“I’m not in danger,” she replied after she opened her eyes.

“How do you know it wasn’t someone else? They could be ready to push you aside and rob you. Other things could happen,” Mac said.

She closed her mouth. She hadn’t thought about that, but this neighborhood was nice. There wasn’t much, if any, crime there.

“Whatever,” she said. “Get inside so we can talk about this.”

He raised his eyebrow at her.

“Better yet, we’ll have it right here. We don’t need to be inside for this conversation,” Janie said.

“We can be outside or inside. It doesn’t bother me, but our neighbors can hear. So, if you don’t want them to listen, then we should go inside.”

Janie never had a problem with her neighbors before. Granted, she had never really interacted with them much. She liked to be by herself most of the time and people drained her. That was why she only went to the club once or twice a week. Just enough human interaction that she wouldn’t get too overwhelmed.

“Come in,” she grumbled and held open the door further.

“Thank you,” he replied and walked in.

This was the second time he was in her house and she didn’t know how to feel about it. One moment it felt natural, but she knew that he didn’t belong here. He didn’t live there.

Janie closed the door and turned towards him.

“Talk,” she said.

“Do you want to sit down and talk?” he asked.

She shook her head. If they sat down, they would get comfortable. She didn’t want that right now. Janie needed to have this conversation and then have him be on his way.

“Okay. That’s okay. It’s about the mechanic. You’re not getting a rental,” he said.

“Why the hell not? You said it was going to take a week or two to get it fixed,” Janie replied. “What is wrong with my car? Why is it going to take that long? Why won’t you take me to get a rental?”

There were so many questions swimming through her head. Donald had taken care of her car. Made sure it was at the mechanics regularly so she didn’t have to worry about it.

“You may want to sit down for this part,” Mac said.

But she didn’t move. Why would she have to sit down for this part?

“I think it would be best. It might be shocking and I don’t want you to sway or pass out on me.”

She slowly walked towards the couches but didn’t sit down.

“I’m close by. Now, what the hell is wrong with my car? Donald took it to the mechanics regularly and made sure everything was okay with it.”

Mac shook his head. “He may have told you that, but he didn’t. My guy, Selwyn, said that there are so many things wrong with it. That if it had been regularly checked over they would have fixed them.”

She shook her head. Donald wouldn’t have done that, would he? He had promised her that he was taking care of it.

“Was it dangerous to drive?” she whispered.

Had she put her daughter in danger? They had driven in that car so many times. What if something worse had happened while Eleanor was with her?

“I don’t know, but Selwyn is getting it fixed now,” Mac replied. “He is going to make it safe and drivable for you two.”

Janie sat down and looked at him. “I still need a rental,” she said. “I can’t just not have one.”

“You don’t need one.”