Page 3 of Your Carriage Awaits in Crumbleton
For as long as Michelle could remember, her mum’s pet name for her had been Chaos Magnet. The moniker had certainly fit the bill nicely during her teenage years when she’d lurched from one minor disaster to another. Even though she’d do practically anything to shrug off the fond but annoying label, at twenty-eight, Michelle had to admit she still managed to attract more than her fair share of mishaps.
Perhaps that was part of the reason she’d spent so much time bigging up her life with Lawrence. It had been nice to tell her parents about something that was going well for a change… a habit she hadn’t been able to drop even when things started to go sideways.
Michelle winced. She’d been so happy, so excited, sogladto tell her mum and dad about her new house and new carpet and perfect boyfriend. Of course, the downside of waxing lyricalquiteso thoroughly was that she was having a tough time getting them to understand why she’d left this “god-among-men”.
The last thing Michelle wanted to do was share the sordid details. Unfortunately, that meant her parents were still very muchTeam Lawrence.They kept trying to not-so-subtlyencourage her to seek a reconciliation. Somehow, she had a feeling they’d be singing a different tune if they knew about his regular naked-bouncy-time with his receptionist.
Even so, Michelle simply couldn’t bring herself to tell them the truth. She was having a hard enough time dealing with the fact that she hadn’t been able to make it work. She didn’t need to see the disappointment on her parents’ faces, too.
As for telling them she’d walked out on her well-paying, soul sucking job on the same day she’d left Lawrence… that was going to take some serious liquid courage! As far as her parents were aware, right now, she was busy taking all her annual leave in one great big chunk.
Her lies were really starting to pile up.
‘Enough!’ she groaned.
Her current predicament was bad enough without inviting a big fat dollop of misery to hang out with her while she was stranded.
With a huge sigh, Michelle straightened up again and stared out at the rain, watching as it bounced off the bonnet. Maybe she should give it one more go? Perhaps the engine might have dried out a bit by now…
Crossing her fingers, Michelle turned the key in the ignition. The engine didn’t even attempt to turn over. It was well and truly dead.
‘Balls.’
Defeat washed over her, but there was no point getting worked up, was there? No amount of swearing was going to get the thing started. It was time to face facts.
She was stuck. In the dark. In the middle of nowhere. In the rain.
Perfect.
Maybe I should walk?
‘No chance!’
Walking in this weather, along flooded roads in the dark, was a recipe for disaster. She had no torch, nothing high-vis, and absolutely no desire to stumble around in the marshes at night. Nope, thatdefinitelywasn’t an option. She’d simply have to stay put and hope against hope that someone would drive by.
Michelle reached for her handbag again and rummaged around for anything that might be useful. Her fingers closed around a packet of mints, a hairbrush, a half-empty water bottle, and finally, a slightly squashed bar of chocolate.
‘Small mercies!’ It might not be a three-course feast, but the gleaming purple wrapper promised a sweet, comforting hug. And right now, that was just what she needed.
As she chewed, Michelle tried to focus on the positives. She was safe, if a bit chilly, she had a small amount of food and water, and her car was off the road, so if anyonediddrive by, they wouldn’t crash into her. Plus, her parents were bound to notice she hadn’t returned when they got home from the pub… surely they’d come looking for her… eventually!
‘Fantastic,’ she sighed, taking another tiny bite of chocolate. ‘Just fantastic.’
The minutes crawled by, turning into an hour, then two. Michelle alternated between staring out at the rain, checking her phone for signal, and trying—unsuccessfully—to restart the car.
When the chill of the dark, damp evening found its way beneath her jeans and jumper, she shuffled between the front seats and grabbed an ancient blanket from one of the boxes in the back. Wrapping it around herself, she let out a sigh of relief. So what if it smelled a bit dusty… it was better than shivering in the dark!
Still the rain showed no signs of letting up. If anything, it seemed to be getting heavier, drumming on the roof of the car like an impatient visitor.
Michelle was just starting to drift off into an uncomfortable doze when a flash of light caught her attention. For a moment, she thought she’d imagined it—a dream, or perhaps the storm had decided to add some lightning to the mix for fun?
‘Wait… what?’ she breathed as a second flash illuminated the chilly interior of the little car.
Michelle scrambled around to peer through the rain-streaked rear windscreen.
That wasn’t lightning… that was...
‘Headlights? Oh, thank goodness!’
