“I’m sorry, but isn’t this amazing?”
She scrunched her forehead. “What? Proving her point that I’m stupid?”
“You’re clearly the opposite of stupid. You were right! Thatwashis truck. You almost got there before they did.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not still an idiot. She’s right. We should stop looking for this guy. He could hurt us. He could—”
The car lurched to the side of the road and stopped.
Eliza gripped the handle of the car door, her knuckles white. “What’s wrong?”
“Are you serious right now?” Joey stared at her, eyes narrowed.
“Areyouserious right now? Why are we stopping?”
He sighed and tilted his head. “Are you really going to make me say it?”
She kept her grip strong. “Say what?”
He unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face her. “You are not an idiot, Eliza. In fact, you’re frighteningly smart. You scare people. You scareme.”
The tension dropped from her shoulders and she laughed.
Joey said nothing. His expression softened and his eyes remained fixed on her, taking her in.
Her stomach was off the car floor now, back up in her throat.
“When I told you that you remind me of my best friend,” he said. “I meant it. He’s the funniest person I’ve ever met. Hilarious. My face always hurts whenever I hang out with him.”
Eliza looked down at her hands. “Sorry about your weak face, Joey.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Stop trying to distract me.”
“Distract you from what?” she asked, raising her eyebrows in mock alarm. “Clearly, it’s not driving. You’re terrible at it.”
“I’m trying to have a moment with you here and you’re roasting me.”
“I didn’t know we were having a moment. My apologies.”
He smiled. “Thank you. Like I was saying. My best friend has the same problem as you.”
She couldn’t stop herself. “He’s a loser?”
“No,” Joey said gently. “He’s too hard on himself. He thinks he has to be perfect, that anything else is a failure. Anythinghumanis a failure.”
Eliza was tempted to crack a joke about not being human, but instead she said, “Ah.”
“We don’t have to keep looking for the robber. That’s fine. But you’ve got to help me out. You’ve got to believe in yourselfa little.”
This was getting serious. Eliza fidgeted, pushing her hair behind her ear. “Okay, sure. Fine!”
“I’m not trying to yell at you, but come on! You’re a step ahead of the federal agents investigating this crime, and that’s without any help. Just your own memories and critical thinking. That’s incredible.”
She glanced at him. “Thanks.”
“I’ve served literally no purpose except to bring the scones, and still, I feel pretty great about my role in the whole thing.”
“Well, that was pretty clever.”
