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“Clearing things up.”
“Wish it had turned out some other way for him.”
“I do too. I always will.”
I helped Nana Mama out onto the porch, where Jannie, Bree, Ali, and Pinkie were waiting. We trooped out to the car and my cousin’s truck. Ali and Jannie wanted to ride with Pinkie. To my surprise, so did my little grandmother, who looked cute and ridiculous in the front seat of the one-ton pickup.
“I’ve never ridden in one of these,” she called out the window, and she waved with such enthusiasm that Bree and I had to grin.
“She’s one of a kind,” Bree said, climbing into the Explorer.
“Could you imagine if there were two?” I said, starting the car.
“I don’t think the world would be big enough.” Bree chuckled, leaned over, and kissed me. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re back.”
“Me too. And by the way, I loved the welcome-back celebration last night.”
She laughed contentedly, said, “Mmm. That was nice, wasn’t it?”
We held hands as we followed Pinkie through town. Nearing the railroad tracks, Bree said, “Think we have time to stop?”
“Probably, but I don’t know the way. Can we do it coming back?”
Bree looked longingly at the tree line beyond the tracks. “It’s funny how you want to check every couple of hours. It’s like gambling.”
“I can see that,” I said, and we drove on.
The road soon became steep and windy, and it dropped off the plateau in a series of lazy S turns. I noticed play in the Explorer’s wheel that hadn’t been there before. And the brakes were slightly sluggish.
“Remind me to check the fluid levels in Raleigh,” I said.
“Didn’t we do everything before our drive down here?” Bree asked.
“Yes, but something doesn’t feel quite—”
There was a slight clanking noise. The car shuddered.
“That can’t be good,” Bree said. “You better pull over, take a look.”
We were on a 10 percent, maybe 12 percent grade at that point, with low guardrails giving way to sheer banks and trees. Ahead, there was a scenic lookout. I put on my blinker, tapped the brakes. Nothing. I pumped the brakes. The car slowed only slightly, then gave another clank and shudder.
Then the vehicle seemed to break free of all restraint and we went into an accelerating, pell-mell, runaway descent.
Chapter
75
We hurtled down the road. Ahead of us, it veered sharply left, and all you could see beyond it was pale blue sky.
“Alex!” Bree screamed as I clawed at the wheel and stomped vainly on the brake pedal.
I grabbed the shifter, tried to slam it into low. The arm wouldn’t budge.
“Jesus, Alex, we’re—”
With my left foot, I stabbed at the emergency brake pedal but did not put it to the floor for fear we’d be thrown into a spin. There was a screeching noise as the tires caught, leaving smoke rising off the rubber-blackened road.
The Explorer lurched to one side and then another, but I managed to keep it from going sideways and then, just before that hard left turn, I slammed the shifter arm down, and the engine braked us some more.
