Page 46 of Furious
A soft smile had pulled at Mom’s lips and she beamed at me. “It’s a big deal though, JoJo. I still remember when I got my license. Great-Aunt Betty made me a caramel cake and let me drive her around town.”
“I wish I could’ve met her.”
“You would’ve liked her a lot, I imagine. Now, let me give you something before I start crying over Betty and my baby girl being nearly grown up.” Mom had swiped at the tears in the corners of her eyes, and pulled the red jeweler’s box out from her pocket.
She handed it to me.
“What’s this?” I’d asked.
“Open it. You’ll see.”
Inside the box was a gold necklace with a tiny golden F1 car charm on the end. Its little wheels moved as I put my finger on them.
“It’s perfect,” I’d said, slipping it on.
“It’s something to remind you of your dreams,” Mom said, pulling me into a hug. “Even if I’m not always here to remind you, this little charm might do the trick.”
We’d eaten our breakfast, gotten ready for the day, and then, a few hours later, Mom was gone in a fireball at the track.
I haven’t worn the necklace since.
Slowly, I open the red jeweler’s box. The little golden car is there, tangled up in the chain after I’d thrown it into the box on the night Mom died. I slip my finger in the chain, trying to unsnarl it.
“I miss you,” I whisper to the air. I’m not sure if I believe in spirits, but I think I might. And in that moment, I feel Mom’s arms wrap around me.
Dad might not want to sign the form, but Mom believed in me and my dream. I’ll find another way to get to race. With that thought in mind, I untangle the necklace and put it on.
An hour later, after I’m settled in bed and reading, I get a text from El.
It’s short, to the point, and sends a thrill of excitement through me.
El: I’m going to find Max. Want to come?
I fire off a reply immediately.
JoJo: Would love to, but I have no ride. Dad took the Hornet’s keys
El’s reply makes me want to kiss her.
El: No worries. I’m driving. Meet me at the bottom of your driveway in fifteen minutes
Not pausing to wonder if this is a good idea or not, and not considering how El is going to drive us to Richmond, Virginia, a town that’s a few hours away—in the Oatmobile surely?—I throw a change of clothes, my toothbrush, and my wallet into my messenger bag. Then, I scrawl a note to Dad and leave it on my air mattress—Be back soon. Love you. ~JoJo—and open my window. It’s nothing to tiptoe across the roof and climb down the metal garden lattice that covers one whole side of the house. I did it a hundred times as a kid and tonight, I don’t even flinch when my hand slips and I slide the last few feet to the ground.
When El Blum pulls up on a racing bike ten minutes later, with an extra helmet on the back seat, that’s what really makes my heart start racing.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
El
I sit at our too-long kitchen table, penned in by my parents on either side, and trap my hands between my own knees to keep them from shaking. For all my parents’ many expectations of me, I have never seen them look at me as though I’ve shattered every single one of them at once.
I’ve never seen them look at me the way they once did at my sister.
“Tell me,” Mom starts, “what in the blazing hell were you thinking, Eliana? Getting into the car—the stolen car—of a girl you barely know, who doesn’t have her license? Her poor grandmother had to call all the way from Italy in the middle of the night to find out where she was. She lied to her father about her plans, do you know that? Neither of you were answering your phones. You could’ve been seriously hurt, or arrested.”
As if that’s the worse option by far.
“And where did you get that?” Dad chimes in, eyeing Max’s jacket slung across the back of my chair. Like it’s a feral cat that snuck into the house alongside me and might take a swipe at him at any time.
