Page 37 of Out of Place

“You don’t need to apologize. I never went over stop lights with you.” What he doesn’t say is that he didn’t go over stop lights because any idiot should know to look for them. It’s not like I’ve never seen one before. I was just more focused on looking for stop signs. Why do they even need stoplights in this town? There are only like twenty people living here.

We sit in silence as he drives me back to the farm, and I think about my mistakes today. He idles the truck at the end of the driveway.

“Olivia, I’d like to take you out,” Landon says, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I blink slowly. “Take me out?”

He nods. “Yeah. On a date. I want you to get all dressed up in one of your fancy dresses and let me spoil you for an evening.”

I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face. Not only because I might actually get to wear my normal clothes for a night but because I’m almost always smiling around Landon. It’s kind of annoying. “I think that would be nice.”

“Good.” He wants to do it on his next day off, and I agree. We say our goodbyes, and I walk to the main house with a little more confidence after the promise of a date.

Walking inside, I hear familiar voices, and my stomach instantly knots. I walk down the hall to the kitchen and am relieved when I only see Aunt Dottie there. She’s holding a phone, apparently, video chatting with my parents.

“Oh, here she is,” Dottie says when she sees me. “Your parents wanted to speak with you.”

She hands me the phone. “Hey,” I greet them, my mood instantly dropping.

“Olivia. Where were you?” Dad asks. No hello. No how are things. Just where were you.

My eyes dart to Dottie for a second, and she also looks genuinely interested in my answer. I left without telling her where I was going. To be fair, I didn’t know where she was and didn’t have time to look.

“I was out with a friend,” I answer.

“A friend?” Dad questions. He sounds like he doesn’t believe me, which hurts a little more than I thought it would.

“Yes. A friend,” I confirm.

“What were you doing with this friend?” More accusations. Mom sits next to him and doesn’t bother saying anything.

Exasperated, I answer, “He’s teaching me how to drive.”

Everyone is silent for a second while they try to decide if they believe me.

“You’re learning how to drive?” my mom finally asks.

“Yeah. It’s kinda hard to get around in this town without a car. He offered to teach me.” I glance at Aunt Dottie, and I can tell she’s remembering when she asked me to grab something from town while she was out. I never told her no. I just walked and made sure I was back before she got home.

“Well,” my mother responds. “That’s great. Good for you. Dottie says you’re working hard on the farm.”

“Mm-hmm,” I answer. I have been working hard, and honestly, I’m pretty damn proud of myself. But I’m not going to tell them that. It sounds like Aunt Dottie has been updating them on my progress, anyway. Heaven forbid they just ask me, but whatever.

I want to ask how much longer they plan on making me stay here. What is the timeline for this torture? Do they really want me to take over this whole operation when Dottie decides to retire? Why did they leave that little fact out when they gave me my packing orders?

“You’re making great progress, Olivia,” my father says. “Make sure you keep it up.”

“Yep. Got it.”

I hand the phone back to Dottie without a goodbye and grab a glass of water while she finishes her conversation. When she hangs up, she turns and looks at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t drive?” she asks.

I shrug. “I didn’t want to be any more of a burden.”

“Olivia, you aren’t a burden, hun.”

“You don’t have to lie to me. I know I’m a lot of work. I get it. Having to train another person is annoying. I’m just trying to get through this in one piece.”