by B. Cranford
My heart ached at the wobbly cadence of her voice. At my back, the warmth of Rowan coming to stand beside me helped the fog to clear, letting me see for the first time that Willa looked . . . not good.
Insecurities not forgotten but cast aside in the wake of something way more important—the health of my sister—I grabbed her hand. “Are you okay?”
Her eyes shifted over my shoulder toward Rowan, his hands resting lightly—comfortingly—on my shoulders. “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said, avoiding my question in a very Willa-like way. “I should’ve maybe gone to Simon’s instead, huh?”
Shaking my head and tightening my hold on her hand when she tried to pull loose, I moved closer to her, momentarily mourning the loss of Rowan’s reassuring warmth. “No way. Who knows what you’d walk in on there.”
Her laugh eased the mood that had descended since Rowan had unlocked the door, just as I had hoped it would if I reminded her of her friends, Simon and Aaron’s antics. She nodded, her eyebrow lifting. “Ain’t that the truth? I’m still scarred from seeing Simon with his lips around Aaron’s—”
“I’m Rowan,” Rowan announced, cutting off a story I knew ended with Aaron being brazen, Willa egging him on, Simon lamenting the whole thing.
How the man found himself with a best friend and husband who rivaled each other in shamelessness and innuendo, I’ll never know. At least his life would never be boring.
“I’m Willa, and I swear, I was going to say finger.” My sister held out a hand, grinning at my poor dentist, who looked a little shell-shocked. Not that I can blame him. He thought he was going to get laid and got a glimpse in the whirlwind life of my sister instead. “I heard you have the worst driver’s license photo in all the world.”
“It’s true.”
“Can I see it?”
“Not a chance.”
Willa let out a dramatic sigh. “I’m hurt.”
“Are you?” His voice changed, taking on a seriousness that told me he’d heard my sister say the new guy was not what she’d been expecting—and the slight tremble when she’d said it too. I wanted to melt back into him, that note of caring that he’d displayed for my beloved sister, the woman who’d basically just cock blocked him, giving my heart yet another reason to flutter for him.
“Not physically,” Willa replied, the tremble returning to her voice as she gave him a wobbly smile. “But I like that you asked.”
He nodded, saying nothing more, so I chose that moment to try to move things along—and out of my entryway. I sensed that she needed time and privacy before she’d confess what happened, so I found a way to give it to her, while also trying again to face my biggest fear. “Come on, we can’t stand here all day. I have a driving lesson to finish.”
Willa gaped at me, while Rowan cleared his throat. They spoke at the same time.
“Lenny? You’re learning to drive?”
“Are you sure you want to try again now?”
Shaking my head and offering a quiet plea to the gods that be, I pulled my shoulders back and tried to channel the woman who’d dyed her hair purple and ridden the Tornado and gotten dirty with a stranger in an abandoned parking lot. “I am.”
“You are what? I don’t want there to be any confusion.” Rowan settled his hand on my waist, making me turn to smile up at him.
“I’m ready to try again. I probably won’t get distracted by, you know, you this time.”
“I’m sensing a story here,” Willa interjected, sailing past us and out the door. “You can tell me in the car.”
Sucking in a long, deep breath, I turned the key in the ignition and let the car rumble to life around me. It had been so long since I’d felt it—a sensation that was vastly different from the driver’s seat than the passenger’s.
You can do this, I thought.
“You can totally do this,” Willa confirmed as if she’d read my mind. “I know you can.” Her hand reached over from the backseat, the three of us having driven back to the now-familiar parking lot with Rowan driving and me giving my twin an update on my summer to-do list.
“Thanks.” I chanced a look back at her, attempting a wobbly grin. “I’m just a bit nervous.”
Beside me, Rowan laughed. “Just a bit.” Looking over at me, he locked his eyes on mine, making a wave of . . . I don’t know exactly—maybe safety?—wash over me. “You don’t have to go fast. Or far. Just put the car in drive like we talked about and ease your foot onto the accelerator. The idea is to get you moving, get the first drive out of the way, so it’s not such a tall mountain to scale. So to speak.”
