Page 20 of Of Literature and Lattes
Going back is the quickest way on.
She almost laughed because it was the only way on. She literally, figuratively, and all -ivelys in between had nowhere else to gobutback.
She lowered her forehead to the steering wheel and tapped it as she cycled through her options. Unless her dad relented, and he wasn’t going to, home with Mom was all that was on offer. With no money, even crashing with Lexi and her husband was not an option—not that crashing in their tiny two-bedroom ever was. There truly was only back.
Alyssa sat up straight. She could do this—until Labor Day weekend, just as she’d said. She could play the game. After all, she’d learned from the best. Her mom was formidable, always had been, but Alyssa too could be a force—of unblinking obduracy. She needed the summer to get her feet under her, and if ignoring her mom for a few months was what it took, so be it.
She pushed the accelerator and turned the wheel to circle the block and go home.
The car didn’t move.
“No... no... no... Not now.”
The engine flipped at her first attempt, ground oddly at her second, and after another four tries stopped turning over at all. She gave up and walked the half mile of tree-lined Little Pine Avenue to Cypress Street and on to Jasper’s Garage three blocks farther down.
“Mr. Jasper?”
The sun was hot now, and a small rivulet of sweat ran down that too-tight white T-shirt. Alyssa plucked at it again.
“I know you. How are you?” The man grinned, calling forth an answering grin from Alyssa.
He had been giving that line to everyone for years. Alyssa doubted he remembered her at all, but the way he always said it, even when she was a teenager buying Red Vines, made her and everyone else feel seen and welcomed.
“Alyssa Harrison. It’s nice to see you, sir.”
“Sir?” Jasper rubbed his hands down his uniform shirt. “You call me Jasper. What can I do you for?”
“My car died.” Alyssa pointed down the street. “It’s a 2010 Honda CRV.”
“Did it now?” Jasper followed her gaze down the street. “I got no one here right now. I can call you a tow unless you can get her here.”
“The engine stopped turning and—” Alyssa’s lips fell open as the consequences of some money-saving moments materialized. She’d dropped the rental, towing, and a few other amenities to her insurance three months before. An eight-dollars-a-month savings was going to cost her hundreds now. “Don’t call anyone. I’ll get it here,” she assured him and headed back to her car.
For the entire walk she chanted, “It’ll start,” to herself, only to change the mantra to a full lecture upon reaching the car. “You have to start. Do you hear me? You don’t have any options, so get the job done.”
Five minutes of solid lecturing did not start the car. Two more minutes got it to start and roll through the intersection, but then nothing. Another ten minutes of red-faced berating didn’t turn the engine again.
Alyssa shot straight up as someone tapped on her driver’s window. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him.
She stepped out of the car again—even the electric window no longer rolled down.
“Do you need help?” His eyes were warm and welcoming. Then he blinked, and his smile tipped into a grin. “I’m Chris McCullough, and you are clearly Alyssa Harrison.” He pumped her hand. “I’m a friend of your mom’s. What’s the trouble?”
“It won’t start, and I need to get it to Jasper’s.” She pointed down the street, then faced Chris again. “Did... did she send you?”
“Was she supposed to?” Chris tilted his head in question.
At Alyssa’s head shake, he tapped her car’s hood. “Put it in neutral and keep your foot off the brake.”
She watched him walk back to his pickup and tried again to place where she’d seen him.
He moved his truck slowly into her car, bumper to bumper.
She quickly climbed into her car, put the engine in neutral, and kept her feet flat on the floorboard. His truck pressed so gently she didn’t feel a jolt, just the movement of her car forward. Soon she was turning the wheel and rolling it into Jasper’s parking lot.
“Thank you so much. I don’t really know what to say.”
“You’re welcome and it’s very nice to meet you, Alyssa. I’d stay, but I need to be at the hospital in ten.”
