Page 48 of Just a Heartbeat Away

Via noticed as she jogged through the school parking lot toward the front entrance, but she was so late for a classroom observation session that she hadn’t had time to do more than wave. She certainly didn’t have time to go over there and ask him where Sebastian was.

Via was racing from one appointment to the next all morning, two of which were about Sarah Tate and her father, and it wasn’t until the last fifteen minutes of her lunch break that she even got a second to think about the fact that Sebastian was MIA for the third day in a row.

She unlocked her cell phone and entered into a text strand before she exited out and called Evan instead.

He answered on the third ring.

“Hey.”

“Hi. Just eating lunch, thought I’d call.”

“Cool. I’m eating, too.”

“Still think you’ll be home on Sunday?”

There was a pause, where she heard him open a can of soda and scrape a chair across the floor. “No, I’m thinking I’ll drive back down on Saturday instead. I miss you.”

She furrowed her brow. “You’re gonna rent a car to drive home? Isn’t it just an hour on the train?”

“Crap. I spoiled the surprise. I wanted to tell you in person.”

Via set down her sandwich and rubbed her sweaty palm against her gray pencil slacks. “What is it?”

“Well, I got a car.”

“What?”

The weight of car insurance and parking tickets and repairs instantly tumbled down over Via, so fast she felt like she couldn’t have stood up if she’d tried.

“It’s great, you’re gonna love it. A silver Lexus. Four-door. Parking will be a bitch on my block, but I can keep it parked by your house, that’ll probably be easier. I spend so much time at your house anyway.”

“Ev, a car is an enormous expense. How did you afford it?”

“My parents gave it to me.”

“Your parents bought you a car,” she repeated blankly.

“No.” He was irritated now. He’d obviously wanted her to be more excited than she was. “They didn’tbuyit for me. So save the judgment. They gave it to me. My mom just got a new one, and they gave me hers. It’s used.”

She said nothing and he barreled on. “And don’t get up my ass about all the expenses. They said they’re gonna keep it under her name, and they just added me to her insurance. They said they have no problem paying for it until I’m back on my feet.”

“Back on your feet.” Again, the words were lifeless coming out of her mouth. She was basically parroting them back to him.

“Yeah. That’s why they gave it to me. Because I explained how fricking hard it is to get around the city on public transportation. They thought it would help me to make it to all my job interviews.”

“Job interviews?” she asked weakly.

“Yeah, my dad’s friend lined up two paralegal interviews for me for next week. They’re downtown. Near Federal Hall.”

Instead of elation and relief that Evan had two legit job interviews coming up, the only thing that was going through Via’s head was how easy it was to get to Federal Hall from almost anywhere in the city.

Evan and his parents had decided that he needed a car for that?

To spare him from two twenty-minute train rides at a whopping $2.75 apiece? In her opinion, driving would be significantlyharder. He’d have to fight traffic and find parking.

But, she realized as she dropped her forehead into her hand, that wasn’t the point. The point was that Evan had wanted a car and, snap your fingers, he got a car. Like a toddler whining for a juice box.

He was saying something in that deep, familiar voice of his, the one that usually made her toes curl, but she couldn’t even make out the words.

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