Price
SIXTEEN
There were two cars in my driveway, and I hated both of them.
The first was a rental that Cam had been driving during his pregnancy. It smelled of fake pine, and my beast complained, saying nothing could best the scent of a pine forest.
The car was suitable to drive our three kids to and from school and Cam wherever he wanted to go.
When we went out as a family, we drove my sedan, with its sleek lines and leather seats.
I adored it, and some nights before Cam came into my life, I’d go to the garage just to trail my fingers along the side, sit inside, and inhale that leather smell.
You love it like Cam loves his car.
Huh? When did you get so perceptive?
The second car, the one my beast was talking about which never made it into the garage, was Cam’s rusty hatchback, parked in the only way he knew how, at an angle. He hadn’t driven it in ages and refused to sell it.
Won’t it be squished with four children? my dragon grumbled.
Exactly.
The rental was a temporary solution because I wanted to buy a new one and Cam refused to give up his current car. Our compromise was the rental when his belly got so big that he had to grip the roof and ease into the driver’s seat.
But neither of us would have the time or the energy to buy a car when we had a newborn and three other children. The big decision had to be made now.
“I think it’s time we talked about getting a new car.”
Cam was cutting Jack's toast into soldiers so he could dip it in his runny egg.
“The rental’s fine.”
“Babe, we’ll have four kids and you. How will you fit in that...” Cam side-eyed me, “that car you’ve loved and tended so carefully for years?”
“It has seats, Price. And four wheels, a steering wheel. You made sure it was safe to drive. ”
I couldn’t disagree with that reasoning. But it was old, and it had a unique smell which the kids liked, saying it was a mixture of Cam, burned fabric, and deodorant.
But as I drank my coffee and Bea debated whether she’d give up the violin and learn the piano, there was a loud whining and scrunching from outside the open kitchen window. It sounded as though a metal object had a tummy ache. This was followed by a thud and crash.
“What was that?” Cam did a 180 turn holding a knife. The peanut butter coating the knife flew across the island, and the kids and I ducked before it splattered on a cupboard door.
We all raced to the window and stared at the car we’d been discussing.
Oh, maybe it heard you, my dragon suggested.
Mmmm, was the car throwing a tantrum?
“That’s not good,” Isla observed. “Poor Berty.”
Jack waved to the car and said, “We’ll make you better.”
But my mate frowned and asked if I’d messed with it.
“No.” I took him in my arms. “I know how much you care about Berty, and I would never intentionally destroy him.”
He rested his head on my chest. “That car got me through hard times, and I refuse to give it away just because I no longer have to count every cent.”
Jack tugged Cam’s oversized pregnancy shirt. “One, two, three, four, five. There are five scents here, Camcam. I can count them.”
Cam laughed and kissed our son’s head. “You’re right, and I count them every day making sure they’re all close by.”
My mate pulled back and cupped my face. “Okay to a new car, but not okay to sell mine. We keep it and Bea can learn to drive in it when she’s old enough.”
“Bea gets a car?” Isla folded her arms. “Do I get one too?”
“You can all learn to drive in Cam’s car.” I doubted it’d be in one piece by the time Jack was sixteen.
It’s not in one piece now, my beast noted.
The whole family went to the dealership, but Jack climbed into the first vehicle on the lot, thinking it was ours, and Isla vetoed every color, saying our family needed something that reflected our personality.
She dismissed one, saying, “That one looks angry.”
The cheerful salesman, Nigel, who attached himself to us was human, and he talked of cupholders and sunroofs and how great all the cars were.
“Aren’t new cars supposed to work?” Bea stared at the guy. “Isn’t that the point of a new car?”
That shut him up for five seconds as he pretended to wipe off a speck on a windscreen.
Cam wandered around, cradling his bump and asking the baby which car they liked. “You’ll be spending a lot of time in it with your sisters and brother.”
Leaving the children to argue about a back seat screen and heated seats, I placed a hand on my mate’s hip. “This is hard for you.”
“It’s forcing me to let go of something that was my security blanket. I lived in Berty for a month.”
This was me making his life harder than it needed to be. “We’ll keep your car as long as you want.”
He turned and his belly brushed over my middle. “No. It’s time to let him go.” He tapped my lips. “With a baby on the way, three kids, and a roof over our heads, we’re very lucky.”
He sniffed, and I brushed away a tear as it trickled over his cheek. “You don’t have to.”
“I know.” He sighed. “Get the fender fixed and anything else that needs doing. I’ll give Berty to one of my old college friends who’s having a hard time and taking public transport to job interviews.”
Jack was bored and hiding under a car while asking Nigel to find him, but poor Nigel was fussing over a smudge the girls had left when they leaned on another car.
“Okay, can we vote on which color we want?” I wanted us out of here and doing something fun. We still had a few items remaining on our “to buy before the baby arrives” list
The three kids and Cam put up both hands. “I voted.” We all stared at one another and laughed. I wasn’t the only one who needed this car business to be over.
“The gray. It’s modern and kinda mysterious.” Isla pointed to the in-stock model.
“Done.”
An hour later we were in said car but couldn’t move because the kids were negotiating who would sit where.
“We need a seating plan,” Bea suggested.
“Can we all find a temporary seat and you can do that when we get home?” Cam had the I’m tired of lugging around this big belly look.
Jack climbed in the far back but negotiated for the middle seat on the left. “That’s for the baby.”
The girls looked at one another and shrugged. “Okay,” Isla agreed.
“Nobody but the baby can sit there.” Cam reached across the console and slid his hand into mine.
“How many scents do we have?” Cam glanced at the kids
“Five,” everyone shouted.
“And soon to be six.”