Warmth I shouldn’t be feeling, considering the circumstances.
As a distraction, I ask, “What happened? Did you hit a slick spot on the road? Or did a deer run out in front of you?”
Her body tenses. Pressed against me like she is, I can feel her heart racing. “Neither.”
The sirens grow louder.
“What happened, then?”
Hazel shudders. “My brakes. They wouldn’t work.”
Alarm shoots through me. “Your brakes?”
“Yeah.” She nods. “Both of them. The regular brakes and the emergency one. I couldn’t get either of them to work. That’s why I went off the road.”
Instinctively, my arms tighten around her.
“The brakes are new,” she continues. “I only got them eight months ago. And I got my car inspected last month. Everything looked fine. I don’t… I don’t know what went wrong.”
Shit.
My gut, which has rarely been wrong in all of my forty years, clenches.
I don’t like the sound of that.
At all.
CHAPTER 3
HAZEL
After last night,I have a chill I can’t seem to shake.
The emergency room doctor warned me about it, explaining that although I didn’t end up with hypothermia—thanks to Alec’s help—the exposure to cold water coupled with the shock of the accident could leave me feeling cold and shaky for another day or so.
Honestly, if feeling cold and sore is all I have to deal with, I’m considering myself lucky.
Extremely lucky, really.
After all, things could have gone much differently last night. If I’d been knocked out by the crash, or too badly injured to move, I never would have been able to get to the back windshield to break it. If I didn’t have that tool my dad gave me, it might not havemattered, anyway. And if Alec hadn’t been there… I’m not sure I would have been able to get to the surface, let alone to the shore.
So it was a perfect blend of good fortune, when I think about it.
Obviously, driving off the road into a river isn’tgood. Neither is having to get a new car when I’m pretty sure insurance won’t cover all of it. Adding some new terrifying memories to the bank I already have of them isn’t great, either.
But I’m alive. Relatively unhurt, except for some violent-looking bruises across my chest and a swollen, painful nose. I’ll get a new car. One with brand new brakes that I’ll make absolutely sure will work.
Alec wasn’t happy when I told him about the brakes failing. And I heard him calling poor Max—the owner of Ellicott’s Engines—while he waited in the hallway for the doctor to examine me. Sounding darkly serious, Alec’s deep voice carried into the room as he said, “Max. I’m not accusing you of anything. I know your work is impeccable. But if one of your newer guys worked on Hazel’s car… Look. Mistakes happen. But we need to know why this happened. Eight-month-old brakes shouldn’t be failing.”
Max said he’d check his records and speak with all his employees. And I admit I feel a little sorry for anyone on the receiving end of his ire. Max hasalways been nice to me, but he’s definitely not the warm, approachable type. At least a foot taller than me and twice my size, with huge muscles and tattoos all over his body, he’s basically the poster child for intimidating.
If itwassomeone at Max’s shop, I won’t do anything about it. Officer Quillian, who spoke with me at the hospital along with his partner, Officer Nelson, threw out the option of suing. “If the brakes were faulty or installed incorrectly,” he said, “you’ve got a real case for a lawsuit. Not that I’m suggesting it, but depending on what we discover once we retrieve your car, it’s an option.”
But I would feel terrible suing someone who works for Max, or worse, Max himself. Not when I’ve waited on them at Blissful Brews. Not when I’ve said hello around town. Not when I’ve grown to care about everyone who lives in Bliss.
And I’m okay. A little bruised, but far from broken. I’ll figure out the whole car thing. If I have to work some extra shifts to make up the difference, that’s fine.
I won’t be making money today, though. Even if I was feeling up to it, which I’m honestly not, Frank wouldn’t let me. He called first thing this morning, beside himself with worry. First apologizing for waking me up—he didn’t, I finally gave up trying to sleep at five AM after being haunted by memories ofmy car hurtling into the water—and then informing me that I wasn’t coming to work today.
