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family’s thumb, so while he wasn’t about to have some big joint bitch session, he did want to make Tristan more confident in his independence. None of this “mumsie and daddy won’t let me drive long distances.” The guy was twenty-four, for crying out loud.
    But Tristan looked more than a little pale as he climbed behind the wheel after they finished filling up with gas. “So this isn’t that much different from driving a big SUV?”
    “Nope. I was a little freaked out the first time I drove a truck in college, but I got over it quick. Just trust yourself.”
    “Oookay.” Tristan drew the word out as he put the truck in Drive. They lurched forward as Tristan quickly braked for nothing more than the wind. “Sorry. Just getting a feel for the brakes.”
    “It’s fine.” Ravi schooled his face to be more patient than he felt.
    Tristan got them going straight, and the tight line of his mouth curved into a tentative smile. Well, at least it did , until he jumped the curb pulling onto the side road leading back to the interstate. “Oops. Oh crap. Maybe you should drive.”
    Maybe. Ravi shook his head. “Do a loop around the access road here before you get on the highway, but you’re doing fine. The way this thing eats gas, we’ll be stopping again soon, and we can switch back.”
    Tristan muttered something under his breath, then sat up straighter, jaw going stiff and stubborn. Good. Ravi liked that resolute version of Tristan, even if it usually led to twenty-nine-step plans and a stack of spreadsheets. Tristan made his painstaking loop of all the gas stations and fast-food joints clumped together on the access road, then cautiously took the on-ramp to the highway. He got them merged into the slow lane and finally smiled for real.
    “I did it!”
    “Yup. We’re not dead yet.” Ravi’s fingers drummed restlessly against his thigh. Bending forward, he dug his sketchbook out of his messenger bag, which was next to Tristan’s. Tristan would make a great fussy junior officer on a spaceship. An old, plodding ship with a disinterested captain. So that’s what he drew.
    “You’re evil,” Tristan said after a bit. “I’m dying to know what you’re drawing, but I’m not taking my eyes off the road.”
    “Oh just some random doodles,” Ravi lied. “I’ll probably scratch them out and start something different.”
    “Hah. You’re lucky my driving tutor taught me to never, ever glance at the passenger.”
    “And to go fifteen miles under the limit?”
    Tristan’s neck turned dark pink. “That’s more just me.”
    “You and my older sister Lakshmi would get along so well. She’s a nervous driver too. Took driver’s ed three times.”
    “I can drive.” Tristan’s voice was all defensive. “I passed my test on the first try and everything. It’s just...”
    “Yeah?” Ravi prodded him as he added some horns to the spaceship captain on his drawing.
    “My older brother died in a DUI when he was nineteen.” The words rushed out of Tristan as if he hadn’t quite meant to say that.
    “Oh man.” Ravi wasn’t sure exactly what to say to that. Even with all his issues with his family, he couldn’t imagine a world without them. “I get why driving would be hard for you. How old were you when it happened?”
    “Eleven. I swore I didn’t want to drive, but my parents got me the driving tutor anyway. Still, they’ve always encouraged me to be a bit...cautious.”
    More like swaddled in gauze. Ravi kept that thought to himself. “You’re doing great here,” he said instead.
    “Yeah?” Tristan smiled, a self-satisfied smile that did weird things to Ravi’s insides. “You can turn the music back on if you want. It shouldn’t distract me too much.”
    “You totally sing along at stoplights when you’re alone, don’t you?” Ravi gave the Tristan in his drawing dimples like Tristan’s to contrast his haunted eyes.
    “No!” Tristan’s denial was a bit too sharp and his blush a bit too