Page 40

Chapter 40

James

When I turned onto Isa’s long tree-lined driveway, she began making a to-do list. “We need to get the car back into the garage and start charging it,” she said in what I called her CEO voice. Thinking ahead, all business. It sounded uncannily like her mom (which I thought was cute), but I’d never tell her. “Hopefully my parents won’t notice the new mileage. I also need to reset the outdoor cameras.”

“What are your parents even watching for?” I asked, zigging in the driveway. “It’s not like you sneak out.” I zagged us. “You know, normally. ”

We laughed. Isa’s bubbly giggles gave me goose bumps as the Tesla rounded the last bend in the driveway…which is when we stopped laughing.

But my goose bumps still grew. They fucking multiplied.

Because two cars sat outside the house. Isa’s cream-colored Mini Cooper and her mom’s black BMW.

“Oh no,” she said, shifting in her seat. I saw her hands tremble as she reached to tighten her perfect ponytail before realizing her hair was no longer in said perfect ponytail—she was about to spiral. “She’s home.” Her voice cracked. “Why is she home? She never gets home until late!”

“Hey, it’ll be fine. We can spin this…,” I assured her, because even if Isa did plan to come clean about her day off, telling her mom right now sounded like a shitstorm.

The house’s front door opened and Mrs.Cruz stepped out to greet us. I cursed myself. Why was I driving? Isa should’ve been driving. Not that I was afraid of taking the heat, but I think we would get in less trouble if a Cruz was behind the wheel. The Tesla was, after all, their car.

An unreadable expression on her face, Isa’s mother pointed to their detached garage. It matched their modern house—all iron and dark woods with glass walls. One bay was already open for us. “I’m sorry,” Isa whispered. “Whatever happens, this is my fault. I let Grace take the car out.”

“It’s not your fault,” I whispered back. “She can be pretty convincing.”

“But I could’ve stopped her,” she said as I eased the car into the garage. “It is possible to stop Grace Barbour.”

“True,” I conceded, certain occasions coming to mind. “Very true.”

Then I turned off the Tesla and we got out of the car. Mrs. Cruz was waiting for us near her husband’s just-for-show workbench, with what looked like her iPad and a few envelopes tucked under her arm. I’m not going to lie—Mrs.Cruz sort of scared me. Isa had inherited her mom’s CEO voice, but the difference was that Mrs.Cruz used hers almost all the time. It took a while for her to wind down and just be a mom. “Isabel,” she said. “Did choir run late? I expected you earlier.”

“Yes, it did,” her daughter lied, and I felt her grasping for my hand. She wove her fingers through mine. “We were practicing a new song…”

“And it just wasn’t coming together,” I blurted. “Everyone agreed to stay a little late so we could work out the kinks.”

Isa’s mom gave me a look. “You’ve rejoined choir, James?”

Well, shit. I guess I had to now.

At least it was only for a month.

“Better late than never,” I quipped.

Mrs.Cruz smiled, bemused. It reminded me of family gatherings; after a glass of Pinot Noir or two, she was easygoing with a wicked sense of humor. Like, during charades, it was next to impossible to connect her with the crazy pressure she put on Isa.

“I’m sorry, Mamá,” she said. “I would’ve called if I’d known you were going to be home early.” Her voice went up an octave. “Why are you, um, home already?”

“I decided to take a half day,” Mrs.Cruz said. “I realized I haven’t in a while, so I caught a train at lunchtime. I spent the afternoon watching a show Jesse recommended a few years ago. Billions ?”

“Mrs.Cruz!” I was genuinely shocked. “You’re in finance, and you haven’t seen Billions ?”

“I know, I know.” She shook her head. “It’s embarrassing. I guess I’ve just never found the time.” She shrugged, then glanced at the Tesla. Her eyes narrowed. “If one of you could plug it in to recharge the battery…” She refocused on Isa while I quickly went to do the honors. How hard could it be? “Isa, you should’ve told me you were going to take the Tesla to school.”

“Yes, I know,” Isa said solemnly. “Mamá, I apologize, but—”

“No, carino, it’s nice you did,” she told her. “I’m surprised, since all you do is race around in the Mini—the charging port is on the other side, James—but pleased. I was going to discuss selling it with your father.” She shook her head at the Tesla. “If he’s not going to drive it, someone should. Cars are not just collectibles; they should be out making memories.” She pointed to her light blue vintage Beetle, the car she and my mom always cruised around town in with Mrs.Adler, before clearing her throat. “Now, Isabel.”

Pilar Cruz, CEO, was back.

“Yes?” Isa asked as I returned to her side. She took my hand and squeezed it so hard that my blood circulation was nonexistent.

“Three items to cover,” her mom said. “I noticed when I got home that the alarm was off, and so were the cameras. Do you have any idea what happened there?”

Come on, Izzy, I thought. She’d told me that she and Grace had disabled the alarm and cameras before their Tesla theft. Keep it short, sweet, and simple.

“Oh, well, I was preoccupied about my test this morning,” Isa said, “so I probably forgot to set the alarm before I left the house.”

“How did the test go?”

“Good,” Isa said, a prediction for next week’s makeup. “I’m very confident.”

“Wonderful.” Mrs.Cruz smiled. “What was the essay question?”

