Page 3 of Making It Up

Her eyes widen. “That would be amazing.”

“That would not be amazing,” I say. “Mountain lion prints are made by mountain lions.”

She waits a beat, as if waiting for me to go on.

I don’t need to go on.

“Well… “she finally says. “Yes. Obviously.”

There’s a loud crack of thunder overhead just then and we both jump. I scowl up at the sky. She’s not at risk from a mountain lion right now thanks to me, but she is about ten minutes away from possibly being thunked in the head with a big piece of hail.

“We need to get out of here,” I say, turning on my heel.

“Wait, what? You’re not going to change my tire?”

I turn back. “I am definitely not going to change your tire.”

“Why not?”

“I appreciate you thinking I’m some kind of super hero here, but the ground is too soft and uneven for me to use that jack too.”

“So how am I going to get my car back to the road?”

“I’m guessing by towing it.”

“Are you going to tow it?”

“I am not.”

“Why not?”

I sigh and stalk back to where she’s standing. “Because it’s late, I don’t have a chain with me, it’s about to get really fucking wet and windy, and, maybe most of all, I don’t want to.”

Her eyes widen. Then she glances back at her car. “I can’t just leave it out here.”

“You should have thought of that before you drove it out here.”

“I didn’t mean to get a flat tire!”

“You should still always prepare for anything. Does anyone even know you’re out here?” I ask, that suddenly occurring to me. “Why hasn’t anyone come out here looking for you?”

“I… “

She trails off and it’s clear she doesn’t want to answer me. Which is an answer all on its own.

“You didn’t tell anyone,” I say flatly.

“I didn’t think I needed to.”

“Why didn’t you keep your phone charged? “

Fine, so she could have hit something with her tire. I’ve had a flat or two—or four—being off-road in these fields and hills, and a couple of times just sticking to main roads. It happens. But I always had a phone and my radio with me.

“It’s not the battery,” she says. “I dropped it a couple of days ago and it just shuts off sometimes now and won’t come back on just because I want it to. My new one’s in the mail.”

Huh. Well… “You probably shouldn’t come this far out all alone without a reliable phone.”

Her eyes narrow. “Well, thanks. That’s a super helpful observation.”