Mr. Cole morphed into the same sweet man he’d been that morning as soon as we pulled into the driveway at home. He’d been faking it for me, faking being upset with me. His odd behavior was the least weird of things to have happened to me this day, so I let it go. It took me two seconds to notice my Bug missing from the driveway. I wanted to cry. I didn’t cry, not when I’d decided the day before it would be my nightly ritual. I’d cry about it later when I was alone and in my bed.
One of the garage doors was sliding open when he spoke. “Your mother asked about your car when the wrecker showed up to take it away. It could not be avoided and she made a big deal out of it and how upset she was for you. I couldn’t get out of taking her with me when I went shopping for you. I’m afraid she picked out the color. Still, I hope you like it. And if you don’t like it we can take it back and exchange it for whatever your heart desires.”
I looked at him like he was crazy and said, rather brilliantly, “Huh?” I had no idea what he was talking about.
He laughed quietly and reached out to gently squeeze my shoulder. “I bought you a new car today like I said I was going to.” He hesitated a moment while I gaped at him with my mouth hanging open. Then he spoke so quietly I almost missed what he said. “I hope you like it, sweetheart. I really do.”
My heart clenched painfully inside my chest when, for the second time that day, someone called me sweetheart in a way where I knew they didn’t mean it to be derogatory or snide or in a false sense of sexiness. It hadn’t been a throwaway endearment, but something far sweeter I wished I could hear every single day for the rest of my life.
Then something else he said registered in my brain. He’d… he’d taken my mother with him while he shopped for a new vehicle for me. And she’d allowed him to still pick me up from school.
Oh God.
Oh, dear God.
We were both headed on a journey straight down the shitter and he didn’t even know it. He parked right before the open garage door and got out. I had a small panic attack and almost screamed for him to get back in the car so we could make a run for it. His handsome smile with the crinkles around his eyes stopped me. He was happy, genuinely happy, to be giving me something. If I screamed or ran away I’d ruin it for him. I couldn’t do it to him. After the past two days I’d had, Mr. Cole’s smile and happiness meant something to me that I couldn’t deny myself of just then. I’d suffer the consequences later if it meant one of us could be happy now.
I took a deep breath and exited the sleek vehicle. My mother stood inside the garage waiting for us. Her smile was so forced and brittle it looked as if she made one wrong move her whole face would simply crumble.
From the moment I stepped into the garage her eyes immediately locked onto me. They rooted me to my spot. I wanted to fight her look and I hated it. She threatened to swallow me whole with only the venom shooting out of her eyes at me.
“Ariel?” Mr. Cole called out from further inside the garage.
Damn. Had he not seen her or was he simply choosing to ignore her presence like I wished I could?
I followed him further into the garage, deciding to ignore her for now. We’d both pay for it later, but to hell with her for now. When I got to the last car parked in the garage my steps faltered and I came to an abrupt stop.
Oh no, he did not!
I could not believe my eyes. This had to be some sort of joke.
“You… you…” I sputtered. “You bought me a Range Rover?”
A Range Rover. A freaking black Range Rover. It was so pretty I had to reach out and touch it just to make sure it was real. And it was real. Very, very real. Right then I fell in love with a car and I hadn’t even seen the inside of it yet. Or driven it. Or done anything other than caress it with my hand.
I remembered what he’d said a
bout my mother picking out the color. She’d chosen black? For me? I didn’t understand. I’d expected something bright and shiny that would draw tons of attention and I’d hate it. She’d pick something like that for me and she’d do it knowing I’d hate it. I didn’t understand why she’d pick black, a color I’d actually like.
“It’s… it’s…” I had no words. This seemed to be happening a lot to me today.
“It’s all yours,” Mr. Cole told me in his bright and happy voice. “Come on, let’s take it out for a drive.”
“I’m sorry, Marcus,” My mother cut into the happy moment like I knew she’d been waiting to do. She wouldn’t have liked being ignored when we walked in here. “Ariel probably has homework she needs to do before anything else. She can drive when we all go out to dinner tonight like a real family should.” Her voice had slowly been deteriorating from suspiciously sweet to sharp and angry. “Ariel, you will be having dinner with us tonight. After he went to the trouble and spent his money on a car you’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve, I think it’s the least you can do.”
“That won’t be necessary, sweetheart.” Mr. Cole told my mother and I noticed something strange when he called her sweetheart. He didn’t call her sweetheart like he meant it as a nice endearment like he had me. “I’m having dinner tonight with a business partner. I forgot to mention it earlier. You two will be on your own for dinner tonight so Ariel and I will be taking that drive now if you don’t mind.”
I visibly cringed. Tonight was not a good night for him to leave me alone with her, not after this charade. He’d also never, not once since we got here, missed sharing a dinner with my mother and now he was running off to have dinner with a business partner. A business partner was likely his cover for seeing another woman. That’s how it usually went.
“Marcus,” my mother whined in an unattractive voice. “I wanted to have a-”
“That’s enough, Vivian,” he snapped back at her. My eyes grew round at his tone. I’d never heard him speak that way to anyone before. “We’ll be back in a little while. I’m sure Ariel will have no problem putting her homework on hold for half an hour.”
“But-”
“Get in the car, Ariel,” he ordered me in that same harsh voice he’d used to snap at my mother.
I didn’t hesitate to obey. My feet carried me around the back of the Range Rover and to the driver’s side door. After opening it I climbed inside. It smelled like leather and new car. I immediately loved it. I ran my hands lovingly over the steering wheel as I looked around me in wonder and awe.