Sierra’s head turned back toward the road, and shescreeched as we both grabbed the wheel, jerking it to the left.
Crunch!
We came to an abrupt stop…into the tree. If we’d adjusted a couple of seconds sooner, we would have missed it, but instead, the right side of the front bumper smashed into the tree.
Luckily, we weren’t going fast enough for either of us to get injured, but an immense feeling of guilt—like a tsunami wave—crashed over me.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Sierra mumbled over and over to herself, her head buried in her hands.
I reached for her, my hand hovering over her shoulder.
Her head shot up, eyes wild and cutting into me. “You said it was safe! You said we weren’t going to crash!”
I did say both of those things.
“Are we going to get in trouble?” She gnawed on her bottom lip. “What if we get arrested? My parents will kill me!”
“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay, Sierra.” I tried to think of what to do. Telling my dad the truth was the obvious answer, but it wouldn’t go without consequences. Then it hit me. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I opened the passenger-side door.
“What are you doing?” Sierra raised a brow.
“Switch me spots.”
“What? Why?”
“Because, if I tell my dad I crashed, it’ll be a lot better than telling him you crashed. I at least have a driver’s license,” I explained before hopping out of the pickup to assess the damage.
Sierra unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, too, walking to the front of the pickup.
Running my hand over the hood, I reassured her. “It’s not as bad as I thought. Hardly any damage. But we should probably still have him come out and check it.”
“I’m so sorry.” She hung her head, and I stepped closer to her, lifting her chin with my finger.
“Hey, don’t worry, okay? I’ll take the fall. It’s on me for pressuring you to let me teach you how to drive in the first place.”
Sierra rolled her eyes. “I’d hardly call it pressure. And you don’t have to. I’m the one who wasn’t paying attention. You don’t have to take the blame.”
I ruffled my hair with my fingers. “Yeah, well, I went to grab the wheel, and it freaked you out. It’s all good. Maybe no more driving lessons for a while, though.” I forced out a laugh.
We both looked at each other, then the pickup and back before we burst out laughing.
“What are the odds?” Sierra snorted. “My first time driving, and I freaking crashed.”
“I won’t hold it against you,” I promised.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
sierra
PRESENT DAY
After dropping off the horses, we pulled into the hotel just after dark. Thirteen-hour drives were not for the weak, even with the breaks we took. Honestly, I was a little bit in awe that I had been able to make those types of drives alone. I’d discovered recently that there was only so much of my own internal monologue I could take before I began to go crazy. It started to make a lot more sense why Hayden and his friends all traveled together. Being on the road could be lonely, so having a travel partner helped.
We parked the pickup and trailer in the lot next to the hotel and hauled all our bags—well, mostly my bags—into the lobby.
The front desk receptionist barely looked up from her phone as we approached the counter.
Hayden cleared his throat to get her attention. “Excuse me?”
