Chapter Two
“Levi?” Jennifer hollered out in the car. “LEVI!”
“Mum?” her ten-year-old croaked. “MUM?”
Cars whizzed past through the water on the road, making a sizzling sound. Their headlights blinding.
Jennifer squeezed her eyes shut tight for a moment to take inventory of her body. She wiggled her toes and shimmied her hips a little. Nothing seemed broken.
“Mum?” Levi said, panic filling his tone. “My arm hurts.”
Shit.
“O-okay, buddy. Just hang on.”
A familiar handsome face appeared at her window. It was the same man with the gray eyes and salt-and-pepper hair that helped give her a boost when her battery died. “Are you okay?” he asked.
She blinked and swallowed. “I uh …”
“We’ve called 9-1-1. Sit tight.”
“Mum,” Levi said, even more scared now.
“Can you … can you open the door?” she asked. Her hands were glued to the steering wheel and for whatever reason, she couldn’t peel them off.
He nodded and reached for the handle. But it was locked.
Of course it was. Her car was still on and running. Shaking, she slowly peeled one hand off the wheel and reached down to put the vehicle into park and turn off the ignition.
Then he opened the door. “Wh-what happened?” she asked.
“That idiot in the Tesla thought he had time to go left on the green when it was your right of way.”
“I-is he okay?”
“Dunno. Others are checking on him. How are you guys, though?”
“Levi says his arm hurts.”
He nodded. “Okay. My name is Dax, what’s yours?”
“J-Jennifer.”
“Nice to meet you officially, Jennifer.” He glanced into the rear of the SUV. “And you, Levi.” He focused on Jennifer again. “Can you move your toes?”
“I-I think so. I mean, it feels like I can.”
“Lift your legs one at a time. Carefully,” he said. She did so and he smiled. “Good.” Then he moved to the rear door and opened it. “Hey Levi. I’m Dax. You say your arm hurts. Which one?”
“The left.”
“Okay. I’m not going to touch it. But I’m going to carefully remove your shoes and get you to wiggle your toes for me, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Great job.”
The sound of sirens off the in distance inflated Jennifer’s heart and a moment later red and white flashing lights filled up the rearview mirror.
Dax returned to Jennifer. “Where abouts do you live, Jennifer?”
“Qu-Qualicum. We were in Vancouver visiting f-family.” She was shivering even though she wore a heavy sweater and had on warm wool socks.
“You’re going into shock. Hang on.” Dax disappeared.
“Wait! Don’t go.”
He appeared again. “I’m just getting you a blanket from my truck. I’ll be right back. I promise.”
She nodded. “O-okay.”
“I’m also going to close the doors so you guys don’t get wet.” He closed her door and Levi’s, then disappeared.
“Mum, I’m scared,” Levi said.
“I know, sweetie. Me, too.”
True to his word, Dax reappeared with a thick Mexican blanket draped over his arms. He opened her door again and placed it across her body, just beneath her neck. “The paramedics are here,” he said, smiling. “They’re going to check you guys out properly.”
“P-please don’t leave,” she stammered.
He squeezed her shoulder. “I won’t go anywhere. I promise.” Then he stepped aside so the paramedics could properly evaluate her and Levi.
It felt like hours that they were out there in the cold, dark and rain, when in actuality it was probably closer to an hour. Traffic was, of course, backed up and even though it wasn’t Jennifer’s fault, she felt guilty for inconveniencing people’s travels.
The Tesla driver was a young man, who besides a few bumps and bruises, walked away fine. Levi was the one to end up with a fractured wrist, and Jennifer had whiplash.
Not to mention a totalled car.
She sat in the back of the ambulance shivering, only warmed by the slowly building rage inside of her as she glared at the Tesla driver, who sat in the other ambulance talking to a police officer.
Dax approached her, his hands in the pocket of his plaid coat. “I’ve already given my statement, as have others. You were not at fault.”
“Oh, I know I wasn’t,” she said through clenched teeth. “That little son-of-a-bitch was. And now I don’t have a vehicle and my kid has a broken wrist, because he was an impatient little prick who couldn’t wait for the advanced green.”
Dax smiled. “Is that fire warming you up?”
Even though she was full of rage, that made her laugh. “A little, actually.”
“Are they taking you to the hospital?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, Levi needs a cast.”
“Then how are you going to get home? Can you call your husband or family?”
