And then I signed the papers for the house right there on the restaurant table and lit out of there like my ass was on fire. There was no way I’d make it back in time unless I drove flat out.
I really wished I had my Mustang. People could say what they liked about her, but she drove like a dream, and she was fast too.
“Take my car, sweetie,” Aunt Marnie had said, handing me the keys. “You’ll get there much faster than in Beau’s Caddy. Besides, I just filled her up.”
I sped back toward Licking Thicket in the sleek Mercedes roadster as fast as I could when suddenly the rain started chucking down in thick sheets. Within seconds, the car in front of me hit a slick patch and went sideways. I was already pumping the brakes to give myself some extra breathing room when the truck behind me plowed into me, sending Marnie’s brand-new convertible into the guardrail with a sickening metal crunch.
I sat there for a few beats before scrambling for my phone to call emergency services. There was no phone. I kept looking for it frantically before remembering I’d left it in Beau’s car so I wouldn’t be tempted to check it while having breakfast with the Fryes. “Oh God,” I breathed. “Oh God.”
The image of Diesel and Marigold flashed through my mind, bringing tears to my eyes. I could have lost them. Just like that, I might not have come home to them again.
What if someone was hurt? A smooth voice came from a speaker in the vehicle. “Emergency Response. A sudden impact was detected. Do you require medical attention, Mrs. Partridge?”
“Send an ambulance,” I managed to say through clattering teeth. “Someone might be hurt. At least three cars. I think… I think I’m okay, but one of them might not be.” I moved to unbuckle my seat belt and get out of the car.
The rain was coming down so hard, it spattered mud everywhere as it landed. I stepped directly into a deep mud puddle and immediately lost my shoe to the muck in the ditch. I raced over to the car ahead of me that had originally hydroplaned. A woman and a preteen girl looked dazed but lucid. I helped as much as I could but was relieved when I heard the sirens.
It took ages before I finally managed to catch a ride with the tow truck. I offered the driver an obscene amount of money to drive me all the way to Licking Thicket. He couldn’t, but one of his mechanics could. We had to go back toward Nashville before I could get the ride. I managed to convince the woman driving me to let me use her phone, but I couldn’t get a single person on the line. I didn’t know Diesel’s cell number by heart, and when I finally got through to the law firm, they said the attorneys were unavailable, most likely due to being in court.
I was at the absolute end of my rope. I was covered in mud, roadside debris, some snot from the poor preteen girl who’d been scared out of her mind, and even some blood from where I’d accidentally bitten my tongue during the impact.
All I could think was, “How could I have messed up so badly?”
I’d been so focused on getting this house, like all our chances hung on this one piece of real estate, that in the end, I wasn’t going to be there to fight for our girl. Stupid Payne’s parting words from the other day played in my head—“Parrish will turn on you when you least expect it. I trusted him, and he wasn’t there when I needed him most.”— and I tormented myself with the idea that Diesel might think I’d abandoned him.
He’d begged me to have faith in him, in us, but I’d wanted this house as an insurance policy. I prayed that Diesel’s faith in us was stronger than mine had been.
The sob came out despite all my attempts to hold it in.
“You okay, darlin’?” the mechanic asked. She was a woman about fifty years old who looked right at home in gray overalls and a rolled-up red bandana headband.
I sniffled. “I… I was supposed to do something for someone, and I messed up. I let him down.”
She studied me for a minute before looking back out the windshield of the rusty old truck she drove. “Messed up by gettin’ your ass kicked by a summer storm, you mean?”
“I guess. It was really important, and I missed it.” I couldn’t stop the tears from coming. “He deserved better than me going off on a lark to Nashville on the most important day of his life.”
She looked over at me again. “You miss somebody’s wedding or something?”
I shook my head and looked out the side window. “My boyfr… my husband is in court today trying to get custody of his niece. I was supposed to be there to help.”