Page 28 of It Started With a Scarf

"Who sold it to you?" he asked, looking protective, which was so sweet.

"It was my uncle's back in Texas, and my dad said he would be embarrassed if he knew it broke down on me, but it happened. It's not my uncle's fault. Anyway, it's not that big of a deal. It's more of an inconvenience than anything. I was having fun at lunch. This was fun, and I hate to cut it short. I probably should be going, though, if I'm going to get Joan's car back for three."

"Why don't we just take the lady's car back, and I can take you to the mechanic later. Would that help you?"

I stared at Dominic, not knowing if he was serious or not. This desirable, famous, busy man was offering to give me rides…was this real?He sat there like he seriously was waiting for me to answer his question.

"Yes, it would help me. But I couldn't. It's probably over an hour of errands. Joan's is a couple of miles from here, and the mechanic is like five or six miles from Joan's. I can't ask you to drive me all over town."

"You didn't ask me. I volunteered."

I grinned at him. "That was before you knew what a commitment it was."

"Do you want me to leave you alone about it?" he asked staring at me and speaking in a serious tone.

"Do I want you to?" I asked.

"Yeah. I mean, am I one of those guys who's not getting the point? I don't want to be pushy or assume too much with the eye contact, but I would love for this lunch to not be over with you."

"I-I would like or love it to not be over, too," I said in a choppy tone.

I was feeling weak in the knees. It was a good thing I was still on the edge of the stool. Dominic gave me a confident grin like he wasn't stirred up at all.

"Then it's settled. I'll give you a ride," he said. He glanced at me to see if I agreed, and we stared at each other. I blinked, but we held eye contact. The tension was heart-stopping, at least it was on my end. My heart literally felt like it stopped. Or maybe it was just beating so fast that it was like one solid hum.

"Okay," I said, finally, in a hoarse whisper. "I don't know what to say other than thank you."

"Do you feel comfortable riding with me from Joan's to the mechanic?"

"Yes," I said, honestly. "I can just tell you're a good person. I know you are. You wouldn't try to hurt me. And even if you would, I gotta warn you, I'm scrappy. I fight back. If it's between me and a would-be assassin, I'd put my money on me." I smiled and gave him a look of challenge, messing with him like I would a friend. He reached out and felt my upper arm when I said that. I didn't know what he was doing at first, but I flexed when I figured it out. As I flexed, I looked at him with a confident, satisfied expression that made him laugh.

Before we left Gino's, Dominic asked me for the addresses of the places we'd be going so that he could go ahead and get directions. I didn't want him to feel obligated to drive me all over town, and I gave him another way out, but he didn't seem to want that. He seemed interested in hanging out with me, even if it meant running errands, which was insane. I went with it, pretending he was a normal guy. I told myself to imagine he was one of my retail coworkers, and when I started to feel starstruck, I would remember that perspective and try to see him that way—like someone I would banter with.

It was difficult, though. Dominic Decker could make a person feel tongue-tied and weak in the knees.

We went to my house, and he waited outside while I went in and gave Joan her keys. She was happy when I told her I didn't need a ride to the mechanic. My scarf was tucked into my coat, and I didn't show it to her. I didn't want to get my hopes up about the scarf before today, so Joan didn't know that I had located it or about my plans to meet Dominic.

I didn't have time to explain. I ran upstairs and changed into a different sweatshirt that wasn't Notre Dame. It was cold out, so I put on another hoodie. This one was solid burgundy. I put on my scarf and coat and adjusted my headband around my ponytail.

My phone rang while I was in my bedroom.

It was the mechanic, so I picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Is this, hello, is this Marley Matthews?"

"Yes."

"This is Ben down at Dell Brothers Automotive."

"Yes," I said timidly, fearing more bad news about my car. I was already having thoughts of how to sell it before he even got the words out.

"We, uh, yes, ma'am, yes, indeed, we realized that, after all, this leak was still under warranty on your car. The previous owner must have had a good warranty on it. It looks like we are supposed to do some routine things, too, some other things it needs, and that's all covered as well."

I sat in silence for a second, finding it difficult to compute or believe what he was saying.

"I assume you want to have it all done if it's covered. I just wanted to make sure you knew that we're going to need it a little longer today. We close at six, and we'll have it done by then. Is that okay?"

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