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“I don’t need a ride when I have a perfectly good bike here.”
He swung his unamused gaze to hers. “Ella, it may be April, but it’s forty-five degrees out.”
Over the past few days, the first signs of spring had slowly started to show, but then a cold front moved in overnight. Ella didn’t care earlier in the day when she rode over to borrow the car. She had spring on the mind, and she wasn’t going to let Mother Nature ruin her party. She could almost smell the fresh cut grass, the mouth-watering aromas of burgers on the grill, and the sweet pungent scent right before it rained.
“It’s not that bad,” she said. Besides they were born and raised in Willow Cove; they were used to frigid temperatures in the winter. She practically didn’t even feel the cold anymore. Most locals had already taken out their shorts and flip flops.
“If I let you ride that bike home, Grandpa will never let me hear the end of it. Put the bike down and get in the damn car.” He waited for her to make a move, a silent battle of wills. “Please.”
She broke. “Okay fine, but only because you said the magic word.”
“Brat,” he said as he followed her out and locked up behind him. Most people didn’t lock their doors in Willow Cove, but Marco had never really trusted anyone.
They got into the car, and Marco put the key in the ignition, looking down at the gages. “You didn’t have to fill it.”
She shrugged and, with a roll of his eyes, he knocked the shifter into reverse and pulled out of the space. “You drive me crazy, you know that?”
“Just keeping you on your toes.”
He laughed and turned the radio up as one of his favorite Led Zeppelin songs came on.
Ella looked down at her phone, and a smile tilted her lips as she noticed a new text from Lucas. A rush of childish excitement ran through her, and she honestly felt like she was fifteen all over again, waiting for her crush to call her. With everything that had happened in her life, a part deep inside of her always felt dead, and now it was as if Lucas breathed new life into her, making her remember the simple joys of life.
Led Zeppelin moved into the chorus. Marco’s hands drummed on the steering wheel with the beat, and Ella opened the text.
It went better than expected.
She barely knew him, yet it didn’t lessen her excitement for him. She tapped back a quick reply.
I’m so happy to hear that. Do you think my finger crossing had anything to do with it?
Her phone vibrated almost immediately.
I have no doubt.
“What are you smiling about?” Marco asked.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing my ass.” He nodded to the phone in her hands. “Who are you texting.”
Ella could make something up, but Marco had always been able to tell when she lied. Something about her voice moving up an octave. So with a shrug of her shoulders she decided to be honest, yet completely nonchalant about it. “A guy I met today.”
Marco glanced over at her like she’d lost her mind. “You met someone at the prison?” His voice raised with each word. His knuckles whitened against the steering wheel.
“No!” she exclaimed. “On the bus.”
“You met some guy on a bus. And now you’re texting this guy that you know absolutely nothing about.”
“He’s from California, and he’s here visiting his grandfather.”
Marco shot her a glance. “So he says.”
“I don’t think he would lie about that.”
“A guy will say anything to get in a girl’s pants.”
She dropped the phone on her lap and looked at him with indifference. “Not him.”
