Page 35 of A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love

Until the Store Closes

Pepper

The rain was steadily coming down as I drove out of Clover Creek and toward the location Christina had given me.

I wasn’t sure how technology had gotten so advanced even in the past five years that someone could share their location and the phone would give you exact directions, but here I was.

Granted, I hadn’t used the company-issued phone much in the previous years, other than to receive calls or texts from other employees, so it might not have been that much of an advancement.

But with the last rays of sunlight quickly disappearing, I had hoped it would allow me to find Christina even in complete darkness.

Luckily there weren’t many cars on the road, likely because of the incoming storm. Maybe she thought she’d be able to get ahead of it when she decided to go out, but it seemed luck wasn’t on her side today.

The farther I drove away from Clover Creek, the denser the tree line became. What color was her car again? Would I even be able to see it among the shadows of the trees? She was counting on me, so I needed to find her.

An hour and fifteen minutes into my drive, and I worried I might’ve passed her, but the app on the phone told me to keep going.

My wipers were working on overdrive, and I was about to pull off the road to try and call her when my headlight caught the glint of something on the other side of the road.

While visibility wasn’t great, I was pretty confident no one was coming in the opposite direction, so I quickly passed and turned around, pulling the hearse to a stop behind what I hoped was Christina’s car and flashing my headlights.

Christina: Is that you?

Me: Yes

Christina: Coming…

A couple minutes later, her car door opened, she quickly climbed out, closed the door behind her, and ran toward me, throwing herself into the passenger side of the hearse.

“Thank you so much,” she said as she pulled the jacket from over her head.

In the time it took her to get from her car to mine, she had gotten completely soaked.

I handed her the towel I’d brought just in case. “Here.”

“You’re my hero.” She kicked off her oxfords and stuck her feet up and under the dash, where the hot air was blowing.

“It’s fine. I got you,” I said. “What happened?”

She used the towel to squeeze some of the water out of her clothes and hair. “I don’t know. It just decided to die on me. Hopefully Ned can come and tow it back to town tomorrow and tell me what’s wrong. I should look into getting some kind of roadside assistance.”

The rain was really coming down. “I’m not sure it would help much in this.”

“Maybe not.” She flipped the visor down, inspecting herself in the small mirror. She must have had on waterproof mascara, because it was perfectly intact along with her lipstick—which never went anywhere. Satisfied, she flipped it closed and pulled out a package of mints. “Want one?”

“Are you trying to tell me something?”

“Maybe.” She smirked.

“Well, I guess I need one.” I smiled back.

She held the package out to me, and I took one, popping it into my mouth, and Christina did the same.

“These are strong.” I wouldn’t have been surprised if steam came out of my mouth.

“They’re the best.” She reached over and played with the amulet attached to my key ring. “This is pretty.”

I almost laughed. To her, it was just a silver circle with an engraved star and a red stone in the center that had a way of always catching the light just right, making it sparkle.

The symbols around the star looked like pretty adornments, not the words spelling out my curse in a language no mere mortal was capable of reading.

It was, in a word, pretty, but it was also powerful.

“Where’d you get it?” she asked.

I shrugged. “It came with the keys to the car.” Which wasn’t completely a lie. The keys came with the curse. I just decided to put the two together—since it was never possible to lose the amulet, I never lost my keys. Win-win. “Ready?” I asked. I didn’t want to rush her.

She dropped her bag to the floor and buckled her seat belt.

I did my best to check my mirrors to see if anyone was coming before taking my foot off the brake and slowly creeping back out onto the road.

The rain poured down in sheets, and my wipers couldn’t work fast enough to get rid of it.

I made it right past where her car was parked when the hearse started sliding.

Christina gripped the door handle. “Whew.”

I pulled back off the road and put the car in park. “Maybe we should wait it out a little?”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” Christina typed on her cell phone and held it out to show me. “Looks like this storm is going to be around awhile.”

I checked the gauges on my dash. “I should’ve stopped for gas.”

“But then you might not have made it to me before this.” She gestured to the window. The world was a complete washout beyond. “And I’d be all alone out here.”

