Page 77 of Heartbeats & Highways

“The club is,” he amended. “So don’t worry about it. You ready?”

“I’m ready.”

I put the car into gear and then crept out of the parking lot. We were driving for a few minutes when Savage said, “You can give it a little gas there, Grannie.”

“Hey.”

“You’re going under the speed limit. Don’t be afraid of the pedal.”

“Fine.”

I pressed the accelerator and let out a laugh of excitement when the car zoomed forward.

“Easy, Tom Slick.”

“Tom Slick?” I asked, immediately letting off the gas. “What’s that?”

“A cartoon.”

“Huh. Never seen it.”

“What aboutGeorge of the Jungle? OrRocky and Bullwinkle?”

“Are you sure you’re not just making stuff up?”

The GPS chimed a direction. I put on my turn signal and changed lanes.

“You seriously haven’t seenGeorge of the Jungle?”

“I really haven’t.”

“You didn’t watch cartoons growing up?”

“I didn’t watch TV at all,” I replied.

“Why not?”

“We didn’t have a TV in the house.” I pulled into the lot of the apartment building and parked. “Am I in the lines?”

Savage opened his door to check. “Right on the edge, but technically, yeah. You did good.”

“Thanks.” I smiled.

We got out and headed for the apartment building.

“I can only come up for a little while,” Savage said. “I have some club shit to take care of.”

“Oh.” My happiness dimmed. “Will you be back tonight?”

He smiled softly. “Yeah, babe. I’ll be back late tonight, but I’ll crawl in bed next to you.”

“And how will you do that?” I asked. “You don’t have keys.”

“I took your apartment keys when I went to buy the car. Made a copy.”

“That was very presumptuous of you,” I said with a laugh.

“Woman, you’re my Old Lady now. Better get used to it.”

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