Page 40 of Ewan

No one’s driving that slowly. Not even someone as sexyas her, sporting fuck me heels and having a snowy road ahead of her.

Somehow, she makes her to the road, and I crane my neck to see her coming.

For the most part, I see nothing behind the glowing headlights, but when she unknowingly rolls past me, I get aglimpse of her concentrated face behind the wheel, her eyes trained on the road.

My body warms at the idea of her, and I tense up like I urgently need to have her, which is sort of old news.

I won’t have her.

No way.

Frozen in my seat, I stare at the little cloud of light moving through the wooden area. Suddenly, her vehicle picks up speed, and before I know it, it starts waving across the road and coming to a forced stop, going entirely dark.

“Oh, you fucking nasty fate. You’re such a little dick,” I mutter, jolting out of my frozen state, starting my truck and veering in that direction.

I hope she’s all right, or I would never forgive myself for giving up on her so soon.

9

SCARLETT

I don’t knowwhether to cry or laugh or just hit the dashboard with my fist until I break something.

I scream at the dashboard and hit it a couple of times before realizing I bruise easily and shouldn’t make a bad situation even worse.

Why?

Why does it have to happen to me?

I wanted to go home, soak my feet in hot water, eat in peace, drink some wine, and forget about the bad Santa I had spent the evening with.

Instead, I’m now in the middle of nowhere, without a working phone, at the mercy of some good Samaritan who may roll by in their ride down this empty road.

If nothing happens in the next five minutes, I might need to go back on foot about two miles up the road and get some help at the venue.

What a terrible situation.

I unfasten my seatbelt and search the back of my car in the hopes of finding a blanket or something.

I have no coat, no boots. And no blanket.

I hate myself right now.

For someone who is so organized in class and easily multitasks all the time, I surely let the ball drop when it came to my own person.

Or maybe staying on top of things all the time drains me and makes me forget about myself.

I should get going. Just move. There’s no point in sitting here in the car, feeling sorry for myself.

As I often tell the kids, every challenging situation in life is filled with valuable lessons.

I’ll know better next time.

And it’s time to stop being so stingy and get a new car.

A bit concerned, I reach down, pull my shoes off, and wiggle my toes. I massage them with affection and look at them twice as later, I might experience frostbite.

Yeah, right.

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