Hana waddles over to greet the frowning teen, who I sort-of recognize. “Hey, Pepper. Why the long face?”
“Vodka,” Carmen demands, and Blake shakes her head as she turns to open a cabinet near the pantry, muttering under her breath about heart palpitations.
“Dad decided I have to learn how to drive,” Pepper starts, and Carmen makes a loud noise as she pours a healthy glass of liquor. The girl rolls her eyes and continues. “He wanted to hire a driving instructor, but Carmen said that’s not how we do it here in Hamiltown. She said she would teach me, and she’s theworst!”
Pepper’s voice grows louder by the end of her sentence, and Carmen lowers the glass pointing her finger. “Youare the worst. I’ve never seen such a shit driver in all my life! You have no intuition, you make the most bizarre choices…”
Hana cuts her eyes, stage-whispering to Carmen. “Harsh words, my friend. Aren’t we supposed to encourage our students?”
“I should’ve known this was doomed from the start. You want to know what she said to me?” Carmen’s country accent injects a sense of humor, but I don’t dare laugh. “I told her to put her foot on the brake to start the car. She asked me which one is the brake!”
“Why is that bad?” Pepper yells.
“You don’t even know the difference between the pedals! You probably used both feet to work them.”
“Why can’t I use both feet?”
“Okay, time out, time out.” Blake steps between the two. “So she didn’t know the brake from the accelerator. That’s an easy fix.”
“Uh… yeah.” Carmen takes another slug of vodka. “She drives slow as molasses in January, until it’s time to actually slow down, at which point, she speeds up!”
“I confused the pedals!”
“She nearly had a head-on collision with a tree!”
Hana gasps, putting a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no, Pep!”
“This is so dumb. I can ride a horse if I need to go anywhere.” Pepper stomps around the kitchen. “Do you know how many people are killed in car accidents every year?”
“And I was almost one of them,” Carmen quips, the alcohol seeming to take the edge off her fury.
Blake puts her hand on Carmen’s shoulder, her voice gentle. “Maybe you should hire a professional. At least it would save your relationship.”
“Hana can teach me to drive.” Pepper crosses her arms hard. “She’s the only one who listens to me around here.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Pep.” Hana puts a hand on her massive baby bump. “I might go into labor, and then we’d really be in trouble.”
Chewing my lip, I scan the group of friends before suggesting quietly, “I could try to teach you to drive. It hasn’t been that long since I learned, and I was confused by the pedals at first, too.”
Pepper’s brown eyes land on mine, and she hops over to where I’m sitting. “Who are you?”
“Pepper!” Carmen scolds. “Don’t be rude.”
Pepper turns to me and mutters, “She’s always riding me.”
“We’re actually the rude ones,” Hana jumps in. “Carmen, Pepper, this is our friend from New York, Rainey Sidorova… or actually, Petrovich?”
“Petrovna.” I note, and she frowns. “Russian surnames are gendered. It’s confusing until you’re used to it.”
“Rainey Petrovna,” Hana continues, “This is Carmen, who runs the most adorable boutique shop in town, and Pepper is Dirk and Hutch’s niece.”
“I’ve heard about you.” I smile at the girl. “I saw your picture in the softball uniform with the donuts.”
“Oh, that was a million years ago.” Pepper sits in the chair beside me, the quarrel seemingly forgotten. “You’re from Russia? Is it really super-freezing there all the time?”
“I only lived there as a little girl. I grew up in Manhattan.” Her face falls, so I quickly add, “Russia’s a really big country, but where I lived was kind of like here.”
“I’d like to visit sometime. My uncle Hutch was in the Marines there.”