Page 43 of Turn

As I walked to my car I felt good. There was a sweet hint of rain in the air and although the temperature was still hot the darkness had at least muzzled the brutal desert sun.

My good feeling evaporated when I turned the ignition key and heard the engine sputter and then die. I tried again but it only died more quickly.

“Wonderful,” I grumbled. I popped the hood and stepped around to the front to take a look. I had little insight as to what I was looking at. I could identify the engine and the battery but all the other pieces were a mystery.

“Car trouble?” inquired a voice and I jumped, banging my head on the bottom of the hood.

Parker was standing nearby and watching me rub the rising bump on my head.

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” he said.

“It’s all right,” I grumbled. “But I do seem to be more accident prone when you’re around.” I pointed to the fading bruise visible on my knee just below the hemline of my skirt.

Parker nodded at the car. “Is it the battery?”

“I don’t know. It wouldn’t tell me.”

He grinned. “I’ve got a set of jumper cables right over there in my car. Let me pull around and I’ll try to give you a jump.”

I felt funny about accepting help from him. “You don’t have to. I could call my dad. Or one of my uncles. They own a garage.”

“I really don’t mind, Cassie.”

I shrugged. “In that case, go for it.”

Parker looked very serious as he went about the business of pulling his car beside mine and attempting to spark the battery back to life. For a few happy seconds I thought it would work when I turned the ignition and listened to the engine surge to life. But then it gasped and weakened and finally died once more.

I groaned and climbed out from behind the wheel. “Damn. Should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.”

Parker was frowning at the car’s guts. “Yeah, looks like the issue is beyond my limited mechanical abilities.”

“Thanks for trying,” I said. “I’ll call for help.”

Parker waited while I quietly phoned my father. I wished I’d had the foresight to get a roadside assistance plan so I wouldn’t wind up calling my daddy to rescue me. I felt conspicuous with Parker’s eyes on me as I explained that my car wouldn’t start and yes, I was in a safe place and yes, I’d already attempted to jumpstart it. He told me to sit tight and he’d send for a tow truck.

“Thanks again for trying to help,” I said to Parker. “But I think I’ve got it covered now.”

Parker looked around. The last evening classes were ending and the parking lot was slowly emptying. “I don’t mind waiting with you,” he said.

I shook my head. “That’s not necessary.”

“Cassie, I don’t feel right leaving you out here by yourself in the dark.”

“I’m not an idiot, Parker. I’ll wait inside my car with the doors locked, okay?”

“Kind of hot to close yourself into a vehicle that’s not going to have any air conditioning.”

“I’ll manage.”

He glanced around the parking lot once more. “Okay. But just so you know, I’ll be hanging out over here in my car until I see you get safely picked up.”

“You do that.”

“Why don’t you join me in air conditioned comfort?”

Saying no would have been easy. Yet I honestly wasn’t too excited to hang out here in the creepy hot darkness waiting for the Gentry cavalry to arrive. Parker was just trying to be nice. And if he stopped being nice, I had a keychain canister of pepper spray in my handbag.

Parker cranked up the air conditioning once we were in his car and I had to admit the blast of cool air felt good. He talked a little bit about living in Nebraska, about the flat prairie and the lashing winds.

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