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It could still be! Two and two didn’t always make four did it? Not in some obscure pure mathematical plane. Probably.
‘I need a test.’
‘Oui.’ He was still expressionless. ‘In the morning I’ll...’
‘Not in the morning!’ Was he crazy? Did he think she was going to sit around and wait all night when liberation could be just around the corner? ‘There’s a twenty-four-hour supermarket in Dartingdon, I’ll get one from there.’
She was on her feet as she said it. Thank goodness for modern twenty-four-seven life.
‘You can’t drive.’
She stopped still, swivelled and stared. ‘I already said I didn’t drink anything.’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘But you’re in shock. It isn’t safe.’
So her hands were shaking a little, her legs slightly weak. She’d be fine. She’d driven the route a thousand times.
‘And what if you throw up again?’
‘Then I’ll pull over. You don’t have to take care of me, Gabe. I was big enough to get myself into this mess, I am certainly capable of sorting it out. I don’t need anyone.’
His eyes bored into hers. ‘If that’s true then how did this happen?’
Ouch! That was well and truly below the belt. ‘Want me to draw you a diagram?’ She could hear the tremor of anger running through her voice and tried to rein it back.
‘You fell out with your family here, went to find yourself, felt lost and lonely and so you what? Fell for the first smile and compliment?’
Polly stood stock-still, ice-cold anger running through her veins, her bones, every nerve and sinew. How dared he?
How dared he be so right?
‘That wasn’t what happened. Not that it has anything to do with you.’ Shaking with a toxic mixture of righteous anger, adrenaline and nausea, she marched over to the counter to grab her car keys but before her hand could close on the fob it was whisked away in a decisive masculine hand.
‘I’ll go.’
‘We drive on the left here. And do you even know where Dartingdon is?’ she added slightly lamely. Polly wanted to prove a point but part of her knew he was right. Annoyingly. She was barely fit to run a bath let alone drive twisty country roads.
‘I’m a big boy. I’ll figure it out.’
‘No.’ All the anger had drained. Now she was just weary, utterly, achingly tired. ‘You can drive but I’ll navigate. And I’ll scream if you take my beloved car even one centimetre over onto the wrong side.’
He regarded her levelly then nodded. ‘Okay. I still think you would be better staying here.’
But she was adamant. Polly had never waited for things to be brought to her—she’d never have made it this far if she had. ‘I can’t wait that long,’ she admitted. ‘I need to know straight away.’
‘And then what?’
That was the million-dollar question. ‘Then I can plan. Everything’s better with a plan.’
* * *
She was quiet. So quiet Gabe would almost swear that she was asleep except when he glanced over he could see the glare of her phone illuminating the whites of her eyes.
‘Concentrate on the road,’ she snapped but he could sense the worry under the anger. He had got used to that, with Marie. In the end when the pain had got too much, as the fear and anger and sheer bloody unfairness had overtaken her she had been cross all the time, barely able to be civil, even to those she loved.
Especially to those she loved.
‘I am,’ he said. He couldn’t resist one little provocative grenade. ‘If you drove a proper car...’
‘This is a proper car!’
‘It’s a grown-up’s toy,’ he teased. It actually handled pretty well, the small body taking the many twists and turns of the Oxfordshire country roads surprisingly well. ‘Shame you’ll have to get rid of it.’
He could feel her stiffen beside him. ‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s a two-seater...’ He didn’t have to say any more. From the intake of breath he knew his point had hit home.
‘Possibly not. We’ll know soon enough.’ But there wasn’t any hope in her voice.
She didn’t say anything for the next few miles. Despite his confidence earlier, this was the first time Gabe had actually driven a left-hand drive and it required most of his concentration to stay on the correct side of the road as he navigated the narrow curves. He wasn’t helped by the car; low slung and powerful, she was absurdly responsive to his slightest touch, almost as if she were desperate to speed on.
Although there were no street lights in this country corner it wasn’t too hard to see his way as he drove through hedge-lined lanes, fields almost at their ripest stretching out on both sides towards gently rolling hills. The summer solstice was nearly upon them and it was barely dark out, more of a gloomy dull grey. Like his mood.
