Page 3 of When Morning Comes Around

She stared at her phone. Fuming about Dale wasn’t going to help her. She needed to get her act together. She stared at the screen for a few moments. She didn’t want to call her dad to ask him for the number of a towing company. She was supposed to be here to help him – not to worry him and ask for his help. But who else…?

“Yes! Nina.” She started scrolling through her contacts. She hadn’t really kept in touch with anyone from the lake for the last few years. When she used to come back to visit regularly, she tried to meet up with Nina and Terry. She still exchanged Christmas cards with them, and as she found Nina’s number, she was hoping that calling for help after a few years of no contact at all didn’t make her a terrible friend.

“Sadie? Sadie Baker? Is that you? Please say it’s you!”

Sadie smiled. “It’s me. And thank you.”

“Me?” Nina asked with a laugh. “What are you thanking me for? I’ve been feeling so bad that I haven’t called you in forever.”

“You have nothing to feel bad about – I haven’t called you either, remember?”

Nina laughed again. “No, I don’t remember. I vote that we forget all about who hasn’t called whom for how long and we just go with… It’s great to hear from you. How the hell are you?”

Sadie closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the side of the minivan. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Oh, don’t give me that crap! Life gets in the way; we all know that. Let’s just put that aside and move on, shall we?”

“I’d love to.”

“So, what’s new in your world? Any chance that you might come to visit soon?”

Sadie let out a short laugh. “There’s a hundred percent chance. In fact, I’m here right now.”

“Oh, how wonderful! Are you at your dad’s? Do you want to get together while you’re here?”

“I haven’t quite made it to my dad’s yet.”

“Are you here in town?”

“No. I broke down. I’d love to see you soon, but what I’m calling for right now is to ask if you have the number of a towing company.”

“Oh no! I’m so sorry! And here I am asking you a dozen questions. Where are you? I can come get you.”

“Aww, thanks, Nina. But you don’t need to do that. I’d love to see you, but I don’t think the two of us are going to be able to fix my minivan, and I really don’t want to abandon it up here.”

“Up where? Where are you?”

“Almost to the top of the hill on the way to Hidden Valley. I made it all the way up the east shore, but the hill proved too much for it.”

“Okay, well, we don’t want to leave you stranded up there for too long. There hasn’t been a towing company in town for a while – ever since old Art Jurgens retired. But one of the kids is opening up a garage – I know he’s going to do repair work, and bodywork, but I don’t know if he’ll have a tow truck. Let me call around and see what I can figure out for you.”

“Aw, thanks, Nina. You’re the best. I don’t want to make it your responsibility, though.”

Nina laughed. “You’re hardly doing that. I’ll tell you what, while I call around and see what I can arrange here, you should Google Taylor’s Towing. They’re all the way out past the mall on Route 20, so it’d take them ages to get to you, but they’re the only official company around here these days. If you manage to get ahold of them, just see what they say – how long it would take them to get to you. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to get someone to you sooner, but we might as well cover our options.”

“Thanks, Nina.”

“My pleasure. I’ll call you back as soon as I’ve figured something out.”

Chapter Two

Dominic had just climbed out of the shower and was finishing drying himself when he heard his phone ring. He wrapped the towel around his waist and hurried to the kitchen to grab it.

“Hey, Damon. What’s up?”

“Hey. Is Jake there?”

“No. I’m not expecting him back until tomorrow. I thought you knew that?”

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