1
Greer
TEN YEARS AGO
“Stop! He did not look like that at all!” I squeal, swerving the wheel slightly as I eye Allison as she lifts her nose to mimic a pig’s and snorts.
“He did, too! And you were ready to throw it all away and go home with him!”
“Was not!” I laugh. “I thought he was sweet!”
“Sure you did. You’re the librarian in a small town who devours books with fantastical plots like there’s no tomorrow. You think every man you meet is there to sweep you off your feet.”
“Do not! Also, I’m a librarian’s assistant, thank you very much.”
She purses her lips at me.
The road takes a winding curve, and I turn the wheel to follow its path. “I may have put too much stock in the plots of some books, but I don’t get to readallday! I do have to work, you know?”
“Mm. Sure. I’m glad you made sense of it in the end. I’m certain the moment they flicked on the lights, your romance would’ve been over. He was ugly.”
“Beauty is only skin deep.”
She scoffs as the song on the radio flips to one I don’t know, so I reach over to turn it.
“Hey! I love that song!” Allison argues, swatting my hand away.
I feign shock and scowl at her, not meaning to turn the wheel where I’m looking, but we swerve.
“Greer!” she yells, grabbing the door as I correct and get back on the road from the embankment that two of the car’s wheels slid onto.
“Sorry,” I say, breathing heavily as my heart pounds against my rib cage.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have had that last round, eh?” she jokes.
“Maybe.”
“Then you wouldn’t have tried to take Pig Nose Man home.”
“Hey!” I shout as we round a curve, waning slightly toward the outer lines as I swat for her. At the same time, my foot presses into the gas.
Her scream alerts me to something up ahead, so I swing my gaze back to the road in time to see a man step one foot onto the pavement.
His eyes are downcast, his arm is waving, and a hood covers his head. The car beside him has its flashers on, and in a second, my life changes.
Because my wheel is locked, I’m skidding toward him. Mashing the brakes, I honk as I try to regain control of the car. But I’m going too fast, and he isn’t quick enough.
“Greer! Turn the wheel! Stop!”
“I can’t!” The admission hangs like a dead weight as I brace for impact.
His body hitting my front end will be a sound that haunts me for the rest of my life. I just know it.
And I’ve only just heard it.
He rolls over my hood, windshield, and roof in quick succession as I propel into him. By the time the car finally stops, I know he’s cleared the trunk, too.
I’m shaking, tears flowing down my cheeks as I turn to Allison.
