Page 80 of Where the Roses Bloom

He didn’t press. “Drive safe, alright?”

“I will.”

A few minutes later, I stepped out into the evening, shutting the door behind me with a quiet click. The sky was sliding from gold to gray, clouds building low and heavy nearthe horizon. I felt it in my stomach more than I saw it—like the road home had lengthened while I wasn’t paying attention.

Just…tired. I was just tired.

I started the car and let it idle for a minute, rubbing at the knot in the back of my neck. The AC kicked on with a groan. I backed out of the gravel drive and turned onto the main road, heading west.

The trees thickened as I got farther from town, branches clawing into the dim light. I kept the radio off, thinking I’d prefer the quiet.

But the quiet wasn’t quiet.

There was a low hum under everything—beneath the tires on the road, beneath the wind threading through the crack in the passenger-side window. It almost sounded like someone whispering under their breath, just low enough that I couldn’t catch the words.

I was worried about Rhett. This was just the voice in my head, telling me Rhett was hurt, all paranoia…right? Things had been good since we’d broken the curse, likereally good, and everything was going well…

What was that?

I rolled to a halt at a stop sign, peering into the dense trees. It didn’t even occur to me that this was the place until I saw the fresh wound on a tree trunk, a bit of police tape fluttering in the breeze. My eyes found the street sign at the intersection and my stomach churned.

Mill Creek Bend.

This…this was where Carter had died.

I knew I should’ve just kept driving, but I stayed at that stop sign, staring at the blowing police tape. There was every chance I was just tired, but it had really looked like there was someone standing in the ditch when I first looked.

My hands were shaking on the steering wheel,my skin clammy. I finally got my shit together enough to get going again, pushed the accelerator…

…and the engine sputtered.

Died.

I stared at the dashboard like it might change its mind. The check engine light blinked once, then went dead, taking everything else with it—radio, lights, the whole shebang.

“No,” I whispered, already twisting the key again.

Nothing.

The car was silent, like something had reached in and pulled the breath out of it.

I checked my phone. No signal.

Of course.

For one panicked second I thought about walking. Just opening the door and heading into the dark, cutting through the woods to the next house or back to town—until I remembered where I was.

I locked the doors.

My eyes were still adjusting to the dark when the temperature inside the car dropped. It had been unseasonably cool, but acomfortable coolfor a southern September…and this was actually cold. So cold that I started trembling, teeth chattering.

I gripped the steering wheel tighter.

“Rhett,” I whispered, like maybe he’d hear me across miles.

And then the radio snapped on.

Just static.