Page 36 of Finally Loved

“Ah.”

They turned into a parking lot and Alba parked them in an empty spot next to the car Neve was pretty certain was Alba’s. She hadn’t been in the best condition when she’d been in it to take in every detail, but the green and the shape felt familiar.

Alba shut the engine off and turned in her seat to better face Neve. “Would you rather I didn’t offer to drive?”

“No.” Neve grimaced. “I know I’m coming across as weird and indecisive.”

“You’re not, but even if you were, that would be okay.”

After all the time they’d now spent together, Neve was certain the thing she understood the most about Alba was that she wasgenerous.With her time, her smiles, her energy, everything—she was just generous. It was nice to be around.

And, despite the slight crisis of confidence in her own driving that it had elicited, Neve found it was nice to sit in her own passenger seat with Alba driving.

Alba narrowed her eyes, the rest of her expression amused, and leaned in closer to Neve. “You can be as contradictory as you like. It’s not going to scare me away. I like things a little contradictory.”

Neve laughed. “Somehow, I’m not surprised.”

“Oh, I’ll try harder to surprise you next time.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Neve replied quickly. “I wasn’t trying to challenge you.”

“Too late.” She laughed.

Alba was just so free and easygoing. It was everything Neve had spent a lifetime trying, and failing, to be. She had no idea how it came so easily to other people.

She shook her head, breaking the eye contact. “Whatever makes you happy, I suppose.”

Alba laughed again. “You’re very easygoing.”

Neve did a double take and laughed in surprise. “I don’t know if that’s true. But I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

She smirked and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Oh, come now, darling,” she said in an old Hollywood accent. “I’m actually terribly difficult.”

“You just offered to pull over on the side of the road to let me drive…”

She hummed. “Which, clearly, makes me a menace to the roads and society.”

“How, exactly?”

Alba thought about it for a beat. “I’ll get back to you on that.”

“I see.” Neve nodded, letting her head fall back against the seat again. She liked it here. Part of her didn’t want to leave the moment. She liked how easy it was. She liked how normal it felt to have Alba driving her car and making jokes. Nothing ever felt easy, but, somehow, this did. It was a nice change, even if she didn’t totally understand it.

Alba copied her movements, settling back in her own seat, and Neve was glad of the few extra minutes she got of simply sitting there, looking up at Alba’s building. It was nice, modern; sleeker than the one Neve lived in with its Tudor-inspired exterior. She liked the character of her own building, but she liked this too.

Maybe Alba had a point about contradictions.

“What are you going to tell Charlie about Oluwatobi?” Alba asked softly after a few quiet moments.

Neve grimaced. “That I lied?”

Alba laughed. “Really? I support it.”

“Eh.” She sighed. “I don’t know. I should.”

She wondered whether she was being childish by not just telling Charlie the truth from the beginning. Perhaps that was why nobody let her drive. If she constantly acted childish, maybe that was why people treated her like one sometimes.

But it wasn’t just that. Shewantedto have the conversation with Charlie—well, she knew she needed to, and the longer they waited, the more painful it became. So, she supposed she didn’twantto have it, but she did want to get it over with. No matter how badly it went.

---