Page 24 of Waiting for Gilbert

I am usually a much better teacher. It’s now two twenty-eight as the square green lights on the dash remind me. Maybe that has something to do with it. I forgot to give her the opening instructions, the layout of the gear shift, what to do for turning and stopping. What’s gotten into me? Too late now.

I help her down shift, but she stalls going around the corner and kills the engine. The next three blocks through town are a joke. She stalls two more times.

“Quit laughing at me,” she says while laughing. “We’re going to get the cops called on us, and I will blame you. I don’t even have my license with me. Oh my gosh, can I get a ticket for that? Sure, you think that’s real funny.” Her fuzzy mittened hand slaps my chest. “Make fun all you want, but I will drag you to jail with me, and you’ll never get your arm sewed back together.”

“I’m not making fun of you. You’re just really cute when you get all flustered.”

She gasps. “I am not cute!”

The way she yells this as if her threatening voice will have any effect has me laughing more than I have the whole drive so far.

“Gilbert, pay attention. There’s another stop sign. I’m not stopping. I’m not stopping!”

“You’re good. Go, go, go!” We roll through town at nine miles per hour as she freaks out. “There is nobody out here. That’s the clinic on the left.”

We see Nickie’s red Honda. “Clutch. CJ, clutch!” She does, and we jerk to a stop when she punches the brake too. We’ve successfully double-parked, and the engine’s still running.

Cordelia claps her hands and graces me with an excited smile. “I did it! Now what?”

I shift into reverse. “Turn off the engine.”

She does and then slumps into the seat. “That was awful but really cool. When you’re not bleeding to death, and it’s sunny, and the roads aren’t covered in snow, will you teach me for reals?”

I nod. “Sounds like a date.”

Her eyes grow like a chia commercial.

“Not a date date. A plan. That’s a good plan. I don’t date. I’m not—” Wow, she wears every one of her emotions on her face. She’s a charcuterie board of feelings and I think she’s moved along the scale from complete shock at the suggestion of a date with me to absolute despondency when I dismiss the idea. “What I’m saying is I think you should learn how to drive a manual, and I have the truck and live conveniently nearby, and I’m usually a great teacher. That’s what friends are for, right?”

And for dessert we have awestruck hope. She tugs her hat on the sides. “We’re friends?”

“Cord—” My gaze flits from her mittens pulling the green hat, the freckles dotting her cheeks, the little crease along her forehead that speaks more than her words. I take in her soft, expectant words and offer a half-smile. “CJ, anyone who drives me to the doctor in the middle of the night is my friend. Thank you. I’m going to get my arm poked with a few needles now. You might want to come inside where it’s warm.”

She unbuckles her belt, and then mine, and then she’s all up in my space. My lungs freeze as she leans across me to open my door. Oh. That was… thoughtful. And not remotely disappointing.

10

CORDELIA

JOHN DEBNEY—MAIN TITLE, ELF (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)

“Ialmost gave up on you.” Nickie holds the door for us. “But I see you’ve added another name to your list?”

Gilbert winks at me over his shoulder. “Almost. She’ll need a few more lessons.”

Nickie walks alongside me as we follow Gilbert down a thin carpeted hallway. “Hi, CJ. Didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”

I jerk my chin toward the broad back before us. “I’m sure he could’ve driven himself, but I was still up.”

“You two deserve each other then.”

Gilbert coughs. “And here we are.” With jaw clenched, he sends Nickie aknock-it-offglare.

Undeterred, she pats his chest as she glides past him through the doorway. “You know the drill, sir.” Nickie rolls over a cart with a tray of doctory-looking things. “Sit.”

I hesitate in the hall. “Um. I think I’ll… find something else to do.”

“Come in, girl.” She points to a chair across the room. “Turn that one around, and we’ll chat.”

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