Chapter Two

Sam

The wind whipping in my hair has me feeling alive for the first time in months.

I laugh loudly to myself as I drive down the highway, leaving my broke fiancé and the rest of my problems behind me. The first thing I did when I got in my car was call my bank and lock down my accounts, and then I tossed my phone into the passenger seat and took off like a bat out of hell.

I have no idea where I’m going or where I’ll stay for the night, but I sure as hell am not going to be walking down that aisle and marrying that lying asshole. I can’t believe he’d think I’d actually foot the bill for him blowing through a house’s worth of money.

My mind can’t wrap around a single thing about any of that that makes sense.

My mother-in-law suggesting that I pay for his loan is so typical her. She’s babied Frank since the day I met him, and has not once every told me how happy she was when Frank brought me home as teenagers. In fact, she’d gone out of her way to remind him that high school relationships never lasted despite her and her own husband being high school sweethearts.

The years of me trying to fit in and make nice with his family have been completely wasted, which is the saddest part about all of this.

Deciding to leave him right now will give me clarity on what I need to do. Get my head on straight and a plan in gear on how he’ll pay back that money without using mine to do so. Maybe then I’ll be able to come back home and consider this marriage.

But until then, I’m going rogue.

As I drive, I crank up the radio and sing along. The weight of the entire morning finally lifts from my shoulders. It feels great to be out here, driving on the highway to an unknown destination. But isn’t that what figuring your life out is all about?

I have a solid two weeks off from my job until I have to go back.

That’s plenty of time to figure out what I want.

Just as that thought pops into my head, though, I feel my entire car rattle and hear a loud popping sound that scares me into swerving off onto the side of the road. As I’m punching on the brakes, my entire car shakes as it comes to a stop, smoke slowly appearing from under the hood.

“Shit,” I mumble and kick my door open.

My beater car is my prized possession, still running strong from when I bought it the day I turned eighteen as a graduation present for myself. But given that it’s been almost 8 years since then, and the thing was already 12 years old at the time, my poor car has definitely seen better days.

The hood is hot to the touch as I pry it open and turn the prop rod to keep it open. Smoke pours out, practically choking me as I wave my hands around my face.

I’m no car expert, but I’m pretty sure engines aren’t supposed to do that.

Gathering up my long skirts, I wobble over to the other side of the car and slip my upper half in through the window to retrieve my phone.

Looking at the time, I’m surprised that I’ve been on the road for more than an hour. Checking my phone, I see that I’ve got a ton of missed calls and texts from my family and from Frank.

My heart squeezes as I scroll through the texts my dad sent, all of them asking if I’m okay and where I’m at.

I feel bad about ditching without telling him, but I couldn’t run the risk of running into Frank or his mother and getting talked into walking down the aisle when I damn well knew that doing so would end in regret.

Typing out a quick apology to my dad, I tap ‘send’ and wait for the icon to stop spinning. But it doesn’t. After staring at my phone for a good minute, I pull down on the drop-down menu and notice that I’ve got absolutely zero coverage.

“Fuck me…” I mumble.

Now what?

Moving around to the backside of my car, I look up and down the long stretch of highway and see literally nothing.

What kind of people don’t travel on a Sunday?!

Did I manage to drive myself all the way out to farm country?

Fear starts to settle in my bones.

Breathing out slowly, I reason with myself. Someone has to drive this way at some point, right? I can flag them down and ask them to take me back into whatever town’s close by and call my dad from there.

But what if they don’t?

I groan and move back around to the front of my car where the engine is still smoking.

Maybe the smoke signal can signal a nearby helicopter passing by…

Just then, I spot something in the distance. Peering around it, I notice a car coming towards me.

“Oh, thank God.” I mutter and quickly hook the ends of my train up to the bustier in the back. Now it’s no longer dragging on the ground or having to be thrown over my arm like some kind of ridiculous fur wrap.

After slipping my phone back into my pocket, I move around to the other side of my car and begin to jump up and down and wave.

“Hey!! Over here!!”

As the vehicle grows closer, I can see the shape of it—unmistakably a tow truck.

What are the chances! Maybe today’s luck is really starting to look up.