by KG MacGregor
“No taking it out of LA without permission,” Lily added. “And no letting anyone else drive it—including Jonah.”
“Especially Jonah,” Anna said.
“Cross my heart.” He gestured with an X over his chest, then clasped his hands in prayer before finishing with something that looked like Scout’s honor.
“Your mom and I talked it over, Andy,” Lily said. “To be honest, we didn’t see eye to eye on which car to get. See, my first car was an eight-year-old Toyota Tercel. My mom bought it for me when I turned sixteen so I could go to my job after school. It wasn’t much to look at but it got me where I needed to go. Whereas your mom…”
“My first was a brand new M3 Cabrio convertible, Diamond Black. Really hot stuff. Your Aunt Kim got one too. You’d have loved hers—Misano Red. Dad wanted us to drive them to school so the other kids would be envious and get their parents to buy them one too. And it worked. We sold a bunch.”
Lily sighed and shook her head. “You guys…there’s never an off switch when it comes to selling Bimmers. Andy, I told your mom I didn’t think a sixteen-year-old has—”
“I’m seventeen in two months.”
“I don’t think teenagers have earned the right to drive fancy new cars unless they’ve worked for them.”
Georgie and Eleanor ate in silence but it was clear they were listening, as if storing the information for the conversations they’d have six or seven years from now when it was their turn to drive. Lily was big on fairness, though Anna had convinced her a car meant far more to Andy than it likely would to Georgie or Eleanor. They had their own passions.
“You know what I said to that, pal? I told her you’ve been working at the dealership since you were this high.” Anna held out a hand. “You wipe down the cars in the showroom without even being asked. You run errands for Uncle Hal and me, you keep the media room clean. All that and you’ve never gotten paid.”
“And sometimes I help wash and dry the cars when people bring them in for service,” he volunteered.
“Right, so I thought you deserved a really nice car, but we agreed it should be one you’d already driven.”
“The 230i demo?” He clearly was trying to play it cool but couldn’t hide his grin. “It’s a great car. Mark Whitaker got one for graduation. His is Jet Black. I like the Melbourne Red though. It stands out.”
“Yeah, that’s what I told your ma. Personally, I’ve always gone for the darker shades but red suits you. It has a certain cachet.” Anna fished a set of keys from her pocket and slid them across the table. “It’s in the driveway. You can drive it to work tomorrow.”
Lily caught him by the shirttail. “Not so fast, kiddo. I think your first new car calls for family photos.”
They waited—not all that patiently—for Georgie to finish eating before walking out the back door together to the side gate. Anna hung back, taking Lily’s hand and whispering, “Someone’s about to lose his bathroom word.”
Andy swung the gate open to find his new car on majestic display. “Oh, my God! Is this for real?” Instead of the 230i, Anna had brought home a Z4 roadster, a slick two-seater convertible in San Francisco Red.
“Anna!” Lily said through gritted teeth as she held her smile in place. “This is not what we agreed to.”
Anna was obviously pleased with herself at seeing Andy over the moon. “Shouldn’t you be taking pictures?”
Lily hurriedly snapped a few of Andy as he slid behind the wheel, and with Georgie and Eleanor taking turns in the passenger seat. She had to admit she’d never seen Andy so happy and proud. But still… “Seriously, a convertible?”
“I knew you’d say that so I brought you a copy of the Insurance Institute’s study. Want to guess what it says?”
“Why do I get the feeling this is a trick question?” Especially considering Anna’s satisfied smirk.
“They’re actually safer…which makes sense if you think about it. They’re heavier than a hard top and low to the road, so they’re less likely to roll over. Do you feel more vulnerable in my car with the top down?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“So do I. You probably wouldn’t notice but it makes me more careful, more aware of my surroundings. From the way Andy’s driven my car, I think it has the same effect on him.”
Lily couldn’t help being skeptical but she trusted Anna’s opinion. “At least talk to him and make sure.”
“That’s a deal.”
“And it has a stick shift!” Andy shouted. Suddenly he jumped out of the car and ran toward them, his arms wide enough to catch them both. “I love you!”
“We love you too, pal,” Anna said, her voice matching his joy. After Andy’s ordeal, she’d told Lily she hoped never again to let those words go unsaid.
“Can I go show Jonah?”
“Absolutely. And your grandpa too. Tell him I learned from the best.”
“Remember the rules,” Lily yelled.
As Andy carefully backed out of their driveway, the twins ran back inside yelling about dessert.
“Look at him go,” Anna said. “Top down, cooling off his brain.”
“Cooling off his brain?” Lily playfully backhanded her belly. “I distinctly remember us agreeing that it would be best to give him one he was used to driving. That was the 230i.”
“He’s driven this one too. Not as well, though. It’s the one he wrecked in the parking lot.” She wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulder and delivered a kiss to her temple.
“I should have known you’d give him the car you would have wanted.”
“Not true. Mine would have been Mediterranean Blue.”
“But a Z4? You have to admit that’s pretty extravagant.”
“I know, but you’ve seen the parking lot at his school. It’s full of luxury SUVs and sporty coupes. But a really hot sports car? If anyone’s going to drive that it ought to be the son of somebody who sells BMWs in Beverly Hills. Did you see his face?”
Lily knew she’d already lost this argument, and honestly, she no longer cared. Andy’s excitement trumped all of her objections.
“By the way, you were right,” Anna said. “As usual.”
“Oh, I love conversations that start like that. What was I right about?”
“Brat.” Anna hip-checked her as they walked inside. “You were right that I haven’t been giving Andy enough credit. I was too hard on him, and yes, it was because he wasn’t more like me. Instead of encouraging his strengths, I came pretty close to giving up on him. Sixteen years old and I essentially decided he didn’t have a future in the one thing he cared about most. If that doesn’t make me a terrible parent, I hate to think what would.”
Lily leaned into her shoulder and said, “Trust me, sweetheart. I’ve seen some truly bad parenting in my day and that wouldn’t even register on the scale.”
“It registers on my scale. I plan on proving to him that I have faith in him to take over the business someday if that’s what he wants to do. After all he’s been through, it’s obvious he can handle it.”
“Just like it’s obvious you could no more sell that dealership than you could lop off an arm. It’s part of you…and part of Andy too.”
Anna walked her back through the gate and stopped for a kiss. “I won’t deny that, Lily. But the biggest part of me will always be you.”
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