I shift the car into reverse, look in my rearview back-up camera, and reverse out of the parking spot before heading down the road.
“Honestly? It wasn’t good. It was actually really bad. I’ve never heard Grace talk like that. She wasn’t just condescending like normal, which she used to not be anyway. But this was so much worse.”
“Worse how?”
I see the sign for one of my favorite fast food restaurants and pull in to go through the drive-thru because I might not have had an appetite to eat with Grace and Lucy, but I’m hungry now.
“Worse in that she told me I was an unfit mother, for one.”
He’s quiet on the other end of the line and I wonder if the call was dropped even though it didn’t beep at me to alert me that it was dropped.
“She said what?” he asks in a low and, quite frankly, scary voice.
“Yup,” I say, letting the P pop at the end. “I’m grabbing some food. I didn’t stay to eat my dinner. Want anything?”
“Where are you getting food from?”
“Take a guess,” I say, smiling. He knows my food obsessions well at this point.
“Figured. If you get something for me, too, does that mean you’re coming over?”
It takes me a second to realize that’s where I was headed and when it clicks, I don’t know how I feel about it.
“By your silence I’m going to guess that you’re having a little internal meltdown right now but shut it off and come back to reality. Yes, I definitely want you to come over and I’m glad you planned on it without thinking it through. Yes, get me some food. I’m starving. If you’ll get me a chicken sandwich, macaroni and cheese, and one of their cookies, I’d be forever grateful.”
He’s so unbelievably sweet. He could have made me feel awkward about assuming that I would be going to his place, but he rolled with it like the kickass guy he is. I’m falling so hard and fast for this man and nothing seems to be able to slow it down.
“You know I’m not sharing my nuggets.”
“You know I’m not sharing my mac and cheese, either. So get an extra order of each of ‘em. And the waffle fries, too. We’ll eat it. Ain’t worried about it going to waste.”
“Grace and Samuel think I’m fat.” I have no idea why I blurt that out. Maybe it’s because we’re talking about all this fast food I’m about to inhale when I get to his house.
“Then we’ll send them a picture of your rockin’ fucking body and prove them wrong. They’re both assholes. Want me to go beat the shit outta Sammy boy?”
A giggle bursts out of me and a tear slips down my cheek as I wait in line at the best chicken fast food place on the planet. “Not that I don’t think you could, because obviously he’s no match for you, but Grace would probably do her lawyer thing and he’d tell the police about it and claim you assaulted him. It’d become a whole big thing and I’m not really up for it right now.”
“If you change your mind, you let me know.”
Even though he’s not an aggressive person by nature, I have no doubt that he wouldn’t follow through and go to battle on my behalf.
“I’ll do that.”
I pull ahead in line and place our order, two of everything because we’re a couple of monsters when it comes to eating. But spending the night on Nik’s couch pigging out over chicken nuggets and waffle fries sounds like the perfect way to end this shit-tastic day.
“Okay, I’m back. It’s busy tonight.”
“It always is,” he reminds me. “Best chicken on the planet, right?”
“Fucking right, it is,” I say, causing him to burst out laughing.
“Oh, man, Grace must have really pissed you off tonight if you’re pulling out the fucks.”
“She really did.”
“Can you give me a hint?”
“Hang on. I’m getting the food.”
He waits on the other end as the lovely lady who holds my bag of deliciousness takes my card. After our meal is safe and sound on the front passenger seat, I drive out of the parking lot, heading toward Nik’s.
“I’m a little afraid of telling you what happened because I know for a fact that you’re going to freak out so I need you to promise me that you won’t do that first. I feel like there’s something going on with Grace for her to say what she said, but I can’t be sure.”
“You’re not selling this very well, baby.”
“I know, I know.” I stop at the stoplight and wait. “Okay, so you know how she and Samuel have been trying to get pregnant?”
“Yeah? Let me guess. She’s mad at you that you got pregnant first.”
“No. Well, maybe? Kind of? I don’t know for sure. But they decided on adoption.”
“Oh.” He pauses, thinking. “That’s not so bad, right?”
“Them adopting? No. Whose baby they want to adopt? Yes.”
“Care to elaborate on that?”
“They want to adopt our baby.”
“What the fuck!” he shouts. “Are you fucking kidding me? Is she insane? She’s gotta be, right? That had to be a sick joke.” I couldn’t agree more with that.
The light turns green and I take off once again.
“Oh, she’s definitely… oh shit!” Out of the corner of my eye I see an incredibly large SUV careening toward me at a high rate of speed. The vehicle hits me in the passenger side with such force, my head hits my driver’s side window and I skid across the intersection, smashing into an oncoming truck. Glass shatters on impact all around me and the sound of metal crunching and tires squealing rings in my ears.
In the distance, I hear Nik frantically calling my name.
“Baby! Ash! What the fuck happened? Are you okay? Talk to me! Ashley!”
He’s shouting to me and I want to call out to him to let him know that I’m here and I’m okay, but the truth of the matter is, I don’t know if I’m okay. I cradle my stomach and look around, barely able to see anything through the splintered windshield.
“I’m…” I trail off, not able to say anything more. It feels like I’m being suffocated and I realize it’s because I’m still strapped in with my seat belt and the airbags all around me deployed.
Raising a hand, I try to unlatch my seat belt but I can’t seem to find the button to release it. I don’t hear Nik’s voice anymore and that makes me sad. I really need to hear him tell me that I’ll be okay and that the baby will be okay. I just need him.
Outside of my car, I hear commotion all around me. People shouting at me, trying to get my attention and letting me know they’ve called an ambulance. I loll my head to the right and see the vehicle that hit me. Their front end is scrunched up like an accordion and I can see that their airbags deployed as well.
I turn to the left again, which is easier for me because then I can rest my head against my window and see people all around me. Their phones to their ears, hands on their heads. I feel something sticky on my left temple and wince when I feel a sharp tug against my skin when I shift it against the window.
Everything I do seems to be in slow motion and when I look at the window beside me, all I see is shattered glass and bright red smeared all over.