When It's Right Read Online Free PDF

hour later and beckoned them into the back seat of his patrol car to give their statements. Not in the back of Cassie’s wreck as they waited in the gathering dark for the tow truck. And not as they squished together in the cab of the truck beside the driver, staring out at the tempest that had nearly washed them away and that had fizzled down into a spitting mist so scant it seemed to mock him.
    God, the entire time, all he could think was that he could’ve killed them. He kept reliving those aching seconds when the car had flown out from underneath him, the back fishtailing and his hands doing all the things he was supposed to do to bring it back under control, only none of it had worked. None. The sound of his own shouting and of Cassie’s scream. His heart stuttered just at the memory, and he winced, tightening his grip on her. He didn’t know if he’d ever stop hearing that.
    Everything was wrong. His stomach churned with a rabid guilt—part for what he’d done and hadn’t done. For how he’d been at the wheel when they’d careened and spun off the road.
    And part because, no matter how Cass had ended up in his arms, she had. And it felt right .
    The driver, Hank, signaled, and they pulled off the highway onto a silent, empty road. Nate wanted to groan. He’d had to wreck them in the middle of nowhere. After passing a gas station and a fast-food restaurant, they finally rumbled to a stop in the deserted lot of an auto-repair shop. Hank nodded toward the door and flipped the locks.
    “Nate?”
    He looked down at Cassie, frowning as she tried to pull away. “What?”
    “I can’t get out unless you let go of me.” Her lips were red, her cheeks and chest flushed. Almost as red as the welt from the seatbelt on her collarbone.
    He had to force himself to unwind his arms. Did he imagine that she lingered against him for a second too long? If so, it was over before he could really process it. She pushed the door open and hopped down onto the pavement. Nate stared after her as she took the first few, stiff steps toward the shop’s office.
    “Go on ahead,” Hank said gruffly. “Sherry’ll still be in there.”
    Nate glanced at the clock on the dash, and this time he didn’t bother to hold back his groan. It was almost eight o’clock. By the time they got a hold of the insurance company it would be too late to get a rental car. He should have called earlier, while they were waiting, but all he’d been able to focus on then was the solidity of the girl in his arms. The girl who was still alive.
    Did a town this size even have a motel? If they had to sleep in the back of the wreck…
    A figure pushed open the door of the shop, silhouetted in the dim light pouring out from within. Cassie shivered and doubled her pace. Nate gave the driver a nod of thanks and followed her.
    Inside the office, things seemed even grimmer. The space was grungy and cramped, full of file cabinets and shelves, lit by a single, flickering fluorescent bulb. A woman with big hair and long nails snapped her gum, giving off a scent of cigarettes and mint. Sherry, he presumed.
    “Looks like y’all had quite a night.”
    “You could say that,” Nate agreed. The adrenaline had more or less worn off now, and he was all too aware that his clothes were damp and it was freezing. He was exhausted and starving and didn’t know…
    “Well, we’ll get you all taken care of.”
    Nate stood by numbly as Cassie answered the questions put to her. When they were winding down, he interrupted, “We need to call our insurance company and…”
    He didn’t even know what else. He’d been in a fender bender or two in his lifetime but never anything like this. The car was totaled for sure, and they were stranded.
    His throat burned as he laughed. This trip had been all about new beginnings. And wasn’t a disaster like this just a fitting way of ending such a shitty, shitty year?
    “All right.” Sherry bent over some paperwork. “I’m closing up