I always thought it would be so easy to slash a tire, but there I was, sliding around the ice in my heels, trying to get a good grip on the thing.
“Ma’am?” The man’s voice was concerned. “Do you require assistance?”
Shit. Shit shit shit. The street had been empty! I was paying so much focus on keeping free from snowy grime that I had forgotten to listen for anybody sneaking up. I couldn’t be seen like this.. My hair was a disaster. And who wore a pink mini dress with this much tulle in the snow? There was also the incriminating evidence of being caught red-handed with a knife in my hands. At least he hadn’t seen me yet, maybe I could get up and move away before he got to this side of the vehicle.
“Umm… no thanks, I’m—” His feet came into view while I was still crouched in the snow and I decided to change tactics.
“It’s not what it looks like.” I attempted to hide the large chef knife behind my very tight dress.
His eyebrows raised, but he gave no other response.
“It’s my vehicle,” I said in a rush.
His eyebrows shot up even higher as he took in the oversized truck with the fishing decals, camo print wrap, and car nuts hanging from the tow bar.
“I just needed to… fix this tire, and all I had was a knife, so if you’ll just let me get on with it?”
“By all means,” he said, and gestured towards the truck.
Even though I was 90% sure he hadn’t bought my story, I now had to find something to fix with a knife on the tire I was trying to slash. Of all the impulsive actions I had taken over the years, this was shaping up to be the worst.
Turning around, I tried my best to block his view as I banged the back of the knife on the rim around the tire. Surely that looked realistic. A few more bangs and then I chirped that it was “all done!” before standing back up and twirling around.
Only one cannot twirl in stilettos on the ice. My shoes slipped and I had to catch myself on the truck. I looked at my hand and winced as I registered the amount of dirt on it. Hopefully none had gotten on my dress—it was only a rental and there would be no way of getting a stain out of the pale pink lace of the bodice.
The stranger looked on dubiously.
“You must be cold,” he said.
I tried to hide the goosebumps along my bare arms.
“Oh, no. The cold’s never bothered me,” I said through teeth that were clenched to avoid them chattering. “Like Elsa!”
He looked confused. Why had I said that?
“From Frozen.”
There was another beat of confused silence.
“Let it go!” I sang, wishing my brain would reconnect with my mouth.
“Did you want to get in your vehicle?” he asked. I turned to look at my Prius, idling behind the truck, and then realized my mistake. Turning back, I saw a grin spread slowly on his face.
“Ex-boyfriend’s?” he asked.
“Brother-in-law’s,” I said, my arms dropping to my side as I deflated. I’d already been caught, it wouldn’t matter if he saw the knife still clutched in my hand.
The man cocked his head to the side before asking, “What did he do?”
Heat flushed my cheeks as anger rose in me again. I wouldn’t normally tell a stranger about family drama, but I had clearly lost all sense.
“I’m coming from my youngest sister’s wedding. Joyce. Thus the dress,” I gestured to my ridiculous attire. “Jane, she’s my other little sister, was alone and crying at the reception and when I asked why, she told me that Brad, her husband, was having an affair. He admitted to it! Said he’d rather see his mistress than go to the wedding.” My voice had risen until I was shouting the last. I took a breath to calm down before continuing. “Anyway, she has location sharing turned on for his phone and he’s in that apartment complex somewhere cheating on my sister,” I finished, pointing at the building we were standing in front of.
“Hmm,” the man replied, walking up to me. “Jane and Joyce—does that make you Jen, Jamie, or Jade?”
“I’m actually Lynn. They’re my step-sisters. But I’m still the oldest sister, so it’s my job to protect them from cheating scum.” My voice was defiant, staving off any arguments to the legitimacy of my status as their sister. We might have had different parents, but they were my family, and I took that role seriously.
“Well Lynn,” the man said with a nod, “I’m Trevor. And you gotta stab the tire.”
“What?” I asked, as he got even closer. I went to take a step back, and ran into the truck. Now there was definitely going to be dirt all over the dress.
“Hollywood lied to you.” He reached out and plucked the knife from my hand. I was too startled to resist. “You can’t slash through a tire like this. If you want a flat, you’ll have to stab it.” And with that, he plunged the knife into the tire. Just as swiftly, he yanked it back out. Air began to hiss out as the tire deflated.
“Were we doing all four, or just the one?” the man—Trevor—asked.
I blinked at him in response.
“Let’s do two, then, in case he has a spare.” He walked up to the front tire and stabbed that one as well.
“Can’t stand cheaters,” he said, holding the knife out to me, handle first.
“Why did you… just… but…”
“Take the knife,” he said. I did. “You have sisters. You gotta protect them. I respect that.”
“Thank you,” I said in earnest.
“You’re very welcome. Now, let’s get out of here before anybody sees us.”
I startled, realizing where we were and what we had just done. Well, what he had just done at my behest. What kind of person did that?? Was it chivalry or insanity? Either way, I was grateful.
“Right! Thanks again!” I carefully walked on the ice back to my car and opened the door to get in, only to see him still standing on the sidewalk.
“Are you going to your car?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, I was out here walking. I can continue—” he was interrupted by the sound of a door opening in the apartment building. I was not about to wait and see who was going to come out of it.
“Get in!” I hissed, pointing at my passenger side door. I didn’t know Trevor, but I wasn’t about to let him take the blame for my crime, even if he had been the one to actually go through with the tire slashing.
He quickly got in and I sped off before he could even put on his seatbelt, leaving the apartment and the cheating brother-in-law behind.
“Where to?” I asked, when we were a few streets away.
“Wanna get some coffee?” he asked.
I looked over at him and actually saw him for the first time. He was… attractive. Really attractive. Tall, dark, and handsome with piercing green eyes. I knew nothing about him except that he had stabbed a tire for me. Alarm bells should be going off in my head, but all was strangely quiet in my head. Maybe it was intuition telling me that I could trust him. Or, more probably, I was lonely after seeing both of my younger sisters get married before me. But, I reasoned with myself, being murdered by someone that hot wouldn’t actually be a bad way to go—I even had matching underwear on for when the police found my body. If I was lucky, there might be a true crime documentary about it someday.
“Yeah, ok,” I said with a smile. “I’ll even pay, since you did the tire slashing and all.”
“Stabbing,” he corrected.
“Right,” I said. “Thanks for the stabbing.”
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