I nodded my understanding, squeezing my right hand open and closed, open and closed, a few times before finally letting it rest on the gearstick. Rowan’s car was, like most, an automatic, so there wasn’t anything complicated about getting started.
No clutch. No five-speed gears to shift around.
Put it in drive and ease your foot onto the accelerator.
“So proud of you, Len.” A whisper of confidence from the backseat. All I needed was to take one last, long breath, and do exactly what Rowan had told me.
Sort of.
We lurched forward as my foot hit the accelerator, far harder than the “gently” we’d talked about. The urge to scream, slam on the brakes, cry—fall all the damn way apart—threatened to overtake me, but Rowan’s warm hand on mine where I was once more white-knuckling the steering wheel calmed me.
He calmed me.
Lifting my foot ever so slightly, I kept us moving forward at a snail’s pace until we reached the end of the row, where I slowly turned the wheel until I’d executed a U-turn and was heading back to where we, I, started.
I’m driving. I’m actually freaking driving a car!
Goose bumps raised on my arms. A shiver of awareness and excitement accompanied by the same rush of adrenaline I’d gotten from riding the roller coasters at Island Heights gave me the courage I needed to go a little faster, a little faster. Until I was speeding past our starting point at a whole twenty miles per hour.
Granted, not exactly the speed of light, or even the statutory speed limit inside the city limits. But. I. Was. Driving, and somewhere in the recesses of my mind, Gale was reminding me to live, and I wanted desperately to tell her I was.
I finally was.
Willa spun around to face me the moment the door closed behind Rowan. “Tell me everything, right now.”
Attempting indifference, I made an eh face and said, “There’s nothing much to tell.”
“Nothing much to tell?” she scoffed. “He was all over you when you guys walked, sorry, stumbled in together. If I hadn’t made myself known, I’d have had a front row seat for the live-action porno that no one wants to see—the one starring their sister.”
It was my turn to scoff. “Oh, come on. We weren’t that bad.” I thought back. “In fact, we weren’t even touching when you ‘made yourself known.’”
Face alight with glee, she pointed at me. “No, but I got you thinking about it, which means there was touching and smooching and wicked intentions right before that door opened, and you two stepped inside.”
Uh. She’d got me there. But whatever. “There’s still nothing to tell. He came by to help me with my driving and . . .”
“Decided to take you for a different kind of ride?”
“You can innuendo better than that, Wils. That’s entry-level.”
“Heh. Entry-level.” Wiggling brows aimed at me, she added, “Fine, it was not my best. What about this? He got your motor running. Offered to dip his stick and check your oil. Cranked your ignition. Fuel injection? Pistons? There’s some good stuff coming, I can feel it.”
“Please stop. Please.”
“Only if you tell me what’s going o-on,” she sang.
“Fine. I will. But first, let’s talk about what you’re doing here.”
Her eyes darted away, a blush appearing between one heartbeat and the next. Whatever was going on with her had left her upset and humili
ated.
Not just embarrassed. I knew my sister, and she didn’t blush when merely embarrassed. She was too ballsy and brash for that.
But downright humiliation? Oh yeah, she was blusher.
“Willa?”
“You should call him,” she announced abruptly, “to, you know, thank him for today or whatever. Apologize for me. I need to shower and unpack a couple of things, so I’ll give you some privacy.”
Translation: I need some time before I talk about what happened.
I wasn’t happy about it but, deciding to go along with it because it was what she was (indirectly) asking for and because I did want to touch base with Rowan, I allowed her to wander off toward the bathroom.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I thought about what I wanted to say. Deciding to K.I.S.S.—keep it simple, stupid—I tapped out a brief message to Rowan.
Me: Thank you for being so patient with me.
