Page 8 of His One True Wish

On the group text with my friends in Seattle:

Change of plans, driving to my mom’s cabin - in Smoke River. Need to store stuff. How are things?

I’d asked my friend, Callie, and her fiancé, Theo, to act as on-site managers while I was gone. They were both uber-responsible, but I was still nervous something might go wrong while I was away.

I saw three dots on the group text and wondered which of my friends would answer first. Probably Shea, I thought. She was definitely the most phone-addicted in our friend group. I knew I was wasting valuable battery, but Bear Coat had rattled me. Reaching out was worth a couple of percentages of power.

Shea:

Drive safe and send pics. Smoke River sounds beautiful!

Iheartedher message and was about to power down my phone when it lit up with replies. My friends were going to kill my battery but every text felt like the long-distance hug I needed.

Shea:

Don’t worry Callie is doing a great job nothing has burned down

Callie:

Not funny

Odessa:

Stop stressing Billie out

Theo:

We’ve got it, not that there is anything to get. It’s fine. Ignore us.

Bella:

I don’t like being ignored. Tanti Baci XOXO

I laughed and decided one more message would not drain my phone.

Forgot my charger, about to drive. I TRUST YOU CALLIE AND THEO.

Miss you.

I saw a flurry of dots as they queued up replies, but I powered down before I got sucked down a cozy but battery-draining rabbit hole. I headed back onto the highway, feeling good in the knowledge that my friends were just a text away.

I tried to ignore the dark clouds overhead and focused on my one mission: Drive safely. The clouds looked menacing, but so far, not a single snowflake. I exited off the highway onto the old logging road that led to Smoke River.

Suddenly, headlights flashed in my rearview. My body tensed at the sound of a car approaching.

“Slow down, buddy,” I murmured without speeding up. The car behind me was coming on fast, and damn if I was going to let some agro driver scare me into an accident.

The headlights drew closer. “Sorry, but I promised my mom I wouldn’t speed,” I whispered, eyes darting into my rear-view mirror.

Behind me, the car drifted from side to side, as if debating passing me. I snorted. This was one of those winding roads that was all double lines. Passing was a non-starter.

As soon as I rounded a curve where the road straightened, the driver accelerated and passed me on the left going way too fast. The car shot by in a blur. I couldn’t see who was behind the wheel, but I could see it was the yellow Jeep from the rest stop.

Bear Coat’s ex.

“Holy shit. It’syou,you big dick!” I shouted at his taillights. As the yellow Jeep left me in the dust, a snowflake landed on my windshield.

“No,” I gasped. That tiny, light-as-air snowflake landed like a sucker punch to my gut. “No. No. No!” I gripped the steering wheel tighter.

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