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This wasn’t happening.
She leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. Would the diner stay open in the middle of a big storm?
Likely not.
She was going to freeze out here in her car. Or she’d have to get a ride with a stranger. They’d probably kill her and dump her body. It would get found days later after the snow melted.
Awesome.
She stomped her foot on the floor of the car. Urgh!
Okay. Enough.
Taking a deep breath, she called Aidan.
“You are in huge trouble,” he told her.
“More than you realize,” she replied with false cheer. “My car won’t start.”
She drew the phone away as he started swearing.
“You are going to owe a lot of money to the swear jar,” she joked weakly when he finished. “What do I do?”
“I will fix this. Go back into the diner and keep warm. I’ll call you back soon.”
After grabbing her sketching pad from the backseat of her car, she headed back into the diner and sat at the same table.
It had been cleared, unfortunately. Not that she could eat. But she had to pretend to do something while her big brother fixed up the fucking mess that was her life.
The server gave her a strange look as she approached.
“Sorry. Car trouble. Could I get another order of pancakes?”
Twenty minutes later, she was cutting her pancakes into small pieces and trying not to panic when Aidan finally called her back.
“I’ve got a friend coming to get you.”
“What? Who? How?”
“He was on his way home after visiting his sick aunt in Minneapolis. He’ll be there in about two hours. Luckily, he was close. Stay. Inside. Understand me?”
“But wait . . . who is this guy? How will I know him?”
“He’s a big guy with dark hair, a beard, tattoos on his arms, probably wearing jeans and motorbike boots. Oh, and his name is Hack. Greer?”
“Yes?”
“You can trust him. I promise. I’ve known him for a long time. He would cut off his arm before hurting you. Trust me?”
“You know I do. It’s just . . .”
“I know, Squirt. But I promise, Hack is a good man.”
“Okay,” she said in a small voice. She glanced out the window. A storm wouldn’t hurt her. Snow couldn’t harm her.
It was all in her freaking head.
She needed to be tougher than this.
