Coming to a Crossroads Read online

  “Absolutely,” Ethan promised. Only then did Liz pull over her car, albeit reluctantly.

  Getting out of his seat, Ethan opened the back passenger door. The second he did, Pete all but fell into his arms.

  “Are we there yet?” Pete asked, breathing the question against Ethan’s chest.

  Liz could see that Ethan was trying not to breathe as he answered. “Not yet, pal. Just keep everything down a few more minutes, okay?”

  “I’m trying, buddy. I’m...trying,” Pete slurred, the very picture of misery. He tilted his head back. “But I dunno if I can.”

  Ethan managed to get his friend into the front seat. Even before he closed the door, Liz asked, “Address?”

  He rattled off a local address and closed the front door, then got into the back himself.

  Liz started up her car again. “I know a shortcut,” she announced. With that, she took a slight detour, driving away from the local street she was on.

  Mentally, she crossed her fingers, hoping the man in the front seat would keep everything down in the time it took her to bring him home. To that end, she zipped through a number of lights just as they were about to turn red.

  She wound up making it to her destination in what amounted to record time.

  Miraculously enough, Pete didn’t throw up, although he had made noises to that effect twice.

  “I’m impressed,” Ethan told her sincerely as he got out of the car.

  He quickly hauled Pete out of the front seat. In his estimation, it seemed to be getting easier. Or maybe it was just his adrenaline at work.

  “Don’t be,” Liz told him. “I was inspired.”

  “Understood. So, what’s the fare for getting him from the bar to his apartment?” Ethan asked.

  She appreciated that he didn’t try to double-talk his way out of their agreement: paying full fare for each trip rather than taking the sum of the distance traveled and dividing it up. She told him what she felt was a fair charge for the distance she’d traveled.

  Ethan nodded. “More than reasonable,” he told her. As he fished Pete’s wallet out of the man’s pant pocket, his friend giggled.

  “Hey, I’m...tick...ticklish, man.” The next moment Pete was back sitting on the sidewalk, but this time at least it was in front of his garden apartment.

  Ethan opened the wallet and found only a dollar. “Hey, Pete, when did you go through all your money?” he asked.

  Pete raised his shoulders and then let them drop. “I dunno. At the...the club?” It was a question, not an answer.

  Uh-uh. Liz had a bad feeling about this. Part of her wanted to tell the other two men to get out and just drive away from the entire group, chalking it up to a lesson learned. But having watched Ethan looking after his friends—who certainly didn’t seem appreciative—softened her. So, against her better judgment, she didn’t start up her vehicle and pull away but went on waiting.

  Ethan had Pete back on his feet—sort of. “I’ll just get him inside and be right back,” he promised, indicating the door to his far right.

  Liz had no choice but to nod. “Go ahead.”

  The moment that Ethan managed to reach the apartment door and unlock it, then disappear inside with Pete, Wayne leaned over from the back seat, wrapping his arms around the headrest.

  “So, what are you doing later tonight?” he asked Liz. He wasn’t slurring badly anymore, but his breath was still very pungent.

  Without thinking, Liz answered what she’d been thinking of since before she had picked up the four men. “Getting into bed.”

  Wayne’s arms tightened around the headrest as he tried to lean in closer. “Hey, that sounds good!” He flashed a toothy grin.

  “Alone,” Liz emphasized sternly.

  Wayne looked crestfallen. “You sure you don’t want company?”

  “Hey, leave the lady alone, Wayne,” Jimmy said, speaking up. Just when she thought there was hope for the man, he ruined it by saying, “Can’t you see that I’m more her type?”

  “I think it’s only fair to tell you two that I have a Taser in my purse,” Liz informed them in a totally serious voice.

  “No, you don’t.” Wayne laughed. Then, because he wasn’t a hundred percent sure that she didn’t, he hesitantly asked, “Do you?”

  She turned in her seat to look at the two men. “If I take it out, I warn you that I’ll be forced to use it.”

