The car lurched forward to the right side and Matias gripped the wheel. Both he and Vanessa jerked in their seats and he gulped in a breath when the seatbelt held him back. She gasped and snapped her face to him, but he kept his eyes ahead. His hands tightened around the wheel and his knuckles turned white as he gradually decreased the speed and maneuvered to the side of the road. Slowly, he inched the car forward until it safely stopped on the shoulder.
Matias turned off the ignition and leaned back against the headrest, closing his eyes for a moment. The episode had taken only a few seconds, but it had felt much longer.
“What happened?” Vanessa asked.
“I’m pretty sure that was a tire gone flat.” He straightened and looked at her. “Are you okay?” She nodded at him and brushed some stray hair out of her face, not completely convincing him.
Before he gave in to the urge to hug her, Matias undid the seatbelt and exited the car. “I’m sorry if that scared you.” He bent by the front tire on the driver’s side, then moved to the back tire.
The sound of a car door opening and closing reached him.
“I think it’s this one,” Vanessa said.
He came around to her side, where the front tire lay flat on the dirt. “Completely flat,” he added unnecessarily. It was beyond saving. He should have known something was coming. Everything had been going so well, but the ill luck had followed them ashore.
Vanessa reached for her hat in the back seat and then stepped next to him. “It happened so fast. How did you know what to do?”
“Cars,” he replied before thinking.
“What cars?”
Matias took a step back, looking for shade. “The movie Cars.” At her puzzled expression, he added, “The Disney Pixar movie. You know, the computer-animated one where all the cars act like people.”
“You watch animated children’s movies?” Then her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, are you married with kids?”
He stopped. “What? No, of course not.” Did she really think he’d be out with her if he were married? “They’re my cousin’s kids. We get together during the low season.”
She shook her head. “And watching that movie told you what to do?”
Maybe not exactly, now that he thought about it. “I guess I was just trying to channel my inner Lightning McQueen—keep my cool and not wreck the car.” He walked to the back of the car and lifted the top of the trunk.
“I guess it worked. You didn’t wreck the car,” she said in a light tone.
Was she mocking him or congratulating him? Matias peeked from behind the back of the car and flashed her a smile. “I always do my best.”
The closest tree wasn’t close enough to provide shade while he changed the tire. “Vanessa, go ahead and put the car in neutral. I want to roll it under that tree over there.”
“Are you sure you want me to sit behind the wheel? I’m not on the rental agreement, remember?” She opened the door but didn’t move to sit inside.
Matias swung open the passenger-side door and positioned himself to push. “Haha, very funny,” he said flatly. When she still didn’t move, he motioned with his head to the driver seat. “Just put it in neutral and steer it to the right. Please,” he added.
She slid in and ran her hands along the steering wheel, a smile on her face.
“Come on, Vanessa. The sooner I change the tire, the sooner we can get back on the road.”
She nodded and released the brake. After a few pushes and some grunts, Matias got the car close enough to the shade of the large tree. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do.
He walked to the back of the car and removed the spare tire and the jack from under the mat on the bottom of the trunk and set them on the dirt. After looking around in the trunk again, he found a small zippered pouch with the tools needed for the task.
“What can I do to help?” Vanessa moved closer to his side.
Matias knelt on the dirt and removed the wheel cover. “It’s okay. I got this.”
She crossed her arms. “I heard about how macho Portuguese men are, but now I’m experiencing it in person. What a treat,” she deadpanned. “Matias, I know how to change a tire. I’ve been changing my own tires since I was sixteen.”
He loosened the last lug nut and stopped to look at her. “I’m sure you can change a tire just fine, but I’ll do it quicker working by myself.”
As he reached for the jack, Vanessa went around the front of the car with a rock in her hands. She dropped it on the dirt and then gave it a few short kicks.
Wheel wedges. Good thinking. He’d forgotten about those. Matias flashed her a thumbs-up sign but she came back around with her arms crossed again.
“Is that what you tell your crew, that you work better alone?”
That was hardly the same thing at all but if he told her that, she’d most likely disagree. He tried a different tactic. “Who taught you how to change a tire?” He raised the car slowly, watching the jack for signs of strain and weakness. “Your father or one of your grandfather’s chauffeurs?”
She raised her hands in a surrender gesture and walked off to sit under another tree.
“What?” She didn’t reply. “Vanessa, what did I say?” he insisted.
She gestured at the car and didn’t say anything. Clearly, he’d said something to make her mad but he couldn’t even begin to guess what.
After changing the tire and stowing everything away, Matias called Miguel and apprised him of the situation, promising to keep him updated of their progress. Then he rummaged in the backpack for water bottles. He walked over to Vanessa and handed her one, then sat next to her and uncapped his bottle.
“We can go whenever you’re ready,” he said to her after drinking half his bottle.
She put down her hat beside her and took little sips from her bottle.
“I’m sorry I upset you, Vanessa.”
“Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?” she finally asked.
His father used to say apologize first, understand later, but maybe that wasn’t enough. “Something I said?” He shrugged.
Vanessa looked at him. “Matias, what do you know about me?” She kept her eyes on him. “Other than where I come from and who my Grandfather is.”
