he could be harassing Maya in her store. Or Jayne. Or what if he’d gone to Regan’s? Carter was on his shift at the hospital in the city, so Regan was all alone in her home-based salon until he got back.
Four times Brett called her back into the conversation, dragging her attention away from the window. He didn’t say anything; he just lifted his fingers a little in a “relax” kind of gesture, and each time he did, she managed to stop thinking about Kurt for a while. It didn’t last long, though, and she always ended up staring out the window again, wondering, and Regan’s brief text to her just after lunch didn’t help any.
Meet us at Maya’s after your course.
What the hell did that mean?
They spent the rest of the afternoon being interrupted by Angus, who made snide comments on every topic Brett went over, from safety checks to smart driving strategies and learning to anticipate hazards (including other drivers’ stupidity).
As the kid’s comments progressed, so did the warning look in Brett’s eyes.
“Last thing we need to cover,” he said. “The consequences that come with things like driving under the influence or using excessive speed. I’m sure you all know—”
“Gimme a break,” Angus moaned. “We’ve been sitting here all day, Five-Oh. At least in assemblies on this crap they give us slide shows and shit.”
Oh no. Ellie knew that look. It was the same one Brett had used before he’d locked her in the back of his cruiser that day.
“Okay, sure.” With an eerie calm, he set his book down on the table and tugged his wallet out of his back pocket. “You want some visuals? How about this one?”
He pulled out an old creased photo and set it in front of Angus, who leaned over to have a look, as did Mrs. G. Ellie cringed, dreading what she could feel coming.
“Beautiful girl,” Mrs. G said, pulling it closer so she could get it under her bifocals.
“Eight days after that picture was taken, she was walking to her friend’s house when a kid driving a brand-new Beemer slammed into her. Apparently, he and his buddy thought it would be fun to see how fast they could wind the car up before the cops caught them.”
“Hey,” Angus sputtered. “Dude, I—”
“Or how about this one?” His expression icy, Brett reached back into his wallet and tossed out a second picture. “Those are her parents—good people who were at home packing for the family’s annual camping trip. Want more? I could find a picture of the cop who got tasked with going to their house to tell them their daughter was dead. Or how about one of the woman who came running out of her house in her pajamas to perform CPR until the ambulance got there?”
“Brett.” Ellie’s voice, as quiet as it was, seemed to echo through the room.
“How about a picture of the kid that was driving? Lucky him, he survived, and now he gets to carry that guilt around with him every day.”
Silence almost swallowed the room, until Brett reached over and picked up his pictures.
“Those assembly slide shows don’t mean shit, Angus, because you see this stuff every day on TV or when you play games like GTO.”
“What’s GTO?” Mrs. G asked. “Is that like Monopoly?”
“No, no,” Junjie whispered. “GTO like, uh, video. Shoot up, what you…uh, crim-e-nals, car goes fast fast.”
“Oh dear.”
Brett nodded slowly as the tightness in his jaw began to ease.
“In movies, the hero miraculously walks away after every crash, and in games, you just go back to the beginning and start over. That’s not how it works in real life.” He held up Rosie’s picture one more time. “This is how it works in real life.”
Angus didn’t say anything, just slumped lower in his chair as Brett took his time tucking the pictures away again. No one in the room spoke, maybe because they didn’t know what to say or maybe because they wanted to give Brett a second. Either way, it seemed to be just what he needed, because when he finally looked up again, his shoulders were considerably less tense.
“Unless there are any questions, I think we’re done here. You all have your times set up for the driving portion of the course, but if you need to reschedule, my number’s on the bottom of your sheet there. Just give me a call and we can work something out.”
As usual, Junjie scurried out the door. Angus didn’t even make it out