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“This feels kinda like that scene in Look Who’s Talking,” Tsaid Kate.
Hunter smirked. “Put your hand on my stick?” he quoted.
“Exactly.”
“That was a plane, and you’re not Kirstie Alley.”
“Yeah, well, you’re no John Travolta.”
“Thank god for that.”
She had no idea where they were—but she liked that. They’d driven for well over an hour, maybe two, until the highway started to wind through mountains and there were signs for falling rock. The air was cooler here, sharp and biting against her cheeks. Hunter had found an abandoned parking lot—in front of an abandoned department store—and he was teaching her to drive his car.
She’d only stalled the vehicle once before figuring out the balance between the clutch and the accelerator.
“You’re better at this than I thought you’d be,” Hunter said.
“Is that an insult or a compliment?”
“Lady’s choice.”
And now she didn’t know whether to smile or smack him. Everything felt tentative. Precarious, like a small tap in either direction would have them at each other’s throats again. “We’re only going ten miles per hour.”
“Want to try it on the highway?”
“What? No!”
“There’s no one here. Give it some gas, just don’t hit a light pole. See if you can figure out when it’s time to switch.”
She accelerated, and the car sped up, but she could feel the engine struggling in this gear, like something confined trying to break free. She hit the clutch, felt the release, and moved the stick.
The car stalled and the engine died.
Kate swore.
“Put it back in first,” he said. “You tried to jump to third. Second is straight back.”
“Intuitive,” she said, looking at the little ball on the top of the stick.
“Well, for most people . . .”
Now she did smack him.
When she went to move the stick, his hand came over hers and stopped the motion. “Clutch first.”
She did, then moved into first gear.
She didn’t want to pull her hand out from under his to start the engine, but she had to.
When she put her hand on the stick shift again, however, his hand went back over hers.
“Accelerate,” he said. She did, and when the engine was struggling again, he said, “Now try.”
This time he helped her pull it straight back into second gear, and then, with more encouragement, she went faster and shifted into third. Wind was lifting her hair, and her heart was flying.
They came to the end of the parking lot, so she hit the brakes.
The car stalled again.
