It was the kind of choice you make when you have decided to be somewhere and mean it. Wren practiced the clutch three more times, each attempt smoother. On the fourth, she got the gear and the Volvo rolled forward two feet and stopped cleanly. "Better." Reed said.
"I'm learning so I can fix the car myself when something breaks." Wren said over her shoulder. "Boss says if you know how something works, you don't have to be scared of it." Vivian looked at Reed's back. He did not turn around.
"That sounds right." she said. Wren climbed out and went to find Pete. Reed wiped his hands on a cloth. "You didn't have to come out here." he said. "I know.
I wanted to see if the kid was okay." Reed looked at the empty driver's seat. "She's good. She always has been." Vivian reached into her jacket pocket and set something on the workbench, a set of keys.
"The GT prototype." she said. "After the re-engineering. The corrected version. First proper test run is next month. I thought you might want to be there."
He looked at the keys without picking them up. "I'll think about it." Vivian stood. "I know you didn't come back to Ashcroft for the job or the money.
You came back because it was the only thing left that could be done for her. Reed said nothing. From the back of the garage came Wren's voice. "Ba.
Come look at this." Reed turned. He walked past Vivian and then said, without slowing down, "You can stay if you want." Vivian picked the keys back up and followed him.
Outside, the morning went on being ordinary. Somewhere down the block a car started on the first try. The sky was the kind of clear that comes after a long gray stretch when the light returns and everything it lands on looks like it has been there all along. Waiting to be seen.