Her laugh was humorless this time. “No husband. And no family. We moved to Qualicum for a fresh start and although we have friends there, it’s so late I would never call them to come get us.”
“So not those kinds of friends.”
Her heart shrunk. “I guess not.” She frowned. “I mean, I could call my landlords. But they’re older and definitely asleep. I can’t do that to them.”
“Well, I’m happy to follow the ambulance to the hospital, then drive you home once he has his cast. All I have waiting at home for me are goats and chickens and my neighbor will have already put them to bed for me tonight.”
Emotion made her throat grow tight. “You would do that? We don’t even know you.”
“Sure you do. I’m Dax. You’re Jennifer, and he’s Levi. See, we know more about each other than I know about …” he pointed to a random person giving a statement to a cop, “that guy. I don’t know his name or what he drives. Or where he lives.”
She chuckled. “I would really appreciate that, Dax. Thank you.”
His smile stirred butterflies in her belly. “Of course.”
Even though they arrived there in an ambulance, it was still nearly two hours before Levi was admitted for proper imaging and fitted for a plaster cast. Jennifer felt so bad for Dax.
But every time she went out to the waiting room to check on him, he said he was in no rush and to take all the time they needed.
By the time they climbed into his truck, it was nearly midnight and Levi was exhausted. The doctor gave him something for the pain, so he fell asleep in the backseat before they were even back to the crash site.
When they passed it, she was torn whether she wanted to look or close her eyes.
Ultimately, she looked. Her Venza and the Tesla were still on the side of the road, being hooked up by tow trucks. She’d have to deal with that later.
Before they headed to the hospital, she and Dax made sure to grab everything out of the Venza and fortunately, his truck had the canopy on. Though, the back was pretty full of music equipment.
So the guy was also a musician in addition to a goat-and-chicken-owning saint?
And he was single?
What was the catch?
Did he have halitosis?
A weird foot-fetish?
Did he buy women’s farts in a jar off the internet? Because that was a real thing.
There were people weird enough out there that they wanted hot girls to fart in jars, and paid good money for the women to ship those canned flatulence to them.
What were his flaws? His red flags? His deal breakers?
Because all men had them.
At least all the men Jennifer had ever dated and gotten tangled up with. The worst of course being Levi’s father.
She shuddered at the memory of Tom and all the terrible things he’d done to not only her, but so many others, as well. She craned her neck around to take a glimpse at her sleeping, casted son.
Thank god, he was nothing like his father.
Besides the similar hairline and color, nose and jawline, not much of Tom was present in Levi.
Her son was sweet and gentle and easy going.
Sure, he was a little video game obsessed for her liking, but when she asked him to put it down, he did.
He didn’t throw a fit or get upset. And when she said he needed to trade the screen for a book, he met it with a grumble of resistance, but ultimately acquiesced.
The single mom thing was hard. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it when Levi was a baby and Tom went to prison. But the alternative would have been so much harder. She couldn’t stay in that relationship, constantly living in fear for not only her life, but her son’s.
Facing the road again, she closed her eyes, letting the sound of heavy traffic on a wet road become a white noise.
“Don’t fall asleep,” came a rumbly voice tinged with amusement. “I don’t know where you live.”
Jennifer blinked open her eyes. “Sorry.”
Dax chuckled. “It’s okay. I just don’t know where you live, so you can’t sleep for long.”
Smiling, she nodded just in time for them to come around a corner and see a blinding sea of red taillights in front of them.
“Shit,” Dax murmured. He brought up his phone to check the map app and Jennifer glanced over only to see a red line for what looked like the next several kilometers on the highway.
“Bet you it’s another accident. With this weather, crap visibility and potential for hydroplaning, it’s not surprising. ”
Her eyes went wide. “H-how will we get home?”
His lips twisted. “We’ll have to take the long way.”
“The long way?”
She wasn’t overly familiar with the area yet. She knew the area near where she lived, and the highway, but that was about it.
He nodded. “Yeah, we can duck down here, which takes you into Nanoose, then head down into Parksville and take the old highway to Qualicum.”
She exhaled in relief. “At least you know the way.”
That made him grin. “Stick with me, darlin’. I’ll get you home safe.”
It was about half an hour before they were actually able to get to the turn off that they needed to even begin their alternate route, and by that point Jennifer’s bladder was close to bursting.
She must have been squirming in her seat a bunch, because Dax kept looking at her funny. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”