by Marie Landry
We’d been sitting there since, talking and laughing, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he got a message to pick up Adam.
He looked down at me expectantly. “You coming?”
I stared up at him in disbelief. “You want me to go with you?”
“My secret’s out now, Charlotte. You’re going to be up all night anyway, right? Why not be up with me?”
Up all night with Ezra. Oh, there were those heart flutters again. A slow smile spread across my face, and I held my hand out for him to help me to my feet. “You make a convincing argument,” I told him.
He laughed and slung his arm around my waist, pulling me close as we crossed the beach and headed for the Impala.
Just like last night, our first stop was Adam. We found him in the same place on the couch, but the girls on either side of him were different. I just barely managed to contain a laugh as he extricated himself from their eager hands and followed us out to the car.
“So are you, like, Robin to Ezra’s Batman now?” Adam asked me after he’d climbed into the backseat and Ezra had ordered him to put on his seatbelt.
I glanced at Ezra, whose eyes were alight with amusement. “Are you in the market for a sidekick?” I asked him.
“I wasn’t until you came along.”
I couldn’t help the smile that crept onto my face.
“That’s a yes then?” Adam called from the backseat. “You’re lucky, man. Sidekicks usually aren’t as hot as yours.”
I started to laugh, but Ezra shot Adam a narrow-eyed look in the rearview mirror. “Watch it,” he warned.
Adam held up his hands defensively. “Dude, in case you didn’t notice, I have no problem with the ladies.”
I bit my lip and slid a glance in Ezra’s direction. When our eyes met, we both cracked up.
Adam popped up between our seats as he had last night, and I jumped, laughing harder.
“Have I told you how much I like you?” Adam asked, grinning drunkenly at me. “You’re, like, awesome. I can’t remember the last time I saw this guy smile, let alone laugh.” He punched Ezra lightly on the shoulder.
Ezra looked at me out of the corner of his eye, probably trying to gauge my reaction. What did I say to that? Until Ezra, I hadn’t laughed this way in months. I’d almost forgotten it was possible. I didn’t want to say that in front of Adam, though.
“Tunes time,” Adam announced, reaching forward and turning the radio on.
“Put your seatbelt on, Adam,” Ezra and I said at the same time.
Adam laughed and fell back into his seat. “The two of you are, like…sympatico.” He held his hands in front of his face and intertwined his fingers to illustrate his point. When his eyes crossed, he dropped his hands and started bobbing his head along to the music, eyes closed.
The drive didn’t seem as long this time, and after we dropped Adam off at his house, the car seemed to ring with the sudden silence.
“Does he always sing that…enthusiastically?” I asked as Ezra pulled back onto the street.
“Always,” he replied wearily. “Somehow it’s marginally more tolerable with you here, though.”
“Because misery loves company?”
Ezra laughed loudly, and the unexpected sound of it was so amazing, it made me grin. “Something like that.”
We drove in silence for a while, then he asked, “Why don’t you drive?”
The question was as unexpected as his laugh from a few moments before. “I guess it kind of goes back to the whole fear thing,” I said slowly. “Mom was supposed to teach me, but…”
He slid me a look that was part understanding, part sympathy.
“I never really had much interest in driving,” I confessed. “In the city we live near trains, buses, streetcars, or within walking distance of whatever we needed. The only reason I agreed to let Mom teach me was because it was something she wanted to do, but then when she got sick it just didn’t happen. Now…I don’t know, it’s like open water—there are so many unknowns, so many scary possibilities.” I looked out into the dark night and shook my head. “I’m sure that sounds absolutely ridiculous. What almost-eighteen-year-old doesn’t want to drive?”
“It’s not ridiculous,” he said. “My mom never learned to drive.”
“Really?” He hardly ever volunteered information about his mother.
“Yep. Didn’t see the need, she always said. Everything she needed was right here on the island, and if she needed to leave there was always someone willing to take her.”
A few moments of silence passed while Ezra seemed to be thinking something over. Finally he said, “I could teach you. I know it wouldn’t be the same as your mom teaching you, but…”
“Okay,” I said, touched by his offer. I remembered back to my first week on the island when he would disappear at night and give me an ‘assignment’ to accomplish while he was gone. Was taking me into the water and teaching me how to drive an assignment for me or for him?
He pulled over onto the shoulder of the road and turned the engine off.
I looked at him with wide, bewildered eyes. “You didn’t mean right now?”
“Sure. Why not?” He unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Uhh, because it’s dark,” I said slowly, as if speaking to a child. “Pitch dark. Unfamiliar roads. And there could be…animals out there.” I waved toward the wooded area on the other side of the road.
Ezra laughed. “Animals? What do they have to do with you learning to drive?”
“They could run out onto the road!”
Ezra’s lips twitched, but he managed to hold in another laugh. “Look, I won’t make you go far. I’ll just teach you the basics and then we can head out sometime during the day if that’ll make you feel better.”
“What would make me feel better is not doing this at all.” I could feel the panic rising, and it was making my voice snappish. I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down.
