Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

SOPHIE

This day was for the record books. Dim sum, a water taxi ride to Alki Beach, a visit to Golden Gardens, and a late dinner. Sophie drove up I-5 with the sunset fading in the west, and a comfortable silence filled the space. No more spinning thoughts, no more wondering how Ella felt, no more second-guessing everything. She felt closer to Ella right now than everyone in her life except her parents and Maya.

She threaded her fingers with Ella’s and kissed the top of her hand. When she released it, and Ella leaned her head against Sophie’s shoulder, the most real of all realities hit. This was what happiness looked like. This was what happiness felt like—all warm and gushy, with belly tingles and jumping heartbeats. But there was a calmness, a stillness, to the happiness. For once, she was beautifully content.

Ella’s eyes furrowed as Sophie pulled into a parking lot. “We’re going golfing?” She turned her head toward the window. “There aren’t any cars here.”

“Yeah, they’re closed for the night.” Sophie turned off the ignition. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course,” Ella responded, but cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”

Sophie’s eyes dashed across the parking lot and to the building. “Come with me, but we have to be super quiet.”

A slow grin spread across Ella’s face and she hopped out of the car. Sophie interlocked their fingers and guided Ella down the stairs. The sprawling, lush, green golf course was so peaceful, she barely registered they were still in a city. She tugged Ella against the side of the building and put her finger to her mouth in a “shhhhh” motion.

The office door was on their left, and Sophie saluted her palms to peer through the window. She squinted, making out a faint light in the distance. She jiggled the door. Unlocked. Whew. Her hand froze on the handle. “Still trust me?” When Ella nodded with a grin, Sophie squeezed her hand. “Once we’re inside, we have to be totally silent. But if you hear or see someone coming, get my attention and we’ll bolt.”

Sophie squeaked open the door and tiptoed inside, then waved in Ella. She motioned her to stay put as she Pink Panther-ed her way to the office. Her heart pounded against her chest wall as she stepped inside the office door and stared at the wall of keys hanging from tiny hooks.

Ella was in the corner, her face flushed, her chest lifted, and Sophie flooded with the thrill of seeing Ella with what seemed to be a similar adrenaline rush. Already, this was going better than she expected. No alarms, no unexpected facility person, no lingering golfers who could question what she was doing here after-hours.

After plucking key #16, she crept backwards, and her gaze flickered across the hall. “Got it,” she whispered, and crossed the room back toward the door.

Ella tossed her a confused glance, but followed her outside, down the opposite side of the building and back up the hill. Sophie spoke no words until they were a good fifty feet from the clubhouse. She escorted Ella past a few sheds and moved to the cart barn, where rows of parked golf carts waited. “Here.”

“Huh?” Ella palmed the keys in her hand. “What are we doing?”

“You’ve always wanted to drive, right?” Sophie licked the edge of her lip ring. “Let’s drive.”

A solid four to five seconds passed before Ella squealed. “Whaaaat? Here? Now? Which one? What?”

Sophie pointed to #16 at the edge of the lot and hopped in the passenger seat.

Ella sat in the driver’s seat and ran her hand across the steering wheel. She thumbed her glasses back up her nose. “I don’t even know what to do.”

Her voice contained all the excitement Sophie hoped it would. “Okay, accelerate on the right, brake on the left.”

“I mean, I know that…”

“Just turn the ignition to ‘on’ and push the gear here to drive.” She tapped the gear button. “Then press the pedal to change how fast it goes. Smooth and slow at first until you get comfortable.”

Ella nodded at the instructions, reminiscent of her first week at work. But this time, her nods contained a smile that Sophie wanted to remember forever. Ella’s tongue swept her lip, and her eyes furrowed in fierce concentration. Her left hand’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the key and pressed the pedal.

Sophie flew back. “Whoa!” She flew forward when Ella slammed on the brake.

“Ah! Sorry. Shit!” Her hand fumbled and she twisted in the seat. “Okay, okay, I got this.” She eased them out of the parking lot and followed Sophie’s instructions to the end of the pavement.

A few minutes into it, Ella’s knuckles returned to a normal color and soon she squealed. “I’m driving!” She screamed into the night air as she reached a max speed of maybe five miles an hour. She turned in a large circle, returned to the lot, and accelerated.

Yes, Ella was not supposed to drive. But Sophie figured the risk was pretty low in a golf cart, when the max speed was twenty miles an hour and there was no one else around. If Ella had a seizure, Sophie was pretty confident she could get them to safety.

“I’m fucking driving! Whooo!” She screamed again and increased the speed to about ten miles an hour. She looped the lot and after a bit loosened up. She turned, looped, reversed, looped again, while bouncing in her seat and yelling.

