Page 27 of The Law of Attraction
The summer sun burned hot and low in the west, casting a blinding glare off every windshield and bit of chrome on the sea of cars around them. To the south, where they would eventually be headed once they got past the mass of humanity fleeing the city center, a shelf of gray clouds hovered in the sky. It looked like there might be rain in their future.
At least Adam was a good driver. He didn’t tailgate or change lanes erratically, and he paid attention to the other cars, anticipating their moves and adjusting accordingly.
If only this traffic would ease up a little. Olivia had expected a logjam heading out of town, but the current standstill seemed extreme even for rush hour.
“There must be an accident or something ahead,” Olivia said.
Adam’s thumb tapped impatiently on the steering wheel as they crept forward a few feet, only to come to another halt. “The GPS would tell me if there was. This is probably just normal rush hour traffic.”
“Sometimes the GPS lags. I think we should get onto Loop 12 instead.”
He scowled as a car forced its way in front of them. “This is the most direct route.”
“Unless there’s an accident or blocked lanes from construction or something. I’ve been to Dallas a few times before. I can direct you around this mess.”
“So can the GPS, which it would do if it was necessary.” His lips pursed stubbornly, and she tried not to think about how sexy they looked.
“Accident two miles ahead,” the robot voice piped up cheerfully. “Rerouting.”
Olivia snickered as the GPS directed them to take the fork for Loop 12, just like she’d suggested.
Adam threw her an exasperated look. “Laugh it up, Woerner.”
“I told you we should go around.”
“Yes, and I told you the GPS would let me know if it was the best route. Which it did. So we were both right.”
As she took out her knitting, Olivia wondered if it was going to be like this all week, and what that would mean for the work they had to do together. Was he going to fight her on every little thing? Was she going to fight him back?
They’d never butted heads like this when they’d crossed paths before. Not that they’d collaborated all that much or had much reason to come into conflict. But on the occasions when they’d interacted in the past, things had always gone much more smoothly.
Probably because Olivia had never pressed her opinions before. She’d always just gone along with whatever he’d suggested. It was easier that way. He was Adam the rock star, so she’d told herself he knew best, even when she had her own ideas. She had let him take the lead and agreed to all his suggestions so he’d like her.
Which was exactly what he’d accused her of doing.
Well, no more. She hoped he was ready to reap what he’d sowed, because she was done rolling over for him.
The traffic was still pretty backed up on Loop 12, but at least it was moving at a steady ten-mile-an-hour clip, which was a distinct improvement. Olivia watched the minutes tick by with a growing sense of fatalism. Their original flight would have landed them in Austin at three, with only a one-hour drive to the plant, allowing them to start work around four or five. But now, thanks to their various calamities, it was coming up on seven, and they still had three hours of driving ahead of them.
“Should we stop for dinner somewhere?” she suggested once they’d cleared the Dallas city limits. “I’m hungry.”
“I don’t think we can spare the time for a sit-down meal,” Adam said.
She set her knitting down to massage her hands, which had started to ache. “Agreed, but I’m going to need a pit stop and some food unless you want me to turn into Hungry Hulk.”
“Fine.” He put his signal on to take the next exit off the highway.
“Not here,” Olivia said. “Keep going.”
“There’s a truck stop just ahead.”
“Yes, but there’s someplace way better two miles up.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I saw a billboard for it.” More like five billboards on their way out of the city, but she wouldn’t expect him to appreciate what the giant yellow signs with the beaver cartoon meant. “Just trust me.”
Chapter Seven
