the muddied mess.
“Hi Layla.” Juliet caught it on the last ring. She sent up a silent prayer of thanks for the waterproof pouch that she kept her phone in.
“Oh, thank god!” Layla squealed. “I feel so horrible that I didn’t call to check up on you. It was a hell of a night. We lost power at my mother-in-law’s house and my phone died. I am so glad you are okay! Reggie’s been out all morning working. He just texted me, he’s on his way to pick up P.J. They are going to try and help the town clear up some of the roads. P.J. told him that you were there. Reggie just forwarded a pic that P.J. had sent him earlier. I barely recognized your car. When I realized what it was, I almost had a goddamn heart attack!”
Juliet held the phone away from her ear, while Layla went on and on in that high pitched squeal. Juliet knew from experience that the rant would last a while before Layla came up for air. But really, Juliet didn’t mind. It was good to know that she had a friend who had worried about her. Of course, when Layla was done with her rambling on and on about her own adventures in the storm, she wanted to know all the specifics about what had happened to Juliet. Juliet told her about the horrendous drive home, and about taking the wrong turn. She told her friend about the car being stuck, but glossed over what had happened after that, because really, how could she explain the abject horror and terror of her body being stuck in several feet of freezing cold mud for what seemed like hours.”
“So, you spent the night?” Layla asked and Juliet could just see the wheels turning in her friend’s nosy little mind.
“Yes. I spent the night.”
“And?” Layla quizzed.
“And I will be forever grateful that P.J. was here to help me.”
“Oh, that’s how we are going to play this?” Layla sighed in apparent disappointment. “Well, I’ll let you get away with that for now!” And then true to Layla’s nature, the conversation took another rapid swing. “Lines are down all over the area, your place won’t have electricity, and like I said, the roads are a mess. Half of them washed out, the other half are blocked. Joys of living in a small, seaside town in upstate. I know that P.J. has a generator so that’s good considering that you are going to have to stay there for a couple of days. Lucky girl!”
“Yeah, well, while you are giggling and waxing romantic about P.J. and I getting stuck in the storm together, think about the fact that I now have no car, and a freezer full of pints of Rainforest Crunch and Chunky Monkey that might be melting away as we speak.” Juliet lamented to her friend.
“Well. That’s bad. But I suppose there are worse things.” Layla responded with uncharacteristic practicality.
And Juliet could not have agreed more.
It was hours later that P.J. made his way back to the house. If he never saw another damn drop of rain, he’d die a happy man. He was so tired of being cold, wet, and pissed off. Reggie and he had worked non-stop to help the town out with storm debris. Not to mention that Juliet’s car had been a bitch to move out. In the end, they had had to call in a wrecking crew company. The owner was Rudy Daltry. He was Reggie’s second cousin by marriage, and part of the Thirsty Thursday card playing crew. When he got the call, he did P.J. a solid by putting Juliet’s car at the top of his list. Even with a sizeable discount, P.J. had paid Rudy a hefty sum to get Juliet’s car out of the mud and into the junkyard. Juliet and the insurance adjuster could take it from there.
Juliet.
If shame were an emotion that P.J. was capable of feeling, he would be feeling it now. No matter how much the damn woman riled him up, he should never had lost his temper like that. The knuckles on his right hand were all bruised, swollen, and stiff, but that was nothing compared to the damage he had just done to their relationship. P.J. was pretty much convinced that Juliet had been abused by her man. Now P.J. had done everything he could to make sure that she would think of him in the same way…as a man capable