  Jimmy actually looked panicked and almost sober now. “No, that’s okay, that’s okay. We don’t need to see it. We really don’t!”

  “You don’t need to see what?” Ethan asked, getting into the car again. “By the way, here’s Pete’s fare,” he said, handing Liz the amount she had quoted when she arrived at Pete’s address.

  The sight of Ethan almost made Liz sigh with relief. She had been bluffing about having a Taser. If the drunken duo had wanted her to show the weapon to them, she wasn’t sure what she could whip out of her purse. She had nothing in there that could have looked like a Taser, even to these two intoxicated men.

  “Ethan, don’t sit too close to her,” Wayne hissed as if Liz wouldn’t be able to hear him warning his friend. “She’s got a Taser.” As he told Ethan about the alleged weapon, he was cowering in the farthest part of the back seat.

  Ethan raised one eyebrow as he looked at the driver. “Is that so?”

  She was not about to lie or deny, not while his two friends were still in the car. So instead Liz said, “I find it keeps people from doing something that neither of us really bargained for.”

  He was guessing that the Taser didn’t exist; however, he wasn’t about to bank on that. But he had a pretty good guess why she had threatened them with it. Ethan sighed. “Guys, what did I tell you?”

  “We were being nice,” Jimmy protested.

  “Yeah, we were going to have her come partying with us. We’re really good at partying,” Wayne told her, holding up his right hand as if he was taking an oath.

  “Again, I apologize for anything they might have said,” Ethan told her.

  “You might think about having that put on the front of your T-shirt the next time you go out with these guys,” Liz told him. She saw that he was searching for something to say in response and took pity on him. “Just give me their addresses so I can call it a night.”

  “The driver sleeps alone, Ethan, so there’s no use in making any plans,” Wayne told him just before he surprised everyone by suddenly passing out in the back seat.

  Despite her comment, Ethan said, “Again, I apologize. They’re really not like this. It’s just that they’ve had too much to drink.”

  “You think?” Liz quipped. “Never mind, just give me his address so we can drop him off next.”

  “Are you familiar with the new apartment homes they just finished building last year? They’re located on Oak Street and Lindstrom?” Ethan asked her.

  When it came to Bedford, she was familiar with every street, every development and shopping center in the city as well as the immediate surrounding areas. The way she saw it, it was her job, but she didn’t bother saying as much to Ethan.

  Instead, she said, “Oak Street and Lindstrom it is,” and made a right at the next light.

  When Liz pulled up in front of the apartment complex, she was on the lookout for the closest entrance. Finding it, she glanced at Ethan, waiting for directions. “Now what?”

  “Now I see if Wayne’s got any money in his wallet and pay you before I get him into his apartment,” Ethan told her, getting out of the vehicle. “And you,” he warned, leaning in over Jimmy. “I want you to behave yourself—or I’ll let her use her Taser on you. Have I made myself clear?”

  “Absolutely. You got it, Ethan. Scout’s honor.” Jimmy all but saluted.

  Meanwhile, Ethan had located Wayne’s wallet, pulled it out and looked inside. “Looks like we’re in luck.
Wayne didn’t spend everything on entertainment.” Counting out a number of bills, he folded them and handed the amount to Liz.

  She didn’t bother counting the amount—she had watched Ethan do it. “This is too much.”

  “No, it’s not,” he told her. “Seeing what you’re putting up with, you’ve earned that and more.” He slid the wallet back into Wayne’s pocket. The latter didn’t seem to even notice. “Be right back,” Ethan promised.

  “Hey, we going somewhere?” Wayne asked, coming to as Ethan drew him out of the vehicle.

  “You are going home and to bed,” Ethan told his friend, guiding the stumbling man toward his ground-floor apartment door.

  “I am? With who?” Wayne asked, his eyes almost shining.

  “Don’t start,” Ethan warned.

  Suddenly, the man was almost weeping. “I miss Cindy,” Wayne lamented, referring to the woman he had recently broken up with.

