Page 124 of Love Arranged

Lorenzo

Whatever car you pick tomorrow will make up for it.

The next morning, Lorenzo and I wakeup early and go car shopping. It takes us all day, but I finally walk out of the Mercedes dealership with a SUV that is a newer, bluer version of Lorenzo’s current one. I feel guilty for having a little pep in my step after years of fighting against getting a new car, but it disappears as I hop into the driver’s seat.

Lorenzo lingers, not moving to close my door right away. Instead he props his arm against it and starts drilling me with questions I’d expect from a driver’s ed class.

“You are aware I know how to drive a car, right?”

He rolls his eyes. “Yes.”

“Then what’s with the twenty questions?”

“You haven’t had a new car in over a decade.”

“Worried I’m going to crash it on the first day?”

His face pales, and I’ve never felt so insensitive in my entire life.

His parents died in a car crash!I yell at myself.

I scramble to come up with a better reply. “I’ll drive below the speed limit. No, wait. I’ll go even slower than that, so you’ll have no choice but to leave me behind.”

His hold on the door tightens, drawing attention to the veins in his arms. If I wasn’t so distraught at the wild look in his eyes, I’d be going feral over his corded muscles.

Lorenzo takes a deep breath and reaches into his pocket. I expect him to keep his hand there, but he pulls out one Moirai die and holds it out for me to grab.

“Um, what am I supposed to do with that?” I stare at it, confused.

“Take it.”

I gawk instead. “But it’s yours.”

“I want you to hold on to one of them for me.” He curls my fingers into a fist before stepping away, taking a fragment of my heart with him.

“Are they lucky, by chance?” I joke, noticing the dark look in Lorenzo’s eyes after he takes another step back.

“Maybe to you.”

“In that case, I’m going to make a quick pit stop on the way home and buy a lottery ticket.”

“Make it two?”

“Deal,” I say with a smile.

His gaze lingers on my face for another moment before he heads back to his matching SUV.

I open my palm and stare at one half of his father’s dice set. With how much Lorenzo panicked when one of them fell between his seats, I’m surprised he was willing to break up the pair so easily.

The romantic in me wants to hyper-fixate on the hidden meaning behind his gesture, while the down-to-earth realist plans to ignore the excited current spreading through my body because I don’t need to get my hopes up.

He bought you a car, so consider those hopes no longer manageable.

It appears that my plan to have him realize he has feelings for me is going a bit too well, to the point where I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. There is no way Lorenzo will easily accept he cares about more than my safety—not when he pushed me away the first time because of exactly that.

But unlike last time, I’m ready to put up a fight because I know what I want, and it’s always beenhim.

We arrive in Lake Wisteria way after the sun sets, so I miss out on another Sunday lunch. Based on the Lopez-Muñoz group chat, I’m expected to bring Lorenzo to the next one. Noifs,ands, orbuts about it.