Page 24 of Daddy’s Fortitude

“Of course Charlie had a car, but it was taken.”

“Taken? Did someone steal it?”

Steal it? No. Repossess it? Yes. But she didn’t feel like explaining that to him.

“Look, I really have to go. Sorry.”

She headed out the front door, and to her relief, he followed behind her. But then he moved in front of her, blocking her way.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

9

Aimee turned to gape up at him.

Had she completely misread him? Why did he say that? Was he going to kidnap her now?

What was going on? All sorts of scenarios ran through her mind.

“On foot. You’re not going anywhere on foot. Come on, I’ll take you in my truck.”

Wait, what? Okay, of all the scenarios she’d gone through, that hadn’t been one she’d come up with.

He waved over at a big, black truck.

It was shiny, as though someone had just polished it.

She actually liked the look of it, though. Charlie had driven around in this low-slung red sports car. It was a cool car, but it just hadn’t been right for Greasy Knob.

He thought he was better than everyone else in that car, but frankly, he just looked like a bit of a dick.

But there had been no telling Charlie that.

“Are you sure?” she said.

Normally, she’d tell him that she’d be fine and walk off, but she was really pushing it to get there on time, so a ride sounded amazing.

“Get in,” he said as he walked over and opened the passenger door. Okay, that was really nice. She wasn’t used to men opening car doors for her. Maybe Charlie had in the beginning, but not recently, that was for sure.

Walking over, she heaved herself into the passenger seat. Wow, this truck was really nice.

He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side.

“This isn’t a rental, is it?” she asked as he started up the truck.

“No, this is my truck.” He sat still, not driving.

“Um, is everything okay? Oh, do you need to know where we’re going? If you head to the main street, I’ll let you know which way to go once we get there.”

“Seatbelt,” he said sternly.

She glanced down at herself. “Oh, right. I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve been in a vehicle, I’ve forgotten what to do.”

She let out a small laugh, but his frown just deepened.

“You said Charlie had a vehicle.”

“Yeah, well, that was Charlie’s vehicle, wasn’t it? He wouldn’t even let me borrow it to go to the grocery store.”