“Shoot! No.”
I had been so distracted when I got into the car that I must have missed noticing the fuel was low. I peered anxiously at the clock. It was a small two-lane highway, and I was directly in the middle of the thirty-minute drive where there were no services.
My phone rang, distracting me, and I picked it up.
“Hello?” My voice was flustered.
“This is a collect call from Idaho County Jail. To accept this call, press one. To reject, hang up.”
Oh my goodness, this again!In a fit of rage, I pressed one.
“Mrs. Collins,” came a young male voice.
“Stop spamming me!” I shouted as the car began to sputter and slow down.
“This isn’t spam, miss. I am…the man that… Well, I’m the one who killed your husband,” the voice said.
Shock tore through my system at his words, and I careened the car off the road and into the side pull-off area before it completely died. I turned the engine off and tried to control my breathing.
“Whatdid you just say?” My mind went in a thousand different directions. Idaho County Jail. The policemen had said they were going to press charges and I wouldn’t need to do anything. I’d been given some paperwork I barely remembered about a court date and asking if I wanted to write a letter to the judge, but I hadn’t been interested in any of that. None of it would bring my James back.
“Ma’am, I don’t want to upset you. I just called to?—”
“Don’t ever call me again,” I snapped and then hung up the phone, instantly bursting into tears, my hands shaking.
I felt so violated. He sounded so young, and he waspolite, and I wasn’t prepared to be confronted with my husband’s killer. How in the world had he gotten my phone number?
I stared at the stupid empty gas line on my dash and shook my head, wiping my tears. Could this day get any worse? I wasn’t sure whether to walk back toward home or forward toward town, but then a familiar truck pulled over in front of me and I sighed.
Seth.
After that note he’d sent, the one I hadn’t responded to, I wasn’t dying to see him right now, but being stuck by the side of the road, I didn’t have many options.
I got out of my car just as he got out of his, concern etched all over his face.
“You okay? Car trouble?”
The response died in my throat when I took him in. Black suit, white-collared shirt, and matching black cowboy hat. I’d never seen him look more handsome.
“Ella, you okay?” He walked over to me, and I shook myself from my stupor.
“Ran out of gas and got a weird phone call. Sorry. Can you drive me into town to get some gas?”
He consulted his watch. “Yes, but you gotta go with me to church first. You can wait in the car, but I’m gonna be late if we don’t go right now. Maggie is already there.”
Oh, shoot. His sermon!I grabbed my purse, locked my car, and ran to hop into his truck. It took a minute with how giant my belly was getting, but once we were inside, he pulled back onto the road.
“So this is how you finally get me to church,” I joked, hoping he wouldn’t bring up the note.
He laughed. “Yes, I made you forget your own gas.”
Touché.
We drove in silence for a good five minutes, and it started to get a little awkward. We normally chatted more than this, and I was starting to wonder if he was thinking about the note.
“Ella, I wanted to say something about that note.” He winced. “I never should have sent it. I’m sorry. I don’t want to ruin the nice friendship we have, and I know it’s way too soon to even be thinking of anything like that. Let’s forget it ever happened.”
I opened my mouth to respond.
