Page 85 of One Big Little Secret

“Not now, sweetie. Hang on.”

A big truck pulls up beside me, window down, puffs of smoke emanating from the cab. The guy glances at me with a cigarette dangling from his mouth and away again.

The light changes.

I put my foot on the gas and cross the intersection uneventfully.

Just a few more miles to home, but I can’t unclench my hands.

Come on, come on. You’ve got this.

The snow hasn’t lightened up at all, though. I’m pretty sure the temperature keeps changing by the second, bouncing up and down depending on the wind. Visibility sucks and we’re not going fast. Still, I don’t dare go a mile faster.

“Mommy?” Arlo asks again. “I’m starving.”

I risk a glance back at him.

“I’ll figure it out, Arlo. You’re just going to have to wait for—”

A horn blares.

I whip my head around, just in time to see a car rocketing toward us, its too bright headlights swinging across the road like blinding knives.

He’s sliding, knifing across the other side of the road.

Honest to God, time stops.

My pulse hammers like there’s a giant hand squeezing me as I watch the car moving, the way it’s goingto hit usunless a miracle happens fast.

With a paralyzed calm, I tap the brakes and try to steer clear from the inevitable slide, but it’s hopeless.

Jesus, not Arlo.

Anything but Arlo!

The horn screams louder.

Closer.

Closer.

I can see the driver now in the dark, his eyes panicked as he looks at me, his mouth twisted open.

Maybe he’s screaming.

MaybeIshould be screaming because I can’t do anything else.

But I never get the chance before time unpauses.

The world swirls with color and my heart feels like it’s trapped in a vise.

Now, I really am screaming, clutching the wheel helplessly.

I know the tires have lost their grip and I’m praying and begging and it’s all happening too flipping fast as we swerve toward the car on solid ice, just as out of control as he is.

My eyes pinch shut.

There’s a sickeningcrunch!

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