He couldn’t look away from her, from the intensity in her green eyes. For reasons he didn’t know, his reply was important to her. This was not the time to be light and flippant.
“Will you tell me more about you?” He added as much sincerity to the words as he could, hoping it was enough to let her see how much he really wanted to know her better, how much he cared.
Something passed through her eyes and, for a moment, he couldn’t tell what she wanted to do.
All he had was the earnestness in his own expression, hoping it was enough to sway her.
Vanessa sighed and looked away from him. Maybe she’d regret it later, but she wanted him to know.
“I was sixteen and had my car for five months when I had my first flat,” she started. “I didn’t have a spare and had to leave the car on the side of the road. It took me almost two days before I was able to trade for a spare. I ran down to the library and after reading how to change a tire for twenty minutes, I finally convinced Mrs. Lebowsky to print the instructions off the Internet.” Vanessa had kept that folded page in the glove box until the ink had faded off.
“Dad was mad when he found out, but I wanted to be independent. Unfortunately for me, that car proved to have a lot of other problems with the starter and the gearstick. I had to plan my trips to the store and ask someone to come with me in case it got stuck. Then I’d put it in neutral while the person that came with me gave it a running push.”
Matias smiled wide. “And that worked?”
“Apart from being humiliating, it worked pretty well. It got more complicated when I couldn’t find anyone to come with me. Then I had to park on a downhill slope so I could give it push, then jump in and start it.
“At least you didn’t
have any witnesses.”
“True, but do you know how hard it is to find an incline in Kansas?”
Matias laughed.
“I changed the tires so often, pretty soon I had a record time. My friend Juliette convinced me to bet against the boys from Pete’s Garage downtown, and I won.” She won the bet pot of $500 dollars. After that, word got out and nobody would dare go against her again. Dad wasn’t too happy about it either.
Matias whistled, and she laughed. “It’s been a while now, so I’m probably rusty.” She sobered. “And that’s how I know how to change a tire. Dad didn’t teach me, and Grandfather’s drivers didn’t either.”
The high sun grew hot in the approaching lunch hour, and the shadows shrunk closer to their objects. Even the shade of a large tree was not enough anymore, and Vanessa shifted to where the shade touched that of a neighboring tree. Several cars honked by in succession, the first one decorated with ribbons of white tulle.
Matias followed her gaze and waved back at the occupants. “A wedding party on its way to the reception.”
After the cars passed, he took a last swig of his water, and then held on to the water bottle, his forehead wrinkled as he processed what she’d told him. “But your grandfather—”
“He’s rich. I know.” Vanessa nodded at him. “You can’t reconcile what you just heard with what you know of Grandfather and me.” She shrugged. “That’s okay. I still have a hard time understanding it myself.”
“How then?”
“It’s a long story.” She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “A pretty unbelievable one.” She hadn’t told her few friends back home—apart from Juliette. She’d been unable to admit how her own dad had never told her the truth about her past. And here she was now, about to tell it to a stranger. How would he react?
She grabbed the rest of her courage and inhaled a quick breath. “I found out I had a Portuguese grandfather on my twenty-first birthday.”
Matias held a hand up. “Hold on. Twenty-first birthday? How old are you?”
“Twenty-three, well on the way to twenty-four.”
His eyes widened. “Twenty-three?” he repeated. “I thought you were twenty, twenty-one at the most. Are you done with school then?”
Vanessa nodded. “I graduated two years ago. And how old are you?” She’d been curious about his age since the first day she met him.
“I turned thirty-one last month.” He picked up a short stick from the ground and fiddled with it. “There’s less of an age difference between us than I thought.”
She drank the last of her water, then capped the bottle and set it aside. “So this whole time you thought I was a young, spoiled, rich girl, didn’t you?”
“I did—I mean no.” He shook his head. “I did have wrong assumptions about you, and I’m sorry for that. But you were telling me about meeting your grandfather when you turned twenty-one, and I interrupted you. I’m sorry. Please, go on.”
He was redirecting the conversation but Vanessa let it go for now. She would find another chance to get to talk about the assumptions he’d made about her.
“I didn’t actually meet him on my birthday.” She sighed. The memories of her twenty-first birthday still evoked too much confusion, even after two and a half years. “He sent his assistant with an iPad to set up a Skype visit. I didn’t even know I had family in Portugal. My dad had told me my mom had died when I was three years old, but he never told me anything else about her.”
Vanessa had mistaken Dad’s silence for pain and, through the years, hadn’t wanted to bring the subject up, even when she had questions. “I mean, look at me.” She turned her hands toward herself. “Do I look like I have Portuguese blood? You’d think the dark genes were stronger, but no, Dad’s Scandinavian ancestry won out.” Her hair was light and her skin sunburned easily. Sometimes she was jealous of the golden glow that Portuguese women owned so effortlessly, of their beautiful, dark eyes and petite, graceful features. So unlike her own.
Matias’s mouth turned in a small smile, and he watched her, as if paying attention to her for the first time. His expression softened, and Vanessa looked out to the road, unable to sustain the eye contact. She was blushing again, and he’d be able to see it.
