Where She Went by Kelly Simmons

Author:Kelly Simmons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2019-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Four

Emma

Emma thought she could probably count on one hand the types of cars she had been in. Where she lived, everybody’s parents drove the same ones and didn’t think about the others too much. Subaru wagons. Honda minivans. A Prius here and there. So many white Lexuses or Acura SUVs, she’d lost count. Occasionally, a Range Rover or Tesla showed up at a soccer game, and the boys were excited by that. She supposed if you were a gearhead, the suburbs of Philadelphia were a very disappointing place to grow up, because no one flaunted their wealth with cars. Maybe there were Porsches and Mercedes convertibles tucked into garages for occasional use, but she didn’t see them, and the Ferrari dealership on the edge of town always looked like the set of a movie, clean and sparkling and empty of people.

But this car that she’d slid inside now was unquestionably different. No extra room in the front seat, it enveloped her, hugged her, the way she imagined a race car might. The softest leather seats, different from leather in other cars. The dashboard and its instruments unusual, too, more like an airplane.

“Wow,” she said.

“I know, right?” Michael said. “Some days, I have the best job in the world.”

The main lot was across the street and didn’t involve much driving. But he explained that there was an overflow lot several blocks away, and he sometimes brought the nicer cars there just to have a chance to drive them longer. Plus the guys who oversaw that lot loved cars, guarded them with their lives. He said the guy across the street sometimes fell asleep in his chair out of boredom.

“So if I want to steal a car, I should go to the lot across the street?” she said.

“Ooh, a girl car thief. I love it.”

“Don’t be sexist, Michael.”

“Sorry.”

“Maybe my dad taught me how to hot-wire.”

“Or your mom,” he said, winking.

“That’s better.”

He went the long way, to the farthest lot, and predictably, the two men in charge of it fawned over the car, running their hands across the curves appreciatively, asking if Michael needed it washed or detailed, if it needed gas, anything extra. Michael said no, handed over the keys.

“You don’t lock it?” she whispered.

“Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes we leave the keys inside, too. Depends how busy we are. Can’t be locking and unlocking all day long. Unless the tip is huge. But forget about cars, right? It’s a nice day for a walk.”

She smiled. It was a nice day—cool but not windy. Not that feeling that winter was on the way, threatening.

“You wouldn’t rather spend all your time inside a car?”

“Maybe half the time. I’m studying to be a high-performance mechanic,” he said proudly.

“Sounds fancy.”

“It pays, like, crazy amounts of money. More than you can make with a lot of college degrees. No offense.”

“None taken. I get it. I do.”

“I figure being a valet is a good way to network for my next job.”

“Makes total sense. But I was wondering, maybe, related to that, to networking, that you could help me with something?” she said.

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