The Ride that Changed Their Lives

"What time was that appointment tomorrow?"
Paula blew on the freshly painted fingernails on her left hand, pointedly refusing to answer.
Nathan looked up from his laptop. "Sorry. Nine-thirty?"
"You forgot. Again," Paula said. "Yes, Nathan. Nine thirty."
"How's Amelia?" Nathan asked cautiously, and waited. And waited. He knew better than to ask the question a second time. Manipulative, yes, she was. Stupid, no she was not... and certainly not hard of hearing.
"She's fine," Paula said with an annoyed sigh. "She was at work when her car got stolen, remember?"
"I meant... moving all the way back here is a big deal, especially with no car. How's she getting home?"
"I told her you're picking her up tomorrow, after my hair appointment. Look." She held out her hands expectantly. Surprise, surprise, her nails were pink. They matched the pink diamond (third finger, left hand) that he'd only just finished paying off. He nodded appreciatively and said. "Beautiful." He went back to writing.
But try as he might, he couldn't focus on his work. He was used to his life revolving around Paula's happy. That was just what it took for their relationship to work. What he couldn't accept was how she treated others. Especially family, like Ames, who was a nurse, decent and kind, and who never hurt anyone. Even Paula.
He was happy to help Amelia, but Paula had undoubtedly told Amelia that he couldn't be there any sooner than tomorrow evening... which wasn't true. He could leave right that moment and be back well before nine thirty.
Nathan closed his laptop, set it carefully beneath the nightstand to his left, and walked to his closet.
"What are you doing?"
"Going to pick up Ames... Amelia."
Paula was off the bed and standing behind him before he'd even finished saying her sister's name. "You're taking me to my appointment at nine thirty, and I told you, I already took care of it, she's expecting you in the afternoon." She spoke as if to a child. He didn't have to turn to know she'd have her arms crossed, a condescending scowl on what was an otherwise beautiful face.
"I'm talking to you!"
"I can be back in time," he said as calmly as he could, glancing up but not stopping. He slipped on his sneakers and grabbed his cell, keys and wallet off the nightstand. He sat on the bed and threw on his sneakers, not bothering to tie them. He stood, leaned in to kiss her cheek. She recoiled and huffed in contempt. Yep, it still hurt for her to do that, and she knew it.
"Great, just fucking great, Nathan." She was pouting for real this time, and that was even more dangerous than her rage. She slammed the bedroom door. He opened the linen closet, tucked an extra pillow and their softest clean blanket under his arm and left.
Thirty seconds later he was pulling out of the driveway and he already felt better. At a stop light a few blocks from their house, he texted Amelia. She called back almost immediately.
"Nate, what the hell?" She knew Paula better than anyone. What he was doing was high treason.
"When are you supposed to start your new job?" He pulled into the Shell station. He didn't need gas, he needed fuel. It was going to be a long night.
"What? Tomorrow morning, but I already told them about the car. It's fine. Please, Nate. Don't do this. It's fine, really."
"You know how it looks when you're late to your first day of work. It doesn't matter how good your reason is, it sounds like an excuse to them. First impressions and shit."
"It's okay," she said, and he could tell she was really worried. Not about her job, but about him. "This is SO sweet of you but... don't do it. Please. For me?"
She'd been the first girl he kissed back in... what was it, seventh grade? He picked up her favorite snacks one by one, his mind spinning like mad. "It's too late now, and I can deal with the consequences. I deal with them no matter what I do anyway," he muttered. He paid with his card, took the bags of snacks back out to his car, and waited for her to answer.
"I understand that, better than you think," she said in a quiet, unsteady voice. "Thank you."
"I'll be there at four. Text me the directions for that hotel and get some sleep, Ames."
"Okay, Nate. I'll be ready."
He found his Mastodon playlist and cranked it, roaring out of the Shell station's parking lot. He did so love his Audi.
After four hours, two bags of Twizzlers, forty ounces of Coke Zero and NO texts from Paula, Nate pulled up to the Red Roof Inn on I-20, room one seventeen. Amelia's door opened immediately and she wheeled out two suitcases and a single canvas bag, which he found pretty funny. If it were Paula, there'd be three times as much stuff. He took it all, smiling nervously and stowed them in the trunk.
She looked tired, flustered and nervous as hell, but she smiled back at him warmly nonetheless. She was already dressed in scrubs. Her hair was down, a lush, curly brown so dark it was almost black. No dye for Antalya Travesti her, not since that purple phase in college. Her skin was the color of a rich cream, and she still had a few freckles on her nose and cheeks. She wasn't wearing her glasses and her big brown eyes were full of what looked like equal parts fatigue, worry and relief.
While Amelia turned in her key at the front desk, he double checked her hotel room. He found a sock behind the bathroom door but that was all. She'd been staying there between leases for a week or so, and everything else was already in her new apartment just five minutes from the one he shared with Paula.
He rolled up to the office and opened the passenger door for her from the inside. When she was in, he handed her the bag of snacks. She laughed good and loud and he couldn't help but join her.
"How in the world did you remember all of this??"
He shrugged, blushing, and pointed at the back seat. She looked back and saw the blanket and pillow, then looked back down at the snacks. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "Nothing." She squeezed his wrist, smiling from ear to ear, then set the bag between her feet. She snagged a bag of peanut M