Chapter 381
Effie froze, forgetting what she was supposed to do, her gaze locked on Lyman as her breathing slowed.
“What now?” Lyman’s voice was rough, his eyes fixed on her. There was
something about his gaze-dark and deep, as if he could pull her in and never let go.
“Hm?” Effie looked at him, puzzled.
“This is all your fault,” Lyman said quietly.
Before Effie could react, he leaned in and kissed her again…
By the time Effie and Lyman slipped quietly out of the house, her grandmother had already left. Breakfast sat waiting on the table, alongside a neat note in her grandmother’s graceful handwriting: “Gone to buy groceries. Make sure you eat before heading to work.”
Effie said, “I want to get Grandma a car. Whenever we’re busy, she has to take the bus everywhere-it’s just not convenient.”
Lyman nodded. “Alright. I’ll come with you to pick one out for her.”
“Aren’t you going to ask if she even knows how to drive?” Effie joked.
Lyman shot her an amused look. “If she didn’t, why would you buy her a car? Wouldn’t it just take up space in the garage?”
He remembered how Effie had turned down his offer to get her a better car. She’d insisted she already had one, and for her daily commute, something simple was enough. She’d used that same reasoning to refuse him.
Originally, Effie had planned to let her grandmother use her own car, since she usually rode to work with Lyman anyway. She didn’t really need it.
But her grandmother thought the old gas car was too much trouble-she wanted something electric.
Effie explained, “Grandma got her license when she was young and she’s always been driving. Later, when Grandpa got sick and needed money for treatment, the family had to sell almost everything-including her beloved car.”
“She really loves driving-loves taking the car out for a spin. Even now, in her seventies, she goes for a medical check-up every year, passes all the tests, and keeps her license tucked in her purse, just in case.”
Lyman squeezed Effie’s shoulder gently. “From now on, I won’t let something like that happen to your family again.”
Effie just gave a noncommittal hum.
In her mind, promises meant little. The only person she could truly rely on was herself.
Shepard had once sworn up and down he’d take care of her mother and their family. But when Grandpa fell ill and they needed money Shepard always found an excuse-he never came through.
It’s like that old saying: only you know if the water you drink is warm or cold.
After work, Effie headed home to take her grandmother car shopping.
“In such a hurry? Aren’t you going to talk it over with Lyman?” her grandmother asked.
“I already did,” Effie replied. “He had
a last-minute meeting with some international partners, so he told me
to take you first. If you find
something you like, we’ll buy it.4f
not, we’ll wait for him and come back together.”
Her grandmother nodded. “That works.”
At the dealership, Effie turned to her. “So, which one catches your eye?”
Her grandmother leaned in, whispering, “This one’s a foreign make. Looks expensive. Let’s look at the others—the domestic brands are more affordable these days.”
Effie thought to herself that price didn’t matter. If Grandma liked a car, imported or not, she’d buy it for her.
Truth was, her grandmother had her eye on one particular model-she liked the design and the way it handled. She wanted to take it for a test drive.
Just then, a saleswoman strode over, eyeing them up and down with a frosty, dismissive look. “Can you even afford anything here? If you can’t, don’t touch the merchandise.”
Effie met her gaze calmly. “How can we know if a car’s right without a test drive? If
it doesn’t suit her, I don’t care how expensive it is—we’re not buying.”
The saleswoman sneered, sizing Effie up. “Big talk for someone with empty pockets. Do you even know how much these cars cost? Even the base models start at thirty thousand. People like you don’t betong here.”