front right corner of the car, which crumpled with an ear-splitting crunch and sent the rest of the car careening in a half spin until the whole thing ended up lodged sideways in the bank. My airbag saved me from hitting the steering wheel, but I still felt like I got punched in the face as I sat there afterward, quietly stunned as my brain tried to process what my body had just gone through.
“—it snow, let it snow, let it snow! When we finally kiss good night—” I shut off the radio in a daze.
“Fuck,” I whispered. “Holy—fuck.”
Where was my phone? Shit. I needed to call someone. I needed help. There was no way I was getting my car out of this snowbank by myself. I knew that much without trying. I’d need a tow.
I fumbled for my phone and stared at it for a moment. I should call…um…my insurance, to let them know about the accident? Hal, to let him know I’d be late? A tow company? In the end, though, the only numbers my fingers could reliably find were 9-1-1.
“Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”
“Um…” C’mon, brain. “It’s not really an emergency, but, ah…I crashed my car.”
“Are you or anyone else involved in the accident injured, sir?”
“It’s just me, and…no. Not really. Not much.”
I thought I heard the operator sigh. “Sir, if you’ll give me your location, I’ll notify the local police department to come and assist you.”
Right. Not an emergency. I passed on my information and was told to expect someone within the next ten to fifteen minutes. “It’s the best we can do in this weather, sir,” the operator informed me, and I got it. There had to be a lot of people crashing thanks to this snowstorm, and mine was a single car, non-injury accident. I wasn’t exactly a top priority.
My engine wasn’t running, but the inside of my car was still marginally warmer than the outside of it, even now that the passenger-side window was cracked. I sat there and did my best to stave off serious case of the “what-ifs.” It wasn’t working.
What if I’d hit the snowbank harder? What if I’d rammed the deer? What if I’d died on a country road a week before Christmas and made Hal feel guilty about me being an idiot forever? How would the girls take it? Shit. It didn’t bear thinking about.
At least I hadn’t hit anyone else. That was a mercy.
I scrubbed my trembling hands over my face, wincing a little at the pressure it put on my right cheek. That was going to bruise. My jaw bristled with a five o’clock shadow, and my hair had gone from stiff to floppy after hours melting under the blast of the heater. I had to look like a total disaster right now. Ha, a perfect match for my car.
Like a match flaring up in the darkness, a pair of headlights appeared through the falling snow ahead of me. I resisted the urge to get out and wave them over to my side of the road—if it was the police, they’d stop. If it wasn’t, then I’d do better letting them drive on and get home to their own family anyway.
The vehicle, a Jeep with an Edgewood PD logo on the side of it, pulled in across the road from me, leaving its headlights on. A figure got out from the driver’s side and headed over to me, one hand holding up a flashlight. I tried to roll down my window—nothing. The battery must have gotten fucked up, too. Great. I heaved a sigh then opened the door and got out of the car.
“Hi there, Officer,” I said, waving a hand before crossing my arms over my chest—shit, it was cold out here. I could barely see the person behind the glare of their light. “I’m really hoping that you’re my ride.”
For a long moment, there was no reply, and I wondered where I’d gone wrong. Was this not really a cop? Was I about to get murdered by a flashlight-wielding serial killer?
Calm down the lizard brain, man.
“Yep,” the guy said at last. His voice was a little rough, like he’d just downed a shot of whiskey. “That’s me.”
A shiver ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold. Maybe this crash wasn’t the worst thing ever, if it meant getting rescued by this guy.
Chapter Two
Dominic
Dinah’s Diner was the first place you saw coming into Edgewood and the last place you passed leaving