snacking tastes match up?”
He pulled out onto the road as the robotic voice of his navigation system prompted him to turn right at the end of the street. “Yes, reveal your snacks.”
I pulled out a bag of kettle-cooked salt-and-vinegar potato chips. “First must-have.”
“Not surprised by your choice in flavor.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Very bold, is all.”
“I like bold.” I pulled out the next offering.
“Licorice?” he asked.
“Red Vines, specifically.”
“Staple,” he said.
“And finally, so much chocolate.” I pulled out a bag of Reese’s mini cups, some milk chocolate Dove Promises, and some Rolos.
“Are we going to be celebrating cavities by the end of the weekend?”
“I have excellent teeth-brushing habits. What did you bring?”
He blindly reached behind him, feeling around for his snack bag.
“I’ll get it. You concentrate on driving.”
“I can do both at the same time.”
I slapped his hand away and picked up the bag, then reached in to reveal his first offering. A bag of veggie straws. “What in the healthy-living hell is this?”
“They are healthy and delicious.” His other options were similar: raw almonds, banana chips, and coconut granola clusters.
“This is how you keep your body looking like it does, isn’t it? My website thanks you.”
He chuckled. “How do you explain how yours looks so good?”
My cheeks warmed with the compliment. “You haven’t seen me half naked, and until you do, you might want to keep those compliments to yourself.”
“I’ve felt a lot of you and I stand by my compliment,” he said in a low voice.
My eyebrows popped up. Oliver had obviously decided to put all his worries about us away for the weekend or maybe he worked something out in his head over the last couple days, took his mom’s advice, because flirty Oliver was back. This thought made my chest expand. “Does your car have a name?”
“The car,” he said, straight-faced.
“Very creative,” I returned. “I’ll think of something better by the end of the trip.”
“Do you road-trip a lot?” he asked.
“Not much. You?”
“I’ve done my fair share. Growing up, my parents made it a mission to take us to as many national parks as possible.”
“That’s cool. I’ve only been to a few. What are your top three favorite?”
“Yosemite, Zion, and Glacier,” he said like he’d answered that question a hundred times. Maybe it was a first-date go-to.
“I’ve never been to any of those.”
“You’ve never been to Yosemite? You live in California!”
“I’ve been to Joshua Tree.”
He laughed. “Are you claiming that’s the same thing?”
“No, I’m claiming I’ve been to at least one national park in California so you don’t think I’m uncultured.”
“Are you trying to impress me?” he asked.
“Only if it’s working,” I said.
At one point I had thought Oliver was easy to read, but I had been fooling myself, because I had no idea what he was thinking.
My phone buzzed in my backpack with an email notification. I reached for it to make sure it wasn’t Kari with some last-minute instructions.
It wasn’t Kari.
“Another query,” I said.
“Number two?”
“This actually makes five.”
“Five? That’s great!”
“Yes,” I said. “It is pretty great.”
“Any promising candidates?”
“So far, no.” I held up my phone. “But maybe it’s this one. I should read it. Do you want to hear it?”
“Yes,” Oliver said. “Desperately.”
Those words made me want to kiss him all over again. I turned my attention back to my phone. “Okay, get ready to be blown away by a love story.”