“Alright,” I say, allowing him to pull me forward.
We pass through the door and step into the garage. Jason and another worker are pulling aluminum doors closed and both wave a goodbye at Sam who’s leading me around to the furthest door’s dock where a shiny black car sits.
“Ellie, allow me to introduce you to Charlotte.” Sam drops my hand and walks over to the old car, running his fingertips lightly across the waxed paint of the trunk.
I have to admit, I was sort of hoping he was going to show me the secret bed he keeps in the back of garage, not an old Chevy. “Oh no, don’t tell me you’re one of those guys that names their cars?”
“Well, it’d be a touch presumptuous of me to play under Charlotte’s hood if we weren’t acquainted with one another first.” Sam smiles devilishly at me, continuing his slow journey around the car.
“Sounds pretty sexy when you say it like that,” I agree, reaching out to touch the swell of the shiny front bumper.
“Oh, it’s sexy all right. This car has seen its fair share of backseat lovers over the past six decades. I found her under a tarp in an old wheat silo. She’d been left sitting, waiting for someone to come along and remind her what it’s like to have some power between her tires.”
Sam caresses the curved hood, lightly biting on his bottom lip as his hand glides across the smooth surface. First science experiments and now classic cars? Is there any subject this man can’t make sexy?
“Charlotte, is it? Is she named after anyone special?” I know it’s devious, trying to get Sam to tell me about his ex-fiancé when he’s not aware I know of her existence. As much as I want to take Hart’s advice, let the past stay forgotten and have faith, I want Sam to trust me enough to tell me what happened between them.
“Nah, just the name I gave her. She took to it just fine, though. When I’m not on the Harley, Charlotte and I paint the town red. She’s a real bitch on wheels, this one.”
Hmm, maybe the car’s named after his ex after all… Sam leans against the driver’s side door, his tour around Charlotte complete. His eyes beckon me forward, but I’m stiff with indecision. I hold his gaze, letting unasked questions pass between us. He smiles at me and I try to return his smile, but I can’t match his sincerity.
“What’s going on, Ellie?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, looking around the garage, looking at everything but him.
“You weren’t really sick, were you?”
His question startles me into looking at him. His brow is relaxed and his arms are spread wide across the car’s roof as he leans back against the door, patiently waiting for my answer. How can he be so calm when I feel as though a tornado is spinning inside of me? “No,” I admit, shrugging, “I wasn’t.”
Sam nods his head and brings his arms down off the car, placing a hand in a jean pocket. “Then I guess you were just avoiding me?”
“Sort of, I mean, not really. I just needed some time to process this,” I say, motioning between us.
“This?”
“This thing that’s happening between us.”
“And what’s happening between us, exactly?”
I’m flustered, irritated by his relaxed questioning. “You know what I’m talking about,” I charge.
“Ellie, the only thing I know is that I’m enjoying spending time with you, and I thought you were enjoying spending time with me too.”
“I am, but it’s not as easy as all of that.”
“It can be if you’ll let it.”
I shake my head, running my hands through my hair as I turn, exasperated, away from him. “No, it’s not and you can’t just will it to be. We have baggage. Pasts we’d both rather forget.”
Sam pushes away from the car and walks across my line of vision, standing just out of reach. “What’re we talking about here, your ex-boyfriend?” His tone is harsh and I watch as his patience is replaced by frustration. The muscles in his jaw clench as he works to carefully control his words. “Cause I thought we moved beyond him the other night.”
The memory of Clara’s bar, of the way he held me to him as we danced, hits me square in the chest. “It’s not about him, exactly.”
“Then what’s it about?”
I want to tell him it’s about his past and his reluctance to open up to me, but I want him to do so