Two Steps Back

Tommaso

I glanced at Paige in the passenger seat next to me. In the shuffle, I hadn’t had a chance to hire my own driver yet, but the little black coupe I’d bought last year for personal driving seemed subtle enough for the trip. She stared out the window, her shoulders still at perfect right angles like they had been since she walked out of Lauren’s office. Something had obviously happened in there. She’d been awkward, even tense since Friday—with the exception of the snowmobile ride—but this seemed different somehow. Maybe they’d finally crossed the line and started dealing with the hard stuff.

“You can pick the music,” I said to break the silence.

She looked at the radio where soft pop music oozed out of the speakers. I drove myself so rarely I never even bothered to change the presets. I didn’t recognize the melody, but it had the unmistakable cadence of something that would get stuck in my head if I let it.

“You like this?” She shook her head. “I mean, this is fine. I don’t care