“I do have her nose,” she said softly. “My mom’s, I mean. It was obvious when I finally saw a picture of her.” She touched the tip of her nose, the one she’d never much liked before. “My Portuguese nose on my not-so-Portuguese face.”
“What else did you find out about your mother?”
She hesitated. “I—I don’t know. I haven’t asked much about her yet.”
“But all this time, you’ve never known anything about her. And now you can find out anything you want from someone who knew her personally. Aren’t you even a little curious?” Matias asked.
Yes, of course she was curious. But curiosity and courage didn’t always go hand in hand, did they? She shrugged in reply, unable to explain all the conflicting emotions she had about her family.
“Why did your grandfather wait so long to contact you?”
She blew out a breath. “Apparently that was my dad’s doing. He didn’t want Grandfather to”—she made air quotes with her fingers and dragged the word—“interfere with me when I was younger. So he waited until I was twenty-one and legally able to make my own decisions. And then Grandfather wanted me to leave everything behind and come live with him in Porto, so he could train me to take over the company when he retires.”
“Whoa,” Matias said. “That’s just—”
“Messed up. I know. Can you imagine? Surprise, you’re an heiress. I’m your millionaire grandfather. Come live with me in my mansion.” She glanced at Matias. “Insane, right?”
“I can’t even imagine. What did you tell him?”
“I told him thank you, but no thank you.”
“I bet he didn’t like that.”
“What did he expect? I’d just graduated and accepted an offer to work with the county for an IT job, and had signed a lease on a new apartment. Of course I wasn’t going to move to Porto.” Her words came too fast and jumbled, and she inhaled at the end. She should be able to talk about this without getting all riled up by now, but maybe it would be one of those sensitive topics that never lost its sting.
Matias leaned in her direction. “But you’re here now.”
She shrugged. “That was a compromise of sorts so he would leave me alone for a while. I told him I had a two-year contract and I might be able to take some time off when it was up for renewal. But I made it clear I’d come only for a visit.”
“And the cruise?”
“The cruise.” She rolled her eyes and Matias smiled. “He wanted me to take the cruise so I could see what his company is all about. He said if I don’t change my mind after being on the ship and seeing all the beautiful sights and places, then I can go back, and he won’t bother me again.”
“Ah,” Matias said.
“Ah what?” She watched him closely. “He asked you to change my mind, didn’t he?” She wouldn’t put it past Grandfather to ask the captain to sway her decision.
He shook his head but didn’t immediately meet her eyes. “No. He only asked me to make sure you had a lovely experience. Well, that was before you went on your own yesterday. Then he asked me to keep an eye on you.”
“You mean, he asked you to babysit me. And you thought I was a spoiled brat who needed more than a babysitter.” It all made sense now. She eyed him sideways. “I’m surprised you didn’t try to pawn me off onto one of your assistants.”
“No, Vanessa, it’s not like that.” This time he rested his hand on hers.
Her skin broke in gooseflesh despite the hot temperatures around them, and Vanessa stilled at the something that charged between them, strong and strumming and so unexpected.
His thumb stroked the skin on her inner wrist before he let go. “I’m sorry for the assumptions I made of you. I was wrong, and I had no right to judge you.” He p
aused, his eyes still locked on her. “But I’m not sorry to be here with you, and I’m glad he didn’t send the bodyguard.”
He meant it. His expression was genuine, and she knew he meant it.
Vanessa stood quickly and walked over to the next tree, rubbing the spot where Matias had touched her, wishing he’d lingered there for a while longer. Such a crazy, unexpected wish.
She was attracted to the captain and she wouldn’t be doing anything about it. Something else to add to the confusing mess that was her life since António Valadares had come into it.
Matias came beside her and handed her the hat. “What plans—”
“I think we should get moving,” she interrupted him. “Will that spare be enough to get us to where we’re going?” She replaced the hat on her head and put on her sunglasses.
Matias dropped the empty bottles inside the backpack, then opened the passenger door for her. “No, it won’t. We’ll have to stop at the next town.”
“Do you need to call someone and tell them what happened?”
“I already told Miguel what’s going on.”
“Anyone else you need to call?” Maybe he wasn’t married, but he might have someone else he’d keep informed of his whereabouts. After all, this outing wasn’t a date, but an assignment from Grandfather.
He raised an eyebrow. “No, I don’t have to call anyone else.”
She pulled the seat belt across her lap.
He sat behind the wheel, his fingers hovered on the ignition. “Vanessa—”
She put on a pleasant expression, ready to change the subject to a less personal one. “It’s okay, Matias. Let’s just go.”
*
Matias pulled the small car to the far edge of the parking lot near the dock and turned off the ignition. The ship sat quiet, with a gentle glow from the floodlights against the darkness of the river behind it.
He and Vanessa were finally back. What a day.
He’d had a simple plan: take a drive to the palace, spend an hour touring the gardens, have lunch, and drive back to meet the ship at the next port. That way Vanessa could have her excursion ashore, and he could keep an eye on her as he’d promised her grandfather.
Meet Me At Sunrise (Destined for Love: Europe) Page 6