Her car was due for its quarterly oil change. “It’s nice of that boy to offer to drop off your car at Ben’s house when he’s done with it,” Abby said. “It is, isn’t it?” Sadie agreed. It was the sort of arrangement of which Gideon would not approve. You treat men like they were born to serve you, he would say. But she hadn’t cajoled the oil technician into delivering her car. She hadn’t even flirted with him. She had been cheerful and friendly, and he had made the offer. Was it so wrong to take him up on it? Was it wrong to ask him to drop the car at Ben’s house instead of Abby’s? Maybe she had pushed things a little by asking it to be done by noon, but he hadn’t seemed to mind. Sadie tried to be on time and arrive precisely at nine. Though he hadn’t said as much, she had the sense that Ben had an impeccable sense of timing. Abby dithered on the doorstep, fretting about her inability to tag along. “I have all these social engagements, you see,” she explained to Ben.
