Page 2 of Promised Adventure
I slapped my cheeks to push those thoughts out of my head. What-ifs never led down a good path, and besides, there was no point wallowing in them.
If growing up in foster homes taught me anything, it was that nothing would get done if you didn’t do it yourself. I grabbed my phone to use as a flashlight and…fuck. It was dead, too.
Things just didn’t want to go my way tonight. I growled my frustration, but then remembered the emergency kit Zack had forcefully given me when I’d first started taking these long road trips.
Bless Zack and his always-be-prepared mentality. It was what made him one of the best restaurant consultants in Corio City.
The emergency kit should be under my seat, so I reached under, and when my hand landed on something, I pulled out the rectangular bag and opened it. I hadn’t used the thing since I got it, but I recalled Zack saying there were useful things like a first-aid kit, jumper cables, and—aha! I pulled out the flashlight and was thanking the heavens when light filled the van.
I took this small blessing as a sign that things would start turning in my favor. With an optimistic smile, I hopped out of my vehicle and popped the hood.
Smoke billowed into my face when I lifted the hood, causing me to cough as I used my hand to try to dispel some of the fumes. When it finally cleared, I could see what was under Marge’s hood.
Shining the small beam of light over all the vehicle’s mechanics, hoping to spot what the issue was, dread slowly started to creep up my spine as I clearly realized how over my head I was.
Who the hell was I kidding? I knew nothing about cars, much less vans. It was the reason I had Marge checked out by professionals before every trip now that I could finally afford it, but I’d gotten really sick right before this trip. I hadn’t had a chance to go to a mechanic before needing to leave if I didn’t want to get too far behind my filming schedule.
Who knew theonetime I didn’t take Marge to get serviced, she’d throw a fit and leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere?
I shined the flashlight down both directions of this stretch of road. There was nothing out here but trees and whatever creatures that lived in them. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen a single car or another human being on this street, and the last sign of civilization I saw had to be miles back where I came from. It was much too far to walk this late at night. I was sorely regretting choosing this small road instead of sticking to the main highways. And now I was stuck here with no way to call for help.
Bad luck really did happen in batches.
I sighed, resigned to my fate of sleeping in my van for the rest of the night and hopefully catching a passing car when it turned light out.
It wouldn’t be so bad, and it wasn’t like this would be the first time I’d be sleeping in Marge. I’d renovated the back of the van so it was fit to be lived in, but I usually parked Marge in a well-lit parking lot or secluded spot for the night.
I didn’t like the idea of being so out in the open on the side of the road, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, I guess.
Giving up on trying to self-diagnose Marge, I closed the hood and returned inside the van. Making sure each door wasmanually locked since the key fob wasn’t working, I crawled into the twin-size bed and buckled in for the night.
This was just a small bump in the road. I’d get the car fixed and be on my merry way.
But all that could wait for tomorrow.
Chapter Two
JORDAN
By the time I’d finished reviewing the contract for our team’s next project, my phone clock proclaimed it to be way past working hours. It was a good thing that tomorrow was the one day I took off from work.
Maybe my brother, Jones, had a point when he’d called me a workaholic the other day. He’d claimed I had no hobbies other than work and I…couldn’t refute him. At least from the way my current life was going.
It wasn’t like I had no interests. I used to love going on hikes in the nearby mountain ranges or just exploring the woods that surrounded my cabin. Grabbing drinks with friends used to be a weekly thing as well, but at some point, those weekly meetups stopped, as did the hikes.
My life started revolving around work.
That was just how it was when you owned a business and had employees you had to think about. Especially now that my business had grown significantly, with even more peoplecounting on me for a paycheck. Or maybe that was what I told myself to make myself feel better.
Instead of acknowledging how empty my life was, I pushed myself into work. It wasn’t like there was anyone waiting for me at home, anyway.
I wasn’t unhappy with my life. I had a good set of friends, and my family was a loud bunch who felt like they never gave me a moment of peace, but being a divorcé and workaholic wasn’t how I’d imagined my life at thirty-five.
My marriage ending was for the best, since Susan and I were disastrous together, especially toward the end of our relationship. And it wasn’t like I particularly wanted children either, but I still couldn’t help but feel like I was missingsomething.
What that thing was, I had no clue, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still a gaping void that I’d chosen to fill with work. At least working was more productive than brooding over this fictitious thing that I was supposedly missing.
Sighing, I turned off my computer and locked up the office, preparing to head home. I’d purchased a piece of land outside of Kither Springs a few years after starting my company.
