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More clanking from outside.

“All right, so listen,” Bri said. “I was thinking we could do a double date thing when you get back.”

I groaned.

“Hear me out. It’s not at all convoluted.”

This was going to be convoluted.

“Both of us pick the hottest guys we can find on Tinder. Probably someone posing with a fish, but that’s not important. We take them to the café outside of Nick’s office, the one where he gets his lunch every day at eleven-thirty? And then when Nick shows up, we act totally surprised to see him there. You pretend to trip and spill some red wine down his shirt by accident while I make out with my date.”

I choked on my laugh.

“As much as I’d like to help you destroy your soon-to-be ex-husband’s clothes,” I said, still tittering, “I’m not dating for the foreseeable future. I don’t need any men in my life right now. Or ever.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, well, we’re all strong-ass women until a smoke alarm starts chirping at three a.m. on a high ceiling and there’s no one to hit it with a broom but you.”

I snorted.

“Seriously though,” she said, “we’ve never been single together before. We should embrace this. Hot girl summer. It could be so fun.”

“I think I’m more in the mood for Golden Girls summer…”

She seemed to mull this over. “This could work too.”

I heard more clanking from outside and felt the car move, like something was being attached to the bumper.

“Wanna get drinks tomorrow?” Bri asked.

“What time? I have Pilates.”

“After.”

“Okay, sure.”

I noticed movement in the side mirror. The man had started to walk back over. I stopped petting the dog and rolled my window back up to almost closed.

“Hey,” I whispered to Bri. “The guy’s coming. Hold on.”

The man pulled his dog off my car again and leaned down to talk to me through the glass. “Can you put the car in neutral?” he asked through the one-inch crack.

I nodded.

“When I pull you out, put it in park and turn off the engine until I get the chains off.”

I nodded again and watched him walk to his truck. A door slammed, and his engine started. Then my car lurched, and I slowly rolled out of the embankment and back to the road. He came around the car with a flashlight and looked at the fender.

A dragonfly landed on my hood. It sat there completely motionless while the man crouched to examine my tires. Then he clicked off the light and went back behind the car. More clanking chain noises and a minute later he returned to the window. “I looked the car over. I don’t see any damage. You should be fine to drive.”

“Thank you,” I said, sliding two twenty-dollar bills through the crack.

He smiled. “This is a freebie. Drive safe.”

He went back to his truck and honked, putting up a friendly hand as he drove past me into the fog.

Chapter 2

Daniel