AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’d just about decided to stretch out in the ravine beside the road and let nature have its way with her when the loud rumble of a vehicle reached her ears. A moment later, a giant, dark green pickup truck passed her and pulled onto the shoulder, blocking her path.
Stopping several feet from the truck, she reached into her purse, her fingers seeking out the pepper spray her mama had bought her when she’d told her parents about her plans to move away from home. She was pretty sure mama had envisioned her using it to fend off muggers and rapists in the dark alleyways of whatever big city she found herself in, not some redneck in a truck that just screamed he was compensating for something, but Carly imagined it would do the trick either way. Just as the truck’s driver side door swung open, her fingers wrapped around the slender tube and she gripped it tightly.
But it wasn’t some big, scary looking man who stepped down out of the truck. It wasn’t, in fact, a man at all. The woman who jumped to the ground was almost comically short next to the huge truck. Her dark hair was cropped close in a style that managed to come across as practical and whimsical at the same time, and her eyes were hidden behind large aviator sunglasses.
“That your Toyota back there on the side of the road?” Her voice didn’t match her pixie-like appearance. It was deeper than it should have been, smooth and rich like honey.
“Yes. Um.” Releasing her death grip on the pepper spray, Carly stepped forward and held out her hand. “I’m Carly. Carly Peters.”
“Edie. Well, Edith, but nobody calls me that.” The other woman closed the distance between them and clasped Carly’s hand in hers. “Need a ride?”
“That depends. Are you going to kidnap me and keep me in your basement, then chop me up into tiny pieces?”
“Nah, too much work. If I need to get rid of a body, I’ve got pigs.”
“I-I’m not really sure if you’re joking or not.”
Edie’s grin flashed, but with her eyes still blocked by the sunglasses, Carly wasn’t sure exactly how to read her wide smile. “About the kidnapping? Yes. About the pigs, no. They’re vicious little bastards and they are hands down the best way to dispose of a body.”
“That’s… good to know, I guess.”
“Right? But they’ve been fed today, so I promise you’re safe with me. If you want, I’ll take you into town and call Matty to come tow your car to his garage, get him to take a look at it for you.”
She still wasn’t sure it was the smartest idea, climbing in a vehicle with a complete stranger in the middle of nowhere. But Edie seemed to know people who could help, so it did seem smart to leverage her knowledge. And Carly was fairly certain she could take her in a fight, if it really came down to it. As long as the pigs didn’t get involved. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Excellent. Hop on in.”
Reaching back into her purse, Carly ran her hand over Toby’s fur for comfort before climbing up into the giant truck. Cold air blasted her in the face and she nearly wept with joy as her rescuer climbed in through the other door. Glancing over, Carly watched with amusement as Edie peered over the steering wheel. “How do you even drive this thing?”
“Years of practice,” Edie said as she shifted gears and pulled back onto the road. “The real question is, how do you drive that hunk of metal back there? From the looks of you, that car is older than you are.”
“It is, actually, by a couple years. But it’s been really reliable, up until now.”
“They always are until they aren’t. How far are you from home, honey?”
“Far enough.” Getting a ride from a random woman in the middle of nowhere was one thing. Giving out personal information was another.
If Edie was put out by her non-answer, it didn’t show. “And what brings you all the way out to Lost River?”
“My older-than-me hunk of metal.”
Edie laughed, a loud, delighted sort of whoop that seemed to fill the cab of the truck. “Smart ass little girl. I like you.”
Some of the tension between Carly’s shoulder blades eased. Maybe she wouldn’t end up being fed to Edie’s pigs after all. “Do you live around here?”
“I do.” Glancing over, Edie shot her another one of those wide smiles. “You know how every town has that eccentric old widow everyone is friends with but also sort of scared of at the same time?”
“Not outside of Hollywood, no. Why? Is your aunt the crazy old widow or something?”
“I said eccentric, not crazy. And no, that would be me.”
“Oh.” Grief, still raw enough to make her want to scream but familiar enough to be comforting in its own strange way welled in Carly’s chest. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was years ago. Pastor Jim tells me he’s in a better place now, but I’m pretty sure he’s still hanging around the house, making sure I’m taking care of myself. He still gets cranky if I skip lunch.”
Growing increasingly concerned about her rescuer’s state of mind, Carly simply sat and stared at her for a moment before asking the question burning on her tongue. “Your late husband gets mad at you if you don’t eat lunch?”
“He gets his knickers in a twist over any number of things. Just last week Farmer Moody found a litter of puppies in his barn, no mama in sight. I spent all day taking care of them and finding them a good foster home. Managed to go the whole day without drinking a drop of water. Came home and found the tap running. I don’t know how he knew, but he knew, and I got the message loud and clear.”
