Black Tie Event

Chapter Sixteen

"You're awfully quiet," I noted, stupidly, as obviously there was a reason for that.

We were about an hour delayed, and had been back on the road for all of ten minutes. I had taken charge on changing the tire, because I figured I could do it faster than the guy from roadside, and I didn't want him going through my car for the jack, which I actually had. I could only envision a horror scene of him opening my trunk and thinking that the compartment that housed a police department fire arm was actually where I housed my tire-changing apparatus; and then he would freak out because I was carrying, and Ana would freak out because he was freaking out, I'd probably end up downtown for the remainder of the afternoon and that was not on my agenda.

So I'd taken the spare and dismissed his help; he hadn't been too reluctant to leave, and besides, I'd been up for impressing Anneliese a little bit with my mechanic skills.

So that had been the tire. Now we were back on the road.

"I'm a little bit out of sorts," Ana admitted after a while.

I exhaled. "I'm sorry I kissed you. That was stupid."

"No, it wasn't," she said adamantly. "The only thing that was stupid was me."

"Anneliese, I know a lot of stupid people. You're not one of them."

"What do you call someone who marries someone she's not in love with?"

"Average," I argued. "People do shit like that all the time. I once dated a girl for six months because she had a subscription to HBO."

"You didn't marry her."

"Who's to say I wouldn't have? She cancelled her subscription."

"You have to know this isn't the same."

I smiled, relenting. "I know. Just trying to make you feel better."

She sunk a little further into her seat. "It worked, a little."

"Good," I said. "Anytime you think your life is fucked up, chances are I can top you."

"Right now, I think I just need a distraction."

"Okay," I said. "Tell me something interesting."

"What?"

"That's what I tell Grace when she's being neurotic," I smiled. "Gets her mind off of whatever she's freaking out about."

"You tell me something interesting," Ana suggested.

"Okay, fair enough," I said, searching my mind for something, until I came across what I wanted to tell her, whatever cost at which it came to me. "This is going to sound stupid, but I'm telling you anyway."

"I know a lot of stupid people," she said. "You're not one of them."

"Oh, that's cute. There's a twenty four hour waiting period before you can use my lines and get away with it."

"Okay, okay," she laughed. "I withdraw my last statement. Tell me."

"Okay," I said. "So, when I first came to work in Green Falls, Mr. Shaw was--"

"Would you call him Collin?" she interrupted. "He's a rich guy, not the president of the United States."

"He's more intimidating than the president of the United States," I pressed. "I'd probably call Obama Barack if I ever met him."

She just laughed. "You've made your point. Continue."

"You act like I'm the one who interrupted," I decried, shaking my head.