Page 21 of Shifting Gears

“Do you not usually do things for yourself?”

Eleanor snorts. “I was raised to believe that an hour not spent doing something productive was an hour wasted. It’s not in my nature.”

There’s something appraising in Dani’s eyes when Eleanor raises her own to meet them. This close, even in the hazy light of the bar, the air between them seems to crackle. “Is this summer something you’re doing for yourself?”

It’s a loaded question, even if Dani doesn’t realize it. When Eleanor had first arrived, she’d been certain of what was bringing her here. She’s here to complete a project, with a side objective of getting Kayla and Ash off her back. To expandCromTech in the direction she wants it to go. She’s here to prove Renée wrong. None of those things are reallyfor herself. They’re things she needs to do.

“My friends tell me I need to learn to relax,” Eleanor says, tapping the table with her fingernails. “Self-care and all that garbage.”

Dani nods. She’s thoughtful, chewing on her lower lip in a way that’s unnecessarily distracting. “Maybe I can help you with that.”

“How, exactly?” Eleanor asks, determinedly wrestling her mind out of the hot and sweaty place it defaults to.

Dani just smiles. “Are you free tomorrow night?”

Chapter 6

“When you asked if Iwas free, I wasn’t expecting something quite so, um. True crime?”

Eleanor’s voice is shaky not due to nerves but because the two-wheel dirt path through the woods they’re driving on is absurdly bumpy. If anyone else had told Eleanor to meet at the edge of town and then instructed her to park her car and drive into the forest in a strange truck, she would have pointed her taser at them. With Dani she didn’t even think twice.

“And yet you got in the truck,” Dani points out.

“I did. My survival instincts are weaker than I thought.”

“It’ll be worth it, trust me,” Dani assures her with complete confidence. She’s leaned back comfortably in the driver’s seat, one hand on the wheel and the other on the gearshift, and the bumps in the road don’t seem to phase her at all—her ponytail bounces cheerfully with each one. She catches Eleanor’s eye and flashes her a grin, and Eleanor quickly looks out the window.

It’s mostly deciduous trees here, rather than pines or cedars. The soil seems soft, not rocky, and the trees aren’t too dense—it has potential for building. Eleanor almost wishes she had her notes with her, to mark it for investigation later. It’s doubtful she’ll remember how to find this place again otherwise.

“I hope you don’t mind the music,” Dani says, breaking Eleanor out of her thoughts. “I know not everyone likes country.”

Eleanor hums noncommittally. “Do people here listen to anything else? It seems a little excessive.”

“I like classic rock, too,” Dani says. She turns the volume down. “And I had a brief pop-punk phase when I went to university.”

Eleanor frowns, looking over at Dani again. “You went to university?”

“You sound surprised.”

“Well, I—I mean, yes?” Eleanor says, her mind still trying to wrap around that little tidbit. “You’re a mechanic. It doesn’t require a university degree. Where did you go? What did you study?”

“English, at Queens. And a master’s in journalism from Western.”

Eleanor blinks silently for a moment. She’d assumed that Dani had trained on the job, maybe even had grown up in the shop. A college diploma at most.

“You have amaster’s degree?” Eleanor finally asks, but before Dani can take offense to the incredulity in Eleanor’s question, the truck emerges from the shaded woods and into the late-day sunlight.

“We’re here!” Dani says.

“Here” turns out to be a grassy field with a lone towering tree in the centre and the clear imprint of two tire tracks leading to the base. Some kind of wood structure is built into the branches.

Dani backs the truck in directly underneath it, grinning as she cuts the engine.

“Welcome to the Cooper Clubhouse.”

Eleanor opens the passenger side door. The tree is huge, an ancient-looking maple with a dense trunk and thick branches holding up the so-called clubhouse. The bark is scarred in places, and many of the branches have no leaves at all.

“Sarah and I built this when we were kids,” Dani explains, climbing out of the truck and pointing at the platform and shack-like walls above them. “We all used to dirt bike here. It’salways been my favourite place in town. Not many other people know where it is, so I still come here if I need time to myself.”

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