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She did, climbing over the gearshift, to settle down into the passenger seat.
He sat down in the driver’s seat, yanking her arm around so that he could get out the keys.
She made noises of protestation. He ignored them.
He started the car.
“Drive with your left hand,” she said.
He sighed, but switched to hold the steering wheel with his other hand. Then yanked on her handcuffed hand again. “I need both hands to pull out onto the road.”
“Fine,” she muttered.
“I don’t see why you’re being like this about it,” he said. “I have to drive.”
“Whatever!” she said, closing her eyes and pounding her head back into the headrest.
They got on the road and headed towards Martinsburg. He asked where they were headed. She said that she didn’t know the exact address but that she would recognize the house if she saw it. It was out near the hospital in that subdivision.
They drove—him mostly using his left hand, but sometimes tugging her arm over to go around turns and things like that. She got used to her arm not really being where she wished it was all the time.
They talked about how he was going to watch Hedgesville girls’ basketball the next day, and she joked that she thought it was football season, and he said that she had to understand that the national seasons didn’t line up with the high school seasons, and she teased him about being a pedant, and he said that if she wanted, they could make it interesting and put money on the teams, and she said she would bet on whoever wasn’t local, but he said it was Musselman against Hedgesville, which meant they were both local, and she said fine, who did he think was going to win, and he said that was cheating.
And she felt like the sex thing the night before had never happened and they were just hanging out, like everything was fine between them. She wondered if she was being ridiculous. Maybe they would make a perfect couple. Maybe she was missing out on the love of her life.
She stared at him in profile, sighing.
“You went oddly quiet there.” He was grinning. “That because you’re not going to make a bet after all?”
“Sorry,” she said. “I was just thinking.”
“About?”
She couldn’t answer.
“Oh, hey,” he said. “My dick is bigger than his, right?”
“What the fuck?” she said. “That’s what you come out with?”
“I’m just saying, you’re in a position to know these things, and it stands to reason. I’m a fucking foot taller than he is.”
“Tangles. And. Briars,” she said, yanking his handcuffed hand across the car.
“What?”
“Men.”
ESSENCE HAD A harder time climbing out of the car than she had climbing in. She wanted to swear a lot, but she was afraid that Zebedee’s sweet-old-man grandfather would hear and she didn’t want to offend him.
Eventually, however, she was out of the car.
Zebedee’s car was already there, so she led the two of them up to the front door and knocked.
Zebedee opened the door. “You made it,” he said.
Zebedee’s grandfather appeared behind him, coming around the corner. He had a long white beard that went nearly to his waist. His hair was long and lustrous and white, and the tips of his ears pointed out. He was leaning on a cane. “You didn’t say he was a gargoyle.”
Zebedee’s expression froze. “Grandpa,” he said, turning around to look at the old man. His voice went gentle and patronizing. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
