Page 260 of A Taste of Vanilla

Cold hits my face, and water immediately runs beneath the collar of my shirt. I stand there for a few moments before closing the door.

She sits there, her gaze fixed on mine.

Eventually, her door opens.

Halston sits there for a moment, deciding whether she really wants to be around me before stepping into the rain.

Her arms cross over her chest. “Absolutely not.” Her voice is shaking.

“Halston—” But I stop, unsure what else to say.

She laughs once. “I didn’t call you.”

“I know.”

Her expression shifts, and she wipes rain from her cheek. “I called Marley.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I—” I don’t really know what to say to that, either. Because I wanted to be. Because you needed help. “Marley sent me.”

Her mouth opens. Closes. Anger flickers again. “Of course.”

“Halston. I came because she asked me to come and because you were alone here in a dead car with a dead phone. Not because I wanted to control you. Not because I wanted to force you to listen to me.”

Her eyes narrow.

“I’m not here to make this mean something it doesn’t or force anything on you. I’m not expecting to be rewarded. I’m here because you needed someone.”

The rain falls down the side of my face.

She looks away.

My hands are empty, and there are ten things I need to do: check the engine, call a tow truck, get her warm…

She needs her phone charged.

She needs to be told how sorry I am.

I need to tell her I love her.

I breathe in and out.

“What do you need?” I ask.

She laughs without humor. “A new personality and a working fuel gauge.”

I look at Penelope. “Did it do the exact same thing?”

She nods once.

“Would you like me to look at it? Or do you want me to call a tow truck?”

Her eyes close.

“I don’t want you to fix it.”