The Keys to Jericho (21 page)

“The one on the right. Brake is the bigger one on the left.”

“Yep. What’s that little pedal on the far left?”

I angle my head to look. Shit. What is it? Looking closer, I smile. “Emergency brake.”

“Good. This is an automatic transmission and this model year has the e-brake on the floor, instead of up here on the console. All cars are different, so just make sure you locate where it’s at, but you really won’t use it for much, except for parking on a grade or if your engine fails and your brake pedal doesn’t work.”

I nod and he points at the steering wheel. “On your left, is your turn signal. On your right are your windshield wipers. You twist the left one for your headlights. What’s this down here?”

“Hazard lights.”

“Yep, and this? What’s the name?”

“Speedometer.”

“Your gear selector is right here, as you can see, and it’s at a zigzag, not a straight slot, so when you shift into drive, neutral, reverse, or back up into park, you’ll have to go with the pattern accordingly.”

He’s so in a zone, teaching me, that all I can do is answer, “Okay.”

“Any questions so far?”

Shaking my head, I say, “I remember most of car basics, but the rules of the road are going to be tricky. I don’t know how much I remember.”

“Oh, good thing you said that because…” Jared opens the glove compartment and pulls out a small stack of papers, “I printed off some rules of the road for you.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” As he flips through them, what he did hits me. “Hold on. When did you plan this?”

He stops flipping and looks at me. “As soon as you told me last night.” Shit…

“You were drunk when I told you.”

He slowly replies, “Yeah. I was.”

“But you remembered?”

Jared starts flipping through the papers again, his way of avoiding me. “Yeah. I did.” I’m pushing too much, I suppose.

I clasp my fingers together and bring the subject back to the aspects of a car. “Okay. So, what do we do next?”

“With what?” Looking up, his eyes brighten and a smile alights his face, but I don’t know why.

I quickly glance at the dashboard and then back to him. “With driving. What next?”

Jared lets out a small breath and shoves the papers back into the glove compartment. “Right. Start the car.”

I frown right away. “I think I forget how. I don’t want to break your grandmother’s car.”

With my hand frozen in midair, he leans over and grabs my hand, guiding it onto the keys hanging from the ignition. “You’ll want to twist your hand all the way to the end, and then let go. You don’t want to grind the gears and fuck up the engine.” His chest is against my arm and his face close to mine. I swallow and try to focus on the task, but it’s so hard when his cologne is bludgeoning me, and I would swear on a stack of bibles that it’s the same scent he used to wear in school.

I nod as my hand shakes underneath his, and he squeezes my hand before releasing it. “Go ahead.”

Twisting as he told me to, I successfully start the car, as all the times I did in school come back to my mind in an instant.

“Okay. Put your foot on the brake and shift down into drive.” My hand starts to shake even harder and he again grabs it. “Kit Kat, you got this. It’s just us here.” The memory of him saying that forces me to glance up at him and his smile is slight, but encouraging. He takes my hand and puts it on the gear selector, pulling our hands on the stick down into the zig he promised. “Keep your foot on the brake and we’re now in reverse.” Another click into a zag. “Neutral.” One more click. “Drive.” With his hand still on mine, he says, “Look straight ahead and slowly lift your foot off the brake and give it a little gas.”

I close my eyes. “I can’t.”

Clutching my hand, he whispers, “Yes. You. Can.”

“I’m scared.”

Since his hat is still on backwards, his nose easily glides over my ear. “Don’t be. I’m right here with you. If you get too scared, you can always hit the brake, and start over.”

Nodding and hearing his breath in my ear, he lets go of my hand. Distracted by how warm I feel all over now, my car jitters ease somewhat, and I tentatively release my foot from the pedal, causing the car to start rolling forward. “Oh, God, Jared.”

Still close, but not as close as I want him to be again, he says, “You’re doing great. Put your foot on the gas and
lightly
step on it.”

I do that, but it’s not enough and the car keeps rolling at a slow pace on the flat lot. “A little more, Kat.”

“Jared…”

“Come on. Gas.”

I increase the pressure and the car surges. “That’s it. Now, turn to go to the end of the lot with the opening to that other one.”

I shake my head, in a rising panic. “I can’t go over there. I see a car.”

“Why not? It’s a Sunday. One car is there. You’ll be fine. Just give it slightly more gas.”

Keeping my eyes glued to the windshield, I plead, “Just please put your seatbelt on. It’s making me more nervous that you’re not wearing it. I don’t want to wreck and you…”

He sits back. “Okay. I will, but you’re not going to wreck.”

“I didn’t think I was going to before.”

“Kat, get it out of your head. You’re starting over. Do you think your grandmother wants you to not go on with your life, like you have been doing?”

I shake my head as I steer where he told me to go, and I uneasily laugh. “She’d yell at me.”

“Do you want
me
to yell at you then?”

“No, but, Jared, I just don’t think I can do this.”

He points at the windshield. “Pull over there and put it into park.”

As I stop, I hold the stick, but can’t manage to shift it up since my hands are again shaking. He grabs my hand and helps me once more.

When he lets go of my hand, I blow a huge sigh and twist my hands together, trying to calm them. I apprehensively ask the steering wheel, “What next?”

Jared throws off his seatbelt and curtly says, “Turn off the engine.” As soon as I do that, he pulls my chin so that I look at him. His eyes are a forest fire. “Fucking get it out of your head that you’re going to crash! Just forget about it! It happened. It’s over. You have got to move on, Kat Merrick. You cannot be afraid to drive for the rest of your life. You’re letting that accident win. Fuck! You’re better than that!”

Jared releases my face and I yell, “I don’t think I am!” I bow my head, fighting tears. I don’t want the accident to win, but he’s made me see that it is.

