“I have half a mind to take you guys to a hospital anyway. That car looks pretty rough,” Doug said.
“We’re fine.”
“The grumpy one is Colin,” I said.
“Colin Murphy. I know who he is,” Doug said.
I saw Colin’s back straighten out of the corner of my eye and it made me smirk.
“Oh, really?” I asked. “What do you know about him?”
“You run that entrepreneur website, right?” Doug asked. “The one that’s doing the Europe marketplace thing or whatever this year?”
“Yes,” Colin said. “I run many things, but that is the one facet of my business that gets the most attention.”
“Please excuse his haughty attitude. He doesn’t fraternize with us common folk very often.”
Doug and I chuckled as Colin shot me a look.
I didn’t care what he thought. That was what he was acting like. He was acting like his decision to ignore my requests wasn’t what got us wrecked. He was acting like he had done nothing wrong in this scenario and that he still had the upper hand. He was acting like he could make good decisions that took into account the well-being of not just himself, but the other people around him.
Maybe that was why he was still single. Maybe he was just too selfish to be in a relationship with someone else. Maybe Christmas had just been a fluke and he hadn’t actually changed. Maybe the Colin I saw at the beginning of this trip was just a facade he threw up for me. Something to help make the atmosphere more bearable since he obviously didn’t want to be near me.
Not over the past two months, and not now.
“What’s in Kansas for you guys?” Doug asked.
“A conference,” I said.
“I’m speaking at multiple functions,” Colin said.
“And I’m there to P.R. for his company,” I said.
“You’re road tripping with your boss? You poor thing. I’d kill my boss if I had to share a cab with him,” Doug said.
“Trust me. It’s taken all I’ve have not to slug him,” I said.
I saw Colin’s head pan towards me, but this time he had an unrecognizable look in his eye.
“Well, if you guys don’t need a hospital or a bathroom, I’m gonna keep on cruising. I just gassed up, so I’m set until lunch.”
I kept my gaze away from Colin’s, but I could feel his eyes raking up and down my body. If he was trying to get me to look at him, then he was sorely mistaken. I didn’t even want to acknowledge he was there, much less look at him. He would just try to talk to me, and I wasn’t ready to hear anything he had to say unless he was ready to apologize and tell me that I’d had been right all along.
“Sounds perfect,” Colin said.
“Just keep us safe,” I said. “That’s all I’m asking.”
“You’re safe with me,” Doug said. “Just sit back and relax.”
“Finally, words of safety I can believe,” I said.
And I could’ve sworn I saw Colin’s face fall in my peripheral.
Chapter 9
Colin
I couldn’t believe I’d crashed the car. If Abby would have gotten out of my head and kept her mouth shut, I wouldn’t have been so distracted. I would’ve been able to keep my concentration on the road and kept an eye out for the patches of ice I needed to look out for. Her incessant whining, nagging and worrying is exactly what caused the crash. Had she just trusted me with our journey, we would’ve gotten there just fine.
But instead, we were riding with a trucker that couldn’t keep his mouth shut and I had no control over the situation at all.
Including the speed at which he was traveling.
“Where are you staying in Wichita?” I asked.
But Abby kept her eyes in front of her as Doug rambled on about whatever it was he was talking about.
“We should probably get two rental cars in Kansas City, unless you’re going to taxi around the conference.”
And still, Abby kept her eyes away from mine and leaned in closer to the trucker.
I knew she was giving me the cold shoulder and it made me even more agitated. She had no right to ignore me. Not after all the jabbering she did in the car that threw us off course. This woman was relentless. She nagged and whined and wanted things her way, and then when they didn’t go her way she wanted to chastise you for it. She wanted to shut you up just so she could hear the sound of her own voice. She was just as confusing as she was two months ago, and I shook my head as I sighed.
“Getting cramped over there?” Doug asked.
“No, but thank you for asking.”
“He’s fine. His ego’s just damaged,” Abby said.
“Had someone kept their mouth shut in the car, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” I said.
She threw a glare in my direction and had I not been so agitated it probably would have worked. But just as quickly as she threw me that glance, she snapped her head back and continued talking with the driver.
“Anyway,” Abby said. “How did you get started driving truck?”
Of course. Always wanting to know someone’s life story.
“I’ve always liked driving. From the time I was young, I was the one driving my friends around. Blaring music and singing at the top of our lungs.”
“Sounds familiar,” I said, murmuring.
But Abby continued to ignore me and I found that the cold shoulder only made me more frustrated. If there was anyone who shouldn’t have been talking right now, it was her. It was her mouth that needed to stop running for a second, not mine. I was perfectly fine until she came along and
