Page 6 of Come Take Me Now

The small lobby fills with sunlight as Enzo opens the door from outside. I snap my head up at the sound of his voice. “Hey, I got your car hooked up. You okay?”

“Yeah, just homesick,” I answer. He holds the door open for me as I exit.

“Sorry to hear that. I grew up here.”

“In Napa?”

“On this vineyard. My folks live in one of the houses on property,” he says.

“Hmm,” I mumble. I spot his larger-than-life red pickup truck with my car on a trailer behind it. My heart aches at the sight, and I turn my head to look at him. “How’d you get it on the trailer?”

“The trailer has a winch.” I open the passenger side door of his red truck, and a step unfolds automatically. I ignore it and grab the handle to pull myself up as if I’m getting on a horse. “I hate the running boards, too.”

“I just didn’t need it, I guess.”

The cab of the truck smells delightfully fresh, but I don’t notice any scent tree hanging from the rearview mirror. The center console and dashboard are immaculate, like it was just detailed.

Men aren’t usually this neat—my ex never was, anyway.

“Me neither,” he adds. I’m guessing he’s six foot five, so it tracks that he’d have a lifted truck. “Is your phone a USB-C?” he asks, lifting a cord.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks!” I plug my phone in, and a lightning bolt appears on the black screen. Enzo puts the truck in gear and starts turning around toward the gate. “Why does your truck have extra back tires?”

“It’s a dually or a hippy girl, as I like to call it.” I giggle to myself at the ridiculous nickname for a truck, but it’s so fitting, too. “Um, I haul a lot. It made sense when I upgraded a few years ago.”

“I couldn’t have crash-landed at a better place,” I reply. A flicker of a smile crosses his face, but I refocus on my phone. It has enough charge now to power on. “I haven’t seen my dad since I was seventeen, when I graduated from high school. This would be how it goes.” My eyes widen. “I mean, just car trouble, getting lost, dead phone. I usually have better luck.”

“It happens.”

“It does. Last year, it was the transmission. Now this. My dad offered to get me a new car through my trust, but I didn’t want it. It’s his way of buying his way into my good graces, and I wasn’t having it. He did the same shit to my mom. He never treated her well, but he kept her in designer everything. Bought her jewelry. She hated it all.”

Oops, over-sharing again.

“So, why are you visiting him then?” he asks, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Because I just graduated college, and he wanted me to visit. I guess Mom’s only an hour away if I need a break from him,” I say.

“He can’t be that bad.”

I snort. “Yeah, right. He’s married to a twenty-eight-year-old now. He’s almost sixty! It’s so gross, and I did the math. She finished elementary school right before I started. Obviously, we went to different schools, but that’s so weird! Anyway, I’m going to grad school in San Diego starting in August. I want to be an elementary or middle school counselor someday and hopefully coach track.” I notice my voice getting louder as I go on, and I hate the way I can’t stop rambling about myself. He might think I’m self-involved. My eyes dart from the road to him. “Um, what’s your deal?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Do you have kids? Or a–”

“No, no kids. And I’m single.” I hardly know this man. I shouldn’t have sighed in relief that he’s somehow single, but I did. He probably finds me annoying, though. Most people do, but I really can’t help it. I was never good at making friends. The girls on track didn’t want any part of me, and the guys just wanted to fuck me. “What about you? You must be a heartbreaker.” He makes me laugh again, but it’s out of flattery. He indirectly just called me hot, unless I’m overthinking his words.

“What? Why?”

He shrugs while keeping a hand on the wheel. “Not many girls are as tall as you, and you seem bubbly. Guys like that.”

“They do?” I straighten in my seat. “Um, well, I’m not. I just had my heart broken, actually. Another reason to get out of Sac.”

“Oh, shit. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. My stupid boyfriend pulled a Legally Blonde on me. Like he decided he wanted to start grad school single. It’s even worse because he’s the son of my mom’s friend, and they hang out all the time. It’s impossible to distance myself from him, but he was always emotionally unavailable.” I shake my head. “But it seemed meant to be, you know? We grew up near each other, went to the same college, finally got together junior year of college, just to get dumped a year later. Right before our one-year anniversary.”

“Convenience doesn’t equal fate,” Enzo says.