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“I’m sorry,” Muffy giggled. “I didn’t mean anything by it, Bonnie.” She patted the dash, just to prove her point. “Don’t listen to me. You’re perfect.”
Alex flashed her a wry grin. “I’ve never met a woman who talks to cars before.”
“I just don’t want to get stranded.” Muffy shivered. “I’m not dressed for it.”
“We’re almost there.”
“How do you know about this place anyway?”
“As a kid, we used to drive out here. Well, maybe not as a kid,” Alex quickly amended. There was something off about his tone, but his next words were so much lighter it left Muffy wondering if she’d imagined it. “I mean, as a teenager. After I got my license and could get up to whatever trouble I chose.”
“Hmm. Sounds about right.”
“Did you get up to any trouble as a kid?” he asked.
The truck slowed down as Alex veered off, taking the right-hand exit. He drove up to the stop sign and turned right, heading straight into what looked like the middle of nowhere.
“Don’t sound so incredulous.”
“I’m not. It’s just that you’re an accountant.”
The dark shape of the trees that lined the road flashed by in the sweep of the truck’s headlights. The night was cold, made colder by the absence of clouds. The moon was almost full and provided almost more light than the old truck. The road wasn’t great. It was crumbly and full of holes, but Alex navigated it with expert ease.
“Because accountants are boring people that don’t have any experiences?”
“That’s the cliché,” he said.
“Oh really? I thought accountants were the kind of people who had lots of surprises in store. Not only are they often ridiculously smart and insanely good at solving problems, they also often lead a mysterious life out of the office. An alter-ego that no one knows about.”
Alex turned to her, and his grin lit up the car. Lit her up. Jesus. Do I have to be so pathetically easy?
“Did you watch a lot of superhero cartoons growing up?”
“No,” Muffy giggled. “I really didn’t. It was just me and my sister, so we mostly watched shows about ponies and more girly stuff.”
“Some girls are into superheroes.”
“Did you watch superhero stuff? Or maybe you read comics.”
“No- I- not really.” Alex’s lips settled into a thin line and his hands tightened on the wheel. At least, Muffy thought his knuckles looked a little white. It was really too dark to tell or it could have been a trick of the moonlight filtering into the cab or the low light from the dash. He turned back to her and he was smiling, even if it did look a little forced. “So, what’s your alter-ego?”
“Oh…” Muffy hadn’t actually thought that far.
The truth was, she was perfectly boring. She didn’t really have any adventures. She dated all the wrong men but she couldn’t exactly list that as a talent or a superpower. She came from an average family. A mom, a dad, a sister, a dog and a cat. Their house was even painted yellow.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. That would ruin the secret. Real super people say they aren’t super people. That’s the point. They have to protect their identity.”
“Oh good. You’re going to let me off the hook.” Muffy breathed a fake sigh of relief.
The truck hit a hole in the road a second later and bounced precariously making her grip onto the door’s handle. The truck’s box was long, and the cab was short, a tiny backseat and a bench seat in front. The damn suspension was probably gone altogether because maybe it was her superpower that she could sense those types of things, but she was pretty sure the truck should not be bouncing and slamming like that.
“Sorry.” Alex looked at her contritely. “Didn’t mean to hit that. The holy shit bar is the right thing to hold onto though. You have good instincts.”
Muffy resisted the urge to scrunch her nose and flip him the bird. She would have if he was Carla, but Alex was definitely not Carla. Oh, no. With those disarming blue eyes and those overly masculine features and a body carved out of the damn earth itself, he was definitely not Carla.
He took a surprise right turn before she could respond. Her hand tightened around the same handle on the door, which she didn’t know was termed the holy shit bar. The road wasn’t paved, and it wasn’t exactly graveled either. It looked like packed down dirt. It took Muffy a minute to realize they were actually heading towards a field.
It really had been a long time since she’d been out of the city.
She waited as the truck slowed and eventually pulled to the side. Alex killed the ignition and shut off the headlights.
Muffy’s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. She stared through the windshield and oh my god, incredible, didn’t even start to do the scene justice.
