Hello hello,

Ready for a nice long excerpt?

Hope you’re having a wonderful week,

Sigrid

Milly looked around the waiting area of the car rental office. It was squeaky clean, but she found the grey carpet and white furniture horribly depressing. She focused back on her phone call.

“What did the police say?” Hannah asked.

“Not much. They mostly asked a lot of questions. Told me I did the right thing coming in.”

Milly rubbed her temple. She was already sick and tired of this day.

“But no idea who he was or something?”

Milly stretched out her legs. Her sneakers were getting a bit dirty, she noticed. “No.”

“There’s not much to go on, is there?”

“No, except for the clean fingernails. That seemed to interest them a lot. They made me describe his hand like 3 times.”

“Guess that tells them it’s not a homeless guy or something.”

“Maybe.”

Milly studied the wall across the room. A poster announced the daily charge to rent a large truck was now temporarily 50 percent off.

She smiled because it reminded her of Hannah in her big black truck. Maybe she should have gotten a pick-up to cheer herself up. It was probably safer too.

“How are you feeling?” Hannah asked.

Milly closed her eyes briefly. “Better. I can’t let myself turn this into something big, you know. I just won’t allow it. I have to focus.” She lifted her chin.

Hannah was silent for a second, then just said “OK…”

Milly was sure Hannah had wanted to say more. The unspoken words hung between them. She wouldn’t ask what Hannah really wanted to say, though.

Milly meant what she had said. She just wanted to get her replacement car, drive off and forget about all of this.

A phone started ringing in the office space behind the counter.

Hannah heard it too. “How long have you been waiting?” she asked.

Milly checked her watch. “15 minutes.”

“I’m sure they’ll be with you soon.”

Milly sighed. “They’re giving me a new rental. I’m glad I don’t have to get back into the old one.”

“I’m sorry you have to go through this alone,” Hannah suddenly said. It surprised Milly.

“It’s OK…” Milly replied.

“No, it’s not. Damn it. I should have gotten on a plane as soon as you called me last night.”

“Really, it’s ok.”

“Nobody should have to do this alone. I’m sorry, Milly.”

Milly’s throat was getting tighter. “Really, don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault. I was stupid to pull over like that in the middle of the night…”

“Hey, hey. No way. You are the victim here. It should be safe to park anywhere and at any hour, OK? Don’t tell yourself it’s somehow your fault.”

“The police sure gave me a lecture.”

“Well, then that guy was an ass.”

“It was a woman.”

“Ok, then she was an ass.”

Milly couldn’t help but giggle. Some part of her did wish Hannah had jumped on a plane. Hannah was able to cheer her up so easily.

“I’m sorry, but I have another meeting now. I have to go. Can I call you again later today?”

Milly nodded. “Sure.”

“You have the day off, right?”

“Yes, I’m not working until tomorrow night.”

“Good.”

“Miss North?”

Milly looked up. “They’re back. Talk to you later, OK?” she told Hannah as she got up from the chair.

“Yes, of course. Bye.”

“Bye.”

The guy standing behind the counter stared at her without smiling. He tapped the papers lying in front of him.

“I need you to sign these. You’ll have to pay a new deposit.”

Milly gritted her teeth. She didn’t have the energy to argue. She just grabbed the pen lying on the counter and got to work.

She wrinkled her nose as she smelled his sweaty body odor. He was leaning too close for comfort. Milly quickly signed everything and stepped back.

“I’ll need a card to charge you the 200 dollars,” he said.

Milly pulled the card from her pocket and handed it to him. He didn’t even bother to say thank you. God, she hoped she would be out of here very soon.

Luckily, once her card had been approved and charged, Milly was free to go. She hurried to the area of the parking lot the guy had pointed at.

Milly found her new rental car without trouble. She sat down behind the wheel and closed the door. Now that she was alone again, she thought of Hannah.

She replayed parts of the conversation with Hannah in her mind. Had she been too harsh about how she was feeling? Milly knew her need for focus could be off-putting at times.

A part of her wanted to call Hannah back and explain herself. Tell her why she needed to be like this. Tell her there would come a time when they could talk.

Milly lifted the strap of her purse over her head and put the little bag on the passenger seat. Hannah was in a meeting, she remembered. Calling her wasn’t an option even if she did manage to find the courage to do so.

She finally took in the car properly. It was the same model as the previous one, but the interior was darker. It would have to do.

She was only here for another 2 weeks after all. Just 2 more weeks and she could go back to commuting by foot and public transport. Back to New York City.

Strangely enough, Milly was looking forward to going back. The corners of her mouth edged up. Now why would that be?

Milly thought of Hannah’s bright blue eyes. She missed the feeling of Hannah staring at her while she pretended to sleep. She missed Hannah’s strong arms wrapped around her.

Her phone interrupted her thoughts. Good thing too. She wasn’t about to let another day go south because she was daydreaming. Focus, focus, focus, she reminded herself.

Milly lazily took her phone out of her purse. There was no one she was eager to talk to right now. She hoped it wasn’t her parents.

She didn’t want to lie to them about what had happened. And she would lie. She didn’t want them to know. There was no use in worrying them. She was fine after all.

Milly’s heart skipped a few beats when she saw Hannah’s name on the screen.

“That was fast,” she said with a big smile.

“Sorry about that. There was something I didn’t mention before and just had to tell you.”