Unexpected Love

Unexpected

Love

By

Melissa Price

Copyright © April 2016 by Melissa Price

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the author except for brief quotations embodied in article and reviews as deemed necessary.

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously and resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, advertisements, or locales are entirely coincidental.  Any unidentified references are factiously used. 

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One

Why was her heart beating so hard and butterflies fluttering in her stomach?  She finally had to admit she was nervous.  She had not admitted earlier that this might have been a poor decision.  But she could feel the tension in her spine.  Her legs were starting to get weary.  At least there was cruise control to give her legs a rest. 

This was not the time or place to have any regrets.  But it kept creeping into her mind like a cat crawling quietly and carefully through the grass towards a field mouse.  She willed herself to relax. It didn’t work completely but she felt a little better.

The car made a chugging noise and then a high-pitched screech.  She almost laughed.  Was the car telling her something?

Seriously?  Could anything else go wrong?  Why did this have to happen to her?  And now of all times?  Things had been tough recently and this venture to try to do something on her own and be normal was not working out well.

Her long caramel brown ponytail swung as she rolled her brown eyes and shook her head vigorously; a big huffing sound escaping her pursed lips.  She pushed a stray lock of hair out of her face.  Glancing in the mirror, she saw that it was threatening to escape completely from the ponytail.  She would fix it when she pulled off.

She noted there was no one else on the road.  No one behind her.  In fact, she hadn’t seen another car for at least fifteen or twenty minutes going in her direction.  Was that a bad sign?

Her ten year old car had been making some very strange noises for the last few miles. And something was starting to smell hot, almost burning.  She had not had any problems with the car before this, but maybe it was the long drive she was making instead of just going to and from work.

She was so far from home.  And very alone.  She had not seen a gas station or garage where she could easily stop.  The highway signs farther back showed gas stations but her car had not been acting strangely then.  She was not sure but she suspected she needed one with a garage so she had decided when she exited the highway, she would look for one.  Fingers crossed that she could find someplace to stop.  Soon, from the sound of it.  Maybe it would be better just to pull off and stop the car.  Maybe sitting for a bit would help.  Then she could continue to get to a garage.

She had thought about getting a new car a year ago but had decided to wait.  It had turned out to be fortuitous since she could not afford car payments now.  She had other priorities that kept her from looking at new cars. 

She sighed again.  She was feeling uneasy now.  She had started out wanting to make this trip so badly.  Now, she wasn’t sure.  Was she really ready to do this?  But then again, how would she know if she didn’t try?  No one was going to help her so she had to try this on her own.  Sure she had friends, but not many.  Only one was a close friend, Lisa, and she rarely got to go anywhere with her.  Work had consumed most of her time and energy.

She also had a hard time trusting people so making real friends was not easy.  At least not for her.  It was odd since she liked talking to people, but trusting was another thing entirely.  She had never stopped to wonder why but Lisa had told her she needed to trust people more and give them a chance.  Maybe she was right. 

She thought briefly about the bar fiasco.  Lisa had talked her into going to a bar with her one night. While she had never been to one, she thought it might be fun, so she had agreed to go.  They were having a drink and talking when a couple of guys came over and sat on either side of them.  Lisa had been friendly and all smiles, she had gotten tense and had not talked much.

Not that the guy hadn’t tried, but she was unsure what to say.  She recoiled a bit when he put his hand on her arm.  She smiled and tried to be friendly but when he figured out it was going nowhere, he and his buddy left.  Lisa had given her a look and told her, “You need to loosen up.  Those guys were nice.”

She had replied, “He wasn’t going to get what he wanted so he left.  Feel free to run them down if you want to.”

Lisa had laughed and shook her head at her.  It was the last bar they had gone to.

The two lane road she had been traveling on for several miles had the occasional side road and long driveways leading to homes scattered along the route.   The houses had wonderfully large yards and it looked more like a quaint suburban area than a country road.  Most of them were red brick of various shades.  She was a tiny bit envious, she had to admit.  It was the type of home she had always wanted.  It was a nice drive, she thought, lined with trees that would be beautiful in the spring when they were decked out in their bright greens, but one she definitely should not be taking right now.

Her GPS had slid off the seat an hour ago and onto the passenger floor. Instead of stopping to retrieve it, she had listened to the female voice giving her turns from the floor. 

