She was silent a moment before she said, “It isn’t about the shoes.”
“Right,” he replied. “Then you’ll get used to being in cars. Seeing them. Hearing them. The speed they can have. The number of them there are. Coupla weeks, it might help if I take you somewhere open with no one around and show you how to drive. You’re in control of the car, you’ll understand it better and maybe be better sitting in the passenger seat.”
“It’s not about your vehicle either, Noc.”
That caught her another glance. “Then what was it about?”
She didn’t answer.
“Frannie, you shut down on me for a while there. You bounced back at lunch but I’ve been in your world. I know how freaky it is when everything around you is new. It can be overwhelming. And I can’t look after you if you don’t share what’s on your mind.”
At first she didn’t say anything and Noc was about to prompt her when she spoke.
“Is it safe, having a discussion while you’re operating this machine?” she asked. “All the lights, knobs, wheels, levers, it seems a lot to look after.”
He gave her hand another squeeze, but let it go thinking that maybe she’d feel more comfortable if he was using both of his to drive until she got used to riding around, doing this while he answered, “I’ve got a lot of practice. Been driving a car for twenty-two years, officially. This is not counting my dad teaching me how to drive at fourteen, with my stepmom having a conniption that he did it, and me joyriding with the guys numerous times before we got caught and Dad put a stop to it.”
“Joyriding?”
“Taking a car out without permission and driving it around. Legal age to drive is sixteen. We were not legal.”
“You’re thirty-eight years of age?”
She sounded shocked and that bought her another glance.
“Yeah,” he confirmed.
“Odd how I didn’t know that,” she murmured.
“Babe, we’re off the subject. To confirm,” he said with a grin in his voice, “I can have a discussion while operating this machine.”
Even after he confirmed, she didn’t say anything.
“Frannie,” he pushed.
“I know,” she said softly.
But she didn’t say anything else.
“You know what?” he prompted.
He felt her eyes on him when she stated, “About you and the Circe now in this world.”
Fuck.
He didn’t have to ask what she knew.
He knew what she knew.
Fuck.
He glanced at her again. “How do you know?”
“I saw you…that night, I…” There was a long hesitation and then, “I was coming down the hall. You were both in her door. It was obviously, er…after. I could…well, I could tell what had occurred. I retreated. Not much later, you walked into the sitting room and…” Another long pause before she finished, nearly on a whisper, “You know the rest.”
After they got their phones, Josette had mentioned going out to dinner with Circe and Franka had tripped. Clearly, she did this not because she wasn’t used to her heels. Clearly she did it because this was on her mind.
“I…well, I…” she went on uncertainly. “I considered this often when we were parted. Of course, I could not know what would happen upon our reunion. I will admit, as I’m sure you can gather, that I was desirous of that being the path we took and you’re very aware that I’m happy that we’ve taken it. But I couldn’t assume it would be what would happen. What I knew was that you’d been intimate with Circe. You two, well…you suit. She’s here. You’re here. And I’m—”
Noc cut her off with words he hoped would set her mind at ease. “It was a one-time thing. We had that one time. Now it’s done.”
Again with the silence before, very quietly, she shared he had not come close to setting her mind at ease.
“Noc, what we have, it’s very new. I understand I have no claim on you. You need give me no promises.”
Fuck.
That time, it was him that was silent and he was that way looking for a place to pull off.
He found it, indicated, swerved carefully into an open parking spot at the side of the street, put the truck in park and turned to her.
She was holding tight to the door grip and staring with big eyes through the windshield.
Apparently, he hadn’t swerved carefully enough.
“Frannie, look at me.”
Slowly, she tore her eyes from the window and turned her head his way.
And before he could even open his mouth, she opened hers and the words suddenly spewed out, but this time they came without hesitancy and they came fast.
“I just want you to know that isn’t why I agreed to do what I agreed to do with Valentine in regards to Circe. To take her from you. To create a clear path for me. That was not my intention at all. Those are no longer my ways. Well, they are, obviously with what Valentine and I are planning. A little intrigue. Some conniving. But not for sport. And not to harm. Our meaning is kind. It’s actually the natural order of things, in a way. But if you intend to continue on with her or, have, well…” she swallowed and it looked painful, “already started things up again on your return, that’s not my business. Or it is, in the sense that I should know so I can tell Valentine and we can stop doing what we’re doing so you can have a chance or, erm, whatever…with what you intend with Circe. And I will just…you and I will simply—”