Page 87 of Time After Time

“How did you…fix it?”

“I wrote her sixty letters. One for every day. Delivered them to the bookstore where she worked. I even bought books to hide them in. Nearly went bankrupt.”

I smile. “And?”

“She let me buy her coffee. Then dinner. Then she told me if I ever pulled that crap again, she’d throw a bottle of bad wine at my head.”

“She still might.”

“Oh, definitely.”

I laugh. Then the ache returns.

“I’ve never been in arealrelationship. The others were just…me passing time,” I confess. “Except with Ransom. And now I don’t know what it was. What it meant.”

He puts a hand on my shoulder. “You love him?”

I nod slowly.

“Then you owe it to yourself to see if this is the car you want to buy.”

“What?” I ask, confused.

“Love is like being on a long drive. Sometimes the car’s transmission is weird. Sometimes it breaks down. But if you can see yourself in that seat for years…you owe it a test drive.”

I stare at him. “What kind of car?”

Papa thinks about it. “A Volvo?”

“A boring Volvo?” Laughter bubbles out of me.

He wraps an arm around me. “Better than a flashy convertible that breaks in a snowstorm.”

“Are you saying Ransom is like a Volvo, Papa?”

“Sturdy, older, expensive to repair if he breaks your heart, but…if he sticks around, you’ll be safe for life.’”

I lean into him.

“I’m still mad at him.”

“Good. He deserves it.”

“But….” I trail off.

“But,” Papa says with a twinkle in his eye.“Butis hope.”

“I thoughtbuttwas his ass,” I tease.

“Which you should kick,” Papa says confidently.

CHAPTER 24

Ransom

Ididn’t mean to end up at her door.

Okay, fine—I absolutely did.