Chapter 5: Terms

On Wednesday, Constance sent Dominic to drive me to the cake tasting.

"Preston's tied up at the yard," she said on the phone, "and you two should know each other. You're family."

I said yes, because saying no would have needed a reason.

He picked me up outside the store in his father's old pickup, with the windows down and the radio off.

We did not speak for the first mile.

"Thanks for the ride," I said at last.

"Mother's orders."

"I know."

Another mile went by along the river road.

"I'm not going to bring up Friday night," he said.

"Good."

"I'm going to think about it, though."

"That's your own business."

"Every day," he said, eyes on the road.

Heat went up my neck, and I looked at the water.

Halfway to the bakery, the truck coughed twice and rolled to a stop on the gravel shoulder.

Dominic tried the key.

It clicked.

"Fuel pump," he said, and got out.

I got out too, because sitting alone in the cab was worse.

He lifted the hood and leaned in, and the sun lay across his back.

"Hold this," he said, and put a flashlight in my hand.

I held it.

His arm brushed mine as he reached past me, and neither of us moved.

The river slid by below the bank, slow and brown.

A hawk circled over the far shore.

"You hold your breath when I'm close," he said, not looking up.

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Cheated With My Best Friend, So I Spent the Night With His Brother from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.