I had no idea where he lived, but it could be several miles away. Then again, he probably didn't mind that sort of thing, and winter was in the taillights now. There had been something relaxing about my bike ride back to Talmage's at the end of the day. The thought of driving that massive SUV around gave me a little thrill and jolt of terror. How the crap was I going to climb up there with this rib?
“Okay.”
Seconds later, he was on his phone, which buzzed in his hands. He dismissed incoming text messages to type something out, then my phone jangled in my back pocket. I pulled it out to see an address from him.
“My home.” A look of something like vulnerability crossed his face then. “With the passcode to get inside. I trust you.”
Those three words were as loaded as any I'd ever heard. Had something happened in the past with his home so he didn't trust people? At this point, all my shock points were taken up, and the questions cluttered my mind until I couldn't have asked even if I wanted.
“Great.”
“Her school information is there as well. You'll have to pick her up from the bus stop that I texted you, but after that, you can figure out what's easiest, whether you pick her up or she can even get off the bus in town, if you want. Whatever you need. We just need to tell her and the bus driver.”
His shoulders sagged slightly as he met my gaze again. “Thank you, Serafina. I'm sorry, but I need to dash to work. Do you have any questions?”
A million, but I kept them pooled in my head for now. No doubt, most of them would work out over time.
“I'm good. I'll see you tonight?”
For the first time, a full smile found his face, no doubt driven by a sense of relief. “Tonight,” he echoed, and my stomach turned to jelly. Like it or not, Benjamin and I were tied together now, at least for the foreseeable future.
How bad could that be?
That afternoon, Ava stared at me through wide eyes, a backpack slung over her shoulders that seemed to take up her whole torso. Female superheroes decorated it with bright colors and fierce expressions. She dropped it off her shoulders and dragged it by a single strap as she approached. It splashed through a mud puddle, but she didn't seem to mind.
“You are picking me up now?” she asked.
The rain had retreated, leaving a thick skein of moisture over the reservoir and a freshly-washed smell on the world. Overhead, a bright cerulean sky unfurled. I couldn't help but notice a gaggle of other girls peeling off another direction, talking together as if Ava didn't exist. Ava didn't seem to pay them any attention either.
Did she have friends?
“Yep!” I forced brightness in my tone, although I couldn't tell whether she was excited by the prospect or annoyed.
“What happened to your face?”
“Had a little accident,” I said blithely. “Hardly hurts at all, except my rib is sore, so we’ll need to be careful. Ready to go home?”
She trudged forward a few more steps, then chirped, “Great!” and skipped over. Her backpack banged on the ground behind her. Without another word, she yanked open the SUV back door, which she could barely reach, and clambered inside.
A feeling of mental paralysis overcame me as I carefully eased into the driver’s seat. The SUV seemed to swallow me whole and felt like driving a tank. It was tricked out with futuristic lighting and all the LED screens. Trying to figure out such a monster had almost made me late to the bus stop.
“What's your name again?” Ava asked from the back seat as she peered out the window.
Her blind trust took me by surprise. She didn't even know my name, but she climbed into a car with me? Not just any car, her Dad's car, but still . . . we'd have to have some talks about strangers.
“Serafina.”
“Oh, now I remember. My Dad told me that. So did my teacher.”
“Your teacher?”
She nodded. “Mm-hmm. Daddy called my teacher and she told me to watch for his car at the bus stop because someone really fun named Serafina would pick me up at the bus stop today. I'm glad it was you. I remember you. Do you have more brownies?”
Point for Benjamin—he'd thought this through to an impressive degree. For all his weird self-deprecatory comments earlier, he seemed to