GABRIELLA
The Lambo purred like an absolute dream as I pulled through my parents’ roundabout driveway and parked near the water fountain. Before I killed the ignition, I took a moment to revel in my new reality by running my hands over the leather steering wheel, breathing in the scent of new car, and feeling the gentle vibrations of the engine through my seat.
I couldn’t believe this was my life.
My real life.
I’d tried my hardest to talk Jake out of buying me the car on Tuesday, but he’d been relentless. No matter what I said, he held fast, insisting that the car had called to me, and we couldn’t leave without taking it home. I’d continued to try to steer him toward a more reasonable car. After all, I didn’t need something this flashy, expensive, or high performance. I just needed something to get me to and from work. But he’d said, and I quote, “you look too good in this for me not to buy it.”
I grinned to myself as I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car. Just as I was getting out, Ainsley and my brother pulled up alongside me. Beck got out from behind the wheel while Ainsley went to the backseat to let Luna out.
My brother walked around the hood of my car with his arms crossed. “How much is this Cassidy guy paying you?”
I used my fob to arm the alarm. The headlights flashed like they were winking at me. “My car almost blew up on me the other day and he insisted I get something with a higher safety rating. It’s part of my annual raise.”
My brother arched an eyebrow.
“Before you say anything,” I said, “I fought valiantly to talk him out of it, but he insisted, and he’s not someone to have his mind easily changed.”
My brother stroked his chin. Ainsley and little Luna came around from the other side of their car, and Luna gasped.
“Whoa,” she breathed. “It’s so yellow!”
I laughed. “It is so yellow. Isn’t it pretty?”
Luna nodded dramatically while her mother stroked her hair and frowned.
I had known I would be walking into judgment. After all, I’d spent hours upon hours complaining about Jake in the past. It only stood to reason that my family would be skeptical about me accepting flashy gifts from him all of a sudden.
“I hope there aren’t strings attached,” Ainsley said out of the corner of her mouth before steering Luna toward the house.
I made to follow, but Beck stepped in front of me. He peered down the length of his nose at me. “This isn’t one of those scenarios where a guy is buying you off so you look the other way when he treats you like shit, right? Because if that’s the case, I’m going to go down to your office and have a word with this asshole.”
I shook my head vehemently. “No, I promise it’s not like that. Not anymore. Jake and I? Well, we sort of got into it a couple weeks ago and I put in my resignation. We fought. I put it all out there on the table for him, and by the end of the conversation, he asked me to consider staying. He admitted that he hadn’t really been trying to make this work. Since then, he’s been much better.”
My brother still didn’t look convinced. His eyes flicked from me to the new Lambo. “He’s been much better, or the perks have made him seem much better?”
I rolled my eyes and brushed past him. “Believe what you want, Beck. I’m glad I stayed. Things are working out, and much to my own surprise, I think I actually might like working for him.”
Beck grunted, but he followed me into our parents’ house, and we caught up with Luna and Ainsley, who’d made their way to the back of the house and out onto the patio. Luna was stripping out of her little sun dress and complaining as her mother rubbed sunscreen on all the parts her neon pink bathing suit didn’t cover.
Ainsley clicked her tongue. “The sun is still strong, baby girl. I know it’s sticky and oily, but sunburns are even more uncomfortable, okay?”
Luna pouted.
Her mother told her to wait fifteen minutes before she got in the pool, and when my parents came to join us in the backyard, those fifteen minutes were eaten up by small talk and picking at the appetizers the kitchen staff brought out to the patio table. Once her mother gave her the go ahead, Luna shot off toward the pool in her water wings and goggles and jumped in with a splash.
My mother leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other. She looked as glamorous as ever this evening in a shimmery summer sheath dress and gold sandals. “So, how are things at work, Gabriella? Any improvements?”
My brother spoke for me. “Her boss bought her a new Lambo.”
My parents’ heads turned to me like they were on swivels.
“A Lambo?” my dad asked. “What on earth for?”
I scowled at Beck. “It’s a long story.”
“We have time,” my mother said.