Abby

 

We had been in the car for about an hour before the weather started getting bad again. The clouds quickly grayed and the sky was filled with low-hanging promises of snow and ice. If the sun had started rising into the sky, I couldn’t tell. Every once in a while the car would dart, skidding on a patch of ice Colin missed as he zoned out behind the wheel of the car.

Was this man insane?

Then, the snow started to come down again. It started light, melting onto the car before you even knew it was there. The lights came on in front of us so Colin could see better and I shot him a wary look, but he was quick to meet me with one that tried to silently shut down my fears. I knew he wanted me to trust him. I knew he was upset with the fact that I was so scared. But this weather was horrid and it only looked like it was about to get worse.

“Colin, are you sure we shouldn’t—”

“Don’t even start,” he said. “It’s only snowing.”

Then, as if the earth was mocking him, freezing rain started to bang up against the windshield.

It fell so hard and for so long that the temperature outside began to plummet again. The ice was slowly clinging to the windshield wipers Colin had going and the snow was picking up the pace. The sun was muted because of the dark clouds and the highway was deserted of anyone trying to drive anywhere.

We were the only two idiots trying to drive through this shit.

“Colin, I really do think we should—”

“Why do you not trust me?” he asked.

“If you’d just let me finish, you’d realize I’m not suggesting we get another hotel room. God forbid,” I said breathlessly.

“You want me to pull off on the side of the road until this stuff passes again. But I’m telling you, Abby, we’re safe. You’re fine as long as I’m driving. We will make it to Wichita today, then you can board yourself up in your hotel room and not leave until the conference begins,” he said.

The sky had grown dark much more quickly than it had yesterday, and my hands began to shake with worry.

“You just have to trust me,” Colin said.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Colin. I just don’t trust this weather. You live in L.A., for crying out loud.”

“And I spend half of my time in Minnesota.”

“Is half of that time in the wintry months?” I asked. “Or do you plan your schedule so you’re lying out on the beach in the middle of January?”

“I don’t have any time to lie on the beach,” he said. “Not with all the things I have on my plate this year. I’m a workaholic, remember?”

I could hear the disdain in his voice as those last words fell from his lips.

“Colin, please. I’ll beg if I have to. Just pull over. There’s so much ice and snow, how in the world can you see? I can hardly see and I grew up in Minnesota winters!”

“Abby, you need to listen to me. I’ve got—”

Before Colin could finish his statement, the car skidded on a patch of ice that was covered with snow. The car went spinning in the middle of the road as Colin slammed on the breaks, and we skidded underneath a bridge. I was screaming and hanging onto the emergency handle as we twirled around, tears pouring down my face.

I saw my entire life flash before my eyes before the back of the car crashed into the side of the bridge.

We hit the bridge hard the car skidded into a ditch adjacent to the bridge. The car was hissing and steaming and I could feel something gripping my leg. I was trembling from head to toe as I tried to lock my eyes onto something I could find comfortable.

But all I smelled was smoke and all I could feel was the cold of the outside breathing down my neck.

“Abby? Abby, are you all right?”

Tears flowed down my cheeks as I sniffled and nodded.

“Yeah. I can hear you. Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine. Just stay there. I’m coming around.”

I heard a door open before the cool air flooded the car. My door opened and I could feel Colin’s arm stretch across my body. He unlocked my seatbelt and helped me from the car, my legs trembling as I leaned against his body.

“Are you bleeding anywhere?” he asked.

“I don’t think so. I don’t feel like it,” I said.

“Let me get our things out of the car.”

He led me to the bridge we had careened into and I steadied myself against the concrete. The wind was howling around our bodies as the snow and ice swirled around in small tornadoes of fury. I was shivering and sobbing, trying to come to grips with what had just happened.

And as I continued to dwell on it, anger started rising up my throat.

I knew this was going to happen. I knew Colin was going to get us into an accident. He thought he was so smart because he owned his own company, and he thought I was just a paranoid idiot employee. I told him this weather was going to get us into trouble and I told him we were going to get hurt, and for what!? The only thing he had done was prove me right, and now we were stranded in the middle of a building blizzard with no fucking car in sight to help us out.

I couldn’t even remember where the last exit was even if we wanted to walk!

“All I did was shake my head and turn my back to him.

I could hear him sigh, but he didn’t say anything else. And it was smart of him. He knew the shit he’d gotten us into, and as far as I was concerned I was in charge of the rest of this trip. His decisions almost killed us, just like I knew they would, and I wasn’t about to spend my last moments fighting with some man that fucked me then never called again, even after he said he would.

Fuck him.

I was shivering with my arms tightly across my chest. Colin was beside me, shuffling from foot to foot and moving with the wind. He was trying to block the crosswind from hitting me so I wouldn’t get so cold, but him around moving only made me more anxious. My eyes were trained onto the highway, hoping some crazy idiot would come driving up and have mercy on us.