The rush was obvious. Ella’s body lifted, and she yelled with such animation that Sophie felt Ella’s joy in her soul. Meadow smells filled the breeze and the bumps in the pavement were no match for Ella. She gained more confidence and completed the slowest doughnut known to humans. “I’ve always wanted to do that! Do you think I left skid marks?”

Going the speed of a sloth, Ella absolutely had not created any marks. Sophie nodded anyway.

Ella bumped them down to the edge of the parking lot when shouting started behind them.

“Hey! Stop! Hey!” A man with a polo shirt boasting the name of the golf course ran toward them, waving.

Ella slammed on the brakes. “Oh my God, what do we do?”

Sophie turned around. The man inched closer, his yells stronger. “You speed it up and outrun him.”

Ella’s eyes turned as wide as Sophie had ever seen, before she pressed on the pedal and floored it. They bumped over the parking lot, swerved in between cars, and Sophie clasped on to the rack with both hands.

“Go! Go! Onto the greens.” Sophie glanced over her shoulder as the man dug out keys and hopped in a cart, chasing after them.

The cart jolted over the lip and they went down the green. “Ahhh!” Sophie yelled, the elation filling her belly. “You got this! Just circle around, bring us back to my car, and we’ll make a run for it.”

“Got it.” Ella’s chest rapidly lifted in quick, sharp inhales. She firmed her grip and swerved down the meadow.

The man screamed. “Stop! You two! Stop. I’m gonna call the cops!”

Over the hills, to the left, on top of a few lone branches crunching beneath them, Ella navigated the cart. “Over there!” Sophie pointed to the right exit. “He’s gaining on us. Can you go a little faster?”

Ella pushed down, and the golf cart trudged up the steep hill. “Is he getting close?”

“Yep, but we got this.”

The sound of sirens rang in the background and Sophie’s heart thudded. “Come on, almost there. Once we stop, hop out and run like hell.”

“Okay.” Ella navigated to the right, down the slope, and to the exit.

“The sirens are getting closer. Get ready to run.” Sophie shifted her legs towards the opening, ready to bolt the second the cart slowed. “Hundred more feet… fifty… twenty… okay, stop! Get out, go!”

Ella pushed on the brakes, Sophie threw the gear into park, and they both leapt out.

“Don’t look behind you. Just keep running!” Sophie’s lungs emptied, and she scrambled to get the keys out of her pocket. The key fob took more than one click to open, and her heart nearly stopped. She dropped into the car, Ella did the same, and Sophie squealed out of the parking lot.

“I can’t believe we just did that!” Ella pushed the back of her head into the seat and brought her palms to her cheeks. “I’ve never done anything like that before… and shit… God, this feels good. This feels so wrong. Does this feel wrong to you? But also incredible? I can’t believe we outran the cops!” She dropped her hands from her face and her legs stomped against the floor, glee transferring from her voice to her legs. “This is AMAZING!”

“It feels good to be bad, huh?” Sophie pulled back onto I-5 South. “What would your dad say?”

“I think he’d be proud.” Soon her breath evened out. “Holy shit. Do you think the police will find us?”

Traffic surrounded them, but no police cars. “No, I think we’re good.” Sophie actually knew they were good. The sirens were a happy coincidence, and nothing to do with her and Ella’s little escapade on the greens.

When Sophie talked to Remi yesterday, everything had fallen into place. She’d remembered Remi telling a story a few months ago about one of her regulars who managed a golf course, who said he owed Remi his life after Remi had introduced him to his fiancée the year prior.

All Sophie asked was if Remi could find out if she could drive a golf cart without being a member. That inquiry morphed into a three-way text string where the manager jumped on the first-date bandwagon. Soon, the three devised a plan where Sophie would pretend to break in and he’d pretend to chase after them after giving her enough lead time. He mapped out the office location, which key to take, and said he’d put the golf cart in slot 16. Everything else simply fell into place.

Maybe Sophie would tell Ella sometime about how tonight came together. But for now, she fed off of Ella’s excitement.

Ella stroked her thumb on Sophie’s upper thigh. “I think we’ve packed everything we could into today,” Ella started, and looked down at her hand grazing Sophie’s leg. “Is there anything else on the agenda?”

The agenda, work, this, us , has all led to the now. She was ready, she was sure, as sure as she was ever going to be. A hard lump grew in her throat, and she tried to discreetly swallow. As the car lights drove by and she neared the exit, she inhaled a quick breath and exhaled through her nose. “If you want, we can go back to my place.”