“Hello?”

Matt and Erin both turned to see a man emerge from inside the repair shop.

“Hi,” Matt said.

“This belong to you?” the man asked.

“It’s mine,” Erin told him.

He glanced her way and extended a hand. “I’m Ed.”

They introduced themselves, and Ed continued talking. “I was going to call you in the morning if you didn’t. I’ve learned to give these a couple days to settle. Takes the insurance company at least that to get their act together.”

“Do you think it can be repaired?”

Ed nodded, then shrugged. “I haven’t looked into the weeds yet. Depends on how much of a hit the engine took. But even if it can be fixed, the question is how much and if the insurance company has to pay less to fix it or pay you off for it.”

“When will we know that?”

“I need to get it up on a rack. Now that you’re here I need some information from you and I can put a couple of my guys on it. I write a report and we wait for the insurance company to approve the repairs.” Ed scratched his head.

“At first glance, what do you think is going to happen?” Matt asked.

Ed didn’t miss a beat. “They’ll total it.”

Erin winced.

Ed walked around the car pointing out what he saw and the numbers involved with fixing them. “Back bumper, trunk, and side panels. Same with the front of the car. And here . . .” He walked to the driver’s side. “Driver’s door is trashed. Were you driving?” he asked Erin.

She nodded.

“Did someone pry the door open for you to get out?”

“Yeah, it was stuck.”

Ed bobbed his head like one of those dolls. “Right. So not only is the door going to have problems, but chances are the frame of the car is compromised, too. And fixing that is expensive. The radiator was leaking when it was brought in but we need to dig and see what else is damaged. On the interior, the airbags, dashboard, steering wheel.” He stopped and sighed. “It’s a lot. And since it’s not that new of a car, and not that expensive of a car, the repair will likely exceed its value, and that’s when the insurance company says no thanks, they give you a check, and you start over.”

“Will I be able to replace it with the check they give me?”

Ed laughed. “Not in my experience unless you have great insurance. And this is where the blame game starts.”

“What do you mean?”

“This was on the freeway, right?”

“Yeah.”

“The guy behind you will say you stopped too fast and he couldn’t avoid hitting you. Or maybe he was on your butt and he is at fault. Same for the car you hit. Were you too close, or did he slam on the brakes? It all becomes a bunch of finger-pointing. And if all the cars have insured drivers, the insurance companies look for fault so that the other company pays.”

Erin walked to the front of the car. “My brakes gave out. I tried to stop. I couldn’t.”

“Did you recently have them worked on?” Ed asked.

“No. And they were working fine when we drove into the city.”

Matt knelt down to look at the wheels. “You said you noticed a problem after you got on the freeway, right?” Matt asked.

“I guess the first time was as I was merging on.”

Ed rocked back on his heels. “I’ll look at ’em. Check to see if there is a recall of some sort. Insurance companies love going after the manufacturers, and if that’s the case, and you can prove it, you’ll probably get more money and afford to replace this one.”

Matt stood and shook the man’s hand. “Thank you. It helps knowing what’s coming.”

“I’ve been doing this twenty years. I can usually call ’em.”

Before they left, Ed had both their phone numbers and all of Erin’s insurance information. Erin had collected everything personal from the car, and they were hitting traffic on the same road she’d crashed on the day before.

“Rental car next?” Matt asked.

“How long do you think I’m going to need it?”

“You heard Ed. He didn’t think the insurance company will move fast. I’m thinking minimum two weeks.”

“I need to look at my finances. Besides, I’m not in a hurry to drive right now.”

Matt glanced at her. “You’re going to need a car.”

“I know. But I can put it off for a few days. And if the insurance company says they’re going to fix it instead of writing an insufficient check, then I can afford to rent something for a while. If not, then I’d rather spend that money on something else.” She looked out the window and muttered, “I don’t have any more shoes to sell.”

“But you’re going to be okay, right?”

She nodded. “I have some money saved. I want to be smart. The old me would have been all, ‘Let’s go rent something.’ The new me is trying to be responsible. And since I work from home and don’t have to leave the house every day . . .”

“I get it. That’s smart. And besides, you have me.”

She smiled for the first time in the past hour. “When did that happen exactly?”

Matt laughed. “At the risk of sounding like a drunk in a bar, I’ll say it was when you said, ‘Hello, my name is Erin.’”

“That was at Christmas.” She sounded surprised.

“What can I say? I’m a sucker for sad eyes with a beautiful smile.”

She stared in her lap. “I really want the sad eyes to go away.”

He placed his hand between them, palm up.

Erin laced her fingers with his.

The sadness was starting to dim. She just needed more time.

It took three days before a lack of car became a complete pain.

Ed was right. The insurance company wasn’t in a hurry to make any final decisions.

Her income was paying her bills, barely, but she knew bigger ones were coming. Renee was a bleeding heart for the abused wife, and Erin knew she was being given a big discount taking into account she was going to try and make Desmond pay for her attorney fees. But Erin knew the bill was coming.

She’d sold her shoes and even a few pricy dresses, and the money had given her a plane ticket, a new identity, and enough money to buy a used car and pay her rent at Parker’s for almost a solid year. But when she really took a good look, there wasn’t enough in her account to keep her going for long. She needed to either work a heck of a lot more, or cut her expenses. Buying her next used car would be completely dependent on the check from the insurance company. Erin wasn’t proud to admit that the idea of being broke was foreign to her. Even when she’d left Desmond, she had enough money to get by.

Instead of letting it get to her, Erin worked extra hours over the weekend and accepted another two manuscripts to put in her already busy schedule. The answer was to make more money and not bitch about what she didn’t have.

Matt convinced her to join him with his parents for a Sunday dinner, and she welcomed the break. Because he was off the following day, she stayed the night at his house.

The routine they were falling into was chipping away at the deep sadness that had lived inside her for years. She even found herself watching baseball with him and his dad, taking the time to learn the game. Erin didn’t see herself wearing a Dodgers jersey or dying her hair blue, but she enjoyed it enough to make a comment or two about the players. Mainly which ones were easy on the eyes.