Unfortunately, she was on his side.
* * *
The instant Charlotte pulled off the major highway and onto the quaint country road, she rolled the windows down. The smog and noise of Phoenix were far behind, leaving her deep in cowboy country. She hadn’t seen any of those beautiful, rugged men yet, but she’d passed plenty of fields and trucks galore.
With the cooler breeze teasing her brown curls, she hummed along to a tune on the radio she didn’t know. Back in Phoenix, she’d been as urban as they came—designer clothes, top salons.
Her boyfriend had the right hair, car and…well, that’s all she could say about Stephen.
In the past six months, Charlotte’s life had flipped sideways. She’d dumped the boyfriend, quit her stable job at as assistant manager at a high-end retail shop and fled her home in search of something new. Better. Calmer.
She was getting the hang of this country music. Every song seemed to be about a girl, truck, and beer. She let her mind wander down country lanes and into tall grasses. Cattle dotted the fields, and fences ran for miles. A good place for a fresh start, though she needed to find a city or at least a larger town to settle in.
As another tune trickled through the speakers of her old car, she drummed her fingers on the wheel and drank in the sun-kissed landscape. Too bad the sun couldn’t shine inside her heart, sweeping the shadows away.
Approaching a bend, she slowed.
But not enough.
Animals scattered. Limbs and horns darted in all directions. She gasped and stomped on the brakes, sending the car skidding. “Damn!” Bodies leaped in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut, but fear made her look. Two long legs bounded out of the way. The car came to a stop.
Her legs were tingly and her hands shaking. Unable to keep the brake depressed, she made sure she was off the road a little before she slid the gearshift into park. She spread her hands over her face. Breathing heavily, she tried to regain control.
The deer herd loped across the field, safe and sound. Now if only her heart would cooperate. She’d never had such a close call even in heavy rush hour Phoenix traffic.
When the hum left her ears, she figured she was fit to move on.
She put the car in drive and pressed on the gas. The car didn’t budge. She depressed the pedal farther, and the engine revved, but the vehicle didn’t roll forward.
Confusion and worry swirled in her head, making her feel as though she’d drunk country moonshine. What was happening? She hadn’t even hit one of those deer. Using her toe, she pressed the gas pedal. Nothing. The car sat there.
Battling rising panic, she moved the car into and out of park and tried again.
Not. A. Thing.
The gearshift felt funny. Was it even working? Tears jumped into her eyes and her nose stung. She held her eyes open wide. She would not cry. If she’d survived her ex—literally—she could deal with a little car trouble.
Fumbling in her purse, she found her cell.
Which had zero bars of service.
“Oh my God!” She shook her cell, as if that would help. Then she spent two long minutes stabbing buttons. Nothing happened except a trickle of sweat ran out of her hairline and zigzagged down her neck.
She got out of the car and kicked the door shut. In the field across the road, one of the deer that’d caused this crap lifted its head and gave her an innocent look. “Don’t think I can’t get this car working and run you over.” She shook her phone at the graceful beast, but it went back to grazing.
Walking all around the car, she didn’t see a single thing wrong with the body, not that she knew what to look for. She tried her cell again from all four corners of the car and even walked up the road a little ways.
Dead zone.
Biting off a groan, she opened the hood and peered down into the snakes of hoses and oily gears that might as well be a human brain. She had no idea what she was doing.
Her grunt was the best she could do to swallow her despair, and leaned against the warm metal. “Think, Charlotte.” She dug her fingers under her curls and weighed her options.
No cell service and no vehicle. She could set off on foot. With any luck, houses weren’t far off. Maybe there was some rancher with a set of tools who could get her back on the road in no time. She didn’t have to be anywhere in a hurry, but she didn’t want to be stranded overnight in her vehicle in a strange place either.
She walked to the top of a small rise, which could barely be called a speed bump. But it was enough to see…nothing. Nothing for miles. Only fields, cattle and fence.
True panic started to steal over her, and her hands shook. She shoved them in the pockets of her jeans and returned to her car, head bowed. Where had she last seen a house? At least ten minutes in the other direction. Ten minutes by car would equal an hour on foot.