His finger goes beneath my chin and he tips my head up. “Look at me. You’re going to do this. You have
no
choice. You’re going to learn to drive again, get your license, buy a car, and get on with your life! You’re going to get your own car key that will give you more than just a ride to work. It’ll fucking give you your life back! Don’t you want that?” His eyes intently study my face, waiting for me to reply, but I can’t. Not the way he wants me to.

“I do, but…”

He growls, “
No
. No
buts
. While I’m still here, you’re doing this. I’m not going to leave for Philly and you
not
have a driver’s license. That’s not happening.”

Looking at the small console between us, I wipe a tear. “Why are you doing this?”

“I told you why. You need your life back. It’s been too long for you living like this. If I had known...” He sighs and mutters something under his breath.

I look up, waiting for him to elaborate, but he says nothing. I eventually ask, “But why do you care so much?”

He opens his mouth to say something, but shrugs. Resting his hand on the dashboard, he says, “You said we were friends. A friend would do this for you, and since we used to be in driver’s ed. together, it seems only fitting that I be that friend to help you do this.”

“Jared, that’s….”

He looks out the windshield. “Tomorrow morning, you’re going to get your learner’s permit.”

“I really have to go through that again? I’m not a teenager.”

“Yeah, but in Maryland, since you haven’t ever had a driver’s license, you’ll have to get a driving permit before they’ll let you take the driving test.”

“That’ll take too long. Won’t you be gone before then?”

He turns his gaze back to me. “I’ll still be here, so I, or someone else, will have to ride with you at all times until you pass your test.”

Being realistic, I say, “I can’t keep borrowing your grandma’s car.”

Jared licks his suddenly smiling lip. “I can always teach you how to drive my stick, but I don’t think you can handle it yet.” His smile widens and he raises his eyebrow, definitely meaning
his
stick
.

I challenge him by raising one of mine. “Maybe you underestimate me,
Jericho
.”

Closing his eyes, he groans. “Oh, no. Not
you
now.”

“I like it.”

Upon opening his eyes, he rolls them. “Dash is going to ruin me someday.” He shakes his head and says, “Anyway, she’s not using this car. As long as I gas it up, she doesn’t care, and if she does need it, then you can drive her somewhere.”

“No way!” I squeal with sincere horror.

He laughs and nods to the steering wheel. “Okay. Start the car.”

“Why?”

He raises that eyebrow again. “Really? You think we’re done here?”

I pout, which is also sincere. “I thought we were.”

“Nope. I want you to drive the perimeter, hugging the curb, but not hitting it.” He adjusts his hat, so the bill is pointed down, and his seat, stretching his legs more, and then crosses his arms, settling back against the seat.

I gape at him. “You’re enjoying this a bit much.”

His smile is such a shame, but not for him since he lacks any sense of shame. “I am. Now get to it.”

I glance around the car and out to the lot. “I can’t back out of here.”

His eyebrows nearly meet. “Why not? This model did come with a reverse gear. It’s not just a novelty anymore.” His shameless smile returns and I want to…kiss him.

“You’re so funny.”

His eyes widen and he waves to the stick. “Well, get to it then.”

I take a deep breath, and start the car. “Excellent. Now, foot on the brake and shift into reverse.”

My hand shakes, not as bad as it did before, but I still whisper, “Damn it.”

Sitting up, he again puts his hand on mine. “Like this. Don’t think about it so much.” He pulls our hands back, clicking the car into gear. His hand stays on mine longer than necessary and I glance up at him. He frees my hand, and looks away, licking his lips as he faces the windshield. Gazing ahead, he says, “Turn your body to look out the back window, looking for cars, and then if it’s clear, take your foot off the brake and lightly give it some gas.”

I twist, putting my hand on the back of his seat and do what he told me. He moves to peer out the window with me, his face is close to my ear, and I hear and feel his quick breaths. When I stop the car and still looking behind us, I ask, “Was that good?”

He whispers, “Perfect. Now, shift into drive.”

When I turn to look forward, our heads nearly collide. “Sorry,” I say, as his eyes meander around my face.

He quietly says, “I was in your way.” Our lips are so close. Fuck. I want to kiss him.

“You’re never in my way, Jericho.” I smile, which makes him smile and bite his lip, like he’s trying to stop himself from smiling, or from saying something.

Giving my head a slight shake to clear my mind, I drive the perimeter, as directed, but with him saying very little this time, apart for telling me I need to go faster. Once I make one revolution he says, “Good. Pull up here, turning so you’re pointed that way. I want you to gun it to the other end of the lot.”

My mouth opens wide and I turn to him. “What the hell for?”

His eyes are glued to my mouth for seconds before he steadily looks into my eyes. “Because you’re afraid of the gas pedal. I want to break you of that.”

“I can’t…”

He leans closer, getting in my face. “If you fucking say you
can’t
one more time, I’ll make you push Dash Calder off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Got it?”

I blink fast, so unexpectedly turned on, and I don’t even know why. “Jared, I’m trying here.”

We’re nose to nose. “Not enough. Let the past shit go. You
can
do this!”

With him glaring at me and both of us breathing hard, I fight every urge to not yank him to me; kissing him the kiss I wanted to when we were kids. And damn it if he’s not harder to resist now.

Slowly, he sits back, eyes still on me. Reluctantly, I return my attention to the wheel, and pull the car to the spot he indicated. When I do, he calmly says, “Punch it.”

I look over at him. “Where do I stop?”

“Before you hit the building for crying out loud, and give yourself plenty of time to not do that. I want it to be a safe stop, not slamming on your brakes and skidding to one.”