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“You’re a comedian now?” I recoil at her comment.

“The sexual tension between you is so tight.” She pinches the air.

“Amelia! No!” I shake my head vehemently.

But at the same time, my gaze zones. I squeeze my knees closed to quell the immediate reaction to the images skipping though my mind. There, where no one else can see, Gio is doing very dirty things to me.

In the console between our seats, my phone chimes, startling me. The sound knocks me out of my salacious daydream. I yank the steering wheel left, the tires screeching to align the car with the road again.

I glance at Amelia when she doesn’t react to the fact we almost drove into a ditch, and find she’s focused on dealing with two cell phones. Hers and mine. Now that we’re within the range of food, she doesn’t care about my driving skills. She’s dreaming of whatever is on the menu at the hotel’s restaurant.

“Can you believe it? Three entire service bars. It’s a miracle!” Amelia types in my pass code. Fast thumbs type out messages, scroll, and then jump to a map, where she squints at the screen.

“What’s wrong?” I glance between her and the road.

“You need to turn here.” She waves at the oncoming stop sign.

“The GPS says go straight.” I point to the screen mounted on the console. From the speakers, a robotic voice relays directions.

“This is not Tina’s terrible directions. This is me, your trusty sidekick. This is a much better route.”

“You’ve come a long way from directionally challenged,” I say.

“Again, Tina’s fault.”

Too tired to argue, I follow Amelia’s prompts.

I’m happy to report there are no potholes, repeat waterfalls, or death-defying scenic routes that traverse mountaintops. But when she instructs me to park in the driveway of a three-story white Victorian home that looks like a giant dollhouse, I have concerns.

“Um, Amelia. Did you hit your head?”

The grand windows are illuminated with a golden glow against the twilight-blue sky. A large brown barn sits off to the side, a faded old advertisement for Dole Whip painted across one exterior wall. In its shadow, farm animals sleep in fenced pens. Across a field, cows moo. The scents of tomato vines and freshly turned earth carry on the breeze from a garden.

I shoot Amelia a death stare.

“What? I’m hungry.” She unbuckles her seat belt.

Tina opens the screen door and waves us inside with welcoming gestures. Amelia’s on the porch before I set foot in the yard.

When my stomach grumbles, I relent and follow. I suppose it’s the least I can do after taking Amelia on an all-day jungle tour . . . and killing Tina’s car and leaving it on a mountaintop. I groan at the thought of the oncoming conversation. I will have to face Tina eventually. Best to get it over with.

For motivation, I focus on a delicious savory scent. It tugs me through the open front door and into Tina’s warm bear hug.

“Sorry the jalopy gave you trouble,” she says.

“Sorry I left it on a mountaintop.” I sigh, defeated.

Tina waves me off as if to say no worries, but then she glances out the window and asks, “Where’s Gio?”

“Left him in the wilderness to fend for him⁠—”

The words fade on my lips as Tina’s truck rolls to a creaking stop beside the Jeep. The headlights and motor flip off, and the driver’s door pops open. One very stupid foot settles on the ground, followed by another.

“What the—?” I squint to make sure I’m seeing this correctly. I blink twice, but Gio is still here with a fully functioning farm truck. Before I can speak, he’s crossing the yard.

“I thought you were on your way back to the hotel to plan my demise?” Gio steps onto the porch with a grin.

My expression sours at his miraculous appearance.