Chapter 7: Stalled in the Creek

The creek had come up overnight, and Ryan stopped the truck at the edge of the water and looked at it for a long time.

"We're not crossing that," I said.

"It's eight inches. I've done it in worse."

"The bakery has a cake with my best friend's name on it, and it's in the back seat. We are not drowning it."

"Then give me a second to think."

Kat had sent us for the wedding cake at seven that morning.

She had handed me the list and kissed my cheek.

"Sam knows the road," she had said, with an innocent face, and I should have known better.

Now rain drummed on the roof, and the only other way around was forty minutes of washboard dirt.

"Eight inches," he said again.

He put the truck in gear and eased us down the bank.

The water rose over the tires and the engine coughed once, and halfway across the creek the truck died.

The silence was enormous.

Ryan tried the key.

Nothing happened except a long dry click.

"Eight inches," I said.

"It was eight inches this morning."

"You said it twenty minutes ago."

He rubbed his face with both hands and, to my surprise, he started to laugh.

It was the laugh I remembered from a hundred bad apartments, quiet and helpless and a little bit ashamed.

I held out for a moment.

Then I was laughing too, with my head against the window, until my stomach hurt.

Keep reading free with an account. Start I'm Still In Love With the Groom from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.