I waited a whole ten seconds before realizing he was driving and wouldn’t be able to text. Unless he was breaking the road rules and isn’t that what every driving-phobic woman wants in her instructor-slash-love interest?
Love-interest? Yikes. Never using that expression again.
Me: I know you’re driving and can’t reply. I just wanted to make sure you knew how grateful I am. What you did for me today—I can’t explain how incredible it feels to know I did it.
There, that should do it. I’d made clear how high I was still flying from the experience of being behind the wheel. Yes, I still had a long way to go, but I was on the path.
Thanks to Rowan.
My phone vibrated. A call, not a text. Anyone looking at me right then would be forgiven for thinking I’d won the lottery, so big was my smile.
Because he was calling.
“Hello?”
“Challenger.” His voice sounded slightly tinny, echoey. “You’re welcome.”
“I didn’t mean to distract you.” I nibbled my lower lip, trying hard not to let death-scenarios form in my mind.
“I stopped for gas. I’m in the car but not on the road right now.”
Relief speared me. “Okay, good. I’m glad.”
“Everything okay?” he asked, proving not for the first time that he was intuitive and caring and—the image of him out of his mind with desire, yelling at me to get out of the car, resurfaced.
I grinned. And barely suppressed a moan.
I’d wanted him so badly—and still did. “It will be,” I answered, deciding that being upfront was the kind of brave I wanted to infuse into my everyday life. “Once I get to see you again.”
“And when will that be?” His gravelly voice held an edge I recognized as impatience. It was such a turn-on to think of him impatient for me that I had to suppress another moan.
I was becoming wanton. And I liked it.
“I don’t know.” Sadly. “I’m not sure how long Willa will be here, and I get the sense she’s in trouble. Or, if not in trouble, then something’s hurt her. I need to be here for her.”
“I understand.” He did—that much was evident despite the tinny quality of the call. Maybe because he had sisters himself, or maybe because he was just a good guy. Either way, when he said, “Call me when you can,” it was all I could do not to beg him to come back, sister or not.
“I will.” And, because I could tell he was leading up to saying goodbye, I decided to tell him the one thing I felt like he needed and deserved to know. “Rowan? The only thing more difficult than fighting my bucket list of fears was saying goodbye to you tonight, after being interrupted, not knowing when I’d see you next.”
“Hard same, Challenger. Very hard.”
Chapter Ten
Rowan
“You’re heading out?”
I looked over my shoulder at Sailor, my sister and business partner. “Hey, I didn’t know you were still here.”
“Finishing up some paperwork, then Mom called. You know how she can get once she gets going.” She gave me a look that I returned—anyone with a sibling knows the look. It’s the one you share when you agree that someone is being, ah, a little trying.
“What did she want?” I asked while silently pledging fealty to whoever had spared me from answering that call. No doubt she’d called the office line, not Sailor’s cell, knowing one of us would have to answer if we were here this late in the day.
My sister did an uncanny impersonation of our mother, which she demonstrated for me then. “Have you spoken to your brother about what’s going on with him? Something’s going on with him, and I’m worried. You don’t think it’s drugs, do you?”
My eyebrows practically vacated my forehead, my eyes widening. “She does not seriously think I’m doing drugs? What the fuck, Sail?”
Her reply was a shake of the head and a shrug. The fact was, there was no accounting for the flights of fancy our mother sometimes took. “I told her it was a girl, and she forgot all about the article she read last week that detailed the—and I quote—‘harrowing descent into addiction, arson, and insurance fraud of a dentist up north.’”
I pulled my glasses off, rubbing my eyes to ward off a sudden headache. “Jesus Christ. Wait, how do you know there’s a girl?”
The look she gave me this time wasn’t a shared one; it was one that told me I was fooling no one. And really, I should have known Sailor would figure out what was happening the moment I’d left work before lunchtime the other day.
I’d never done that before, but I couldn’t help myself when it came to Lenny.
