“Oh, okay. I mean, thank you. Thanks a lot.” I looked away, but she stayed near my door.
“Do you want me to wait with you? I could. I was just on my way home. I can call my husband and tell him I’ll be a little late.” The smell of blueberries wafted into my car again. I wondered if she worked at a bakery.
“Oh no, that’s okay. I mean… I’ll be fine.” I looked at her just briefly, but her motherly smile made a pain in my heart so great that I had to look away.
“I’ll just wait in my car.”
“But—”
She cut me off. “Like I said, it’s no big deal. I know I wouldn’t want my daughter stranded on the side of the road alone while she waited for help. I have a book. I’ll just sit and read, and when the truck comes, I’ll be on my way.” She smiled; she never seemed to stop smiling.
I opened my mouth to object again, but she spoke before I could. “And I won’t hear another word about it.” She touched my shoulder briefly and then walked back to her car.
“Thanks again,” I shouted out the window.
While I waited, I reorganized my song lists on my MP3 player switching around songs that were in “dance” that should have been in “house”. Others that were way too upbeat to be in “mellow” got moved to “happy”. Then the whole “names” playlist was messed up. That was an entire playlist with songs having a name in the title. It included my mom’s favorite song of all time, “Mandy”. My mom almost named me Mandy instead of Marissa. As I sat contemplating my life being lived out with the name Mandy instead of Marissa I saw the tow truck heading towards me. After it passed by me, I saw the woman, whose name I should have asked, drive past me with a smile and a wave.
The tow truck then made a U-turn and pulled in front of me. I watched a guy in blue coveralls climb out from the driver side. My MP3 player slipped out of my hands, so I bent down to the floor in front of me to retrieve it.
“Hello,” a male voice said.
I hit my head on the windshield wipers control stick on my way back up. I rubbed the spot and then looked out my driver’s side window.
“Brandon?”
Chapter Nine
You literally could have put a nest of angry bees in my lap at that point, and it wouldn’t have fazed me as much as staring into Brandon’s hazel eyes did.
“This is… strange,” he said.
I began biting my bottom lip, listening to that anxious little voice inside my head. What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?
“So.” He broke through my thoughts. “You need gas?”
“Oh… yeah… I mean… yes, yes,” I stammered.
He pointed to the tow truck as if to signal that’s where the gas was kept, and then he walked towards it. I checked my face in the rear view mirror to make sure there weren’t any excess mascara flakes around my eyes. Why was I so nervous? He seemed to be acting normal. Why couldn’t I?
Brandon returned to my car with a red gas can. I tried not to stare at him as he walked to the back of my car.
“Can you unlock your gas cap?” he yelled to me.
“Oh, sure, sorry.” I want to go home.
Brandon walked back over to my window. “Okay, it’s all filled up. Why don’t you try to start it?”
My hands were sweating, and I had a hard time getting the key to turn. I half-smiled at him as I tried to turn the key in the ignition again. This time when I turned it, the engine just seemed to make a sputtering sound, but it wouldn’t start up.
“What was that sound?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He looked puzzled. “Maybe it’s from the sugar I put in your gas tank.”
I stared at him, but he laughed back. “Just kidding. Try it again.”
This time as I turned the key I crossed my fingers. Again the engine seemed to whine before it sputtered and died.
“What’s happening?” I tried not to sound panicked, but I was.
“Can you pop the hood?” He walked to the front of my car as I scrambled to find the switch that popped the hood. Unfortunately, I popped the trunk first.
“Oops,” I said, feeling my face go scarlet.
He smiled and closed my trunk, then he said, “How about the hood this time?”
I gave a sheepish grin then found the correct latch for the hood.
After several minutes, he closed the hood of my car back down and came over to my window. “I’m not sure what it is, so I’ll have to tow you back to the garage.
“Tow me back, now?” Could he hear the panic in my voice?
“Yup.”
He just stood there. I just sat there. It was silent for at least a minute. Then he began to whistle. After another minute he stopped. “So, are you going to get out of the car or what?”
“What?” Some weird instinct made me grasp my steering wheel.
“You have to ride in the truck with me.”
Oh please, no. “It’s okay. I’ll just stay here while you tow it.”
He seemed to be holding back a laugh. Then I watched him take my door handle and open my door. I felt cemented to my seat. “It doesn’t work that way. You have to ride with me.” He made a gesture like he was a footman and I was a princess exiting my carriage. It took all the lower body strength I had to lift my legs out of my car and stand upright. I was afraid I couldn’t walk on my own since my legs were quivering so much.
“Just hop on up
