Page 11 of (Not So) Mad About You

“You might not be fast, but you’ll get me there, won’t you?” she asked, stroking the dashboard.

Benny grumbled in response.

This had to be her life changing for the better. In fact, Bea was determined that this was definitely her life changing for the better. Even if she had to make things happen that way. Her problems seemed to be solving themselves for the time being, and the only thing really bothering her was what Liz had said.

Don’t be a push-over.

Of course, Liz had been doped up to the eyeballs and half asleep.

Still though, she might have had a point. Had Bea actually been acting like a push-over? She supposed that she could see why it looked that way. Most people didn’t live with their exes and their new girlfriends.

She’d thought she was just being kind. But maybe she couldhave a little more backbone now that Liz mentioned it. A bit of… not courage exactly, but a bit of… ooomph. Maybe that was what she needed to get her life back on track, to propel all of these changes into something more sustainable.

Benny grumbled again.

“Ugh, what’s wrong, Ben?” Bea glanced down at the four flashing lights on the dash. Three of them were just the normal, everyday flashes that she was used to by now, the fourth was new. “Ah, crap, did I forget your juice?”

She peered out of the windscreen and saw the red and yellow lights of the petrol station.

“Not a problem, Benny-boy,” she said, shifting gear. “Let’s get you filled up. It’s not far now.”

She put her indicator on, changed lanes, and pulled off the road into the garage forecourt. She was just pulling around to the pump, turning Benny in a tight circle, when a car appeared out of nowhere.

It was like a film in slow motion and there was nothing she could do.

One second there was the bright glowing neon of the petrol station, the next there was a sleek black monster pulling out in front of her and Bea knew that Benny’s brakes weren’t good enough to stop in time.

She stomped on the brake anyway and squeezed her eyes shut. A millisecond later, there was a crunch and a crash and she juddered against her seatbelt.

Bea’s eyes flashed open. “Oh, Benny, poor Benny,” she said as she hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt.

She climbed out of the car in time to see the driver’s door on the other car open with a smooth whir. Some rich city boy, no doubt. Bea pulled herself up to her full height. If there was ever a time to stand up for herself, it was now.

She was momentarily thrown off when a tall, leggy blonde climbed out of the swish car. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, the woman looked angrier than Bea thought she’d ever seen anyone look. “What the hell were you doing?”

Which stung, because Bea had just been turning to get to the pump. “Driving. What were you doing?” she said. Good start. She hadn’t apologized yet, anyway.

“Driving with your damn eyes closed?” snarled the woman.

A stray thought sprung into Bea’s head. This woman would be very, very good at yoga. With those long limbs and strong, toned muscles. She shook her head. Not the time. “Absolutely not,” Bea said stoutly. “It’s very obvious what happened.”

“Oh, is it?” said the woman, coming closer.

Bea forced herself not to take a step back. “Yes, just look. I was turning to pull into the pump and you came around the corner too fast. You didn’t have time to see me, so you hit me.”

“Bullshit. You were turning, how could you have seen me?”

“You were behind the corner,” Bea said. Her heart was throbbing in her chest and she felt sick. She really didn’t like this standing up for herself business.

“For fuck’s sake.” The woman stepped back again and looked at the damage to the two cars.

“Look,” Bea said, craning her neck to see for herself. “It’s just a scratch. It’s not like anything awful happened.”

The woman glared at her. “That’s because your car is worth all of a fiver,” she said. “Mine’s a Mercedes.”

Bea swallowed. “Right. Well, um, I suppose we’d better swap insurance details.”

The woman rolled her eyes. “I don’t have time for that.”

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