I walked a few paces from the diner. When I got home, I’d make a plan on how to kill her from a distance.
Behind me the bell on the door jingled, indicating it swung open again. I didn’t bother looking back.
“Hey!” someone called.
I stopped and turned.
She was there, rushing toward me, pulling a dark-green coat around her. She had snow in her hair. I didn’t realize it was snowing.
“Yeah?” I asked, wondering if she was really talking to me.
Now that she had my attention, she seemed to grow a little shy. I just stood there and waited as I watched the snowflakes take up residence on her head.
“Do you have a car?” she asked.
I nodded and motioned down the street toward the Roadster. “Right down there.”
She glanced at the Roadster, then at me. “Is that thing any good in the snow?”
I shrugged. “Guess I’ll find out.”
“Oh, is it new?”
I nodded again.
“Can I have a ride home?”
My eyes snapped to her face. She wanted a ride? From some guy she didn’t know? Maybe killing her wouldn’t be that hard after all. Maybe she already had a death wish.
She seemed to know what I was thinking because she said, “I know, it’s kind of weird of me to ask… but it’s really cold and I don’t feel like walking.”
“Don’t you usually take the bus?” I blurted, thinking back once again to the night I died. Inwardly, I kicked myself. I needed to stop saying things like that. You’d think for two people who knew each other for exactly two minutes, there wouldn’t be any history for me to keep bringing up.
She glanced at the bus stop and then back at me. She didn’t seem to think what I said was unusual and I was relieved.
“I don’t really like the bus,” she said quietly.
We both stood there awkwardly for long seconds before I remembered it was my turn to talk. I pulled the keys from my pocket.
“I’ll give you a ride. Come on.”
And before I knew it, we were climbing into the tiny space of the two-seater.
She glanced at me and smiled tentatively when I turned the heat on full blast and it was only then I realized I just told myself I was going to stay away from her. Far away.
So much for that idea,I thought as I pulled away from the curb.
* * *
I drove slowly because once she wondered if my Roadster might not be very good in the snow, I started to wonder that too. I hadn’t had any problems up until this point so I just tried to enjoy the fact I was riding around in a car that cost more than a hundred grand. (I looked it up online). She didn’t say anything on the ride, except to give me directions, and I didn’t try to make small talk.
She didn’t live that far from the diner and when I pulled up in front of her apartment building, I left the engine idling at the curb. She glanced out her window and upwards so I assumed her apartment wasn’t on the ground floor.
“I almost died the other day,” she said quietly, still gazing out her window.
My hand tightened over the gearshift when I realized she was talking about the day I got crushed by that bus. When I didn’t say anything, she turned in the seat and looked at me through the dark.
“But I didn’t because someone saved me.”
