Cars in the garage. Ive already got the key.
She balked. What? You mean were not going to go in?
In? Now? We have to be at the Shillings in a few minutes.
But you havent shown me your house. She looked with interest at the white-shuttered stone bungalow.
We can do that another time. If he didnt get this car thing over with soon, he was too likely to have a heart attack. You know how to drive a stick shift, dont you?
Teague, I grew up on a farm. Of course I can drive a stick. Oooh. When he popped the button on the garage door, she saw his baby. Actually, he figured all she saw was an old car. Someone who didnt know about old Volkswagen Golf GTis was hardly going to be impressed. But she was a nice shiny black. Waxed to within an inch of her life.
Isnt she pretty, Daisy raved. No wonder youre in love with her. What a darling.
He relaxed. A little. You like her.
Whats not to love. And not a scratch on her.
Not one, he agreed. Carefully. You do have an active drivers license, right?
Daisy laughed-right in his face, even if it was a kindly kind of chuckle. And then she motioned to the keys by waggling her fingers in the universal gimme gesture. Wed better get a test drive over with, Larson, before you have a stroke. Try and stop worrying, okay? If you cant handle it, you can take back the offer to use your car, no problem.
I want you to use the car. There are just a couple things you need to know before you take her out. He mentioned a couple of them. Maybe he mentioned a few more than a couple. Hell, who knew how many he brought up? At some point, he realized she was biting her lip, obviously trying to keep from laughing.
Its not funny, he said testily. Shes got a silky smooth engine, but the Golfs, the original ones, they put the standard drum brakes in the rear. Which means she loves to go, but shes not so excited about stopping. And then her carburetor is a little on the sensitive side-
I believe you mentioned that. Twice now. And Im beginning to get a sneaky feeling how important this car thing really is. If we can survive this-or should I say, if I can survive this driving test-we just might make love again, right? Or else its all over? Have I got the stakes about right?
Well, I wouldnt go that far
Well, I wouldnt go that far
But he was thinking about it. Maybe shed avoided him, but spending time with her was proving even more tantalizing than before, so now it was impossible not to think about sleeping with her. Making love with her. How much he wanted to, in any form and way she was willing. But before he built any more risky fantasies that they had a shot together, he had to know that she could swallow some of his rough edges.
Teague knew he was good to people-but not necessarily good with people. He never planned on being a loner. By this time in his life, hed always thought hed be married, have a kid or three. Instead hed lost more than one woman-and screwed up a great business partnership-because he had the slight tendency to like things his own way.
Hed told Daisy about some of that. But she hadnt really seen it until the car question came up. The car wasnt the issue. It was just a symbol. And, man, she just didnt know what he had to overcome to let her climb in the drivers seat of his most loyal lover, turn the key, make the engine vroom-vroom way, way, way differently than he did.
Put your seat belt on, tiger, she said gently.
He clipped his. She clipped hers. Then faster than lightning, she shifted into reverse and they rocketed backward out of the driveway.
Sweat broke out on his forehead.
She took the first curve on all four wheels, but it was close. Then, just past the next curve, he spotted a snowplow, doddering along around twenty miles an hour. Vermont drivers-it was an unspoken rule in the state-didnt bother using their rearview mirror because they were going to do what they wanted to anyway. Daisy passed the snowplow. On the curve. On the curve with the double-yellow line. Somewhere around fifty.
More jewels of sweat laced the back of his neck. There seemed to be a shortage of oxygen in the car. He couldnt talk. His right foot was mashed on the brake. Except that there wasnt a brake on his side of the car.
My, she does like speed, doesnt she?
He spotted a little blue Buick ahead, an older model, the driver in it short with fuzzy white hair, and ahead of her was a Honda Civic. Daisy passed both of them on the next straightaway. The speedometer hit eighty-seven. Not for long. Not even for minutes. But it definitely hit it.
On the next good curvy hill, she practiced downshifting.
Eventually-long enough that hed gotten three ulcers-she pulled back in his driveway and gave the brake a good test. Okay now, tiger, she said cheerfully. Lets see if we can peel your knuckles off the armrest.
Im okay, he said.
I know you are. She unclipped her seat belt and handed him the key. Well?
Well what? His lungs were so grateful to be safe that they wanted to do nothing but suck in oxygen.
