AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Zoey
Crazy,wild,funny,strange,filled with love, and not at all how I imagined it.
This is my life. And I love every second of it.
It only took ten years in a terrible marriage, two kids, a divorce, and a year of working through my shit, finding myself, and allowing myself to grow to get here. To a place where I am genuinely happy and enjoying life.
Especially today. It’s gorgeous—crisp air, colorful leaves, bright blue sky. It’s the perfect day to be cruising around in my brand new, fresh-off-the-lot car of my dreams.
I should say it’s something cool. Like a BMW or an Audi.
No.
It’s a Subaru Outback.
Am I boring?
Possibly.
Do I care?
Not really.
Because I earned this. I worked my ass off for it, going from a little self-published romance author who didn’t really believe in herself, to a successful indie romance author with both self-published and traditionally published books. I’m giving my kids the life they deserveon my own, something I never thought I’d do. All it took was a divorce and having the strength to stand on my own, build my own life.
Sometimes an ending is truly a new beginning.
Ugh. Gag me.
If I wrote that in one of my books, my beta readers would give me so much shit. Whatever. It’s been just over a year since my divorce. I’ve got almost everything I want and then some. I’m happy. I’m fulfilled.
Today is a good day.
THUD.
Or not.
I silently curse myself for beingsoupbeat. For allowing Murphy’s Law to sneak up and slap me in the face.
I pull my car into the empty parking lot of a small furniture company that went out of business a few years ago. With a deep breath, I hop out of the car, already knowing exactly what I’m about to find… a flat tire. I bend down to look at it and see a large screw sticking out.
Yep, that tire is dunzo.
I sigh and throw my hair into a messy bun.
At least it’s not winter.
It’s also not too hot. It’s a perfect sweater-weather fall day.
Thankfully, I know how to change a tire. I grew up with a handful of best friends, one of whom became a mechanic, and he made sure we all learned how to change a tire by the time we had our licenses.
I open the hatch and flip up the cover over the spare tire. Thankfully, they remembered a tire iron as well. I glance down at the tire, reading the recommended PSI, and that’s when I notice the size. I squint my eyes closed and take a deep breath before squatting down next to the rear driver’s side tire.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
That stupid little prick at the dealership gave me the wrong size spare. I wanted a full spare, not just the donut. It makes life easier. When he was putting the tire in before I left, I mentioned it seemed to be a different size than the main tires. He looked at me like I was a moron, told me the size only looked different because the other ones were on the car not by themselves, and put it in the trunk. I should’ve listened to my gut. I should’ve double-checked.