  Ethan looked at the man sympathetically. “I’m sure you do. I know how you feel. We’ll talk about that next time,” he promised as his voice faded behind the apartment door.

  Liz caught the tail end of the conversation, and it had her wondering about Ethan.

  * * *

  “Okay, two down, two to go,” Ethan announced when he returned to the Chariot less than five minutes later. He began to open the front passenger door, then stopped before he started getting in. “If you’d rather, I can sit in the back again now that there’s actually room.”

  She really didn’t mind having him up front. “You might as well continue sitting up front. It can’t be that much farther, can it?”

  “As a matter of fact, the next stop is only five blocks from here,” he told her, then gave her the exact address.

  When they got there, Jimmy got out and was wobbly on his feet. As he tried to pay for his ride, he dropped the money and nearly fell over picking the bills up. He bunched them up, quickly paid Liz and then rushed to his door. He looked over his shoulder in her direction twice before getting into his apartment and locking the door.

  “I think he’s afraid of me,” Liz commented.

  “Yes, I think so, too,” Ethan agreed with a laugh.

  She debated with herself for a moment, then decided to go ahead. “If you don’t mind me asking—”

  “You’re entitled to ask anything you want after what you had to put up with tonight,” he assured her.

  “How did you wind up being friends with those guys?” Liz asked.

  “We grew up in the same neighborhood.” A fond smile curved his mouth. “I wasn’t always as tall as I am now. Wayne, Jimmy and Pete kept the other guys from beating up on me. I returned the favor by coaching them for their college entrance exams.” He looked at her, the infectious smile going right under her skin. “I guess you could say we have history.”

  She smiled at him. “I guess you could. Okay,” she told him, starting up her car again, “let’s get you home before it’s tomorrow.”

  Chapter Four

  “So,” Liz asked as she started up her car to begin the last leg of her trip for the night, “what was the occasion for the celebration? Or was this just a typical guys’ night out?”

  “No, it definitely wasn’t a typical guys’ night out,” Ethan assured her. “It was a bachelor party.”

  Liz spared a glance in her lone passenger’s direction. “For you?” she asked after a beat. It figures, all the good ones are always taken. She saw the guarded expression on Ethan’s face and felt that maybe she needed to explain why she had asked the question. “The reason I asked is because you seem oddly sober, especially compared to the rest of your friends. I thought maybe it was because you had to show up lucid and clear-eyed to the rehearsal dinner with your fiancée and her family.”

  She shouldn’t have asked anything. It was late, and she was getting really tired.

  “The bachelor party wasn’t for me,” he told her. “But I did think one of us had to be able to make sense if we got pulled over on the way home. And then I had a couple of shots over the course of the evening and decided that maybe I shouldn’t risk it.” He laughed softly under his breath. “A DUI wouldn’t look good on my record.”

  “News flash, it wouldn’t look good on anyone’s record,” Liz told him. “At the risk of sounding curious again, just what record are you referring—”

  Liz didn’t get to finish what she was about to ask, because the word was suddenly replaced by a sudden, loud shriek brought on by surprise. She had always thought of herself as an exceptionally careful driver, but the only explanation for what happened was that she must have driven over particularly sharp broken glass or something of that nature, because out of the blue, she heard the unnerving sound of one of her tires blowing out. Simultaneously, the car lurched to one side.

  Gripping the steering wheel, her heart pounding, Liz steered into the swerve. Several nerve-racking moments later—moments that felt as if they lasted forever—she finally managed to prevent skidding, but also prevented what could have been a fatal accident.

  She was able to get her car out of the path of an oncoming truck.

  Yanking the wheel as hard and as far to the right as she could, she drove them to a safe stretch of land.

  Adrenaline pumping wildly through her veins, Liz guided the car toward the far right lane before she finally felt it was safe enough to stop. Her heart pounding in her chest, she pulled up the emergency brake.

  For a moment, they both just sat in her car, listening to their hearts pound, neither one saying anything. They were just glad to be alive.