Well, did I pass? I know. You undoubtedly thought Id drive like a prisoner on parole, but I figured Id better be honest with you. If the car was a test, then itd better be a true test. Only
Only what?
Only whats the verdict? Did I destroy any attraction you ever felt for me? Did you decide theres no chance well ever sleep together again, much less that we have any prayer of lasting another day as friends?
That woke him up. He looked at her. If you were trying to scare me off wanting to sleep with you, babe, you failed big-time.
Youre okay with my driving? She lifted her brows.
He was okay with her driving. Just not in his car. Ever again. Yet he heard himself saying, Sure. As if he were cool. As if the favorite car of his life hadnt just suffered a nerve-shattering risk. As if he wasnt a Type A personality who had to control the important things around him full-time.
Onto the Shillings, he said, not wanting to talk anymore. There just seemed no point. Temporarily he was incapable of communicating anything that made sense. His head, and heart, needed time to calm down and cool down. Some good, solid work always did that.
Or it usually did.
They both drove in his truck to the Shillings, because there was no point in using two vehicles to go such a short distance. The plan was for Daisy to pick up the car after seeing the Shillings job. The couple lived on the outskirts of White Hills, in a charming two-story brick house that dated back a good hundred years. Mrs. Shilling, Susan, loved history and tradition, and had loved every minute of fixing the place, until shed been in a car accident. Shed lost part of one leg. Insurance had enabled them to install an elevator chair so she could get up to the second floor, and for the most part she was functioning, doing the things she loved to do before.
But her kitchen just wasnt working. The rehab people came over and gave me some suggestions. Also they have a model kitchen at the hospital for people like me, but
But they were generic concepts. Not individual to you, Teague guessed.
You said it. I want to do the things I want to do in a kitchen. For one thing, its easier for me to work a wheelchair in here than to hop around, so everythings too high. And their ideas were on relocating supplies, like cans-but I dont use that many cans. I like fresh food. And I like to bake, but I cant get any of my baking supplies from this chair. I cantsift. Or knead. I can reach the bowls, but then I cant get them at an angle where I can actually work.
Cleanups a problem, too? Daisy asked. Who was wandering around the kitchen, frowning, analyzing, touching.
Very much so. I can get to the trash. But I need a workspace where flour doesnt get all over counters and the floor where I have no way to clean it up myself. Susan turned her soft eyes to Teague. I dont know if theres anything you can do-
Oh, he can fix you up perfectly, Daisy assured her.
Teague blinked.
That was the last chance he got a word in. The two women went into a frenzy of all the things he could do. Pull-out shelves. A pull-out pantry door. Moving the oven down a foot. Create a lower-level, long narrow workspace with rims so nothing could spill from the back and set it on wheels. In fact, Daisy wanted about everything set on wheels.
Hold your horses, ladies, he interrupted the first chance he could steal a word in. Susan, we need to talk about what kind of budget youre willing to spend for these changes.
Oh, moneys not a serious problem. I mean, I dont want fourteen-karat-gold faucets or anything ridiculous. But Donalds insisted I get anything I want. He knows how much I love to cook and bake. She was already turning back to Daisy. You think I could have an extra sink set on wheels?
Oh, sure, Teague could do that. No sweat at all.
Teague cant put a sink on wheels, Teague mentioned. To begin with, Teague isnt a plumber. Besides which, plumbing takes stationary pipes. You cant just move a sink around-
They werent listening to him. A half hour later, though, when they left the house, Susan was as excited as Daisy was. A light snow was drifting down, the sticky kind, that kissed the cheeks and eyelashes and stayed.
She needs different lighting, too, Teague. Ceiling lights are fine for general light, but-
She climbed in the truck with him like a born country girl. As soon as she strapped in, he reached over and kissed her. The impulse came from nowhere, yet the result made his pulse teeter and skid. Apparently it ruffled hers, too, because it was the first time she quit talking in well over an hour.
The silence didnt last long, though. What was that for? she questioned.
The silence didnt last long, though. What was that for? she questioned.
I dont know. I think its because you were so gungho pushy. Got right in there and took charge. Trouble all the way. Ive always liked those qualities in a woman. But he never thought hed be able to work with someone who was as bullheaded as he was. That hed had fun over the past hour was still messing with his mind. He added quickly, But we do need to have a little discussion about what a carpenter can and cant do. Ive got a general contractors license. But I really dont tend to touch plumbing or much electricity. The city and township both have codes.