Page 80 of The Wilder Widows

“Okay,” I breathed, barely able to form the words. “Do it. Pull up.”

“Seriously?” Doris turned toward me with wide eyes. “You’re doing it?”

“I’m doing it. Pull up in front the next time we go by.” As I said the words, the emotions I’d held behind the carefully constructed wall he lived behind bubbled up, threatening to topple it down. We turned the corner back onto his street, and Doris let the car slow down while we rolled up near his house. As I took a last breath to steady my nerves, I saw the front door open.

It only took a split second after my eyes clapped onto him for all the breath to leave my body. Steel grey strands of hair had replaced the raven ones from before. A salt and pepper beard trimmed short wrapped around the once-smooth muscular jawline that hadn’t diminished one bit. Still strong and proud, and a perfect fit for the muscular body my eyes raked lower to take in. Even at this distance, I could see the Marine tattoo on his tanned forearm, and I remembered tracing my fingers along it at the bar the night we met.

“It’s him!” I shrieked, scrambling to inhale my next breath.

“Where? Oh!” Marge said. “Another silver fox!”

“Hellooo, Tom,” Alice crooned from the back.

“Where? Where?” Doris said, and I felt the car swerve.

The jarring movement caused the tires to screech, and the noise pulled his gaze toward us.

“Get down!” I screamed, diving into the center of the car.

“Incoming!” Marge screamed, and from the corner of my eye, I saw her grab Alice and drag her down onto the seats. “Stay down! Take cover!”

The car screamed forward, and my heart raced faster than the roaring engine. Had he seen me?

“Did he see us?” Doris asked, and when I opened my eyes, her face floated in front of mine.

“Doris! You’re driving! You can’t duck!” I screamed. The whites of her eyes shone for only a second before she shot back up to sitting.

“Oh no!” she cried out as the brakes seized up. I shot up in my seat just in time to feel the airbag explode in my face. The seatbelt gripped my chest, and I gasped while it slammed me back into the seat as we crashed to a stop amidst the sound of crunching metal.

In the blink of an eye, the car stopped shaking. Black smoke from the tires rolled in through the windows, and I coughed out the powder from the airbags burning my lungs and clinging to my skin.

“Is everyone okay?” I choked out the words while I assessed my own shocked body.

“I crashed!” Despite her sobbing, Doris looked relatively unscathed. The deflated remnants of her airbag dangled from the steering wheel, and her pink sunglasses were now cracked and crooked on her nose.

“We’re okay,” Marge said from the back seat as she pulled Alice back to sitting. “Any injuries? Everyone okay?”

“I think we’re alright,” I said, giving myself one last once over. Besides the burning in my lungs and the bruises I knew would form on my chest from the seatbelt, I knew I was okay.

“Cripes, Doris! I knew you shouldn’t have been allowed to drive! What the hell did you hit?”

“I... I don’t know?” She peered out the windshield, and all our gazes followed. “I don’t see anything.”

“Probably a decorative rock. Which is what your head is filled with,” Alice said after straightening her scarf.

Suddenly I remembered our location. Where we were. Walnut Lane. Why we were in a rental car on that particular street. I spun around in my seat to see Tom racing our way, a cell phone pressed to his ear.

“Shit! Go, Doris! Go!” I screamed, ducking back into the seat.

Doris restarted the car and slammed it in reverse, but the tires only squealed as we spun in place.

“It won’t move! It won’t move!”

“Don’t drive off! It’s fleeing the scene! We’ll be outlaws!” Marge barked, but Doris continued pressing on the accelerator. More black plumes of smoke rose around us as the tires dug into the pavement, but the revving engine refused to move us backward.

Panic rose inside me and threatened to choke the life out of me as Tom approached the car. Concern and confusion tightened his face as he tipped his head, gazing into my window.

“It’s over. We’re made.” Marge let out a defeated sigh as she looked out the window to Tom. Doris stopped pressing on the gas, and the engine sputtered to a stop.