  Finally, blowing out a long, relieved breath, Ethan said, “That was probably the most impressive driving I’ve ever witnessed.”

  Liz’s smile was etched with relief. “You can thank my stepfather for that.” The words came out of her mouth before she could think better of them.

  “I will,” Ethan said with such sincerity, she knew he meant it. “Just tell me where I can find him and I’ll thank him in person.”

  Liz stared straight ahead into the darkness. “You can’t.”

  Ethan could tell from her tone that she wasn’t giving him a flippant answer. “Oh.”

  Wanting to get past the awkward moment, Liz moved on. “His father had a farm up north, and we visited there for a month every summer. Howard taught me how to drive on an old car that he proudly told me he rebuilt when he was a teenager. He kept it stored in his father’s old barn, and it was his pride and joy. Even so, he taught me how to drive defensively on it because he loved me.”

  “Sounds like a really great guy,” Ethan told her with feeling.

  For a second, her smile was far away as Liz recalled those summers they had spent together, before her stepfather had begun to succumb to the disease that finally stole him away from her mother and from her.

  “Yes, he was. All right,” she said, turning on the hazard lights and taking a deep breath, “I’m going to go assess the damage.”

  She got out and shut the driver’s-side door. When she heard the other door being shut, she realized that Ethan had come out as well.

  “I didn’t mean for you to come with me,” she protested.

  He wasn’t the type to remain on the sidelines. “I thought maybe I could help,” Ethan told her.

  By now Liz could see what the damage was. The right front tire had totally blown out.

  Right behind her, Ethan let out a low whistle. “Really impressive driving,” he repeated, thinking what could have happened to them if she hadn’t been as in command of the situation as she was.

  “Thanks.” Belatedly, Liz looked at her passenger. It was dark, except for the hazard lights, and she really couldn’t make out details all that well. “Are you all right? I mean you didn’t smack your head or feel as if you got whiplash or anything like that, did you?” He seemed all right, but that could just have been due to the p
oor lighting. “Maybe you should just sit in the car until I’m finished.”

  “Finished?” Ethan repeated, confused. “Finished with what?”

  “Well, we’re not going anywhere until I change that tire,” she said, jerking her thumb in its general direction. She paused to peer at him more closely. “Are you sure you didn’t get hurt?”

  “I’m sure,” Ethan told her, more interested in something else she’d just said. “You’re planning on changing the tire?” he questioned. “Why don’t you just call a towing service? Chariot has to have some sort of contingency for that. They’ll come out and change your tire for you.”

  “They do, but waiting for them to come could take a while,” she told him as she popped her trunk. “Besides, I’ve got everything I need to change a tire right in my trunk.”

  “I take it your stepfather showed you how to change a tire,” Ethan guessed.

  “No, he talked me through it, and I changed the tire,” she corrected. “Said it would stay with me longer that way.

  “Ordinarily, if I had a leaking tire, I would just fill it with that can of compressed air and sealant I have. That’s supposed to be good for fifty miles, which is always enough to get me home from wherever I am. But this baby,” she said, looking at the shards that were once part of her tire, “it just blew to smithereens, so I’m going to have to take the whole thing off.” She walked to the rear of her vehicle and popped the trunk. “Luckily, I have a full-size tire in my trunk, not one of those teeny, cute little pseudotires.”

  The more she talked, the more fascinating Ethan found her. His Chariot driver was unlike any other woman he had ever known.

  “You’re probably the most resourceful woman I’ve ever met.” As he said that, he took off his jacket and then carelessly tossed it in the car.

  “What are you doing?” Liz asked, wondering if she had given him the wrong impression.

  Did he think this was an opportunity to do whatever he wanted with her? Other than the truck that had come barreling toward them before she got them out of the way, the road had been fairly deserted in both directions. Liz really wished now that she had signed up for that course in self-defense her mother was always trying to convince her to take. She wouldn’t be feeling quite as vulnerable right now.