Free Between Hope & the Highway by Charissa Stastny Page B

ready to leave. When he jogged into the garage, I yelled, “Good timing.”
    As he opened the passenger side door, Lizzie turned to glare at me. “You didn’t tell me your brother was coming.”
    Rawson climbed in and winked. “Yes, I am, sweetheart. Don’t get too excited.”
    “Uh…why don’t you…uh, drive? I…uh…want…no…need to stay and work a new foal.”
    Rawson smirked. “Are you scared of me, Miss Ruthersford?”
    “No.”
    “You will be. You…will…be.”
    I snorted at the Star Wars reference he slipped into the conversation. He did it so smoothly Lizzie didn’t even catch on.
    “Yoda,” I said. “ Empire Strikes Back. ”
    He turned to give me a high five. “Great, kid. Don’t get cocky.”
    I laughed. “Han. A New Hope .”
    Lizzie undid her seatbelt. “I’ll leave you two to your trivia game.”
    “But Liz,” I whined, “I thought you enjoyed spending time with me and Addie.” I wasn’t above guilting her into staying. “You promised you’d take us.”
    “Oh, all right. But your brother should drive.”
    Of course, Rawson would drive. He never let anyone else behind the wheel.
    He surprised me though by waving his hand. “You go ahead and let me catch some zzz’s, will ya? I’m still suffering from jet lag. Besides, I hate this old clunker.”
    My eyes bugged out. Rawson must really like her to give up the driver’s seat. When Liz sent me a helpless look, I gave her a thumbs-up. She appeared torn, but when my brother leaned back and pulled his Stetson over his eyes, she shrugged and backed out of the garage. I grinned. Rawson was home and things were right with Lizzie again. Life couldn’t get any better.
    But ten minutes down the road, Rawson shifted in his seat and slammed all my illusions to pieces.
    “You’re driving slower than my ninety-four-year-old granny. Can’t you go faster?”
    “Faster…faster!” Addie boomed. She parroted everything Rawson said.
    He turned to wink at our sister.
    Lizzie sped up slightly and Rawson didn’t speak again until we reached the junction to the highway. It wasn’t an actual highway. We were still twenty minutes from any paved roads, but this section of dirt was graded smoother so she could pick up speed without rattling our teeth out of our heads. When she shifted roughly into second gear, Rawson dropped an F-bomb.
    I saw Liz wince in the rear view mirror as Addie tried to copy him. “Duck!”
    “I’d appreciate if you watched your language around your sister.”
    “Oh, appreciate my language clean, you would?” he said in a perfect Yoda voice. Addie giggled, feeding his dark side. “Well, get used to disappointment, darling. I’m not my dad, and won’t give into your !@#$%&*!”
    Lizzie’s cheeks and neck flamed red as he shot off literary bullets.
    “Rawson.” I sighed. “Knock it off. You really do swear too much.”
    He glared at Liz as if she had spoken instead of me.
    We started up the steep section that climbs up from the creek. I’ll admit, Lizzie wasn’t the best at driving a manual transmission. Seth had given her lessons, but she must not have realized she’d decreased speed and needed to downshift, because the truck sputtered and lurched. She grabbed the shifter and yanked, but her foot slipped and the ten-year-old Ford died with a huge groaning bounce.
    “What are you doing?” Rawson yelled.
    Lizzie’s natural grace became lost in jerky movements as she tried to restart the engine while the truck rolled backward. She hit the brake and jolted to a stop. Her eyebrows scrunched as she engaged the engine again and pressed down on the clutch. When she hit the gas, it died again. She’d forgotten to put it into first gear.
    My brother’s nostrils flared and tight lines around his eyes and lips warned he was ready to blow. To him, there’s nothing worse than a bad driver, and Lizzie wasn’t making a positive first impression. If we hadn’t been on a steep incline, she might have managed, but with