We got home around three in the morning.
Elowen drove while I sat in the passenger seat, window cracked despite the cold. I'd offered to learn — had even sat through one disastrous attempt in a parking lot — but she'd banned me from the driver's seat after I'd nearly taken out a light pole. Apparently "just go where you want to go" wasn't how cars worked.
The private-room incident hadn't dampened her spirits — if anything, it had energized her. She'd gone back out and danced like she had something to prove, and the customers had responded.
"Six hundred tonight," she said, glancing at me with a tired smile. "Not bad for a Tuesday."
"You earned it."
"I really did." She reached over and squeezed my knee without taking her eyes off the road. "Thanks for coming to my rescue. Even if I didn
