“My absolute best price is twenty-eight. That’s it, not a dollar below it.”
“Make it twenty-five and we’ll take one right now.”
“Twenty-five is just not going to happen. At all. You can forget about it.” He’s shaking his head quite seriously about the price. “Twenty-eight, that’s my final offer.”
“Twenty-five.”
The tension is quite thick in the spacious office, and I can feel my eyes widen as I try and remain invisible. “Twenty-seven,” Larry finally concedes.
“Twenty-five. And I’ll tell you why you’re going to give me this car for twenty-five.” Dale sits right back in his seat, and starts bouncing his leg up and down, quite casually. “Because this girl right here, has been through enough shit in her life, and now she needs something to go her way. And that something, is one of those Taurus’ you have sitting out in the yard. You probably have what, twenty out there? Soon they’ll be last year’s stock, and you’ll be begging people to buy it, so do yourself a favor, and Lily, and give me the car for twenty-five.”
“I hate people like you,” Larry instantly responds.
“No, you don’t.”
Then there’s silence in the big office. Nothing but the loud beating of my heart can be heard, I assume both Larry and Dale can hear it, because it’s so quiet and tense in the room.
“Come pick your color, young lady,” Larry says as he stands and shakes Dale’s hand.
“Oh my God!” I jump up out of the seat and fly into Dale’s arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I hug him so tight. Dale’s body goes rigid, and I notice how uncomfortable he is. I let go and rush around to the desk and embrace Larry. “Thank you, Larry. This means the world to me.”
“You’re welcome.” I step back and Larry looks at Dale. “You better let me win at golf for the next six months.”
“No chance.”
When I come down from my ecstatic high, I pick the color I want. It takes a couple of hours, but with everything ready, we’re finally able to drive my car home. “Thank you so much!” I reiterate to Dale.
“Now, I called Betsy, she’s getting a cab here so either you or she can drive it back to your place, then we’ll head off home.”
Before I know it, Betsy is driving my car home, and I’m sitting beside her in the passenger seat, reveling in the intoxicating smell of my new car.
Dale and Betsy leave virtually straight away, and I go inside to get Liam and Shayne. They’re both so happy for me, and we agree Shayne’s going to take me practice driving, in addition to the driving school.
It’s early afternoon and I’m exhausted. All the excitement has quite literally left me drained. But I still have to finish Michaela’s book, Love Is Perfection.
I open the laptop and begin the document, fixing the errors and making suggestions for a smoother storyline. It gets to just before five and I go out to find Shayne and Liam sitting on the sofa, lovingly entwined watching a movie. “Hey, can I get dinner tonight? Pizza?” I offer.
“Yeah, sounds good to me.”
“Yep, me too,” Shayne adds before they both look back to the TV.
I take it upon myself to go order pizza. I call the local place and they say it’s going to be about half hour, so I leave money on the kitchen counter, and go back to Michaela’s book.
“Hey, pizza’s here,” Shayne says, as she opens the door to my room and comes in. “Is it good?” she asks as she sits on the edge of the bed.
“Oh my gosh, it’s beyond fantastic! I love it. She’s really good at telling a story.”
“She’ll be happy to hear you say that to her. But come on, dinner. And I’m not leaving until you come with me.”
“Hang on, I’ll just save what I’ve done and I’ll be out.” Shayne stands and puts a hand on her tilted hip. “I promise I’ll be out.”
“I ain’t moving, girl, until you come with me.”
I hit save and close the laptop. We walk out together and enjoy a family dinner.
I dial Michaela’s number and wait for her to answer. “Hello,” she says.
“Hi, Michaela, this is Lily.”
“Oh my God! I’ve been so nervous while you’ve had my book. I can’t believe you agreed to read it. Is it good? Oh my God, it’s bad right? That’s why you’re not saying anything. I’m pulling it, it sucks right? Oh my God, just tell me. Everyone says how good it is, but you can’t believe them. My mom said it was excellent. She’s lying isn’t she? Oh my God, it sucks.”