Page 76 of Heartbeats & Highways

“Homer said you were crying.”

“Yes.”

Savage unlocked the SUV and pulled open the passenger door for me. “Why?”

“Why do you think?”

He closed the door and went around to the driver’s side and climbed in. “Overwhelmed, huh?”

“Yep.”

“You didn’t want to go home and be alone.”

“No, I didn’t,” I admitted. “I just needed to zone out for a bit, you know?”

“I know.”

“How do you quiet your mind when it starts to run wild?” I asked.

He rubbed his jaw, the raspy sound of his scruff loud in the otherwise silent car. “Ride my motorcycle for long stretches of time. That’s what I was doing for the last several hours actually.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You regret your decision, don’t you?”

“Evie,” he said quietly. “You gotta stop thinking I’m going to bail. I’m not bailing. I just had—it was a lot to digest. That’s all.”

“I told Jazz and Brielle I was your Old Lady. I hope they don’t blab.”

He grinned. “They probably will.”

I groaned. “Sorry. I need to confide in people and talk about everything from this past week. I get what you mean by it being a lot. Life is happening so fast and I’m reeling.”

“So, let’s take control back,” he said.

I frowned. “Control. Okay. But how?”

Chapter 21

I grippedthe steering wheel of the car. “Are you sure about this?”

“I’m positive. You just drove around the parking lot for an hour. You can definitely handle the side streets.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about driving on the road. I can drive a tractor—I know I can drive a car. I just meant?—”

“You can drive a tractor?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, the farm life. You learned how to drive a tractor but never learned to drive a car?” He frowned.

“Never got around to it,” I evaded. “But I’m not worried about driving in traffic. I’m worried because I don’t have a license.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. It’s illegal. What if I get pulled over?”

“I’m friends with a lot of cops.”

“You are?” I asked in disbelief.

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