Page 48 of Just Curious

Willa sighed happily as she watched the limo pull out and thought of her lovely men. A strong gust of wind kicked up suddenly, whipping her in the face with her hair, so she pushed it out of her eyes absently and went back indoors to get some writing done for a while. Passing through the kitchen, she grabbed some coffee and let Phillipe know there had been a change of plans. “Would you mind making me a salad or something later for a light lunch?”

“My pleasure, Ms. Camden. I have some salmon I can marinate and grill, and I’ll make a bed of some lovely fresh greens, if that sounds good.”

“Perfect. How about in an hour?”

Willa went off to write, but her mind kept drifting to her upcoming appointment. She knew at some point she’d have to face the outside world. She’d been in the safe haven of Casey’s quiet estate for long enough now. But even though she’d put on a brave face for Jackson’s benefit, she worried that the book club might be full of gossipy women who were interested in more than her book.Put on your big girl pants, Willa, and face the world. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Your privacy was violated in the worst way, but you’re lucky enough to have the love of two incredible men. Anyone who wants to look down on you has a problem, not you.

Finally, she relaxed enough to get back into her story. This one was a bit of a tear-jerker, so writing it was exhausting. She was definitely ready for a break when Phillipe came to tell her that her lunch was prepared.

When Phillipe started to leave her alone, Willa decided she’d rather have some company and asked him to join her. He looked pleased and went to pour himself a cold drink. Willa realized she knew little to nothing about the young man other than he could cook circles around anyone she’d ever known.

“Tell me about yourself, Phillipe. I know your family is in Quebec, and that’s about it.”

Phillipe’s eyes lit up with pleasure, and he announced, “I just got engaged!”

“Wonderful, congratulations! Who’s the lucky… um…?”

“Girl,” he laughed. “I know in this day and age you never know.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Pulling out a photo, he showed it to Willa as he smiled down at the photo. It was of a dark-haired, dark-eyed young woman who was extremely pretty. “This is my Gabrielle. We both grew up inSaint-Félicien, and we knew each other a little, but we didn’t start dating until a year ago when I discovered she was also in San Diego. Imagine that! She works at the zoo as a primate curator.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

They talked for a while about possible wedding plans and when the couple would tie the knot. The conversation took Willa’s mind completely off her worries. By the time lunch was over, she was relaxed and feeling energized. She headed back to her writing and got into it with no hesitation.

Finally, it was time to leave, so she grabbed the little car fob and headed for the garage. She started the car up and told it to take her to University Town Center. Willa wasn’t all that familiar with the winding roads of Rancho Santa Fe and didn’t want to get lost before she even got to the freeway. The book club meeting wasn’t exactly in the mall—just close by, but it was the area around Casey’s place that tended to confuse her. She had always been driven by someone else when she came and went from the estate.

Willa wound around some sharp turns and smiled when she saw some young women riding their horses along a bridlepath. She knew the area was crisscrossed with trails for riders. She thought how pretty the horses were and didn’t notice at first that she was getting terribly warm in the car. As she passed by the riders on her right, she realized finally that her bottom was uncomfortably warm.Stupid heated seats! Why are these turned on when it’s so warm outside today?She tried to adjust the temperature and turn off the seat warmer, but nothing happened. Willa then tried to roll down the window to get some fresh air, but it wouldn’t budge. Her bottom was so uncomfortable, she decided she needed some advice and called Jackson via the car’s system.

“Hi sweetheart,” she heard Jackson say, but quickly interrupted him.

“I need to know how to turn off this damn seat heater. I’m burning up and the window is stuck closed!”

There was a moment of silence as Jackson processed this strange bit of news. “There isn’t any reason for that.” He put her on speaker so he could open the car app. “The car is always temperature controlled. I’ll see if I can send it a message from my phone and cool things down for you. But, Willa, can you please turn down the radio? It’s awfully loud.”

“I never turned it on!” she hollered. “Oh, thank heaven. It’s cooling down in here finally. I thought I was about to faint. But now the radio is going crazy. You know I hate this kind of music. I’d never want to listen to this crap and certainly not at this volume!”

Jackson tried to kill the radio, but all he apparently managed to do was get it to change channels, and now Willa’s ears were being bombarded by a weather report in Spanish—also at top volume.

“Oh, Jackson! Stop! The air-conditioning is on so hard now it’s making my eyes water. This isn’t funny!”

“I’m not doing anything, I swear. I’d never do that to you, and certainly not when you’re driving. I’m trying to send a signal from my phone to fix it.”

Miles sat and stared at his younger brother as Jackson’s face went red and he looked like he was about to explode. Miles had always wondered about those cars that were too self-sufficient. He thought they might be big trouble someday. Hopefully, this wasn’t the day, but poor Jackson sure looked upset.

“Is the car steering alright?” Jackson asked in a shaky voice.

“I think so.” A small pause, and then Willa said with her teeth chattering, “Y-y-y-es, I seem to b-be able to d-d-drive it well enough… Oh no! Now it’s slowing down on its own! At least the air just stopped freezing me, though.”

“I think you may want to pull over somewhere and park it, Willa. Can you call a rideshare to get you to your meeting?”

Willa looked at her surroundings and answered, “There’s nowhere to park here. It’s all private property, and there isn’t any room to leave a car. The road is too narrow and curvy. Oooh! It’s speeding up, Jackson. Now I’m really scared. What can I do?!” She let out squeal as the car careened around a curve, going way too fast for comfort. “Jackson! Help me!”

Frantically, he tried to calm her down by saying, “The car’s collision avoidance feature will protect you from crashing into anything, but as soon as you can, pull over and get out. I’m trying to send an override message to the car so it will stop acting crazy. I didn’t think Teslas would ever do this.” Jackson was full-on sweating now. The thought of Willa scared to death in his car was killing him, especially since it was supposed to be the safest thing on the road.

I never should have agreed to take the driver. From now on Willa gets driven by a professional everywhere. This is so fucked up!If I need to hire a fleet of chauffeurs to keep her safe, I’ll do it. Or I’ll have her flown around by helicopter if I have to! “Where are you now, Willa?”

“I’m on Via de la Valle now, so at least the area is familiar to me. The car keeps lurching so badly, it’s making me sick to my stomach. It’s getting hot again too. And now the windshield wipers are going, and the sprayer keeps shooting out liquid. This car is possessed!”

Jackson was yanking at his hair and cursing a blue streak, and Miles thought to himself that he was glad they had someplace private to meet. He’d just ordered room service for a late lunch for himself because he was famished after his back-to-back meetings, and they were sitting in the luxury suite Jackson had reserved for him. He knew they’d like some privacy in case Jackson wanted to talk about Willa and Casey, but he never in a million years thought something like this would derail their time together.

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