Something about my words or my appearance made her peer closer. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me, ma’am?” she asked.
I tried to imagine what we must look like to her. Me, in my nice work clothes now becoming slowly spotted with rain, clutching my shattered composure to myself. Lucas in his school uniform like always, but still not looking like anything but a rich young man on an entirely different level to me.
I wondered if what she was seeing was my real future. Terrified, abused, just waiting for someone to ask me if I was all right. Lucas right now was far from someone I could imagine, say, hitting me, though he’d certainly crossed the line in terms of physical intimidation.
If I were being completely honest, the future I was walking myself into scared me. But there was nobody here who could force me to be honest about that, and I didn’t really want anyone else intruding into my personal business either.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m sorry I let him drive.”
“He’ll be a lot more sorry than you,” the officer said, “because he’s getting his licence suspended tonight for speeding and dangerous driving.”
“It’s my first time,” Lucas protested.
“It’s the first time you’ve been caught,” she corrected. “Don’t try to pull one on me and pretend that’s not the case. As a provisional driver, any infraction attracts an immediate suspension.”
I just knew a woman like this officer would have no troubles handling someone like Lucas. Maybe there were just some of us out there who could cope with that sort of thing in our lives, and so it naturally fell to us to do the work.
She was looking at me again, not even needing her full attention to write out whatever ticket Lucas was going to get. “I take it from the look of extreme embarrassment on your face that you still have your licence and would not even think of driving as recklessly as this young man.”
“That’s correct,” I said.
“Well, you’ll be driving him home,” she told me. “But I suggest you take a moment to put that top back up first. This rain’s only getting heavier.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Three months,” Lucas grumbled, helping me reopen the top of my car in the shelter of his family’s garage, which might have been larger than my entire house. The seat cushions felt damp enough that we’d agreed the car could do with an extra airing before I headed home. “What am I supposed to do if I can’t drive for three months? I just got done with not being able to drive!”
When, exactly, was I heading home? In the excitement following Lucas’s brush with the law I’d entered Lucas’s house with him without thinking too much about what was going on, and now we seemed to be settling my car in for an extended stay.
“I guess you’ll just have to be very nice to anyone who might be able to offer you lifts,” I said, not really thinking very hard about it.
“Well,” Lucas said, “thanks very much for the offer, and I’m working on it.”
He took my hand. “Come on, I’ll give you a tour of the more interesting parts of the house.”
I hoped he hadn’t noticed how I’d flinched at his touch, even though knowing Lucas he probably had. It seemed silly, when his hands had been all sorts of other places that were far more confronting.
“It’s a little scary to think there are more interesting parts of your house,” I said, to distract from those more interesting parts of me. I was telling the truth. This vast space with cars and a pool table and an actual bar along one wall seemed like something that would come out of a teen movie, not real life.
But Lucas had only to lead me through a door in one corner of the garage straight into the midst of the house, and I saw right away he’d been telling the truth too. The rest of the house was as vast as the garage: high ceilings, wide hallways—and though there was a refreshing lack of clutter, there was also plenty of room for tasteful decoration. There were paintings and prints of famous artworks on clean white walls alongside studio-posed family photos. Shelves and pedestals and alcoves held a range of books and photos and decorations that was always perfectly in balance with the space.
I felt my face grow blazing hot when I realised Lucas was watching me gape at everything.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, “it’s not very classy of me to just stare at your home like this, is it?”
“It’s cute,” Lucas said. “I’d bring you here all the time to watch you carry on like this. And, of course…” His grin had me nervous again. “This is your area, isn’t it? So what do you think of our place?”
“I think it’s really nicely put-together,” I told him, relieved I didn’t need to lie. “It’s probably the most stylish house I’ve ever seen that people actually live in.”
H
is smile was worth any amount of grief he’d put me through to get to this point. “It’s mostly down to Lucy and my dad, not me. I think Dad has picked up a certain sense of style from having to set up his dental practice really nicely… while Lucy is just naturally perfect.”
“Thank you,” said Lucy, who was sitting with a book in the lounge area we’d just entered. She looked the two of us up and down, spending most of her time on me of course. “Got caught in the rain?”
“Just a bit,” Lucas said.
“Is she staying over then?”