Page 2 of Break My Fall

An hour later, full of hot cocoa and more no-bake cookies than she wanted to admit to eating, Meredith climbed into the van and headed home. She typically took Wednesdays off, and her plans for this morning had been to sleep in, clean her tiny home—which with its seven hundred square feet took her all of an hour at most—and then spend the rest of the day working on her taxes.

The sleeping in and cleaning wouldn’t be happening. Sadly, the taxes would. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet. She should be able to return to Gossamer Falls and park her van in its normal spot in the garage off her dental office without anyone getting their shorts in a twist about her absence.

Shehadpromised not to go out alone anymore, but that promise had been for her charity clinics where the clientele, admittedly, could be a bit on the shady side. Today’s trip had been a response to an SOS from Mrs. Frost. Meredith had been in absolutely no danger. There’d been no reason to take an escort. Certainly not a police escort.

Not that Police Chief Grayson Ward would agree with her assessment. If he found out, he would blow a gasket.

No. Nope. Not thinking about Gray. Not today. She was happy. She was smiling. The world was beautiful. Mrs. Frost wasn’t hurting anymore. Meredith kept her speed steady as she maneuvered through the mountain roads without a care. They didn’t intimidate her. She’d learned how to drive on this very stretch of road.

Uncle Craig, her cousin Cal’s dad, had put her behind the wheel of his pickup when she was almost fifteen and said, “Take it away, sweetheart.”

In a family as large as the Quinns, it was hard not to have favorites. Meredith didn’t even try. Uncle Craig was her favorite uncle. He didn’t fuss when she hit the brakes too hard. Didn’t grab the door when she took a turn too quickly. They rode around for two hours before they made their way back home.

She’d never forgotten how her father greeted them. “Well?” He looked at Uncle Craig like he had some explaining to do.

“She’s a natural.” Uncle Craig gave her a hug and a wink and walked inside with her dad.

Mo and Cal swarmed her. “How was it?” Cal asked. Mo studied her.

“It was awesome!”

Mo gave her a hug then and they went into Cal’s home where her parents, Uncle Craig, and Aunt Carol were standing in the kitchen drinking coffee.

It wasn’t until ten years later that she learned that her dad had told Uncle Craig that he just didn’t think he could do it. His baby girl, out on the road? The idea of teaching her to drive terrified him.

So Uncle Craig had volunteered and took full credit for the fact that Meredith was, hands down, the best driver in the family.

As if in response to her prideful thought, the van stuttered as she accelerated through a curve. She patted the steering wheel. “What’s the matter, baby?” She glanced along the panel, and the light of the low-fuel indicator caught her attention.

“That can’t be right.” She’d filled up this morning. She should have at least three-quarters of a tank. No way she could be on empty.

The shudder that ran through her vehicle put the inaccuracy of her assessment into sharp relief. None of this made sense. Her low-fuel indicator usually flicked on when she still had a quarter of a tank. And even when she was all the way on empty, she had enough diesel to get to a gas station.

But her fuel gauge didn’t care about her logic. The van jerked. Jolted. Jumped forward a few times. Died. Her downhill momentum kept the van going long enough for her to ease off the road and park on a small shoulder between the road and the mountains towering above her. She was still ten miles from home.

She was eight miles from anything.

The ground on the other side of the road went straight down.

She glanced at her phone. This was going to hurt. She dialed Mo’s number.

Or tried to. No signal.

Not unusual in the mountains. No cell phone provider had figured out how to make phones work in all the nooks and crannies of the forested area she called home.

Meredith dug around in the passenger seat for her coat. She hated driving while wearing one. And it wasn’t safe to do that anyway. But she kept one in her van at all times. She’d put it on and go find a spot that gave her a view of the road coming into and out of the curve. She’d be able to flag down anyone who happened to come by.

The good news was that she was back in Gossamer County. Barely. But she was in Gray’s jurisdiction.

It shouldn’t matter, but Chief Kirby was crooked, and she didn’t trust the officers from Neeson the way she trusted the Gossamer Falls officers. Gray, for his many faults, was a cut above when it came to police chiefs. He was irreproachable.

Donovan Bledsoe, one of Gray’s officers, had recently stolen the heart of her baby cousin Cassie. They were so in love it was disgusting. Sweet. But disgusting.

If Meredith ever fell in love, she was going to keep the PDA to a minimum. No need for smoochingevery singletimeyou see each other. No lingering looks that left little to the imagination.

Nope. Meredith planned to keep her personal relationships personal.

If she ever managed to have a relationship to keep personal.

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