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Nelson had been the ideal partner until he wasn’t. As if a switch had been flipped, he transformed. The man who continued to call my phone repeatedly was not the man I’d fallen in love with, but he was making it so easy to release every ounce of that love I harbored for him.
As if he’d heard my thoughts, another call from a private number interrupted the music. Quickly, I pushed the volume button to clear the notification and resume the sounds coming through my speakers. Unwilling to allow thoughts of him to dampen the joy I’d quickly discovered, I scrubbed him from them. Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, I tuned into the song that had just erupted in my car.
“Kiss me dangerous. Been so lost without you all around me. Getting anxious—”
POP.
The loud sound startled me, stopping me mid-song. My brows hiked on my forehead, in a rush to meet my hairline. Confusion plagued me. However, the wobble in my once-smooth ride shed light on the predicament.
Not right now. Please, not right now, I begged, pulling closer to the lane reserved for emergencies and starting the flashers. Rushing out and around the car, I surveyed the damage. Sure enough, the right, front tire was blown to shreds.
“Oh, God.”
Cringing, I leaned forward, touching the rim that once surrounded my rubber. The restricted call that came through seemed to have perfect timing. My finger hovered over the screen as I contemplated answering the call, knowing that without a doubt, Nelson would come to my rescue. There’d never been a time he hadn’t. I was certain this instance wouldn’t be much different from the others.
However, my heart and head were aligned, not allowing me to make the foolish mistake. That chapter of my life ended when I closed my eyes last night. I refused to reopen it. I ignored the call as I circled the car and slid back into the driver’s side. When the screen was clear, I unlocked it and tapped the MAPS application.
Tire shops, I typed into the search bar. Immediately, results were revealed. Discovering there was a shop just a mile and a half away from me, I simmered down a bit. My shattered nerves began to repair themselves. The others were more than eight miles away, which posed a problem. The issue with living in the suburbs was that it was hard to find things like corner stores, tire shops, dollar stores, and any small shops.
My neighborhood was designed for those who had little worries and large pockets. Up until now, I’d blended well. From the car I drove to the shoes I wore, I fit the mold. But in the blink of an eye, that had all been snatched away from me and reality hit me with a mean right hook.
Ringing ensued. And by the time it reached the fourth, a thick, heavy southern drawl obliterated my thoughts and drew my attention back to the matter at hand.
“Domino Exotic Wheels. Who dis?”
With contorted features, I looked around me to make sure I was still in my neighborhood. In fact, I was. Who dis? The question wasn’t the issue. The way it was presented was.
“Who is this, you ask?” I rephrased.
“Same difference, Mommas. You called my line. I didn’t call yours.”
He was absolutely correct. Knowing that I didn’t have much time to waste, I stated my name.
“Glacier.”
“Glacier?”
“Yes, I am hav—” I continued, but was interrupted.
“Your people named you Glacier? Like the shit that shifts due to its own weight and ends up in large bodies of water? The perennial accumulation of crystalline ice, snow, rock, sedimen—”
His disbelief didn’t come as a surprise. However, the fact that he was so well-versed in the subject was surprising to me. Not so much that he knew what a glacier was. We all did. He knew the definition in its entirety as if he had a dictionary in front of him.
“Please. I’m aware of Google’s definition of glacier. However, I’m having car trouble and really need help. My tire is destroyed and—”
“Rim or regular tire?”
“Regular tire.”
“Glacier, since you’re so damn good at Google, you would’ve read that we ain’t that type of tire shop.”
Pausing, I counted down from five, determined to remain collected on the call that was demanding energy from me that I absolutely hated to release.
“I—”
Click. The line went silent, immediately.
Did he—wow. Groaning, I swallowed the lump in my throat. Did I say something wrong?