Fuck, I thought, pulse spiking, but Isa amazingly rattled off a feasible test prompt. I guess last night’s extra studying had paid off.

“Interesting…,” her mom said. “Now, what about the cameras?”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Isa shrugged. “Maybe there was a random malfunction? I saw Papá fiddling with them before he left on Sunday.”

I had no idea if that was true.

“That’s what I thought,” Mrs.Cruz agreed. “Just a little hiccup. The system rebooted without any trouble.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. Why did Mrs.Cruz have to choose today of all days to come home early?

Before Mrs.Cruz could say anything else, Isa raised our clasped hands. “Hey, look, Mamá!” she exclaimed. “James ishere!”

Because besides asking me about choir and me plugging in the Tesla, Mrs.Cruz had yet to technically acknowledge me.

“Ah, yes.” She nodded. “Final item on the list.” She looked me dead in the eye, her mouth a straight line. My goose bumps returned. “James, are you the boy Isa talks to every night? Keeping her up late?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said calmly as I mentally freaked out and tried to pull together an I’m Not a Distraction speech. I knew the word was coming.

My stomach spun in surprise when it didn’t. “Thank goodness,” Mrs.Cruz said, that straight line turning up in a smile. “I hoped it was you.” She set her iPad and mail on Mr.Cruz’s workbench so she could hug me. I was startled, but I hugged her back. “I was concerned it would be some other boy who’d only be a distraction…”

Okay, so the word did come.

“…and not fully support Isa’s commitment to her goals.”

“Well, I promise that’s not me, Mrs.Cruz,” I said. “I’m here to help her achieve them.”

And distract her. I was definitely going to distract her, but that would stay between us.

Isa’s mother smiled, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Isa start to smile, too. “Would you like to stay for dinner?” Mrs.Cruz asked. “I got the urge to cook today, so I went to the grocery store in between Billions episodes.” She gestured to the house. “The oven is already preheated.”

“Yes, stay!” Isa said enthusiastically, but it was all for show. There was no excitement in her eyes, and I caught the imperceptible shake of her head. She planned to tell her mom about the affair over dinner. If I stayed, she wouldn’t be able to do it. She’d gotten up the guts; this was her shot. I wasn’t going to stop her from pulling the trigger.

“Oh, wow,” I said. “Thank you for the invitation. I’d love to, but unfortunately, I can’t. My dad is also pulling out all the stops for dinner tonight, and I’m sure my mom mentioned Grace is sick.” I shook my head. “I should head home soon.”

Mrs.Cruz nodded. “Another time, then. I’d like to help find you a direction.”

A direction? I thought as Isa groaned. “Mamá…”

“What?” her mom said. “Boston University has plenty of strong programs, but I would like James to have an idea of what he’d like to pursue.” She looked at me. “Personally, I think you should pair cybersecurity with a music minor—”

“Mamá!” Isa exclaimed, cheeks reddening. “Stop!”

Mrs.Cruz smirked, then held up today’s mail. Three big envelopes with three iconic college crests. “These are addressed to you, Isabel,” she said as my heart heaved. She’d done it. Princeton, Harvard, Yale—Isa had gotten off of their waitlists. My guess was she had a trio of emails in her inbox, but after putting down her deposit at Brown, she turned off notifications for it. “Do we need these?” her mom asked. “Or should I go ahead and shred them?”

Next to me, Isa went completely still. I, too, was shell-shocked. What was happening? Mrs.Cruz had made Isa feel guilty about getting wait-listed for the last month, yet now that Isa had the so-called top schools at her fingertips, her mom was letting her choose ? Was this a weird-ass test?

I heard Isa exhale. “You can shred them,” she said confidently. “This is amazing news, Mamá, but Brown is the right place for me.”

Mrs.Cruz’s lips twitched, as if she was desperate to make a counterargument, but she didn’t. “You are the best of the best, Isa,” she said instead. “I hope you know that.”

“I do,” Isa replied. “And I think the school that recognized that first is the one that deserves to have me.”

Her mom nodded. “I need to go start dinner,” she said. “But I would like to talk more about Brown later.” She paused. “As you know, your father took you on that tour.”

“Of course, Mamá.” Isa nodded back, then dropped my hand so she could step forward and hug her mom harder than I’d ever seen. “I’d love to tell you all about it.”

Once we had the garage to ourselves, Isa offered to drive me home in her Mini. “Wait, why not this old gal?” I asked, gesturing to the Rolls-Royce. “Shouldn’t someone be driving her,too?”

Isa rolled her eyes. “That old gal has seen her day.”

“But what did your mom say?” I mused. “About making memories?”

I put a thoughtful finger to my lips and waggled my eyebrows suggestively.

Isa blushed and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Yes,” she said primly. “I believe that’s the gist of what she said.” She took a few steps over to the charging Tesla, then leaned against its trunk. “And I’d say plenty of memories were madetoday.”

“Oh, for sure,” I agreed, and let a beat pass. “But I think it could use one more.”

“One more?” She tilted her head, a smirk spreading across her beautiful face.

“Yeah, Izzy.” I moved close, and Isa grabbed my shirt to pull me even closer. “One more.”

“Okay, then kiss me.” She smiled. “Kiss me, James Barbour.”

So I smiled back, tangled my hands in her silky-smooth hair, and did just that.