To her astonishment, he easily muscled through the process and slipped the belt right off before taking up his wrench to remove the bolts.
“Never mind.” She almost laughed. Her earlier judgment of the cop’s fitness was blown out of the water. She remembered once sitting in front of an auto parts store with her mother, both of their wimpy arms struggling with the twisted rubber belts on the Mustang’s alternator until a man came by and offered his help. That guy had arms bigger than Officer Spradley, and even he didn’t get it off as smoothly.
“I’ve had some practice with these things,” he told her.
Erica knew better that practice had nothing to do with it, but she let it slide.
“Hold these.” He handed her the two bolts that kept the alternator in place. “Now, I just got to slide it out… And we’re done.”
Officer Spradley held up the hunky piece of hardware as if it were a baseball and grinned before dropping the hood. Erica couldn’t help but be impressed with his speed and nodded approvingly.
“Hop in and I’ll take you down to the auto shop. Don’t forget to lock up the car.”
Once more, she wanted to turn him down, but she knew her feet would thank her later. “As long as I don’t have to ride in the back.”
He chuckled and gestured toward the passenger side of the car. “Go ahead and ride shotgun. It’s more comfortable anyway.”
She did, and soon, they were headed toward Tolstone. The car smelled faintly of raw onions and tangy mustard, and she wondered if the cop had eaten an early lunch. It made her hungry and reminded her that she hadn’t had anything to eat that day.
As soon as the car cranked up, a country song drifted through the speakers. A soft, steady beat that she could see people slow dancing to at a honkytonk. The lyrics spoke of love gone sour, but the singer still pined away for her after he had done her wrong. So sad, and yet so endearing because the man only wanted the best for his former lover, waiting for her to return to him.
The melody, the words, all of it was hauntingly familiar and evoked such a deep, moving within her soul. “Who’s singing?” Erica asked after the song neared its end.
“Conway Twitty. One of my favorite singers.”
Erica realized where she must have heard this song before. “I think I remember my mom listening to him a few times.”
The memory came back in a haze, but she thought she could see her mother’s crying face as she listened to the music in the dark. This music. But she couldn’t remember why she was crying. It was one of those vague, random memories from very early in her childhood that held no context whatsoever.
Beside her, the cop gripped the wheel a little tighter, and she could hear the rubber creak beneath his hands. “Is that right?”
Erica only gave a quiet affirmative and looked out the side window as they entered the town square. Lunar Lantern’s tiny parking lot was packed for the coming lunch rush and the rest of the town was alive with cars driving through the roundabout and some pedestrians on the sidewalk. Renewed Relic’s open sign was turned toOpenand that sad tightness in her chest was replaced with excitement, like a kid who was about to open their first present on Christmas morning.
Dominic might have been there, but she wasn’t going to see him. Not yet. She needed to take care of this alternator business first, but that didn’t stop her from feeling so much at the sight of the store’s sign. She angled herself to keep her eyes on the darkened windows just in case she saw his figure.
As if Officer Spradley could read her mind, he said, “Dominic told me you’re from Decatur.”
Erica nodded as they made their way around the fountain and turned onto First Street by the courthouse. “That’s right.” She gazed up at the tall red-brick building, its front lined with gleaming white columns. “I was actually coming back from there when the car stopped working.”
“Visiting family?”
There was a bit of a waver in his voice, but Erica couldn’t begin to guess why.
“Sort of,” she replied with a frown. “Well… Yes, I went to see my mom.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw him nod. “And how is she?”
The whole town was going to know about it eventually, so she didn’t hold back this time like she had with Dominic. “She passed away last year. Cancer. I was going to see her grave. Sorry, I guess it’s kind of morbid to be talking like I’m visiting her when she’s not really there, you know?”
Officer Spradley didn’t say anything for a while as they eased up to a red light at an intersection, but Erica could feel a difference in the car. She couldn’t name it, but when she looked at the cop, he was focused on something out the driver’s side window, his face turned away.
Conway Twitty continued to serenade them with another song, this one a little bouncier with a more prominent drumbeat. She didn’t recognize it at all, especially when a female’s voice joined in.
The cop’s sad tone interrupted the song. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Erica gave her thanks, but didn’t say much beyond that, even after the light turned green and they rolled through the intersection.
She had never liked these long moments of silence. They were awkward, but with Officer Spradley, she didn’t mind it so much, and she hoped that he didn’t perceive her as being angry or rude. It was just so comfortable to sit in his squad car with him at the wheel. Officer Spradley projected this impression of absolute safety, just like Dominic, despite his momentary gruffness on the side of the road. It was as if she could breathe for what seemed like the first time since last night. She didn’t even know him, but she didn’t want to get out of this car.