“True. But I don’t think I can leave it running for the heater.” I gritted my teeth. While the hearse appeared and disappeared with the store, it didn’t have a magically filling gas tank. On the bright side, it also never broke down.

“How bad is it?” She leaned over and looked herself. “Oh yeah, you better turn it off.”

I hesitated. “But you’ll be cold.”

“We’ll both be cold,” she countered.

I glanced to the back of the hearse. “Not necessarily.”

Her head swiveled in the direction I’d just looked. “How is that going to help?”

“There are blankets back there.” I paused.

I had a feeling she wasn’t going to like this idea, but it might be the only way to make sure she didn’t freeze to death.

“You could take off your clothes, and wrap yourself in a blanket,” I added quickly, “and we could lay them out to dry here on the front seat.” I wasn’t sure how efficient that would be, but at least she wouldn’t get sick.

If it had been me to get soaked, we wouldn’t have this issue.

Sure, I’d have been cold, but no harm done.

“Why do you have blankets in the back of a hearse?” She raised her brows at me, which was fair. It was super weird.

I said the same thing when I opened the hearse’s back door a couple days ago.

“There’s this new guy at the store, and he thought it would be a good idea to put a ‘body’ back there.

Not a real one, of course, and he loaded in a bunch of padding and blankets.

It’s a terrible idea, especially since I’m the only person allowed to drive this car, but right now, I’m not mad about it.

Especially if it’s going to keep you from getting hypothermia.

” Good thing he never got around to cleaning them out like I’d asked him to.

Christina glanced at the dash, then to the back of the hearse, lifting herself up to peer over the seat and through the little red velvet curtains.

“It does look pretty comfortable in there.” She nodded.

“All right, I’ll do it.” She took off her shoes, climbed into the back, and a moment later the jeans and shirt she’d been wearing were thrown into the front seat. “Okay, I’m set.”

I wrung as much water as I could from the clothes, laid them on the seat, and turned the engine off.

“It’s almost like a bed back here,” she said.

“I think that was the point. Honestly, no one really understands what the new guy is trying to do most of the time.” The temperature seemed to immediately start dropping.

“Well, I’m glad he did this, I suppose.”

“Me too.” I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing I’d grabbed a cardigan before I ran out the door.

The fit-and-flare skirt and top I wore were cute, but they weren’t built for warmth.

However, when Christina called, there wasn’t time to think, I needed to get on the road quickly, and it was a good thing I did.

A couple more minutes and I’m not sure I would’ve made it.

Her damp towel lay next to me, and I grabbed it to cover myself. Since there wasn’t anything else around, it was better than nothing. “What were you doing out here anyway?” I asked. Maybe if I didn’t think about it, I wouldn’t be so cold.

She let out a long sigh. “I had to go to my parents’ house, and let’s just say things were interesting as always.”

“You don’t want to talk about it?” I started to shiver.

“Not really,” she said. “I could play some music on my phone or something, or no, I should probably save the battery, shouldn’t I?”

“Uh-huh.” The towel seemed to make me colder than I was without it, so I threw it onto the floorboard and tucked my hands in my armpits.

“What do you think it’s like to be tall?” she asked.

“What?” The cold must’ve been affecting my ears. I couldn’t have possibly heard her correctly.

“We’re probably going to be here awhile, and we don’t have any entertainment, so I thought we could talk about something.”

I chuckled. “And you thought we should talk about height?”

“Yeah.” She poked her head out from the back. “Oh, it’s cold up here.”

“I didn’t really notice.”

“Pepper,” she said, “your teeth are practically chattering.”

“It’s fine.” Which was a lie, but I’d survive, and that was all that mattered.

“You should come back here.”

I turned around and finally met her gaze. Brown eyes framed by long black lashes stared back at me.

“It’s warmer, there are a ton of blankets, and with these curtains closed, it’ll help keep the heat in.”

I had to admit it sounded nice. The windows didn’t exactly keep the cold out like heavy velvet could. “Are you sure?”

She nodded.