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“I’m excited,” she said, and immediately wished she could take it back. She worriedly glanced over at him where he sat with Gertrude curled up in his lap. “I mean, not that your mother’s ill. Gosh, that sounded horrible. I’m just excited to be getting away and going somewhere, even for a few days.”
Graham squeezed her shoulder. “I understand. I am, too.” He pressed his lips together and let out a heavy sigh. “I do have to warn you about something, though.”
“Okay?”
“No matter what condition my mom’s in, she’s gonna try to get us together.”
Claire flipped her hair. “Of course she will. I’m the dream daughter-in-law to mothers everywhere.”
“Obviously. I couldn’t do better.”
“How do you want me to handle it? Pretend to be into you? We’re just friends? This trip is all about you, Graham. I’m not usually so amenable, so you’d better take advantage while you can.”
He trailed a finger along the side of her neck. “I intend to. You should definitely pretend to be into me. It’s only a two-bedroom house, so we’ll be sharing a bed in my old room, you know.”
“We’re not having sex in your parents’ house.”
“What? Why not?”
She knocked his hand away and tried to shake off the goose bumps. “Because!”
He just looked at her.
“No.”
He crossed his arms. “Give me one good reason why not.”
“Because you can’t be quiet,” she whisper-yelled.
“Why are you whispering? We’re alone in the car.”
No idea. She gripped the steering wheel tightly.
He chuckled beside her and slipped his hand back across the console to palm her thigh. She glanced down, loving the way his large hand wrapped all the way around her. “Let’s just see how things play out, okay?”
“Fine,” she whispered, just to be contrary.
He laughed again and the sound trickled into her skin like rain on a warm afternoon. His hand left her for a few minutes while he connected his phone to the Bluetooth in her car, returning it when music began flowing through the speakers.
They spent the rest of the drive talking and listening to music and enjoying each other’s company. It was almost eleven by the time they pulled into the outskirts of Santa Fe.
Claire had never been there, and through the darkness she tried to look around as they went.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing. “Is it, like, a community college campus?”
Graham made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a grunt. It wasn’t particularly happy. “That’s Westfield. My old high school.”
Claire turned in her seat to get a better look as they passed. “That’s a high school?”
“Yeah. A fancy private one.”
“Damn.”
“My dad’s the manager of building maintenance there. He started off as an overnight janitor, which is the only reason I went there. We’re way outside the district line.” He didn’t look at her as he spoke, and faced his window instead. “You’ll see.”
It might have been best not to say anything here, but Claire had never done well with situations like that. “Hey, Graham? Money’s not everything.”
He didn’t move. “At Westfield it was.”
