Eternal Lover

“Well,” Shae sighed as her car finally stopped spinning. “Fuck!”

She jerked her door open, placing her heeled foot on the asphalt of I-90. She leaned over the seat, trying to decide if she was going to throw up. What the hell just happened?

Forcing herself up, she marched to the passenger side of her brand-new-to-her Corvette and felt angry tears well up instantly. Blown tire.

She planted her hands on her hips and stared at the shredded radial for a few moments. She leaned her back and screamed like a banshee. The sound echoed through the canyon, returning to her, and she kicked the ruined tire.

Hands shaking, she stared west, watching a dark colored sedan streak away from her on the interstate leading to Milltown. Why did that car force her off the road?

She held her hands to her temples, biting back tears of frustration. She shook her head back and forth. “I so didn’t need this tonight.” She looked upward at the darkening sky. “Bite me on the ass!” She blew her breath out. Her pulse pounded in her throat. She squared her shoulders.

She popped the trunk lid, marched toward the back of her car, and yanked a pair of coveralls from the jumbled conglomeration of crap she kept back there. She was stopped at a precarious part of the highway, a blind curve without much shoulder. But she either changed the tire or called for help. She hated calling for help.

“Brand new dress,” she muttered. “New! Spent a small fortune on it and these damned shoes.” She smoothed her hand down the front of her skirt, hating like hell to get it dirty. She knew even putting on the oversized jumpsuit wouldn’t offer much protection from oil. Besides, she was a magnet for grime.

She shook out the coveralls, still cussing to herself and occasionally glancing upward. She knew God had it in for her. He sure seemed to enjoy making her life a joke. “At least you could have done this on the way home.”

She toppled over and grasped the open trunk to regain her balance. Her nail snagged on the latch and ripped to the quick, sending a bolt of pain through her finger and a steady stream of blood to the ground. She sucked on her finger, trying to quell the pee-inducing agony. Tears seeped from the corners of her eyes.

“Oh, Jesus.” She jumped up and down, as if that would help anything. She wanted to throw herself to the ground and have a good old-fashioned temper tantrum. She figured God would just buzz her with lightning or open up the ground and let her fall through. The finger instantly throbbed, feeling like it was ten times its normal size. She shook it, stuck in her mouth again, and felt her heartbeat in that finger.

She’d give anything to hit ‘rewind’ and go back to the beginning of her day. She’d make better choices, knowing what she knew about how it would unfold. She sighed. She closed her eyes for a moment and was disappointed when she opened them that she was still stuck by the side of a dangerous stretch of interstate and still needing to change the ruined tire.

She angrily kicked her feet out of the blasphemous heels and shoved her leg into the baggy pants. “Fuck. Me. Raw.”