Page 23 of That Summer

Lucas slapped his knees as he sunk in his spot beside her. “It’ll show you how safe and protected we are.”

Her heart fell into the depths of her stomach. “Nuh-uh.”

“Look, if it gets too scary, we’ll just turn it off.”

Slowly, her gaze travelled from Lucas’ adoring face to the small screen in front of them. She forced herself to blink, swallow and breathe. Pulling the blanket tight around her as the air temperature dropped, she nodded.I can do this.

“Turn it off, please,” she said, burying her head under Lucas’ arm.

With a quick flick of the remote, the TV went black.

“I don’t feel good,” she said.

Lucas stood up and disappeared, returning a moment later with a glass of water and a washcloth. He lifted her hair and draped the cool cloth around her nape.

A chill washed over her. “That feels nice.”

“Drink.” He sat beside her and passed her the glass.

She sipped the water back and leaned against the sofa. “That video was too much. Way too much.”

It was akin to a ‘Best Of’ reel. Best NASCAR crashes of the past five years. It was horrifically spectacular.

“What are you feeling?”

Unable to look at him, she focused on her thoughts. “Fear mostly, but it’s different. Definitely not the same fear as I have getting into a car, but still.”

It was hard to describe. It turned her cold, made her nauseous, yet, it didn’t make her heart race uncontrollably.

“It has to be fear. Yeah, it’s fear.” Although she wasn’t a hundred percent sure on that.

“Okay, that’s normal. I think. But you saw how everyone survived?”

“Yes. Especially that Austin guy. That was really hard to watch. Over and over.”

A race car travelling at nearly 200 mph was touched by another car, resulting in his car flipping over two other rows of cars, and into a catch fence, stopping dead on the track. Until another car ran into the smashed up car, sending it spinning across the grass. It was horrific to watch. But the most amazing thing, the thing Lucas really wanted to drive home, was how the driver walked away from the accident.

“That was a spectacular crash he survived,” Aurora said.

And he did. Bruised up, she was sure, but nothing broken. Not even his spirit as he was back on the track in no time. Yet, two years after her crash…

Through one open eye, she glared at him before shutting his smirk away. A deep sigh and she readjusted herself, billowing her shirt as her feet hit the floor.

“Why aren’t regular cars equipped the same way?”

“It’s expensive. Plus, as a rule, no one drives at 200 miles per hour.”

A yawn escaped her; fear was exhausting. “Do you think if Momma and Carmen were in a car with all those safety systems––do you think they would’ve lived?”

Lucas ran a hand through his strawberry-blond hair, leaving a few wayward strands standing straight up. “I don’t know. Maybe? You’re comparing apples to oranges. You survived, right?”

Yes, she had. Barely. But it never stopped the what-ifs. It was a game she played all the time. What if they had those safety systems? What if they’d left even a few seconds later? Or what if they had taken a different route? What if Carmen had drove instead of her? An image of her big sister, floated through her mind. She sang along in the backseat of the car, her off-tune voice floating through the interior. So carefree, so young.

Aurora’s breath did a double skip as the images crashed over her. “I miss them.” The heel of her hand rubbed over her heart. “So much.”

“I know you do.”

The tears started to fall. Another vision, one of Momma as she smiled at her, singing along to the old Martina McBride song on the radio.