Test Drive - Samantha Chase Page 0,14
around and completely overwhelmed.”
“Maybe you just need someone who’s good with directions to go with you,” he suggested, hoping she’d take the hint that he was good with directions.
“Donna can get us anywhere with her eyes closed, and I even manage to get her lost.”
Okay, hint not taken…
“Anyway,” she went on, “the reason I’m bringing this up is that I want you not only to be prepared to hear about my siblings, but for them to be a little…snarky toward you.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“They’re going to grill you on why you’re a bartender and how you should be aspiring to do more with your life.”
“Um…” At that moment, he realized he probably should have corrected her on all her earlier assumptions that he was just the bartender. He owned the pub and had worked really hard to make that happen! Why didn’t he open with that when he first met her?
“Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I think it’s great that you’re doing something you love.” Then she paused and turned her head toward him. “You do love it, don’t you?”
“Well…yeah. But that’s not…”
“I envy you, Levi,” she went on, ignoring how he was trying to explain his response. “I don’t even really know what I’m passionate about. I mean, I love walking the dogs, but…that’s not something I can make a career out of. Or at least, that I shouldn’t make a career out of. Ugh…can you imagine how that would look. I can hear my parents now. Our son Miles is a doctor, our daughter Audrey is a lawyer, and Willow picks up dog poop.”
Don’t laugh…don’t laugh…
“They sound like the kind of people who are too uptight to say poop…”
“Seriously?” she cried, pulling her hand away. “That’s all you can say?”
Levi didn’t release her hand and knew he needed to think fast. “I was trying to lighten the mood, Willow. And for the record, the issue is with them, not you.”
“Yeah, that’s what Gammy says too.”
“So then why don’t you believe it?”
“Because everyone wants their parent’s approval. Don’t you want yours?”
He shrugged. “I have it. They’re very proud of me. I make a very good living and I’m happy. That’s all they’ve ever wanted.”
“They never pushed you to do something different? Something other than making drinks?”
“You seem fixated on that one fact,” he said thoughtfully. “Bartenders happen to make very good money.”
“Apparently.”
Narrowing his gaze, he asked, “What does that mean?”
“It means you must! You were able to take a week off without even giving it a second thought and look at this car! I don’t pay a lot of attention to the price of sports cars, but even I know this is brand new and expensive.”
“Well, I saved up for a long time for this. Up until six months ago, I was driving the car I bought in high school. A pickup truck, actually.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that truck and probably would have kept driving it, but I decided it was time to grow up a little and get a real car.”
“A real car with as many tech options as a jet plane…”
“It’s really not so bad, Willow. At some point over the course of the week, you’ll have to give it a shot.”
“I don’t know…if anything happened and I did something to the car, there would be no way I could pay for it. I’d feel terrible.”
“I’m sure you’re not going to damage the car.”
“Oh, please, I’m a walking accident,” she said with a small pout. “That day outside the pub? That’s practically an everyday occurrence for me.”
“Seriously?”
Nodding, she twisted slightly in her seat to face him a bit. “I broke my wrist when I was five.”
“Willow, most people break a bone in their life.”
“That was the first time. I broke it three more times after that.”
“Oh.”
“I broke my ankle once at a skating rink.”
“Ice skating is kind of dangerous if you don’t have good balance.”
“Well, it was a roller rink, and I hadn’t even gotten to the skates. I tripped over one of the benches that blended with the carpet.”
“O-kay…” He was starting to see what she was getting at.
“I never played any sports,” she went on. “Even my PE teachers used to suggest I sit out on certain activities because they knew I’d hurt myself.”
“Wow.”
“I know. I both appreciated it and was offended.”
There really wasn’t anything he could say to that.
“I haven’t broken anything in a while–which is amazing considering how often I fall.”
“Like in front of the