Page 3 of Ignite

Then again, she probably didn’t wake up this morning expecting to be in a car accident before she’d had time to get her nails and hair done. Not that she needed work. On second and third look, she was naturally beautiful. My anger thawed further as her tears glistened in the morning sun. I wanted to apologize for being a jerk and offer her my shirt as a tissue.

But she stood, poised and graceful—despite shaking while she got her tears under control. The woman could stop traffic—and my pulse.

Holding my hands up in surrender, my tone softened. “Look, I’ll manage my own repairs. No insurance company is gonna pay to get it repaired, and I’m rather attached to the old girl.” Truthfully, I couldn’t afford to pay the difference between any insurance payment and a new, second-hand car.

“We need to exchange details,” she insisted. With fumbling fingers, she extracted her driver’s license and handed it to me. With everything that had happened, just reading her name broke me.

“Ophelia? What sort of name is Ophelia?” I snorted back a laugh while snapping a photo before handing over my license for her to do the same.

Now, I could hear the gates to hell slowly opening. I needed to lose my attitude, although my words seemed to help Ophelia regain hers. Her shoulders straightened and her eyes glowered through instantly drying tears. I watched in awe as she sucked her bottom lip, drew a deep breath, and let me have it.

“It’s my name.” Her words were clipped, and precise, and I marveled at how quickly she’d pulled herself together and put me in my place. “How about you stick to judging my driving and leave my parents’ choice of name out of it.”

“Sorry.” I didn’t need to fake the sincerity, hearing my mother’s voice chiding me about not knowing when to engage my brain before my mouth. I held my hands up in surrender, offering Ophelia the best attempt at a real smile. “I’mreallysorry. Look, it’s been a shit of a day already, and I’ve only had one coffee. Let’s finish up the paperwork and I’ll get out of your way.”

“Fine.” I got half a smile. “Let me call a tow truck, or at least direct you to the panel beaters.”

“Or you can just deal with your own car, I’ll deal with mine, and you promise to stop for red lights in the future. I mean, there’s only one set of lights in town.” I wanted to stop there but couldn’t help adding, with a full burst of sarcasm. “It can’t be too much of a stretch.”

Ophelia recoiled, shaking her head in disgust at the same time as I almost felt my mother clip my ears. Okay, too soon for joking. “The light had turned green! A normal person would have already taken off.”

“A normal person?” I couldn’t stop from rising to her bait.

Ophelia’s lip curled up as she gave me a double dose of my own attitude. “Clearly, you wouldn’t know. A normal person stops at a red light and takes off when the light goes green. I bet you were catching up on text messages or switching playlists. The last thing you were thinking about was whether to follow traffic instructions.”

“Look, lady,” I said, unable to trust myself saying her real name without laughing. I’d been trying to find my new address on the navigation. Had the lights turned green? The best form of self-defense on the football field was to strengthen the attack. “Even if the lights turn green, I’m allowed to take off slowly and carefully. You know, make sure there wasn’t a little old lady still crossing the road.”

She snorted before taking a step forward, almost pushing me back into the driver’s seat with her stare. I wanted to be less of an asshole. I wanted a do-over. But my mouth seemed to keep digging my own grave.

“You expect me to think you worry about little old ladies?” Ophelia huffed.

Ophelia. Yes, it suited her. I couldn’t wait to be out of her earshot to feel how it would roll across my tongue. Still, my inner asshole couldn’t help my retort, “I don’t expect anything from you, at all.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She snatched back her driver’s license, threw mine on the ground, and turned around to be hugged by half a dozen people who were now loudly offering to call tow trucks or get her something to drink.

Her. Not me. I might have been the innocent victim, but already the town had decided I was the villain. Talk about making friends and influencing people, I’d just become the textbook example of what not to do.

In my year from hell, before I’d had time to down a second coffee, this day had decided to claim the title ofWorst Day Ever.

Chapter 2

Day From Hell

“Springisintheair and you know what that means—romance and weddings. I’m opening the lines today for lovers. I want to know all about your meet-cute and when you just knew they were the one. I’ll even play some dedications, starting with the Stormy Waters’ classic, “Be Still” …”

Earlier that day

Rylee Mettner

I turned off the radio. It was full of shit.

Today wasn’t going to be any better than yesterday,orlast week,orany of the last twelve months.

Today was going to be…

The wheels locked when I hit the brakes too late.

Fuck.

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