I couldn’t believe my terrible luck. Not even half an hour had passed, and I was pulling over on the side of the highway once again. I pleaded with the universe that my tire wasn’t flat. What an unfortunate thing that would be. I’d just replaced one of the front tires with my spare after an unfortunate meeting with a nail. The distinct clunk of the rear tire rotating one final time as the car came to a halt didn’t give me much hope.
I turned off the ignition, got out of the car and sighed as I leaned my head back against the seat. It was nearly dark out and I hadn’t seen another car for miles. That was a side effect of living in a small town. They were often far from anything else.
Any towing companies remotely close to my location wouldn’t be staffed this late. And to make things worse, it was Christmas Eve. Anyone who had a choice wouldn’t want to go back on duty to tow a car. Still, I tried to remain optimistic. Maybe the tire wasn’t flat.
I opened the car door carefully to avoid any passing traffic before remembering where I was. If there was such a thing as the middle of nowhere, this was it. As I shut the door, I felt something cold on my cheek. I raised my head towards the sky and gazed upon a few white fluttering flakes descending around me. The blizzard would begin soon.
I returned my attention to the rear tire that was delaying me. I began to walk towards the back of the car to examine it, though it wasn’t necessary. Even from where I’d been standing by the driver’s side door, I could tell that the passenger side rear was lower to the ground than the rest of the car.
This was the worst luck I’d had since my senior year of college. Nothing could top that. I’d found out that I was a credit short for graduation an hour before the ceremony and that the guy I’d been dating since high school was moving across the country for his dream job. Of course, he’d made it very clear that the job could wait for a semester until I could make the move too, but no decent person holds back the people they love from their dreams. Unfortunately, that meant realizing that long distance relationship wasn’t going to work for us.
Two headlights in the distance behind me interrupted my thoughts. I sighed in relief and said a silent prayer that whoever else was crazy enough to be driving down the highway as a blizzard approached would take pity on me. As the truck came closer, I swallowed my pride and waved my arms above my head in distress. To my relief, the vehicle slowed down and crawled to a stop behind mine.
The driver’s side door opened and as the driver got out, I started to stammer out a thank you. But when the door shut, revealing their face I froze, speechless. He looked exactly the same as the last time I saw him, down to the playfully devious grin.
“You know, just because I called you ‘snow bunny’ doesn’t mean you have to get yourself stuck in a blizzard every winter.” He said.
Regrettably, I found my heart was beginning to thaw. It was going to be a long evening.