“Okay.” He walked her out of the bedroom. “Now, if you will excuse me. I have a lot of work to do. You are the only person who can somehow pull me away from my work.”
He’d stayed far longer she’d ever expected. He left her with her bag, her sketchpad, and a fizzle of excitement.
* * *
Abbey pushed her hands through her hair in frustration and tried the ignition again. It rolled over and didn’t catch. The snow was starting to come down once more, and this time, it was actually sticking to the ground. Helplessly, she looked through her windshield at the mansion—the windows all twinkly and Christmassy as they reflected the decorations inside. She did not want to have to go in and find Richard and tell him that her car wouldn’t start, but she had to leave in the next few minutes to get Max. She tried again.
There was a knock at her window, and she jumped with a start. Nick was standing outside her car, wearing a ski coat and gloves, his breath coming out in billowy puffs. She rolled down the window.
“Is there a problem with your car?”
“It doesn’t want to start.” Mortification crawled over her skin like spiders.
“Try it again,” he said.
The car spit and sputtered but didn’t start. Abbey got out of the car and shut the door, frustrated.
Nick paced back and forth for a moment, eyeing her car. Then, he pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and punched a few numbers. “I texted Richard. I know just what to do.” There was an odd smile on his face.
She and Nick were both shivering as a bright red Ferrari came around the side of the house from the drive leading to the garage. It cut through the snow and slush like a knife and Abbey was trying not to wince at the muddy water splashing along the perfectly clean sides of it as it came to a stop in front of them. Richard got out, tossed the keys to Nick, and then went back inside.
Nick held out the keys, that weird smile still on his lips.
“What is this?” she asked.
“For you.”
“You want me to drive that?” She couldn’t even get the words out without laughing. She wouldn’t even know how to drive a car like that, and there was no way she was taking something that expensive on the main roads. She’d be a nervous wreck.
“No. I want you to have it.”
“What?” Abbey was at a loss for words. Surely he was joking. It was so ludicrous that she started laughing again.
Confusion crawled across his face. “It’s yours. I’m giving it to you.”
“You’re giving me a car?” There was no way he could be serious.
“I was going to donate it anyway.”
“I can’t accept this,” she said, looking at the keys as they dangled from his finger.
“Why not? I said I was donating it. To charity. What’s the difference?”
Her heart plunged into her stomach. She let her gaze settle on the hood of her old Toyota. Did he think she was a charity case? “Well, I really can’t accept it.” She could hardly say the words without them catching in her throat.
“Look, your car broke down. I offered you a way home. I like you enough to give you the car. And if you don’t have the money to buy it, that’s one thing, but I do. And I’m choosing to put that money to good use.”
“I have a few friends who are mechanics. For the cost of a burger and a few beers, I can get my car fixed. You’re giving away an extraordinary amount of money and I just don’t feel right taking it.”
He was quietly watching her, studying her words as she released them into the air between them. He was listening, and the sight of it made her shoulders relax a little.
“Okay,” he said. Nick was quiet again, the red Ferrari beside them taunting her, reminding her how no matter what things they’d shared, they were both very different people. Nick pulled his phone out again. “Richard is sending out Kenneth who is one of our groundsmen but he also knows quite a bit about cars. His father is a mechanic, and he taught him the trade. Maybe he can figure out what’s wrong with it.”
“I need it to start right now. I have to get Max and I’m late,” she said, still trying to get her emotions in check.
Nick texted something else while Abbey got back into her car and tried again, unsuccessfully, to start the engine. She looked at her fuel levels and engine temperature. Totally fine. Then, her focus shifted to the most gorgeous black Mercedes she’d ever seen in her life, rounding the drive at the side of the house. Another car?
Nick opened the back door to her Toyota and pulled the booster seat from the backseat. The car came to a stop and Richard got out. He held the key out to Nick and Nick traded him, giving Richard the Ferrari key, his head shaking back and forth subtly to let Richard know he’d best take it back to the garage.