Hers(13)

He told her about his brothers and reminded himself that he needed to call his mother tonight. She would be so excited.

****

Slater arrived early to take Sammy driving. After the success of yesterday’s lunch he was keen to spend more time with Sammy. She opened the door before he even had the chance to ring the doorbell.

“You’re early. That’s good.” Sammy grabbed his hand and held it in hers as she almost ran to the Commodore. “Come on. I can’t wait to get in the driver’s seat again.”

Slater chuckled at Sammy’s enthusiasm as she opened his car door and pushed him in, ran around to the passenger side, opened the door and got in her seat and shut the door.

“Where are you going to take me? The same place as Brock, or somewhere new?”

Starting the car he put the car into gear and drove toward the beach. “The same as Brock. I think that’s the best for the first couple of lessons.”

Sammy bounced in her seat with excitement the whole ten minute drive to the beach. She got her L plates out of the glove compartment, and as soon as he parked she was out of the car and putting them on the car.

Slater got out and took a deep breath in of the sea air before he walked around to the passenger side and got in. Sammy was in the driver’s side fixing the mirror and seat.

“Okay, so what did you start with Brock yesterday?”

Both of Sammy’s hands sat on the top of the wheel, and she had a huge grin on her face. “We reversed out and drove down to the end of the car-park and back again. Towards the end he let me drive up and down the deserted street.”

Slater wondered why Brock had looked so frazzled when that was all they’d done. Sammy had talked about yesterday like Brock had taken her for a proper drive. Shrugging his shoulders he put his seat belt on. “Today we’ll do the same and get you used to the car. So how about you put the car in reverse and back out of this spot? Then put the car into drive and go down to the end and around the roundabout and back again. Just drive the same as you drove with Brock.”

Sammy nodded, put the car in reverse, put her foot down on the accelerator and backed out until she hit the curb and went up it. Slater’s stomach came up and back down in seconds as she slammed on the brakes.

“Crap. Forget I did that.” She shot him an innocent smile, put the car into drive, and sped down the end of the car-park.

Holy shit! Thank God he was a shifter, as otherwise he would have just had a heart attack. In a car-park that the top speed should be twenty kilometers per hour, Sammy was doing almost eighty. He had no idea how all the wheels were still on the road as she went around the roundabout. His voice came back up again, and he yelled.

“Slow down. This is not a marathon. You’re in a car-park. Didn’t Brock tell you to slow down?”

“No. He told me to have fun and get comfortable with the car. I’m going a lot slower with you than Brock.”

Slater shook his head. “Slow down and back out slowly. I might be a shifter, but I’d like to live through this.”

Sammy rolled her eyes at him. “I think you’re being a bit dramatic.”

“I’m not. You need to slow down.”

. This time when Sammy backed out she didn’t swear when she hit the curb, but she did slam the brakes on before she put it into drive and sped off. Sammy slowed down this time but not by much. He grabbed the door handle as she did sixty around the small roundabout. She hit a pot hole and swerved.

“Stop! Stop!”

Sammy slammed on the brakes, and the car seemed to wobble. She turned to him. “I was slowing down. You don’t have to scream at me to get me to stop.”

“Yes, I do. You weren’t slowing down. For crying out loud, use some common sense. You go slower around the corners and roundabouts. That’s why you lost control of the car over the pothole.” He ran his fingers through his hair, yanking at his hair. “Ease out of park when you’re backing out and be mindful of the curb.”

“Okay, I get it. But you didn’t have to yell. I’m only learning.”

“I wasn’t yelling. You almost killed us.”

“I did not. This is an empty car park.”

“What if we were on the road?”

“We’re not. We are in this empty car-park so I can learn.” Sammy started the car back up and drove down the car-park at a much better speed.

“This is more like it.”

“If you’d told me you wanted to go slower I would have gone slower. You said to do what I did with Brock, so I did.”

Slater felt like pulling his hair out. How could Sammy not know to go slower around corners and roundabouts? “For fuck’s sakes, didn’t Brock teach you to go slow and stick to speed limits yesterday?”