Totally, Sweetly, Irrevocably(17)

…

“You have got to be kidding me,” Gina said, scowling at the cars parked in front of the bakery.

Nat glanced out the window. “Well, at least it’s busy. That’s a good thing.”

“Yeah, but not when they’re blocking the driveway. We can’t park this thing with them in the way.”

“This is true.”

Gina’s exhale sounded more like a growl than a sigh. She pulled the truck over as far to the side of the road as she could get and flicked on the hazard lights. Since mowing down a car that was parked where it wasn’t supposed to be was unfortunately not an option, she was going to have to deal with it the old-fashioned way and go find the driver.

“Wait, we can’t park here,” Nat said. “We’re double-parked. We’ll get a ticket.”

“I’ll have to circle the damn block until that idiot in the red convertible moves. Run inside real quick and get whoever it is to move his car.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back!” Nat called, jumping out.

Apparently the person who belonged to the red convertible gave Nat some grief about leaving, because Gina had circled the block three times without seeing them. She pulled out her phone. No way was she going around the block again.

Nat picked up on the first ring. “Hey, he’s moving the car now. Sorry it took so long!”

“What was he doing? Baking his own cupcakes?” Gina asked.

“Might as well have. He had to inspect every one to make sure it was perfect.”

Gina rounded the corner.

“He should be moving now, though,” Nat said. “I saw him get in his—”

Gina gasped and slammed on the brakes, but the truck still struck the back of the red convertible with an audible crunch.

“Shit,” Gina said.

She looked out the window to see Nat standing on the sidewalk, her phone to her ear, the other hand over her mouth, eyes wide with shock.

The guy in the convertible was already out and stalking toward the truck. Gina hurried and hung up the phone. He’d already seen her, though.

“I’m calling the cops!” he yelled when he reached her window. He didn’t stop yelling for a full ten minutes.

Nothing Gina or Nat said even slowed the guy down from the ass-chewing he was determined to deliver. Finally, Gina had had enough.

“If you hadn’t been parked in our driveway none of this would have happened! It’s clearly marked Private Parking and you chose to park there anyway. I was being nice circling the block. I should have rammed your tailpipe on purpose. Would have solved my problem very nicely.”

That set the guy off more. Two more minutes of back-and-forth, and Gina and Convertible Man were nose to nose, shouting at each other so loudly she didn’t notice anyone else until someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“What?” she said, spinning around. “Oh, you’ve got to be shitting me.”

The cops had arrived. And not just any cop. Her cop. Officer McStick-Up-His-Butt.

He gave her a smile that made her delusional heart stutter. “What seems to be the problem?”

Before she could say a word, Convertible Guy jumped in and starting telling Rick all the wrong things, including the fact that Gina had been on the phone at the time. Gina objected. Loudly. Rick finally held up his hand and pointed to Convertible Guy.

“You. Go over there with Officer Mahoney and give him your statement. You,” he said to Gina. “With me.”

Gina folded her arms and followed Rick over to the squad car.

“So, is what he said true? Are you at fault?”

“No! It’s totally his fault. He was parked in my driveway, and I had to circle the block until he came out, and when he finally did he just backed right into traffic.”

“Were you on the phone at the time?” Gina hesitated, and Rick’s eyebrow rose. “Were you?”

“Okay, yes, but it was only for a second,” she insisted over Rick’s disappointed sigh. “I was trying to see if he was on his way out so I didn’t have to circle the block again. I was going like ten miles an hour.”

“It doesn’t matter. That’s a ticketable offense.”

“Oh, come on. This was not my fault. It was a ten-second phone call.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, Gina. It’s against the law. We’ve been cracking down hard on this. It’s dangerous. As you proved.”

Gina glared at him. “Just because you can ticket me, doesn’t mean you should. You do have some choice in the matter, you know.”

“That’s not how it works, Gina,” he said, though he at least looked like he felt bad about it. He pulled out his ticket pad and started writing.