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He placed my bag down and did a sweeping wave of his hand towards an orange and black Mustang in the gloom of the carpark. “She’s a little high maintenance but I love her. Unconditionally.”
“Wow, she’s … she’s just like Eleanor in the originalGone in Sixty Secondsmovie,” I exclaimed, my breath misting up. The Mustang was a big car for a two-door coupe with racing stripes and dual scoops on the bonnet. “Different colour and she has stripes but the model looks very similar.”
He grinned, holding a hand over his heart. “I think I just fell in love.”
My heart stuttered. I pretended to study the chrome trim.It’s just a phrase, Stace. No need to get excited.
“She doesn’t have the modifications of the movie car. What you are looking at is pure 1971 Ford engineering. Dad christened her Lorraine. Name stuck.”
I then noticed the steering wheel. “She’s right-hand drive!”
“Made in New Jersey and sent to the UK, and then imported to Australia about thirty-five years ago. Dad picked her up in an estate sale before I was born.”
I shivered, pulling my coat around me. An icy breeze stirred across the carpark, the sounds and lights of the raceway in the distance.
“Shit, you’re freezing. We can go back to the bar—”
“Nah, I’m actually used to it.” I waved him off and walked around Lorraine, admiring everything. “Going to frost tonight. First of the season and it’s early. I just hope my brothers remembered to cover up the veggie patch or it will be mushy compost tomorrow.”
“You grow vegetables as a crop or something?”
“Ha, no! Why, do my boots give away I’m a farm girl?” I kicked up one of my Ariats and he laughed.
“Boots don’t make the farmer.” He leaned against Lorraine. “You said at the bar that owning a farm was a money pit.”
“Oh, yes. I did.” That detail had slipped. I needed to be more careful. He had me telling him things tonight. The way he listened, and asked questions. He was so earnest.
Surely there was no harm in saying what kind of farm we had? “Our sheep station is for wool but also meat and we have a small herd of cattle. The veggies are just for us.”
“Us?”
No harm mentioning my family.“Just my mother and brothers. My sisters are overseas. Are you a farmer or a city boy?”
“Guess,” he grinned.
I flicked my hand dismissively. “Definitely city boy.”
He laughed again, crossing his arms. “What gave it away?”
“To be honest, Lorraine is your tell. She’s too clean to be a farm car. No dust. And you mentioned doing car club in Brisbane.”
“Touché.”
I walked around the boot of Lorraine, noticing a couple of suitcases in the back seat.
“On a road trip?”
He grinned with narrowed eyes. “Something like that. But a certain race driver won’t let me tell her the details.”
I grinned back. “Touché.”
My imposed rule of not knowing names or identifying details about each other was suddenly very frustrating. I had a sudden desire to get inside his head and know more about him.
“Can I ask you something about you?”
“Sure,” he shrugged. “Go for it.”
“I want to know something that’s really about you. Not like, what’s your favourite colour or anything. I mean, what do you want from your life? Are you happy with your job, your future? Have you ever wanted something so badly it hurt?”
