Page 30 of All In Good Time

Elaine didn’t notice, though, and looked up at Derek with hooded eyes and a seductive smile. “Call me later.”

“You got it,” Derek said and walked away without any more goodbyes. The sound of the front door opening and closing marked his departure.

Elaine shot Becca a weird look. “Are you friends with Derek?”

Becca didn’t have the mental capacity for an interrogation from some jealous fling.

She gave a noncommittal shrug before she opened the page again and pretended that she didn’t want to be swallowed whole by the couch.

* * *

As expected, Elaine was a terrible partner. She was too busy picking at her copper nails to focus on the reading. After an hour of trying to get her to concentrate on her assigned chapters and dodging prying questions, Becca was exhausted.

Elaine was more than happy to end the whole thing by agreeing to do her own part on her own time by next week.

Becca really doubted that would happen, but right now she just wanted out, and Elaine wasn’t going to say no to that. They exchanged polite goodbyes, and Elaine closed the door on Becca the moment she was out of the house.

By then, the sun was down, and the winter air pinched the tips of her exposed ears. Hats weren’t her thing, but she should have at least worn her hair down to create some sort of barrier between the breeze and her skin.

Rather than worrying about that, she bundled her thick coat closer to herself and pulled on the straps of her heavy backpack to make her way down the driveway and toward her house.

Bright headlights flickered on, making her wince and cover her eyes. She couldn’t see the car they were coming from, but it was right on the corner of the sidewalk in front of Elaine’s house.

A car door opened, and a shadowed figure rose from behind the lights, barely visible until she’d passed their intensity. Derek stood there, watching her approach.

She blinked in surprise. “You’re still here?”

“I didn’t see a car anywhere. Figured you’d need a ride.” Like always, his lips pinched at the last inch of a cigarette.

“You waited out here the whole time?”

He shrugged and flicked the red-ended stick into the snow. “My stepmom’s probably making dinner. I’d rather not sit through that.” He motioned to the other side of the car. “Get in. It’s freezing out here.”

Becca opened her mouth to object, but he was already slamming the car door and settling back into his seat. It would be rude to walk away, so she walked to the other side and got into his car, slipping her bag off her shoulders and resting it on her lap.

Derek waited until she was settled in before he sped away from the curb.

“You got a hankering for frostbite or something?”

“Huh?”

He tilted his head to look at her. “You seem to like walking around in hellish temperatures.”

“I don’t have a car, so it’s a bit hard to get around otherwise.”

He nodded, one hand relaxed on the top of the wheel and the other settled on the middle console between them. “What about Parr? He drives you around, doesn’t he?”

“He’s got a date tonight.”

“Ditching you for some chick?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

He clicked his tongue in disapproval. “If I was him, I’d make sure you never had to walk in the cold.”

Becca rolled her eyes—she’d been doing a lot of that lately—and frowned. “I doubt you’d like to waste your time on me. Haven’t you heard? I’m not very fun.”

As soon as the words left her lips, she wished she could take them back. She didn’t like to let others see the things that upset her. If she told someone her insecurities and worries and fears, she feared they would see them, too, and would never look at her the same afterward.

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