Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [64]
“And with a human driver instead of an elf,” she agreed, watching the driver hop down from his seat to help her up.
Once inside the sleigh, Tori scooted over to make room for Drew on the crushed red-velvet seat, then moved closer to him to share the warmth.
The driver placed a lap rug over their legs. “Snow’s died down enough. Should be a beautiful ride. My name’s Anthony, and I’m wearing ear-plugs.” Smiling a big, toothy smile that revealed a gold cap on one front tooth, he added, “Of course, that little tiny camera ain’t.”
“We’re used to it,” Tori said, staring at the hated device carefully mounted near the base of the sleigh, protected from the elements by a decorative ledge and some Plexiglas.
“Careful not to kick it, now,” Anthony said with a broad wink. Then he hopped into the front seat, clicked his tongue and tapped the reins.
Riding in the sleigh over the new-fallen snow was almost like flying. That was the only comparison Tori could make. They didn’t go too fast, but they glided over the ground like a bird gliding over water, just skimming the surface and following the waves. Free and clean and fresh. Her breaths misted in front of her and snow landed softly on her face and eyelashes. She licked them off her lips, laughing at the simple pleasure of it.
“I love this,” she said with a happy smile.
Drew took her hand beneath the lap rug. “I’m glad.”
“I think I might actually miss the snow when I go back home. We don’t get much in my part of Tennessee.”
He turned in the seat a little, so their eyes met. “You really plan to go back?”
“Well, sure, what else would I do?”
His brown eyes stared into hers, serious and intense, saying a million things that couldn’t be said aloud over the whistle of the wind…and into the powerful microphone of the camera. Finally, though, he murmured, “You can’t go home again. I mean, of course you’ll want to be with your family for Christmas.”
Oh, if only he knew how she really wanted to spend Christmas. This one and every one after.
With him.
“But after that, you can’t just step back into your old life, as if you’d never left. You know that, don’t you?”
She said nothing.
“I mean, you’re not the girl you were a couple of weeks ago. You can’t go back to a life with no books and no education prospects except the Garage of Higher Learning.”
Lowering her gaze, she dropped her lashes to half shield her eyes. Whatever happened, whether she stayed or left, Drew deserved to know she’d at least begun thinking about a different kind of future for herself. Beyond what she’d always planned. She had drive and ambition and hunger.
He’d given her those, too. As well as a full heart.
“There’s a community college about an hour away from home,” she admitted.
“That’s a start.” Then he squeezed her hand beneath the rug. “But there are lots of community colleges. Lots of them up north, too.”
Oh, lordy, he was saying so much, without saying a thing. Almost asking her to say, but not putting it into words for the rest of the world to hear and chew over two months from now. It was so hard, so intrusive and voyeuristic. But, she reminded herself, she was the one who’d chosen to remain here. To open up her most private life to the TV world.
She’d just never imagined she’d be opening up her heart, too. Especially not now, when it was nearly broken, knowing she wasn’t going to get her fairy-tale happily-ever-after. Not once Drew found out she’d been lying to him. He’d see nothing but the money. The competition. And he’d never forgive her.
She could stay to see that condemnation in his eyes, and fight to make him understand why she’d done it. Or she could go now and cut her losses, praying he’d forgive her over time and track her down in Tennessee.
Right now, at this moment, she honestly didn’t know which she’d choose. “I didn’t say I wanted to go to college,” she said, forcing the words out of her mouth. “I might think about it. But I like what I do.”
“Driving? Being a mechanic?”
She heard the disbelief in his voice. Of course he wouldn’t believe her, she didn’t even sound convincing to herself.