“Charlotte,” Ezra said quietly. When I didn’t look at him, he grasped my chin with his thumb and forefinger and tugged my face gently in his direction. “You don’t have to do this. I’m not going to make you. But if you don’t do it now, then when? You can say ‘some other day’, but what are the chances you’ll keep putting it off because you’re too scared?”
I grumbled under my breath. He was right, of course. Damn him anyway.
He smiled slightly. “That’s what I thought. So we’re going to do this now, and we can stop whenever you want.” He reached to unhook my seatbelt, then opened his door. “You shift over and I’ll go around and get in your side…you know, in case there are any animals out there that might be attracted by your presence.”
I laughed despite myself and swatted at him, but he was too fast. I scooted over into the driver’s seat and did up my seatbelt, feeling the warmth left from Ezra’s body.
When he’d closed the door and fastened his seatbelt, he motioned toward the ignition. “Start the car,” he told me. I turned the key hesitantly, and the engine roared to life. “Good, now the basics. Check the rearview mirror and make sure you can see behind you.”
I stretched in my seat, but the mirror was angled too high.
“It doesn’t really matter tonight since you can’t see much of anything anyway, but we’ll go over that again during the day,” Ezra assured me. “Same with the side mirrors. Okay now put your foot on the brake…that’s the left pedal…” I shot him a look and he laughed. “Sorry, but you’d be surprised how many people need to have that pointed out to them.”
“Done this before, have you?”
“Not exactly,” he said slowly.
“Who taught you how to drive?”
“Lilah. When I was about fifteen, she gave me lessons so that by the time I was sixteen I was ready to get my license.”
“It was you who needed to be told which was the brake and which was the gas, wasn’t it?” I asked.
He scrunched up his face in embarrassment and nodded.
&
nbsp; “That actually makes me feel better.” I pressed the brake and put the car into drive. “Now what?”
“Ease your foot off the brake and onto the gas. It’s kind of touchy, so don’t press too hard.” I did as he said, but the car jerked forward, eliciting a cry of surprise from me. “Easy,” he soothed, and I let up on the gas and coasted forward. I was going at a crawl, but I was doing it, and that’s what mattered. “Good, now give it a little more gas. You’ll need it to get up that little incline there.”
With my hands clutching the wheel and my eyes fastened to the road ahead of me, I pushed the gas pedal a little harder and managed to get us up the hill. “I’m doing it!” I took my eyes off the road for a second to glance at Ezra, who had a huge, proud smile on his face. I quickly returned my gaze to the road and realized I was going too fast for comfort considering I could barely see a few feet in front of the car.
Panicked, I slammed on the brakes and we both jerked forward.
“Jeeze, what happened?” Ezra asked, yanking on his seatbelt where it must have cut into him from the abrupt stop.
Cheeks flaming, I leaned forward and rested my forehead on my hands, which were still clutching the wheel in a death grip. “I’m sorry! “It’s so dark, and I just freaked out, and…”
Ezra touched my back tentatively, then began to rub it in slow, comforting circles. “It’s okay,” he said quietly. “It was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have pressured you.”
I sat up, but not enough to make him remove his hand. “No, you’re sweet to want to help me. I really appreciate it, I just…I guess I’m not quite ready.” I put the car in park and unfastened my seatbelt. I cringed when I realized the car was in the middle of the road, and thought it was a good thing there was little to no traffic at this time of night. “I didn’t hurt you did I? When I slammed on the brakes?”
“Hurt? No. Traumatize…maybe.” His eyes danced with mirth, and this time when I went to swat him, my hand connected with his arm. “Is that any way to treat someone you just traumatized?”
I leaned over and kissed his arm where I’d hit him. “Better?”
His expression turned serious, and he shook his head. He unbuckled his seatbelt and shifted to face me, taking my face in his hands and kissing me thoroughly. “Now it’s better,” he murmured against my lips.
It was suddenly hard to breathe. My lips tingled and my blood thrummed through my veins, pulsing loudly in my ears. It was a good thing our little driving lesson was over because I was starting to get lightheaded.
Ezra grinned, as if aware of the effect he had on me. But unless I was mistaken—and I didn’t think I was—I had the same effect on him. It was a heady, power-rush kind of feeling.
“Switch,” he said.
“I’ll get out this time,” I told him. “I’m suddenly not so afraid of the animals.”
I climbed from the car, and as Ezra moved back to the driver’s seat, he called out the window, “You probably scared them away when you slammed on the brakes anyway.”
“Har har,” I replied dryly, making a face at him as I passed through the beams of the headlights.
We drove to the diner, finding the same crowd as last night. We ordered mozzarella sticks to share, and were halfway through when Ella walked in on the arm of a guy I’d never seen before.
I slunk down in my seat and Ezra turned to see what I was looking at. His expression darkened, and he twisted back to face me. “She has a knack for picking the guys with the worst reputations on the island.”
My mozza stick suddenly tasted like ashes in my mouth. “What’s wrong with him?”
“You know how you thought I was a dealer before you found out what I really do at night?” he asked. “Well, he really is a dealer.”
I groaned. “Where does she meet these guys?”
