Love on the Lake (Lakeside 2)

And he always wants to spoon. Which I love, but he wraps himself right around me, like an octopus. Half the time I wake him up when I try to wrangle myself out of his hold, and then I have to wait for him to fall asleep again before I can get up and tackle a few emails, set up a design board, or make sure everything is ready for the fall market.

I don’t want to let anyone down. I’ve managed to get over forty vendors to sign up for the fall market. Even some of the summer families are participating. A few of the hockey wives have great skills. One of their daughters is an avid sewer with a sense of humor. She makes these pillows called Butt Pucks to sit on during hockey games, and I thought it would be a great thing to sell, especially with winter on the way.

I make sure I’m in bed well before Aaron gets up for work. Besides, I need at least a few hours so I can manage my shift at Harry’s tomorrow. I get anxious every time I see Noreen, knowing that Aaron is keeping secrets from her, and now so am I. Sometimes it makes my sleep the night before a shift even more spotty. My alarm is set for seven thirty, but I hit the snooze button five times. I don’t even have time to shower or make a coffee before I leave for work. Instead, I grab an energy drink from the fridge. I need to stock up on those, since I only have one left.

I’m forced to throw my hair in a ponytail and take my travel makeup case with me so I can dab concealer under my eyes on the way in. I’ve never been late for a shift, and I don’t want to start now.

I’m fishing around in my purse for my bottle of caffeine pills because I’m still feeling groggy when I end up taking one of the turns too quickly. The gravel road needs to be graded, and it’s turned into a washboard on the bend, making it hard to get any kind of grip with my tires. I skid out and try to correct, but I overcompensate and end up in a ditch.

I get out of my car, glad that this isn’t a highly traveled road, and survey the damage. It doesn’t look like I’ve done much to the car, apart from a few scratches and a couple of small dents. My hands are shaking, though, and I can feel that familiar panic rising, making my toes and fingers go numb. I quickly root around in my purse, debating whether it’s a good idea to add antianxiety medication to the mix, but I decide I’m too shaken to be able to deal without it.

The incline is too steep to be able to back the car out of the ditch. Van is in Chicago today at the office. I don’t want to call Dillion. She’ll tell Van, and I don’t want him to worry about me. Last week he mentioned that I seemed to have a lot on my plate and that I looked tired.

Aaron is definitely out. He’s already concerned about my sleep and how much I’m taking on. I also don’t want to upset him or cause an argument. I don’t want him to know how irresponsible and careless I was.

Calling a tow truck could work, but then someone might say something to someone else. I can’t leave my car here, though. I scroll through my contacts until I reach Billy’s name and number.

He was in a DUI accident last year. If there’s anyone who understands how much it sucks for people to know your business, it’s him. I cross my fingers and hit the call button. He answers on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Hi, Billy, it’s Teagan, Van’s sister.”

“Oh, hey. Hi. How’s it going? You need to talk to Dillion and she’s not answering her phone or something?” he asks.

Billy and I haven’t spent a whole lot of time together. He comes to the pub and plays pool with Aaron, and sometimes he’ll come for dinner at the cottage, but he’s a quiet guy. Nice but quiet.

“Um, no. I’m sorry to call you out of the blue, but, uh . . . I have a bit of a situation, and I could use a hand.”

“A situation? What kind of situation?”

“I’m having some car trouble, and I wondered if maybe you could help me out.” I might be downplaying it, but again, I don’t want to alert anyone I don’t have to about this.

“Oh. Well, yeah. Of course. Where are you?”

“I’m halfway between Van’s and downtown.”

“Is that close to the S-bend?”

“That’s it exactly. Would you mind coming to get me? If you’re working or it’s inconvenient, I’ll figure something else out.”