Page 83 of To Believe In You
Lina shot a glance at Gannon. Even with John available as early as tomorrow, Matt might appreciate time to prepare for an audition. “How about he auditions Monday?”
“Matt?” He frowned thoughtfully. “The audition will take more than a day, but we could get started.”
* * *
Nineteen minutes late to work,Matt was in sight of the home improvement store when the car hit a pothole. An ominous bang sounded from under the front end. He hit the gas, but the car wouldn’t accelerate. He rolled as close to the curb as he could, jabbed the hazards, and scanned his options.
Lakeshore was small, but this was one of the most traveled roads. Two lanes led each direction, connecting the town to a larger city about thirty minutes away. Lakeshore residents commuted to work there, making now a bad time to stop in a lane, but this last shopping district before the countryside had no shoulder, just lanes of traffic, a curb, and lawns that stretched like football fields. The large businesses here, like the home improvement store, were spaced out, and none of the parking lots had an entrance close enough for Matt to push the car out of traffic.
A horn blared as a sedan swerved around him.
“Yeah, I’m not happy about it either.” He checked his mirrors.
Any inattentive driver would rear-end him. The bills for a tow and mechanical repair would be bad enough. If the car got hit, the liability insurance he’d purchased wouldn’t cover the damage to his own ride. He couldn’t add a possibility of whiplash to all that. He unbuckled, slid across the front seat, and exited out the passenger side.
Even with the grass beneath his feet, a band across his chest left his heart straining as though he remained strapped in a vehicle careening into danger.
Only this time, the vehicle he couldn’t escape was his life.
If only he could walk away as easily as he’d slid out of the car. Instead, his movements felt nightmarishly sluggish.
He knew ways to escape this feeling, of course.
Jesus, help.
He puffed out a breath and forced himself to take the next logical action. Once he’d arranged a tow, he turned toward the store, about a quarter of a mile away, and called Russ.
“Matt. Where are you?”
“I was on my way, but my car broke down in the middle of the road. The tow company said it could be an hour. I’ll call a friend to wait with the car, and I can walk over—I’m literally looking at the store right now—but it’ll probably take him a bit to get here.”
“That’s the best you can do?”
Today wasn’t the first time he’d been in the driver’s seat of a precariously positioned vehicle. Unlike the time he’d driven the dump truck onto the lake, this situation wasn’t life or death, yet Russ’s question sounded like thick ice cracking.
“I admit I was late. I had a personal situation, and it’s …” He rubbed his forehead. The specifics didn’t matter, and he couldn’t risk the rumor getting out. “Anyway, I’ll get there as soon as I can. It counts as a late then, right?”
“Yes, but if you have three of those in six months, that’s it.”
“I thought you said the policy was more lenient if I showed up.”
“Thisismore lenient. Look, Matt, at the rate you’re going—”
A screech of tires and crashing metal whirled him back toward the road.
An SUV had swiped the back left of the Brownmobile. Matt’s trunk lid bobbed open. The SUV’s hood bowed, glass littered the pavement, and the white of airbags filled the cabin.
“There’s been an accident. I have to go.” Matt hung up and jogged forward, only then spotting the other sedan with its nose pressed into the driver’s side of the Brownmobile.
In the attempt to avoid Matt’s car, the SUV must’ve hit the sedan. The driver of the sedan appeared to be moving, no airbags deployed, no visible blood. Matt hurried around the rear of the SUV to check the last driver.
The SUV’s door creaked open, and a man swayed to his feet, gripping the armrest for balance. His sluggish focus lifted to Matt. “That your car?”
“Yeah, it broke down.” He put a steadying hand on the man’s arm and scanned his balding head, looking for a lump. “Are you all—”
A blur in Matt’s peripheral vision coincided with a shift in the man’s stance. Pain flared in Matt’s face, and he jolted backwards, only then registering what happened.
The man had punched him.
