Rules of the Road Page 3

  Kelsey snorted in her own car, ten miles ahead. “Who the hell is Nigel?” She did not record that though because it could have been considered rude. Instead she swiped down on the screen and responded, thoroughly loving the new feature. “Who is Nigel? Is he your carpool buddy?”

  Loving the new app feature as well, Jamie listened to the message after the chime. She reached up to turn down the heat then brought her hand down to the gearshift, past the cell in its cradle as she thought about how to answer. “Great, James! Now complete strangers can see the crazy peeking out. She sounds cute though, I wonder if she’s cute.” She tried tapping the screen to respond but nothing happened. Her attention was pulled back to the road when all three lanes slowed to a standstill near the nexus of the universe, just like normal. The nexus wasn’t really the center of the universe, but it was the spot where five different expressways converged and or branched off. The traffic jam indicator popped up.

  “Traffic slow down ahead”

  Before she could think about responding to the little rainbow car, the app chimed again.

  “Yes, I’m cute. And you apparently are crazy. You never told me who Nigel was though.”

  “Oh, goddamnit!” Jamie swore and felt the tips of her ears start to burn. Since traffic still wasn’t moving she started touching the screen in a variety of ways. Eventually she discovered the key to responding by down-swiping the screen. “Hot damn! Oh shit, er, I mean, sorry. I’ve been responding to the app on accident because I didn’t know how it worked.” She stopped speaking for a few seconds and the voice record box disappeared.

  “I see. But you still didn’t answer my question.”

  Jamie thought the woman on the other end sounded like she was holding back a laugh. She did sound cute thought, like she smiled a lot. Those were Jamie’s favorite kind of people. Finally understanding the response mechanism, she swiped again. “Again, sorry for my insanity. Nigel is the nickname I gave to my app because I picked a British voice and he’s kind of a dick.”

  “No problem. At least you can understand yours. Mine is in German.”

  The engineer glanced at her phone with surprise and responded. “Hey that’s cool. So you speak German, huh?”

  “Not one bit.” Jamie laughed out loud at the other driver’s response and thought maybe the other woman was crazy too. She didn’t get a chance to respond though because the rainbow car sent another voice message. “Hey, sorry to run but I’m at work. Maybe we can chat again on the way home. I think you’re ahead of me then. Little nerd car, right?”

  Jamie nodded like an idiot then grimaced when she realized no one could see her. “Yeah, I think I am. Talk to you then, rainbow car!”

  “Definitely!”

  As Jamie got off on her exit she couldn’t stop thinking about her morning commute. “That was fun!” For the first time in a long time she was smiling as she walked into work.

  Kelsey rushed through the back door and quickly hung up her jacket, stuffing her wallet into the large pocket. Then she shoved her lunch bag in the mini fridge. Sensing a disturbance in the force, her boss spun around in his chair and set the magazine down. “You’re cutting it kind of close this morning aren’t you, Kelsey?”

  Kelsey ran a hand through her hair then started braiding the partially damp strands. “Sorry, doc. I was finishing up a conversation in the parking lot.”

  Salt and pepper colored eyebrows went up. “You were talking to someone before 8 a.m. on a weekday?” Kelsey’s cheeks pinked thinking about the funny nerd car driver. Seeing the blush, Dr. Davies dug for the root of that blush. “Oh ho, what is this? Did you finally meet someone in that big city you moved to? What’s her name?”

  Not for the first time was Kelsey glad she had such a kind and accepting boss. Of course, he was a lot like a doting aunt but he meant well. “No, you nosey nanny! The new driving app updated and it lets you drop voice pins instead of just the preselected buttons. And I found out today that you can send a personal response to someone’s pin. Well, my new driving friend did.” She laughed remembering the flustered ranting of the other woman’s first message. “Once we both figured it out we chatted back and forth during my drive. We must live fairly close to each other because while I’m ahead of her on my drive to work, she’s ahead of me on my drive home.”

  He nodded his head sagely. “Ah, I see.” He shook his head in wonder. “What will they come up with next?”

  Kelsey shrugged. “I don’t know, doc.” She glanced at the clock and sighed. “Okay, I’m off to prep for Mrs. Barnes’s filling. See you in a few!”

