Chapter 2
Chapter Two
The Detour
T he relief that I’m not about to be kidnapped is only temporary. I’m about to tell Oliver that I’m trying to stay warm on my way home, but I’m afraid he’ll offer me a ride, and if I’m being honest, I’d rather walk another two and a half miles in the cold than sit in that truck with him.
“None of your business,” I tell him.
I start to walk again, reaching and passing his truck. He jogs up next to me. “It’s freezing out here,” he says, as if I hadn’t noticed. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“Because it was warm earlier. Why are you following me?”
“I just dropped Ryan off. I spotted you while I was driving past, so I came back around to see if you needed a ride.”
“Ugh.” I groan a lot louder than I intend. His brows knit together. “I don’t need a ride. I’m fine.”
“You’re going to get pneumonia.”
“And you’re going to get your truck stolen.” I look back at where he left it. We’re a good distance from it now, and the engine is still running. He follows my gaze, then sighs, and jogs away from me.
Not long after, he pulls his truck up next to me. He doesn’t get out this time. He slows to a crawl and rolls the window down. “Get in, Priscilla. It’s nice and warm in here.”
“No, thanks!” I keep walking, my body protesting my words with a shiver.
“If you don’t get in, I’m just going to drive along next to you like this. You can get rid of me a lot quicker if you let me drive you home.”
I wonder how cold it needs to be for someone’s brain to stop functioning properly, because my legs start to carry me in the direction of his truck against my will.
It’s like my body wants so badly to be warm that it’s overruling my decision to stay out here in the cold.
I climb into the passenger side of his truck and roll the window up.
He has the heat cranked up, so the cab of his truck is toasty.
I hold my hands over the vents, allowing the warm air to thaw my frozen fingers.
“What was that ridiculous dance you were doing out there?” He looks me over as he pulls back onto the road. “You’re not even wearing headphones. Were you just dancing to the sound of the traffic?” He smirks.
I cross my arms, already regretting my decision to get in his truck.
“It’s a good thing I picked you up when I did,” he continues. “You’re a terrible dancer. You would have caused an accident from all the traffic veering off the road just to get away from you.”
“I was trying to stay warm,” I mumble.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to have a conversation, just the two of us,” he says. I eye him distrustfully from my side of the vehicle. “How have you been? Still working as a glorified secretary?”
Of course he would ask about my job on the day I’ve been fired.
It’s like the universe is out to get me, and he always gets the memo that it’s the perfect time to push my buttons.
“I was never a secretary,” I say through my teeth.
“And as a matter of fact, I don’t work there anymore. I just started my own business.”
“Event planner?”
I look over at him, surprised. He’s never taken my job seriously. He thinks he’s better than me because he’s an app developer like Tina and Ryan, so what I do has never been interesting enough for him to remember. I can’t tell if he actually knows what I do, or if this is just another dig.
“How did you guess?”
“You told me that’s what you wanted to do.” He takes his eyes off the road to look at me. It’s dark inside the truck, so I can only see his face when we pass under a streetlight. “You know, back when we used to be friends.”
I scoff. “We were never friends.”
“Ouch. You’re really mean, you know that?”
I watch my apartment complex through the window as we drive past it. It occurs to me that he has no idea where he’s taking me. A petty part of me wants to see how far he’ll keep going before he realizes he’s gone the wrong way.
“New truck, huh? What kind of gas mileage do you get in this thing?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Not much. Maybe sixteen in the city.”
“Oh.” So, not only will he be wasting time, he’ll be wasting money, too. I wonder briefly if my need to inconvenience him outweighs my concern for the environment. “Turn right up here.”
He does as I say, taking us onto a random street. I have no idea where we are.
“Left here.”
He turns left. We reach a main road, and I tell him to turn right again.
“I can’t believe you were going to walk this whole way,” he says. “You’re out of your mind.”
“I would have been fine. Make another right at the light.”
He pulls up to the stoplight and waits as a pedestrian crosses the road, then turns right.
“Ryan told me you were having dinner with him and Tina tonight,” he says. “I was kind of surprised to see that you weren’t there. Are you avoiding me or something?”
He says this with a smirk, like he’s amused by the thought, and the idea that I might be avoiding him is some sort of prize.
My face flushes. “I had things to do.”
“Sure you did.”
I look at him out of the corner of my eye. He’s staring at me instead of the road. “Keep your eye on the road,” I tell him. “You’re going to get us killed.”
“I’m driving ten miles an hour,” he says, eyes still on me.
I point out the windshield and shout, “Pedestrian!”
He slams on the brakes, lurching us forward before he realizes that I’m lying and there’s no one in front of his truck.
A laugh bubbles up from deep within my stomach.
I try to stifle it, but it comes out sounding like an evil cackle.
Oliver glares at me, then turns forward as he starts to drive again.
