Although she already knew the answer. This is the one he would have picked for her if she left it up to him.
“Does the price work for you?”
That was the one sticking point. Her savings had taken a pretty big hit from buying the house and everything that entailed.
“It’s over the budget I set for myself. Even with the amount I plan to put down, the payments would still be a stretch for me.”
The salesman must have scented a sale, because he finally spoke up. “If it makes a difference, we just took a similar bike in on a trade. It’s two model years older but has low mileage, and it’s been well maintained. We’ve done all the service on it, so we can show you all of its records. The woman who owned the bike upgraded to a more expensive model.”
Okay, then. “Can I see it?”
An hour later, the check was written, the paperwork signed, and Amy had possession of the keys.
A few butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach as soon as she and Mikhail had walked into the dealership. Now that she was about to drive the bike out of the parking lot, that fluttering flock had increased exponentially. Even so, that didn’t keep her from grinning from ear to ear as she revved the engine and followed Mikhail out onto the street. He’d promised they’d keep to side roads today to give her a chance to get used to the bike.
So far, so good. She’d taken all the classes that were offered, and Mikhail had worked with her in a huge parking lot with his bike. That had been fun but hadn’t felt real.
This, though, with the wind in her face and the rumbling of the engine so much more up close and personal than when driving her car, this was real. Fun. Daring. Exciting.
Exactly the kind of thing that had been missing from her life for so long. She pulled up next to Mikhail at the corner as they waited for the light to turn green.
“You doing okay?”
She gave him a thumbs-up and let her smile speak for itself.
Then they were off and running again. It occurred to her that this was yet another first in her life that she’d shared with this man. Another item checked off her list of things she wanted to experience.
There was a major one left on the list, one that simmered right below the surface whenever they spent much time in each other’s company. But before they crossed that bridge, she’d have to figure out how to tell him about her past. God knows she didn’t want to do that. Once she spoke those words, they couldn’t be taken back, and their friendship might be altered in ways that could never be changed. So until her back was against the wall and she had no choice, she’d go on pretending she was just like all the other women he’d ever known.
Even if she wasn’t.
