Page 104 of Always: A Legacy Novel

Catherine fell silent, watching the people mill about the DMV, forming lines at the respective desks where they needed to go. Numbers flashed overhead for the next person to be served.

“So,” Catrina said quietly.

“Yeah?”

“You’re still … seeing that Donati boy, aren’t you?”

“Cross,” Catherine said. “His name is Cross.”

“Mmhmm.” Her mother rapped blood red, stiletto fingernails on the arm of the chair. “How long have you two been dating now?”

Catherine wondered where her mother was going with this. “Four months.”

“You like him quite a bit, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling.

Catrina nodded. “He just got his junior license, didn’t he?”

Catherine side-eyed her mother. “Last month.”

This wasn’t news, though. Cross had picked Catherine up throughout the whole first week of April, despite living forty minutes away from her, drove them to school, and back. Her parents were aware Cross had his license, and a brand new white Range Rover. She didn’t understand why her mother was acting like this was the first time they had talked about it.

It wasn’t.

“You know, he left the house at nine the other day,” Catrina said.

Catherine’s brow furrowed. “So?”

Her mother tapped a single finger on the book that Catherine had used to study for her permit. “Think, reginella. You’re a smart girl.”

It took far too long for Catherine to realize what her mother was alluding to. Driving laws. Specifically, New York driving laws regarding teens with junior licenses. No teen driver with a junior permit was allowed to drive after nine at night without someone over the age of twenty-one in the vehicle with them, unless it was for work, or some type of schooling.

“Really, Ma?” Catherine asked.

Catrina glanced over at her daughter. “What?”

“You’re going to lecture someone on breaking the law. And driving laws, come on.”

“Well …”

“Really, Ma,” Catherine repeated, not even posing it as a question. “A Marcello is going to lecture someone on driving laws, of all things. I mean, go ahead. I’m all for it, if you want to, but really. Even Daddy said those laws are ridiculous. That’s why he said he would be getting me one of those official letter things saying I have a job at his company with work hours until twelve to get around all that nonsense when I get my junior license. His words, Ma, not mine.”

Which was also how Cross apparently got around the laws, or so she thought.

Her mother laughed. “Your father is a bad influence.”

“Yes, just him. He’s the only bad influence in our family.”

“Watch it, there.”

Catherine rolled her eyes. “Okay, Ma.”

“But I will say you should avoid getting yourself in trouble if you want to keep your permit. Never mind, the certain something that will be waiting for you in the driveway when we get home.”

She stiffened in the chair. “What?”

Catrina smirked, and surveyed her fingernails. “Oh, please, don’t act as though you have no idea what I’m talking about, Catherine. Ever since your father bought your brother the Mercedes for his sixteenth birthday, you’ve reminded him every year that you expected to also be gifted a car of your choice.”