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She tilted her screen down. “Want me to run out and get stuff?”

“Oh, no, angel, you don’t have to. You’re busy with something.”

She closed her laptop. “It’s all good, this is kind of boring anyway.”

It wasn’t completely boring—the committee was talking about how the quality of water helped to enhance loon life, something she’d already read in one of her books. But she’d been cooped up in the house for three days and needed something to do. After her blowup with Archer, she didn’t bother going over to the cabin and asking if he had any work for her. She also didn’t go out to the beach, in case he was out and about working on things. Eventually she would have to rise from her hibernation, and a trip to the grocery store sounded like as good an opportunity as any.

“Are you sure? Going to town is so far—”

Tea rose from her seat, then slipped her sandals on. “It’s only twenty minutes. Really, I don’t mind. Anything else you need me to pick up?”

Nan scribbled a small list of other items they would need, then pressed a fifty in Tea’s hand. Tea tried to give it back to her, but she refused, saying it was only fair if she was going to drive the twenty minutes to town.

She eventually conceded, and minutes later, was on the winding road heading to town. She hadn’t been in her car since she arrived that summer. Besides grabbing groceries, or going to the clinic in Ashland, Tea had no reason to be in a car. When she was, it was with Archer in his truck.

It felt good to be behind the wheel of her father’s Chevy Classic again. If she concentrated hard enough on the smell of the leather seats or the heat of the plastic dashboard, it almost felt like her father was back in this car, driving with the windows down, David Bowie blasting through the speakers.

She patted the dashboard. As if it were responding, the engine puttered, then made a gurgling noise.

She gave the dash another love tap. “Come on, buddy, almost there.”

It puttered again, then the car slowed. She pulled over and parked, wincing as she heard the car make a final groan. She tried revving the engine again, but it wouldn’t kick. The car made another groaning sound that, unfortunately, did not sound pleasant.

After a few panicked seconds of ferociously turning the key to get the engine going, a plume of black smoke rose from underneath the hood.

“Oh no,” she whispered. “No. No.”

She got out of the car and lifted the hood, and was welcomed by the unmistakable smell of oil, metal, and a dead engine.

Tea ran back to the driver seat and called Nan.

“Angel, so glad you called, I was wondering if you could also grab some milk—”

“Nan, Dad’s car. It…it died.”

“It died? Where are you?!”

She frantically looked around. “Um, oh god, I actually don’t know. I’m still on Route 63, near a big sign for—” She squinted her eyes. “I think that says Moose Lane?”

“Okay, I know where that is, I’ll come get you.” She listened to Nan frantically rifling through her purse. Then there was silence. “Uh oh.”

“What’s uh oh.”

“Your grandfather has the car keys in his pocket, and his phone is here—oh, I always tell him to bring it and he never does.”

“No other set of keys?”

“Not on us, no. I think we left the other set at the farm.”

By “the farm,” Nan meant their two-story farmhouse surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans that was a six-hour drive away.

“Oh, wait I see Archer, let me see if he can get you.”

Panic rose in her chest. “No, Nan, it’s okay—”

“ARCHER! We need your help!”

Tea continued to plead for her grandmother to stop immediately, but it was useless. She heard her explaining to Archer what had happened and eventually gave up, settling into the driver’s seat, legs dangling outside the open door. She strained to hear something—anything—from him. But he was silent until Nan finished explaining what happened.