Page 54 of Something Tattered
Cassie laughed. "You know, I can totally hear you drooling."
I snapped back to reality. In a low whisper, I said, "Oh, shut up. I am not."
"Hey, I don't blame you," she said. "If I were you, I'd be drooling, too."
Ignoring her comment, I gave her a quick goodbye and disconnected the call. And then, I looked to Joel. He was dressed nearly the same as Friday night, in tattered jeans and a thin T-shirt. As he moved, his shirt clung to him, giving me a tantalizing hint of his tight abs underneath.
Who knows, maybe Iwasdrooling.
Smiling, I stepped forward to greet him. "Hi."
He didn't smile back. "Hi."
I felt my own smile fade. "Is something wrong?"
His mouth tightened. "Yeah. I don't know how to tell you this…"
My stomach clenched. "What?"
"Your car," he said. "It's gone."
A wave of guilt washed over me. "Oh, no. Didn't they tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"Derek had it towed."
Joel frowned. "To where?"
"Supposedly, to a repair shop."
He gave me a questioning look. "Supposedly?"
"Yeah. I mean, probably." I paused. "But it's not like I know which shop or anything."
"Why not?"
"Because all I had was a message from Derek on my voicemail." I tried to laugh. "Get this. He had it towed Friday night, right after leaving T.J.'s."
In front of me, Joel wasn't laughing. "The guy didn't waste any time, did he?"
"Apparently not." I sighed. "But mostly, I feel sorry for the tow-truck driver. Knowing Derek, he probably dragged some poor guy out of bed." I paused as something occurred to me. "But wait. That was two nights ago. You just noticed?"
"Yeah, because I just got back."
"From where?"
"Detroit." He smiled. "I told you Friday, remember?"
Did he? Probably. My brainhadbeen a little fuzzy.
I considered the timetable. The way it sounded, he hadn't even returned to his campsite after driving me home in the Porsche.
I glanced at the car he was driving today. "Let me guess. You returned the Camaro?"
"Sorry, you'd be guessing wrong."
"But you're driving a different car." I pointed to the car in the turnaround. "So whose car is that?"
