Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Annie

This is quite possibly the most awkward car ride ever. Montgomery is quieter than a church mouse, or whatever the heck the saying is. After the initial battle over the music we'd be playing on the drive, we'd both settled back into our seats to enjoy the delightful silence suffocating us.

I had fully prepared for the long drive to Aspen with Suzie and her dads. But I'd have my best friend to keep me company; her personality is big enough to overpower any lingering vibes. But learning that we'd be taking two cars so Suzie and I would have our own wheels and that I'd be going in the same car as Montgomery, was not in the cards.

Oh, Lorcan had a pretty good explanation for it. Something about not trusting Suzie to make the long drive, and not knowing my driving capabilities, blah, blah, blah. But to me? To me, it kind of just looks like Montgomery wanted to get me alone so he could chew me out for seducing his husband and warn me away.

I'm still kind of surprised they haven't just kicked me out, to be honest.

So when Mr. Monte himself doesn't say word one about the kiss he walked in on, the only conclusion I can make is that we're going to pretend nothing happened.

I'm fine with that.

I'm not fine with listening to this bullshit music, though. I'm in my early twenties, and of course I went through the requisite Swiftie phase, but this nostalgic teen-pop nonsense is not my idea of a good time.

I am a girl that needs variety. And maybe a bit of grit.

"If you huff and puff any louder, I might think you're auditioning for a role in a preschool production of the Three Little Pigs ," Montgomery muses.

My head swivels in his direction and my gaze zeroes in on him. I squint my eyes, taking him in, trying to figure out if he's truly sitting there making fun of me right now.

"You know, that's an awful lot of sass coming from an old man listening to Meghan Trainor and John Legend singing about losing love," I snark, raising my eyebrow at him.

A surprised chuckle escapes him as he glances at me before focusing back on the road.

"First, babygirl, John Legend is exactly what his last name suggests, a fucking legend. And second, old man, my ass. I can still ski circles around a young whippersnapper like yourself."

Even while I snort-laugh at him calling me a whippersnapper, I still have to suppress a shiver from being referred to by that super-special nickname. He obviously just used it in reference to me calling him old, nothing more than that, but my body doesn't know any better.

"Seriously though." He breaks the now-less-awkward silence. "It's good music to listen to on a road trip, especially when I need to be kept awake."

Feeling more comfortable now, I lean the seat back and lift my feet onto the dash. Montgomery lifts an eyebrow at my new position but says nothing, so I assume I haven't overstepped some unwritten boundary.

"So, tell me, Montgomery... do you often find you need assistance with remaining awake in situations where you need to be as alert as possible?"

His warm laughter fills the cab of the luxurious car, and it only makes me feel even more relaxed and at ease. "I think, babygirl, at this point you might as well call me Monte. All my friends and close family do."

This time my body reacts with more than just a shiver. Unfortunately, with my feet planted in front of me, clenching my thighs together isn't much of an option to help with the sudden empty feeling between my legs.

"What else do you like to do to help you stay awake?" I ask, instead of telling him what I really want to.

"How about we keep this conversation going? That seems to do the trick," he responds, and even without looking at him directly, I can tell he's smiling, which ?draws a smile from me too.

There's still this huge, unspoken elephant sitting with us in the front seat, but somehow, it's easier to navigate around it now that the ice is broken.

"I'm not a starling conversationalist," I start up, "But I'm sure I can manage enough words strung together to keep an old man such as yourself from falling asleep behind the wheel. "

He mock-growls at me before reaching across to turn down the volume on the music.

"How about a game?" he suggests.

"Yeah? Like what?" I pull my long hair up in a messy ponytail to get it off of my neck.

Monte doesn't answer immediately, and when I turn to look at him in question, he's gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Monte?" I call hesitantly.

He shakes his head before sparing me a glance. "Right, sorry. Games. How about the old favorite? I spy?"

I giggle at his suggestion before leaning my head back again. "Sure, Gramps. I'll go first."

My gaze travels across the inside of the car, barely paying any attention to the passing scenery. "Hmmm, I spy with my little eye, something starting with the letter C."

I'm rather proud of my prompt. I don't foresee him guessing it right.

"You know," he says, his tone thoughtful, "You were so eager to get started, that we didn't set up any rules. Or terms, for that matter."

I shrug before gesturing with my hand for him to continue. "I'm all ears. What do you propose?"

He seems to choke on his spit before smacking himself on the chest and taking a deep breath. "Ugh, sorry. Uh, where was I? Oh yeah. Terms for the game. Everything needs to be in the car, it must remain in view of the car for the remainder of the person's turn."

"Done," I respond without needing to think about it. I have no interest in cheating by picking something we drove by five miles ago. "What else you got?"

"Winner gets a boon. Anything they want."

This causes me to pause. Anything? Is this how he's going to get me to leave? Surely this isn't an elaborate ruse to get rid of the hussy that kissed his husband. Right?

"You don't have to agree, Annie," he says softly. "We can just play for fun."

With those two sentences, he soothes all my worries. He wouldn't have given in on the stipulation if he really wanted to get rid of me. And really, he could just kick me out.

"Okay, deal. Anything the winner wants. And the winner will be the first to get to five points."

He gifts me with a rewarding smile. "Now, with those rules and terms in place. Do you want to change your prompt?"

I shake my head in response, beaming at him. "Nope, I'm good, thanks."

"Cubby hole," he responds, his face deadpan.

"No!" I gasp, smacking my hand down on my thigh. "How did you guess that so quickly?"

His loud laughter rumbles through my body, warming me from head to toe. "I too spent some time in the UK in my misspent youth. I learnt a few clever words and turns of phrase. One of the strangest ones to me was calling a glove box a cubbyhole."

"Personally, I kind of like it. It reminded me of those little box cubbies we had in kindergarten," I tell him. "Now it's your turn."

He throws one at me that I guess pretty easily, and for the next hour, we take turns, with the prompts getting steadily harder. I try to stump him with as many foreign words as I can come up with, but no matter how hard I try he keeps getting it eventually. I'm pretty sure I'm outmatched .

It's my turn next, and if he gets the next prompt, then I'll lose. Fuck, who am I even kidding? I missed a guess two turns back, so there's very little chance of me catching up at this point.

"Okay, Annie. You're next."

I peek around the car again, even though I've done so, so many times by now, I'm sure I know the car like the back of my hand. We only have slim pickings left at this point, and I'll have to be creative to keep him guessing.

"Tik-tok, tik-tok," he taunts me and I turn to face him, stretching the seatbelt to do so.

"Fine, Mr. Smarty-pants. I spy with my little eye, something beginning with an S!"

He smirks at me. "It isn't a sassy brat, is it?"

Rolling my eyes at him, I cross my arms in front of my chest before shaking my head. "No adjectives. Everyone knows that. It's one word."

"Oh well, in that case, it has to be a seatbelt."

"Well fuck," I mutter, throwing my head back dramatically. "You win, old man. Name your prize."

He winks at me before shaking his head. "I think I'll keep you guessing for a while. We'll come back to it at a later time, maybe at some point during our vacation."

Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all.