Page 28 of Out of Place

I raise an eyebrow. “Girlfriend?”

“Yeah, the pretty blonde from the market. Ellie.”

Fucking Ellie. She was all over me that day. I had to tell her I needed to leave just to get her off me. I don’t know what her deal is lately, but she’s acting like we’re together when we’re not. We haven’t been for years, but every so often, she gets it in her head that we’ll get back together. I love Ellie. She’s a great person. But she’s not the person for me, and it’s unfair of me to keep stringing her along.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” I tell her.

“Does she know that?” I can hear the irritation in her voice, and I like it. She sounds a little jealous.

“Yes, she does know that. We haven’t been together in years.” I leave out the romantically or physically part. I know Ellie wants more with me, but I don’t want that with her. Not anymore.

We ride in silence until we get to the abandoned strip mall where I’m going to teach Olivia how to drive.

“Alright,” I say, putting the truck in park. “Let’s switch places.”

She nods, and we get out of the truck to swap seats.

She straps herself in and puts her hands on the steering wheel. Her back is straight, but she looks like she belongs right where she is. I can’t take my eyes off her, sitting there like she owns the road. So much fucking confidence.

“You know, you look good in the driver’s seat of my truck,” I tell her before I think better of it.

She smirks. “I look good doing a lot of things.”

God, I bet she fucking does. But I’m not here to picture what she would look like with her lips around my cock, so I show her how to adjust the mirrors and point out which pedal is the gas and which is the brake.

“Alright, put your foot on the brake and move this gearshift to the D.” I point out the gearshift, and she follows my directions. “Now, take your foot off the brake and press down slowly on the gas.”

She takes a deep breath before she moves her foot. It’s not as graceful as I hoped, and we’re flung backward before she slams her foot back on the brake.

“I said slowly press the gas,” I tell her laughingly. “Try it again, but this time, don’t stomp on the pedal. Ease your foot down gradually.”

She tries again, and this time is a little smoother. Still a little jerky, but at least we aren’t pressed against our seats.

“There you go.”

I direct her to try some turns around the abandoned parking lot. She’s not a terrible driver, but she definitely needs some practice.

One minute, she seems like she has the hang of it. The next minute, she’s slamming on the brakes because a bird flew in front of the truck twenty feet away.

Her knuckles are white from her death grip on the steering wheel. I try to get her to relax by turning on some music, but it doesn’t help. Apparently, country music isn’t her thing, and the radio doesn’t get much else around here.

We continue this for about an hour before calling it a day. I figure she’s probably going to have a cramp in her hands from that grip.

“You did really good,” I tell her on our way back to Dottie’s.

“You don’t have to lie to me, Landon.”

“I’m not lying. Everybody is a little nervous when they start out. You’ll get used to it.”

“Were you nervous?” she asks.

I laugh, thinking about the first time my dad took me driving. “Oh yeah. I was so nervous. I ended up jumping a curb and hitting a street sign in my dad’s truck. It’s his favorite story to tell people.”

She laughs, and I love the sound of it. She looks beautiful when she laughs. Her eyes close, and her head tilts back a little. It’s true joy. I’d let her laugh at me all day, every day, if it made her this happy.

Olivia asks me to drop her at the end of the driveway so Aunt Dottie doesn’t see my truck. I don’t bother telling her that Dottie isn’t stupid. She’ll figure it out eventually. But I let her have this.

“Have fun on your date tonight,” I tell her, even though it physically pains me that she’s going out with him. She shouldn’t be going out with him. She shouldn’t be going out with anyone but me. She just doesn’t know it yet.