It’s going to be a good day, she decided. Even if she had to fake it.
Luke thudded down the stairs a few minutes later, hair combed, dressed in jeans and a blue tee with the NASA cap firmly on his head.
“Are you ever going to take the cap off?” she teased.
He grinned and shook his head. “Nope.”
He climbed into his chair just as she placed his cereal and milk in front of him.
“Is Dad coming over today?” he asked casually. “Can he pick me up?”
Lainey froze mid-reach for the juice. Dad. He’d said it yesterday but hearing it again and having Luke accept Finn as his dad still made her breath catch.
She swallowed hard and nodded. “I think that can be arranged,” she said gently, brushing a hand over his shoulder. “I’ll let him know.”
Luke nodded and dug into his cereal like any other morning. But for Lainey? It wasn’t even close.
When he finished, he brought his bowl to the sink. “Okay, bud, grab your backpack and let’s go,” she said.
She locked the door behind them and opened the car door. Luke climbed in and secured his seat belt. Then they were off, Luke chattering about what they were going to do in art, wondering what he and Finn could do after school. Would he bring him to get ice cream again?
Lainey drove the familiar back road to school. They had a little extra time, so she took the two-lane road winding throughthe woods and farmland that was always hers and Luke’s favorite.
Luke sat in the back seat with his NASA cap pulled low over his eyes.
Then, halfway down the hill before the bend, Lainey’s gaze snapped to movement in the woods. A deer shot across the road. Fast.
She tapped the brakes. The tires locked. The car skidded.
She pressed harder.
The rear end fishtailed.
Her heart jack hammered as the adrenaline surged.Not now. Not today. Today was supposed to be okay. Normal. Safe.
She gripped the wheel tighter, wrestled the car toward the shoulder and thanked God when it rolled to a stop, barely missing the huge oak tree.
“Why’d we stop?” Luke asked from the back seat.
Lainey kept her voice calm. “Just checking something. Stay in your seat, okay?”
She opened the door and stepped out, gravel crunching under her shoes. The woods were silent in an eerie way that made her skin prickle.
She crouched beside the car, not sure what she was looking for. No obvious damage. No puddles. No warning light.
Her stomach turned. How had this happened? Wear and tear? Or deliberate?
“Mom, what is it?”
She turned to see Luke’s little sneakered feet standing beside her. “Luke, I told you to stay in the car,” she said sharply.
“But I wanted to see.”
Lainey reached into the car for her phone, hands trembling. Call Triple A? Or Finn? Or…?
The low rumble of another engine reached her ears, coming up behind them.
She turned to see a dark truck stop behind them. A familiar dark truck. The door opened. Footsteps hit the gravel.
