Page 58 of The Road to Finding Us

The rain starts pouring down even harder, making it difficult to see out the windshield. My nails dig into the upholstery of the passenger seat, my fingernails surely leaving half-moon marks. I’m trying not to make another comment when Aspen leans closer to the windshield to try to see better. Luckily, the sun hasn’t quite set yet, sparing us some lingering daylight for visibility.

But not a ton.

“Holy shit, batman!” I yell, as Aspen jerks the wheel to miss a giant deer in the middle of the road.

We bounce in our seats as Gladys drifts onto the uneven terrain of the shoulder. Aspen presses on the brakes, slowing down until we hear a distinct pop. The car jerks heavily to the right before coming to a complete stop.

The rain continues to beat against the car as we both sit in silence.

“What do we do?” I finally ask, raising my voice to be heard.

Aspen puts his hands behind his head, his eyes still trained ahead. “Well, do you want the good news or bad news?”

“Bad.”

He lets out a long exhale, his eyes finally finding mine. “The bad news is I don’t have a tire jack.”

Nodding my head, I push for more. “And the good news?”

“The good news is, I do have a spare tire for Gladys. Not too far back, I saw a sign for an upcoming town, which means we should be getting close to it. I’m sure they’ll have a place for us to stay the night and a store that has car parts.”

“That’s great, but how will we get there in the rain?” I ask.

“We’re going to have to walk,” he declares.

My jaw drops. “It’s pouring out there, Aspen.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” He slides the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, then looks at me and gestures for me to do the same.

I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m not going out there.”

He shrugs, his hand resting on the door handle of Gladys. “Suit yourself, but you’ll be alone here. I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get a tire jack, but I’ll try to hurry.”

“Can’t we just call Triple A? Get a tow?” I look down at my phone, devastated to find I have no service.

Aspen slides his phone out of his pocket, confirming the same thing.

We’re utterly fucked.

I can sit in this car alone (practically begging to have myself end up on Crime Junkies) or, I can walk with Aspen to the nearest hint of civilization.

Before making my decision, I glance in both directions of the highway, looking for a hint of any other soul. Unfortunately, the highway is empty.

Suddenly, I miss Dallas and how incredibly busy it is. At least in Dallas there would be other people on the road at seven at night.

He shrugs and gets out of the car, talking over his shoulder in the process. “If you want to stay here, that’s fine by me, but I have to go get this sorted out.”

I roll my eyes, pulling my hood over my hair as I get out of the car. My Birkenstocks are about to get grossly soaked, but I don’t have a whole lot of options here. I follow after him, grumbling about how soaking wet I am.

“Maybe you should’ve just stayed in the car,” he says under his breath.

I don’t know why he’s suddenly in a mood, but he’s not getting away with being rude to me right now. I’m getting drenched just like he is.

“Okay, one, be nice. None of this is my fault. Two, we’ll figure this out. The storm won’t put us behind that much. I’m just as stressed as you are, so don’t take your frustration out on me. And three, what the fuck, Aspen? I thought we were done pretending to hate each other? We had almost a full day in Nashville with minimal bickering. Why the sudden mood swing?”

Aspen ignores me, continuing to put one foot in front of the other a few paces ahead of me. All I can see through the rain is his back. I stomp toward him, avoiding random pieces of wood along the side of the road.

As soon as I reach him, I stop directly in front of him, snapping my fingers in his face. “Hello? I’m talking down here.”

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