She was making a lot of mistakes on this trip.  Not just the turns and exits.  The GPS had finally stopped working.  She should kick herself for not having plugged it in.  She giggled.  That was not possible.  She pictured herself trying to kick her butt.

Luckily, or so she thought at the time, she had printed directions on the seat beside her.  She had thought that would make her even more prepared for the trip.  Her grandfather had emailed them to her so she had printed them off just in case she got confused.  Ha.  Confused didn’t even come close to it.

She had started to use those directions, anxious to get to her destination and get the unpleasant road trip over.   As soon as possible.  She was tired and stiff and hungry.  The trip wasn’t making it easier.  It had been a sparse breakfast at the hotel she had stopped at overnight.  She had not minded because she wanted to get out of the old place and get back on the road. 

It was important to her to keep going.  But she had quickly discovered that the directions were not exactly accurate.  Her grandfather, dear man, had sent them to her so that she could more easily find them. 
That was turning out really well.
 

His intentions were good but she now thought his directions were all mixed up or missing turns.  She should have printed them from the internet.  But his email had said he got the directions from there, so she had erroneously assumed they would be correct.  He had typed them in the email but either he had left out something or she was a terrible driver.

She was glad she had not told her grandparents exactly when she would be there.  She had not wanted them to worry about her, which they did regularly, especially recently.  She particularly did not want her Grandmother worrying about her traveling alone.  They were getting older and in less than ideal health. But they were both happy and got along quite well for their ages.  All they knew was that she was coming soon.  Even she hadn’t been sure when she would leave.  But last week she had decided it was time to go.

So here she was, car acting up, terribly lost, and no one even knew she was on the road traveling.  She had not told her mother, who could probably have cared less, or her best friend who would have fussed at her for hours about it and insisted she not go.  Knowing Lisa, she would have camped out in her small apartment to make sure she did not go.  Maybe Lisa was right.  Was she pretending she was more ready than she really was?

She assumed her cell phone had stopped working too.  She had the car Bluetooth feature but it was no longer connected to the phone.  This is
not
what she had imagined the trip to be. 

She pulled off the road and onto a strip of grass that was turning brown from the colder weather setting in.  She turned off the engine.  Silence.  She could hear herself breathing.  The quiet was unnerving, heavy.  She felt very alone. 

Two

She hadn’t been alone much over the past few months.  She thought she would like it, but was discovering it was not very comforting.  It would take some getting used to again, she assured herself.

She leaned over, grabbed her purse on the far side of the passenger seat and pulled out her cell phone.  Definitely dead.  She plugged it into the car charger, but it did not start charging.  Odd, she thought it charged even with the car off.  This is not good.  Her insurance cards were on her phone.  She hoped she did not get stopped by a cop.  She did not need to pay for a ticket. 

She leaned over and retrieved the GPS.  Yes, it too was dead.  She would plug it in later, it was the least of her problems right now.  Getting help for her car was top priority.

She turned the ignition key to start the car.  Nothing happened. 
So maybe turning off the car was not a good idea.

She waited and tried again.  Nothing.  A sense of panic set in and she shoved it back.  This was no time to panic.  It would not make the car start or help her get to her grandparents’ home.  She waited another couple of minutes.  On the third try the engine made a horrible noise and died.  Now she was too nervous to try again.

Why was everything going so wrong?

She could easily give in to tears and hopelessness, but she would not.  She had made it this far and she could make it the rest of the way.  She looked around, sizing up her situation.  Since she had seen some scattered houses along the route, maybe there was one just up the road.  Her luck could not be that bad.  Surely there was one close by. 

She peered ahead at what looked like might be a driveway, but it was a little farther up the road than she would have liked.  What if it was nothing?  It did not matter.  She needed help.

There had been a big green road sign not too far back announcing that a city named Rockstone was 16 miles.  There was no walking that distance, not for her.

She let out another big sigh.  Well, banging her head on the steering wheel wouldn’t accomplish anything.  She studied the walk ahead of her.  The road had a gentle incline that she had not noticed while driving.  She had trouble walking uphill.  Actually, she had trouble walking, period.  Most people might not notice the small slope but she did.  And she knew she would feel every step of the walk.

She thought briefly back to the car accident six months ago and then pushed the flashing, broken images out of her mind.  She had not been driving and she did not know the two women sitting in the front very well.  Her best friend, Lisa, was sitting in the back seat with her.  It had been one of the very few days she had off and Lisa had begged her to go with them shopping.

