Page 19 of The Witching Hours

When she was a few yards away, she could see that he was beaming like a twelve-year-old holding his first skateboard on Christmas morning. She wanted to throttle him, but she also didn’t want to take that beautiful smile off his beautiful face.

“Look, Jen. Here it is. In the flesh.”

He’d been telling her how much he wanted that car for as long as she’d known him, and it was easy to see why. It was gorgeous.

“Cars don’t have flesh, Tristan,” she said without returning his smile. “And I thought you weren’t getting that car until you graduate.” His grin never faltered as he rushed in and lifted her up for a celebratory hug. “Are you insane? Put me down. You’ve already caused enough trouble.”

“What trouble?” he asked, the essence of innocence.

“The honking?”

He looked around like he might catch a sign of the culprit who ratted him out. “Oh. That.”

“Yes. That.” She waved her hand like she always did when she wanted him to know she was making a point worth filing under important. “As if the car wasn’t loud enough all on its own?” She hated that she’d made his smile falter and wished she could take that back. “Look, the car is great.” She gave it a quick once over, stem to stern. “But I’m having Sunday lunch with the Guidrys.” He thought it was funny that she always referred to her own family by their last name, like she wasn’t one of them. “And you know it’s a command performance.EverySunday!”

After glancing at the front door of the Guidry house, he said, “Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry. Well. Dad gave me a deal.”

“Your dad’s a car dealer now? He got tired of the oil company gig?” Tristan smiled. She relented. Her curiosity trumped the mission to shoo him away. “What kind of deal?”

“If I graduate on time, we’re even-steven. If I don’t, I have to pay for the car. He made me sign a contract with installment payments and everything.”

“Yeah? Sounds like he knows you.” Tristan chuckled. “That’s actually pretty cool of him.”

Tristan waggled his head. “Come on. Let’s go.”

She dropped her chin and looked through the top of her eyes. “Try to follow. Sunday. Lunch. Guidrys.”

His eyes danced with laughter. “Okay. When will you be back?” Meaning when would she return to the rental she shared with three girls at the edge of the Tulane campus?

“Before two. Probably. Why?”

“We’re going on a road trip.”

“No.” She was shaking her head vigorously. “I have class early tomorrow. And if you don’t want to be stuck paying for that car until you’re ninety, you’d better make early class, too.”

His grin was back in place. “Just a little road trip. Highway 90 over to Lafitte and back. Two hours max. Just to christen our baby.”

“Ourbaby?”

“Hey. You look nice today.”

She looked down at the blue linen dress that skimmed her slight body. She knew he liked it when she wore blue because it accentuated the blue in her eyes, but she hadn’t worn that dress to please him. She’d chosen that dress because her mother loved seeing her wear simple, sedate, classics in natural fibers and solid colors.

“We’ll be back before it gets dark.” He pressed using his seductive voice. Seeing that she was wavering, he knew her well enough to judge the moment of optimal advantage. Jumping into the car, he started the ignition, and said, “Pick you up at two.”

“Wait. I didn’t say…”

He laughed and drove away.

When she turned around, she could see that the other Guidrys, all three of them, were watching from front windows. But by the time she returned to the dining room, her parents and brother were seated and eating like they couldn’t be bothered with such silliness.

“It was Tristan,” she said, going along with their pretense.

“We gathered that,” her mother said.

“Points for the car,” Mace added.

“It was supposed to be a graduation present, but his dad made a deal so he could drive it now. If he graduates on time, it’s his. If he doesn’t, he has to make payments until it’s paid off. His dad made him sign a contract and everything. Like it was a real, um, transaction.”