Because the storm was mounting and we had gotten into the part of Iowa that had no power.

Which meant we had no damn cell service.

Finally, I heard the noise of an eighteen wheeler coming down the highway. I uncurled my arms and stood at the side of the road, waving my arms while my teeth chattered. Colin kept his mouth shut and stood by our bags, and I breathed a sigh of relief when the truck slowed down beside us.

The driver leaned over and threw the door open before he looked down at me with a concerned look.

“You guys okay?” he asked.

“We crashed our car,” I said.

“Where you guys headed?”

“Wichita,” Colin said.

“Well, I’m not going that far into Kansas. Gotta catch a connecting highway in Kansas City. But there should be open rental car places there if the storm hasn’t gotten too bad down that way. I got room if you guys want a ride.”

“Bless you,” I said. “Really.”

I turned around and Colin was already handing me my bag. I quickly took it from him and slung it up onto the seat of the truck. I heard Colin groan behind me, like I’d just done something to embarrass him.

“Don’t you fucking make a sound,” I said.

His eyes connected heatedly with mine, but he didn’t challenge me. He knew he was in trouble. He knew he’d screwed up. I climbed up into the cab of the truck and left Colin to get his own self up there. He neatly slid his bag across the floorboard of the truck before he sat beside me and closed the door.

“Thank you for the ride,” Colin said. “I’d appreciate it if you could hurry.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes before I looked over at the truck driver.

“Take all the time you wish,” I said, smiling.

Really? Colin was embarrassed that I tossed my luggage onto the seat, but then he was telling this guy to hurry? This man was kind enough to give us a lift into the state he was so ready to be in, and he thought he could start barking orders? How the hell had his company stayed afloat with that mind of his? We were just in an accident that could’ve mangled our bodies because he was making business decisions instead of smart healthy decisions.

Like going too damn fast on a road when snow and ice were falling from the sky.

“Either of you need to see a doctor?” the driver asked.

“Nope. There are no more stops needed for us,” Colin said.

“Was he driving the car when it crashed?” the driver asked.

“Yep,” I said, grinning.

“I’m Doug, by the way.”

“Abby,” I said, as I shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you. And thank you again so much for picking us up.”

“I have half a mind to take you guys to a hospital anyway. That car looks pretty rough,” Doug said.

“We’re fine.”

“The grumpy one is Colin,” I said.

“Colin Murphy. I know who he is,” Doug said.

I saw Colin’s back straighten out of the corner of my eye and it made me smirk.

“Oh, really?” I asked. “What do you know about him?”

“You run that entrepreneur website, right?” Doug asked. “The one that’s doing the Europe marketplace thing or whatever this year?”

“Yes,” Colin said. “I run many things, but that is the one facet of my business that gets the most attention.”

“Please excuse his haughty attitude. He doesn’t fraternize with us common folk very often.”

Doug and I chuckled as Colin shot me a look.

I didn’t care what he thought. That was what he was acting like. He was acting like his decision to ignore my requests wasn’t what got us wrecked. He was acting like he had done nothing wrong in this scenario and that he still had the upper hand. He was acting like he could make good decisions that took into account the well-being of not just himself, but the other people around him.

Maybe that was why he was still single. Maybe he was just too selfish to be in a relationship with someone else. Maybe Christmas had just been a fluke and he hadn’t actually changed. Maybe the Colin I saw at the beginning of this trip was just a facade he threw up for me. Something to help make the atmosphere more bearable since he obviously didn’t want to be near me.

Not over the past two months, and not now.

“What’s in Kansas for you guys?” Doug asked.

“A conference,” I said.

“I’m speaking at multiple functions,” Colin said.

“And I’m there to P.R. for his company,” I said.

“You’re road tripping with your boss? You poor thing. I’d kill my boss if I had to share a cab with him,” Doug said.

“Trust me. It’s taken all I’ve have not to slug him,” I said.

I saw Colin’s head pan towards me, but this time he had an unrecognizable look in his eye.

“Well, if you guys don’t need a hospital or a bathroom, I’m gonna keep on cruising. I just gassed up, so I’m set until lunch.”

I kept my gaze away from Colin’s, but I could feel his eyes raking up and down my body. If he was trying to get me to look at him, then he was sorely mistaken. I didn’t even want to acknowledge he was there, much less look at him. He would just try to talk to me, and I wasn’t ready to hear anything he had to say unless he was ready to apologize and tell me that I’d had been right all along.

“Sounds perfect,” Colin said.

“Just keep us safe,” I said. “That’s all I’m asking.”

“You’re safe with me,” Doug said. “Just sit back and relax.”

“Finally, words of safety I can believe,” I said.

And I could’ve sworn I saw Colin’s face fall in my peripheral.