Page 64 of Take the Wheel

Ari gathered her strength. ‘I think maybe there’s always been something here. I was just trying to ignore it because you’re employed to drive my lazy arse around, and it would have been creepy behaviour to hit on you.’

Nancy nodded. ‘That’s true. It would have been. But I’m not being paid to drive you right now. I’m technically on the clock as your girlfriend. So, the question is… Is this just overtime to you?’

Ari didn’t know if she should be offended. She decided to confirm her fears before letting that happen. ‘Overtime?’

‘I just need to know what I am to you,’ Nancy asked, a tremor in her voice. ‘Is it just a fling you want or…’

Ari looked into Nancy’s beautiful ocean-green eyes. ‘You want me to say it? OK. You asked for it. I don’t want you to be in the front of the car. I want you to be in the back.’

Nancy frowned, confused. ‘What?’

‘Oh, for Christ’ssake. That was supposed to be romantic.’ Ari tried again. ‘I want tobewith you, Nancy. More than that, I wantyouto want to be withme. Because I don’t know if I could ever deserve someone like you, and you’re probably not too sure about that either, but…’

Nancy was agog. ‘Ari! You don’t know that I think you’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met?’

Ari paused, shocked.

Nancy licked her lips. ‘You drive me insane, yes. But…’ Nancy’s voice became softer now. ‘I know I’ve been stubborn. I know I’m uptight. I know I’ve fought this.’ She stepped closer to Ari, her hand reaching up, gently cupping her cheek. ‘But it’s not because I don’t know if I want this. I think it’s because it scares the hell out of me just how much I do.’ Nancy’s eyes were filled with fear. ‘But…I… I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,’ she admitted.

Ari’s heart skipped a beat at the weight of those words. She hadn’t realised how much she needed to hear them, how much she needed Nancy.

‘You don’t need to. I can take it from here,’ Ari said. And she moved forward and took Nancy’s face in her hands. And then, before either of them could second-guess it, they kissed.

It was a kiss that said everything. A kiss full of all the emotion that had been building up between them for weeks, maybe even longer.

Ari’s hands found Nancy’s waist, pulling her closer as the world outside seemed to disappear. The weight of the house, ofthe lies, of everything they’d been through, it all melted away in the heat of that moment.

When they finally pulled apart, breathless and a little dazed, neither of them knew what came next. But for the first time in what felt like forever, Ari wasn’t afraid of the future. She wanted to go forward.

‘What now?’ Nancy asked, her voice hushed, as if they were both waiting for the other to say it first.

Ari smiled. ‘Let’s get the hell out of here.’

Nancy nodded and pushed the door gently ajar, peeking through. ‘Clear.’ She pushed it all the way open and grabbed Ari’s hand with a gorgeous grin. ‘Let’s go.’

Fifty-Three

Nancy and Ari slipped out through the catering entrance, the heavy door swinging shut behind them with a dull thud. The night air wrapped around them, cool and damp, scented faintly with cut grass and distant roses. Gravel crunched underfoot as they kept low, darting past bins and crates.

Beyond the service yard, the manicured grounds opened up. They moved fast but quietly, dresses hitched and shoes in hand, weaving through topiary and creeping along the edge of the hedgerows like a pair of teenagers sneaking home past curfew.

Nancy’s heart was still racing from the intensity of their kiss. She couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she was walking on air. But reality hadn’t disappeared entirely.

‘Are we going to be OK?’ Ari asked her as they moved. ‘I mean, will this follow me?’

Nancy could see the worry etched on Ari’s face.

‘I don’t know,’ Nancy replied. ‘But you don’t need to wait for the police. They don’t have that kind of authority to keep you locked up like this. It might even be false imprisonment.’

‘That’s whatIwas thinking.’

‘So, let’s go. Fuck this fucking manor and every arsehole in it.’

Ari looked up at her then. ‘I don’t want to drag you into this mess, Nancy.Moreso.’

Nancy stepped closer, her hands gently cupping Ari’s face, forcing her to meet her gaze. ‘You’re not dragging me into anything. I’m already in it. You’re coming with me. We’ll get to Edinburgh and lie low. Just you and me. We’ll figure the rest out later.’

Ari’s eyes softened, but the tension in her shoulders remained. Nancy could tell that the weight of the situation was bearing down on her harder than she was letting on. ‘And if they send the police after me? God, the embarrassment of getting arrested… My mother will scream herself into an aneurysm.’

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