Page 73 of His White Moonlight
“No.It’s almost lunch anyway.”
As soon as we walked out into the garage, I noticed the grey sedan.It wasn’t anything fancy, so it definitely didn’t look like it belonged.I glanced from it to Bennett.He was watching me closely.
“Whose car is that?”
“Yours.Do you like it?”
I stared at it again, struggling with a storm of emotions, mostly hope.
“Are you serious?”
“I am.Milo dropped it off last night.I thought you might want to drive it to work, but with your hands?—“
“I can drive!”
His lips twitched.“Does that mean you like it?”
“Yes.I love it.”I loved it so much I couldn’t stop staring at it.
In all my planning, I never dreamed Mom and Dad would get me a car.They’d been so adamant that I didn’t need one.That there was always someone home to drive me anywhere I needed to go.
I looked at Bennett.
“Mom and Dad didn’t get this for me, did they?”
“No.I bought it.”
Some of my joy faded.
“It’s yours, Wrenly.No one will take it away from you.”
I wanted to believe him, but I’d learned the hard way not to trust gifts.They always had conditions.
“Why did you get me a car?”
“To prove this isn’t a prison like you said.You’re free to come and go.It would make everyone more comfortable if you could ease into your freedom, though.”
“What does that mean?”
“Don’t take the car without me for a little while.The city’s still new to you.And once we’re both comfortable, always let me—us—know where you’re going so we don’t worry.”
I wanted to point out that they already tracked me, but I decided it would be like beating him with the olive branch he was extending.
“You have a deal.Thank you, Bennett.”
“Just words?I bought you a whole car.”
I’d known there would be strings.But he was right.It was a whole car.I could give a little for that.But what?I would have said I’d leave him alone for the rest of the summer, but he’d already made me promise to stop avoiding him.And I doubted he would see any offer to drive him to and from work as a gesture of thanks, considering how inept I was with city traffic.
“What do you want?"
He bent forward, putting us closer to eye level.
“How about a kiss?”
Instinct and self-preservation had me shifting back half a step.I couldn’t have heard right.
“What?”I asked faintly.
