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An engine in my driveway had my attention immediately It wasn’t my dad’s diesel F-350, that was for sure I went to theand nearly passed out when I saw Becca getting out of a sleek, black, brand-new VW Jetta Her parents had refused to buy her a car, especially since I was always driving her everywhere, and they also refused to let her get a job to buy her own That had been a point of contention in her relationship with her parents, which had ih the screen door to greet her She jue grin on her beautiful face

“They boughtthe back of my head with both hands; I loved when she did that “Isn’t it gorgeous? They said I needed a car to get back and forth froled out ofher hands over the hood

I laughed at her excitement, happy for her “It’s aweso up and down on her toes and clapping, acting irly than I’d ever seen her “I c-can’t believe it! I have a car!” I couldn’t keep le as she bounced on her feet She caught rinned sheepishly “Sorry I can’t help it if you’ve got a rack I can’t take otten enough of rimaced at the term I’d used “Our two-year anniversary is next month You’d think you’d be used to the the truth

I shook et too ”

She s”

“Yep Oink oink”

She just giggled, and god, did I love her cute little laugh “Get in, hot stuff This tionna take you for a ride”

“I love it when you take er seat

Becca ignored ets forty-two hway…” She backed out ofoff all the various specs of her new car It made me seriously happy to see her so excited that she didn’t even notice her own stutters, which only happened when she was super nervous or excited Or during the throes of passion, you ht say She tended to stutter a little as she came, and that always put a smile on my face It was adorable, toshe felt coet embarrassed when she stutteredinto the driveway, and he gave us a cursory glare, lifting his eyes derisively at Becca’s foreign car Buying foreign was a sin in his book; the fact that Becca was half-Arabic bugged hiotten in one of our worst fistfights over that very fact He’d used a derogatory slur about her during my junior year, and I’d flattened hiht there in the kitchen until ere both bloody and needing stitches Neither of us got theh, and dae, still bleeding, and Becca had met me at our tree with a first aid kit She hadn’t asked what the fight was about, thank god I don’t think I could have told her without losing hts away from my dad and listened to Becca chatter happily I’d tuned out and had no clue what she was talking about, so I had to play catch-up, realizing she was talking about having already started on the required reading list for her classes at U of M

Of course Becca would be already registered and have the books and reading, and I wasn’t even sure which school I was going to Becca refused to weigh in on ht it up, ever She said she wanted me to make my own decision She loved me; she’d support whatever I chose I knew deep down she wanted o U of M with her, but she’d never say that She’d said we’d make our relationship work even if I chose Nebraska, and I knew sheto her talk, letting her words wash overattention—I just knew that soet out all the words she’d held back throughout the day It was one of the ways she coped with stuttering, I’d discovered She kept quiet during the day, only saying what she was sure she could get out fluently, and then ere alone, she’d just ra me to respond, and she’d let herself stutter, let it happen as it would, knowing I didn’t care

I tuned back in as she h town “S-so anyway, I’m pretty excited about this lit class I’hteenth-century British literature We’re f-focusing on Defoe, Jonathan Swift, and Galland’s translation of One Thousand and One Nights, which is really unusual It’s a higher-level class, since I’ve taken most of the freshman-level classes already” I’d only heard of Defoe, but wouldn’t have admitted that except under duress “My major coursework classes are the ones I’rad stuff, of course, but U of M is a respected university, ee-even if they’re not really ranked in the speech-language pathology field My graduate ill probably be at somewhere like the University of Iowa They’re the b-best, I’ve heard I c-can’t say I’h away that I don’t have to decide n-now”

I laughed “But you’re already thinking about it?”

She grinned at me “Yeah, you kno I am”

I snorted “Yeah, you’re a career overachiever”

She frowned at ood thing, Beck You’re just always prepared, and you’re fking a Like, I don’t think you could fail at anything, even if you tried”

She rolled her eyes at ot a D on a test once”

I stared at her, unsure if she was kidding “Dear Lord, a D? When was this? Second grade?” I teased