She couldn’t remember the last time she went shopping and Lisa was her one good friend, so she had agreed to go.  They were on their way to a large shopping mall half an hour from where she lived.

The next thing she remembered was a fireman leaning over her, telling her she would be okay.  She did not remember the ambulance ride or going to the hospital.

Everyone had injuries but fortunately, no one had perished in either car.   From what she had learned later, the other car was driven by a man in his late thirties who had been drinking heavily and had swung into their lane.  Lisa now walked with a permanent limp as both of her legs had been broken. 

She did not remember much of the next three months or did not want to remember.  She wasn’t sure which.  Her hospital stay was a blur really.  She had some internal damage that required some surgery as well as a lot of therapy and work.  The days had melded together.  She remembered feeling very alone even with the nurses and doctors who came in continuously to see her.  She also remembered the doctor saying she was a fighter and determined. 

She knew her mother had known about the accident but had not come.  She talked to her grandmother a couple of times a week and she had told her that she had called her mother.  She felt a lump in her throat.  Maybe they were not on good terms, but couldn’t she even call to see how she was doing?

Nights were the worst.  She had trouble sleeping and the medications made her thinking fuzzy.  It felt like the nights lasted forever.  She knew she had been on a ventilator for a couple of weeks while her body had healed. 

She had vague memories of her hands being tied down and trying to lift them.  She did not remember the machine but she did remember the feeding tube down her throat and the severe thirst.  They would not even let her have ice.

That was one of the first things she had done when she was released and went home.  She filled a big cup with ice and water and although she did not drink much, it had felt good to have it sitting next her.  She would look over at the glass in satisfaction; like a victory that she had achieved.  Lots of ice was one of her new favorite things.

Outwardly, she knew she looked fine.  She had a small scar on her left side under the waistband of her jeans.  But as the old saying goes, looks can be deceiving.  Inside she was still trying to recover.  And she felt as if she had changed too.  She used to be self-reliant, determined, decisive, and a quick decision-maker.  Now, she was more prone to tears, self-doubt, and indecisiveness and she did not like it.

As a result of her inability to walk for almost two months while in the hospital recovering and the complications she had endured, she lost her muscle strength.  She had gone from the hospital to a nursing facility to a hospital bed in her apartment to a wheelchair to a walker to a sometimes shaky walk and she was happy with that.  She had to be.  She was lucky to be alive. 

Lisa had fussed at her about not using the walker or a cane, but she simply refused to use it.  Even the healthcare nurse that came to visit her three times a week had suggested she at least use a cane for balance.  She was resolute about getting along without it, no matter how hard it was. 

What she could not do was bend down without losing her balance or get up if she fell or sat on the ground.  Her legs were just not strong enough. 
Yet
, she reminded herself.  One day.  Her doctor said it might take a year or more for her to fully recover.  It was frustrating on occasion but she kept reminding herself she was getting stronger every day even if it was a minimal amount.  And she was alive.

She had been able to do this trip hadn’t she? 
Not something she could have even considered a month ago.

When Lisa had found out that she was thinking of going out of town for a short trip, she had steadfastly protested.  She didn’t dare tell Lisa that she had left.  She also didn’t tell her she would be gone for a couple of weeks or more.  She had no plans about how long it would be. 

Lisa meant well but she just did not want to argue about it with her.  She would call her when she was there to let her know she was fine, but not before.  She was determined about going and didn’t want to hear the numerous comments Lisa would regal her with of why she should not go.  Lisa was worried about her and she meant well, but having to listen when she was going to go anyways was not something she wanted to endure.  Even if Lisa was at least partially right.

Lisa has already called her twice and she had not answered the phone.  She wanted to be at her destination before she called or talked to her.  She felt bad because she knew Lisa would be worried by now, but this was something she had to do.  She had left her a note on her door telling her she was going out of town a few days and not to worry.  She would still worry.

Doubt entered her mind as it had a thousand times during the road trip, but she refused to have any regrets.  She needed to act normal even if she was not there yet.  Her mother had always told her as a child she was stubborn.  She had told her young daughter many times that it might get her in trouble one day.   Maybe it was catching up to her.  Was she just being stubborn or was she determinedly pressing on with her life?  She liked to think the latter.

Time to find help even it meant a slow, laborious walk.  The gravely looking spot she was seeing had to be a driveway.  It just had to be.