“So,” Liam continues finally. “After I merged onto the I-10, the truck brake-checked me, not knowing there was an undercover cop to our left.”
“Did the cop pull him over?” Marisol asks. She’s given up staring at me, but I’ll be getting interrogated later, probably over the phone after the kids go to bed with Andrew half listening in. That’s how most of our conversations go.
“Sure did.”
I’m the best-behaved dinner guest for the rest of the meal. Even when Bea licks the salt off of her peas and then stealthily rolls them across the table to land under my plate while staring me down. She really is a little terrorist. I love her.
After dessert, a cake with zucchini and summer squash baked into it, I’m ready to say my goodbyes and drive home.
I give the kids within my reach a squeeze and thank Marisol for dinner. She tries to give me leftovers, but Kambryn is a fridge-cleaning nut on Saturday mornings. She’ll throw them out before I can eat them. Plus, if they end up at Liam’s, I’m all set anyway. I’m more likely to eat them there.
“I’ll call you later, okay?” Marisol whispers.
“Do I have a choice?”
She glances behind me to where Liam and Andrew are busy working on the dishes. “No.”
“Fabulous.”
“Am I driving home with you?” Callie asks, wrapping her arms around my waist. “I want to stay a few more minutes. Bea is going to feed her scorpion.”
I’m definitely not staying for that. “You’re gonna drive home with your dad. Have fun, and I’ll see you bright and early on Monday.”
“Okay.” She lets me go and takes off down the hall that leads to the bedrooms.
Outside, the stars are starting to appear as the sky grows dark. There’s only a sliver of a moon. Kambryn probably has plans tonight. She’ll drag Aubrey along with her. That means I can go home and take a bubble bath with a book. A quick check at my messages confirms it.
Kambryn: Hey, lady. Gavin wants Thai food. We’re gonna try that new place on Third. Don’t watch the new episode without me! Aubrey says she’ll wait on us, too. She’s at her brother’s house tonight.
Kambryn and Aubrey are obsessed with a Polish TV show about a murderer on a cruise ship full of rich teens on summer holiday, and they’ve converted me, despite the bad dubbing. New episodes drop every Friday. It’s better when we get to make fun of it and be creeped out together. I won’t watch it without them.
I get into my car and put my seatbelt on. Only, when I start up the car, it doesn’t turn over. It doesn’t even try. All I get is a click.
“No.” I squeeze the steering wheel, sending all the good vibes I can muster. But I already know it’s not going to start for me. It’s been hesitating all week, and I told myself I wasn’t turning the keys right or something, when actually, my battery was rapidly dying. It’s been a hot summer. I should have known.
I give it a few more tries, just to cement my disappointment,and then rest my head in defeat on the steering wheel and try to talk myself into going back inside. I’m not convinced I should. Wallowing sounds great right now. My stomach is full and satisfied. I have a sad Lewis Capaldi song stuck in my head. I don’t even mind the heat of the car. Andrew likes his house the temperature of a meat locker.
“Rosalie?”
“Yeah.” Liam probably can’t hear me since I murmured it into my arms draped across the steering wheel, and I could barely hear him calling out to me.
The passenger-side door opens and he gets in. As usual, he smells great, which is just… great.
“What’s the matter?” he asks.
I raise my head and turn to look at him. He has his serious face on, his problem-solving face. I’m not offended. I am definitely in need of a problem-solver right now. And if he’s going to study me so intently, it means I can study him right back. He has a little cleft in his chin I’ve always wanted to run my thumb over. I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance. “Car won’t start. Pretty sure I have a dead battery.”
“It’s fine. We’ll drive you home.”
“Thanks.” In my head, Kambryn is cackling and rubbing her hands together. The universe is conspiring against me.
“Or, if you want, we can go grab a battery right now and see if that fixes it. I’m pretty sure O’Reilly’s stays open until ten.”
I like this plan. I’m very much on board. “Yes. Let’s do that.”
“Okay, let me just go tell everyone where we’re going.” He tosses me his keys. “You wanna drive?”
I shake my head no, though I love that he asked. While he’s inside, I get out and go sit in the passenger seat of his Volvo S90, setting his key fob on the console. We transferred Callie’s booster seat earlier and it looks ridiculous in here, a contrast of fuzzy pink material against sleek, expensive cream-colored leather. When I first started working for Liam, I felt a little like that booster seat. But he makes me feel like I fit in. I did update my wardrobe, though. It was that or take up Esther on her offer of a makeover. Fear is a great motivator.