“ You are going to get us killed,” he says.
“You were only driving ten miles an hour,” I mock him. “Anyway, weren’t you supposed to have dinner with Tina and Ryan, too? I could argue that you were the one trying to avoid me.”
The corner of his mouth curves up. “So you did know I was going to be there.”
I watch him. He must have learned his lesson because he keeps his focus on the road now. It annoys me how perfectly shaped his face is from the side.
“Tina mentioned it when I was on my way out the door.” It’s not the whole truth, but it’s close enough. “I can’t imagine you had anything better to do if you’re wasting your time driving me home.”
He turns to look at me. I wonder if I could get him to slam on his brakes again.
“See, your reason for implying that I’m avoiding you is flawed,” he says. “I went out of my way to stop and pick you up.”
He has a point, but I don’t want to tell him he’s right and let him win this round.
We reach the end of a cul-de-sac. He parks his truck next to the curb. “Is this where you live?”
We both look up at the huge colonial-style house sitting on top of a hill on a two-acre property.
I wish I lived here. I’m tempted to tell him that this is my house because I have no explanation for why I made him drive me here, but if I get out of the car right now, I’ll be forced to find my way home from here. In the cold.
I pull my gaze away from the house to look at him. “No.”
He looks over his shoulder. “Did I make a wrong turn? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You made several wrong turns. I have no idea where we are right now.”
He frowns, but the corner of his lip twitches. If I didn’t know any better, I might think he’s trying to fight a smile. “What the hell, Priscilla? I was following your directions.”
“You were driving too fast and you passed my apartment complex before I could tell you where to turn. I tried to turn us around, but your headlights are too dim and now I don’t know where we are.”
He looks back at the house ahead of us, which is fully illuminated by his headlights. “My lights are too dim, huh?”
I shrug. “You should probably get them fixed.”
He puts the car in drive and turns us around, heading back to the road we just came from.
“What street do you live on?” he asks.
I tell him, and he takes us there. As he pulls into my parking lot, I feel a weird pang of regret.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m heading back to the quietness of my empty apartment, or maybe it’s because I lost my job today and everything is changing.
I tell him which building is mine, and he pulls into one of the parking spaces at the front.
I hesitate. I’m not ready to get out yet.
“Thanks for the ride.” I have to force the words out. Thanking him doesn’t come naturally to me, but he did go out of his way to take me home.
“Any time.” He says it so casually that he almost sounds sincere.
I reach for the door handle, but I pause when something in his cupholder catches my eye. It’s a small black velvet box—the type expensive jewelry comes in. I look up from the box, to him, and back to the box. He follows my gaze, and then we both just stare at each other for a moment.
“What’s this?”
I reach for the box at the same time as he does, but I get to it first. He tries to pull it out of my hand, but I snatch it back and open the box. The ring inside has the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen. I gasp and look back at him.
“You’re getting engaged?” I can’t explain the feeling that comes over me.
I don’t know why the thought of Oliver getting engaged upsets me so much.
I tell myself that it’s because Tina just told me he isn’t dating anyone, and now I feel like I’ve been lied to even though his relationship status is none of my business. “I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”
“I’m not.” He snaps the box closed and takes it out of my hand. “I’m holding onto it for… a friend.”
The way he hesitates before finishing his sentence tells me everything I need to know. “Ryan,” I blurt.
I can tell by the look on his face that I’m right. He sighs. “You can’t say anything to Tina.”
“He’s planning to propose? When?”
“He hasn’t decided when yet. He just asked me to hold onto the ring so that she doesn’t find it.”
“And you decided to keep that thing in your car? It had to cost at least ten grand.”
“More than that. He just bought it today. I’ll keep it locked up safely at home.”
For a moment, I’m amazed at how both Ryan and Tina just decided today that they want to propose to each other.
But then I think about what that means. If Ryan proposes first, then Tina doesn’t get to see her dream of following in her mother’s footsteps come to life.
I have to make sure that Tina proposes first without giving away Ryan’s secret.
I also can’t tell Oliver what Tina’s plan is, because I don’t know if I can trust him to keep a secret from Ryan.
“You look like you’re in shock,” Oliver says.
“I am, a little bit. This is exciting. Tina is going to be so… surprised.”
“Seriously. Don’t tell her. Ryan will kick my ass.”
“I won’t.”
Needing to be alone with my thoughts, I hop out of the truck and let myself into my apartment.
I drop myself onto the couch—dark blue, not white leather like Tina’s—and think about the rollercoaster that was today.
As the quiet of my apartment settles in around me, I find myself wishing I had a roommate.
I turn on the TV just to make this place feel a little less lonely.
I slip my hand into my back pocket, but I don’t feel the piece of paper that I’m looking for.
I sit up and reach into my other pocket. It’s empty.
Shit . I lost the check.