“I saw him on the beach the other night with another girl,” Ezra told me. “Must be where they met. He’s from Kingston, but he and his family rent a beach house here every summer. Kids around here do a fair bit of drinking, but not many are into the drug scene. Doesn’t stop him from trying to push his stuff, though.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I wasn’t sure what Ella was even into these days. When she partied with my old crowd back home, I’d heard she had almost gotten out of control a few times, and I’d wondered if she’d taken drugs, but I was never sure, and it’s not like she would tell me if I came out and asked. She was impressionable and wanted to fit in, so it wouldn’t have surprised me if she did whatever it took to keep up her image.
She and the guy headed back for the door, carrying take-out bags. I really didn’t want her to see me, so I slid even further in my seat, and as I did, she looked across the diner and our gazes locked. She paused for a second, her eyes narrowing, and a nasty smile spreading across her face. It was like I could read her mind—she was pleased to find me trying to hide from her. She saw it as some sort of messed-up victory over me.
Before I could move, the guy with her said something and she looked up at him adoringly. I almost gagged. He looked in my direction and asked her something. Ella’s expression turned hard, and I read her lips as she said, ‘That’s just my sister’. He stared at me for a minute, his dark eyes giving me the heebies. I was afraid he would convince my sister to come over to our table, but she tugged impatiently on his sleeve, and the two of them left.
I let out a long breath and straightened in my seat, pushing the plate of food toward Ezra.
“Want me to take you home?” he asked.
“So I can sit and worry about what a mess my sister’s making of her life? No.” I shook my head resolutely. “I’ve spent enough time doing that. I’d rather be with you.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Good. I’d be pretty lonely without my sidekick.”
*****
A shrill sound pierced the silence. It was somewhere between a kettle shrieking and that incessant squeak of a swing set in desperate need of oiling. I pried my eyes open and blinked against the brightness of my room. The sunlight was soft and sparkly—early morning light—and I knew I couldn’t have been asleep long.
The noise came again, startling me further awake. I realized it was the sound of seagulls squawking and screeching. I winced; I hated that sound. Seagulls didn’t usually come this close to the house. I’d seen them occasionally waddling along the beach picking in the sand for some leftover morsel, but most of the time they stayed away from the houses, preferring to fly around the lake in search of their next meal.
I rolled out of bed, groaning when I saw it was only seven o’clock. Ezra had dropped me off just before four, and I’d gone to bed almost immediately. It was hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, seven o’clock in the morning was my normal bedtime.
I stumbled to the window, blinking my gritty, tired eyes. I threw open the curtains and looked outside, my gaze landing immediately on Ella, who was standing under my window throwing pieces of bread into the air.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled.
Ella jumped and whirled around, looking up toward my window. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?” she asked sweetly. She reached into the almost-empty bag of bread she was holding and broke a slice into pieces before tossing it in the air. “They just look so hungry, don’t you think?” She dropped the bag into the sand and brushed her hands off, watching as the gulls converged on the last of the bread.
She angled her head up to look at me again, her eyes flashing with malevolent glee. It was then I realized she was wearing the same clothes I’d seen her in last night at the diner.
“Hope you had fun last night,” she called up to me. “I know I did.” She gave me a little finger wave and sauntered toward the porch, disappearing inside the house.
I sank down onto the window seat, listening to her soft footfalls on the stairs, followed by her bedroom door closing. Was she just getting home now? What had she been doing all night?
I shuddered. I didn’t want to know. It was none of my busi
ness. Ella was a big girl and if she wanted to do stupid things with bad people, that was her choice to make. As much as I wanted to save her from herself, she didn’t want my help, and she wasn’t my responsibility. I wanted so badly to talk to Dad about the whole thing, but I was afraid it would be pointless and I’d just end up feeling worse.
It was a no-win situation.
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I wandered into the bathroom to splash water on my face and brush my teeth. With my brain still half asleep, I made my way downstairs and out the back door. The seagulls were gone, their unexpected food source having disappeared, and the beach was quiet and empty.
I stretched out on the swing by the side of my house and rocked lazily, looking up at the clear blue sky. My eyes drifted shut and I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes again, Ezra was standing in front of me.
I flinched. “Jeeze, where’d you come from?”
Ezra laughed quietly. “Morning, sleeping beauty.” His gaze swept over me, and I remembered I was still wearing my pajamas. Ezra was dressed in work clothes—cargo shorts, white t-shirt, and boots—and he was freshly showered and shaved, his damp hair curling slightly around his neck. He had two cups of steaming coffee in his hands, and he held one out to me.
“Thanks,” I murmured, accepting it gratefully and taking a sip. It was French vanilla, my favourite; I tried to remember if I’d told him that at some point. “I didn’t think you usually started work ’til later.”
“I don’t normally, but Lilah has a job for me to do this afternoon, so I’m making up the time here now.” He lifted my feet and sat down beside me, draping my legs over his lap. “Got a couple hours’ sleep, got up, got ready, saw you dozing out here, and decided to bring you coffee.”
“Bless you,” I said with a smile, taking another sip of coffee and trying not to be embarrassed that I’d fallen asleep out here. I filled him in on my rude awakening, and he shook his head, looking equal parts annoyed and amused.