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“If anyone’s frying his ass, it’ll be me,” Grant insisted.
“Guys, stop,” Talia begged. “I don’t want Ryan hurting anyone, and he will. You know it. Let’s just go into town and get breakfast.”
Isa and Oliver meowed loudly, and Gus sat down, planting himself firmly in the hall.
“I don’t think the cats want to come,” Grant said. “I bet they want to go hunting.”
I got an idea. “Maybe we can send them on a hunt of our own. They can keep an eye on Professor Leto.”
“That’s a good idea,” Nadine agreed. “He’s not going to notice a few random cats roaming around. They’re all over the school.”
I knelt to scratch Oliver behind the ears. “Follow Professor Leto. Let us know if you find anything.”
The cats shared a meow, like they agreed to the task, then went running off in the other direction.
I stood. “We’ll see if we can get an update on Chloe and Professor Wykoff in town. We can take my car.”
I’d picked up the old beater earlier this week. My internship paid well enough that I could afford the monthly payments. Nadine offered to let me drive her car whenever I wanted, but I really wanted my own. I’d never had my own car, and there was a sense of freedom that came with it. Yeah, the wheel wells were rusted, and the car shook when it drove down the road, but it was my rusted old piece of shit. I was proud.
Talia looked a little hesitant when she saw the sedan.
“Don’t give her that look,” I teased.
Talia plastered on an innocent expression. “What look?”
“Like you expect a wheel to fall off.” I smacked the hood. “She’s reliable… I think.”
Grant walked around the car, inspecting it from all angles. “Bro, I think you got scammed.”
I shoved him. “Relax. She’s not going to break down.”
“I like it,” Nadine said proudly, sliding into the passenger seat. I beamed.
Once we got on the road, though, Nadine didn’t seem as enthusiastic about the car as before. She held on to the dash.
“This thing is really shaky, Lucas,” she said. “My dad and I worked on old cars together. I might be able to get it running smoothly.”
My dad and I had never had a relationship like that. He didn’t teach me anything—let alone anything about cars.
“That’d be great, Nad,” I said. “It’d be fun to get under the hood with you.”
“I can think of a few things he’d like to get under,” Talia snickered from the backseat.
I pulled into a parking spot on Main Street. I was surprised to see there were hardly any cars around. Usually, this part of town was packed. But it was still January and quite chilly out, with thick cloud cover overhead. Perhaps no one wanted to brave the cold.
I didn’t notice until I stepped out of the car that I’d parked in front of a jewelry shop. My gaze roamed over the window, and I caught sight of an engagement ring, with beautiful teal stones swirling around a shimmering diamond. I couldn’t help but think how beautiful the ring would look on Nadine’s finger.
My heart lifted at the thought. Could I really be thinking about proposing? No, it was too soon. Yet, I knew with all my heart that I wanted to marry Nadine some day. I didn’t even have to question it. Nadine took my hand, and I snapped my attention back to her. I didn’t think she’d noticed what I was looking at. Good, because when the time came, I wanted it to be a surprise.
“Ooh, Crystal’s Psychic Café! I love this place,” Talia said as we headed toward a nearby restaurant for breakfast.
“What’s a psychic café?” Nadine asked.
“There’s no menu,” Talia explained. “The servers can read your mind—not all your thoughts, just enough to know what you want to eat—and they’ll bring your food out without you even asking!”
“That’s cool, but what if you don’t know what you want?” Nadine asked. “Or what if they don’t have it on the menu?”
“Trust me, they get it right every time,” Talia promised.