Sailor’s next words confirmed my thinking. “You might be a couple of years older, Row, but you’re definitely not smarter than me. Did you really think I wouldn’t realize you’d left early on Monday?”
Armed with a sheepish expression, I looked over at my sister and smiled. “I knew you’d realize. Obviously. And I definitely wasn’t trying to sneak out of here.”
“Uh-huh, that’s why our receptionist jumped at least four feet in the air when I walked in on her explaining to one of your patients over the phone that you’d have to reschedule.”
“Have you looked in a mirror lately? I’d jump too if you snuck up on me.”
A miniature toothpaste smacked me in the middle of the chest, and I caught it before it hit the floor. “It was a joke, jeez. No need to assault me.”
“Yeah, right. No wonder Marina risked her job to saddle you with that stupid photo.”
I made a show of grumbling, even though I’d made my peace with my stupid license and was begrudgingly proud of Marina for pulling off that prank. “Anyway.”
“Anyway, what? Are you going to tell me about her? Your girlfriend?”
Mercifully, my phone rang, giving me a reason to wave off my sister—although I was sure the conversation was merely postponed and not avoided altogether. “I’m out of here. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” I swiped the screen, smiling when I saw Lenny’s name. “Hey, Challenger, give me one second.”
“Challenger? Oooooh, cute nickname.” Sailor made a kissy face, which earned her a middle finger from me as I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. “See you tomorrow, big brother.”
Her laughter followed me as I walked through the reception area, apologizing to Lenny for making her wait.
“Was that your sister?” she asked, amused. “It definitely sounded like a sister.”
I grinned. “Yeah, that was Sailor. She likes to think she knows everything.”
“Wait, wait. Your sister’s name is Sailor?”
“It is,” I replied, already knowing where this was going.
“And you’re Rowan. Row, for short.” She snickered, which I didn’t blame her for, honestly. “What’s your other sister’s name? Yacht? Catamaran?”
“Actually, it’s Marina.”
“I’m not laughing,” she said while clearly laughing. “Because it’s not funny. It’s a lovely theme for your names.”
“You don’t have to lie, sweetheart. We all know it’s ridiculous.”
>
“Oar you sure?” she asked, nearly choking on another giggle.
“I sea what you did there.”
A loud snicker, followed by a hiccup. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” She took a couple of deep breaths, before breaking into a fresh round of giggles. “This conversation totally buoyed my spirits.“
Shifting my phone so that I could pin it between my cheek and shoulder while I locked the door to my practice—Sailor was alone in there, I wasn’t going to leave her vulnerable—I laughed with Lenny as she slowly calmed down, letting some of the tension from the past few days settle. Once she was no longer breaking into new fits of amusement, I asked her the question I was dying to know the answer to. “Is Willa still with you?”
It had been a long day—I was still catching up on patients I’d rescheduled earlier in the week—but as tired as I was, if Lenny said that her sister had headed back home to Las Vegas, I’d have driven the three hours to see her, no question.
“She’s flying out tomorrow.” A pause. A pause that was loaded with tension because I hadn’t seen her since her successful driving lesson, and although I’d had fun talking with the two of them, getting to know them together, I really wanted to be alone with Lenny.
To finish what we’d started that day.
Three days with blue balls was not what I’d envisioned when I’d demanded she get out of my car and into her house.
“I have news.”
Lenny’s words snapped my attention back to her, and away from . . . well, her. Gripping my phone again, I strode over to my car, remembering the way Lenny’s face had looked when she’d finally stopped after doing at least twenty-five laps of the parking lot. Never over twenty miles an hour and usually slower than that, but still.
She’d done it.
“You went driving again. Without me.” I pretend pouted, although she couldn’t see me.
“Nope. Try again.”
“You crossed ‘apply to a dating reality show’ off your list,” I said as I hopped into my car, pulling the door closed behind me, “and were accepted as the next Bachelorette.”