  David watched his assistant walk out of the breakroom with a spring to her step. Kelsey had been working for him for about eight years and he knew all the signs when her interest was piqued. The poor girl wore her heart on her sleeve and lost it more often than not. Perhaps things would be different with such an unusual first meeting with someone. He sincerely hoped so. She was a sweet girl and he thought of her as another daughter of sorts. She deserved someone who could make her happy.

  Maybe because it was a Monday, or perhaps because she couldn’t wait for her drive home, Kelsey’s day went by exceedingly slow. With the exception of Mr. Timmer, the patients were all routine. Brad Timmer had come in for his final crown placement. Typically she would remove the temporary crown and dry seat the new one to check the fit, then do the final glue down. Unfortunately, his unglued new crown fit so well they couldn’t get it back off for the final epoxy. She first called in June, then they had to call in Dr. Davies. June got the bright idea to have the man bite down on one of the jelly beans she kept in the break room. The doctor shrugged, thinking it was as good an idea as any and it would avoid damaging the new crown.

  June looked at the man sitting up in the chair. “Mr. Timmer, what flavor would you like?”

  The poor guy looked skeptical but to his credit, still kept an open mind. “I’ll take a grape one if you have it.”

  June brought back the dish and Kelsey pulled out what looked like a grape one and held it over the new crown. “Here you are sir, now if you could just bite down slowly and force your teeth together as far as they will go.” As soon as he started to bite down Kelsey pulled her hand out of his mouth. Not even a second had gone by and the man’s eyes widened. He grunted and thrashed his head around a little with shock.

  Dr. Davies eyebrow went up. “Mr. Timmer, is there a problem?”

  “My mou ih tuck!” The poor man paused for a second and scrunched his face in disgust. “En ih mlack licrish!” A little black colored drool started to run out the side of his mouth and Kelsey quickly wiped it for him.

  “Sir, I am so sorry!” She shot June a dirty look. “You brought me black licorice?” The older woman quickly scuttled out of the exam room and Kelsey turned back to her patient. “Try to wiggle your top and bottom jaw back and forth to loosen it up. I think it will eventually come unstuck. It’s only candy after all.”

  The doctor quickly turned around and stifled a laugh in his fist but hiding was completely unnecessary. Despite his disgust at the jelly bean lodged in his mouth, Brad Timmer started laughing hysterically through his clenched jaw. That only increased the flow of dark drool and Kelsey could not help joining until the three of them had tears in their eyes. It finally came unstuck about five minutes later but it was one of those moments that Kelsey was sure she’d never forget. She also knew that she owed June a lot more than spiders in the purse since the older woman should have warned her that there were both grape and black licorice jelly beans in the dish.

  For the first time ever, Kelsey got into her car at the end of the day and was excited for her drive home. Pushing all thoughts of work and spiders aside for the moment, she quickly clipped her phone in the holder and brought up the app. As soon as she got on the expressway she was stuck in the middle of traffic hell but she didn’t even mind that. Her phone chimed as she approached exit 30 and an amused voice sounded immediately after.

  “Bloated raccoon, center lane. Possi
bly rabid, but he looks dead.”

  Kelsey snorted at nerd car’s humor. Yes, she was seriously loving the app.

  NEARLY FOUR WEEKS had gone by since Kelsey had struck up a navigational friendship with the nerd car. They still didn’t know each other’s names but that only added to the novelty. Things were kept short and polite, but also fun. She had a feeling that the other driver was a bit of a joker in real life. She often wondered what the other woman looked like. Despite the initial comment about whether or not Kelsey was cute, nothing else had been discussed along those lines and she contemplated the nerd car’s sexual orientation. She thought about it a lot.

  “Shovel in far right lane near exit 35.”

  The hazard warning was from none other than her new nerd car friend. Kelsey was still crawling along just past exit 30, so not near the voice pin yet. She glanced at the screen and saw a traditional hazard symbol appear right where the rainbow car was located. “Uh oh.” She selected it and replied. “Hey nerd, a shovel?” She was still a couple of miles from the pin so she waited patiently for a response.

  Jamie was sitting in her car with the flashers on. She ran her hand through the top of her undercut dark blonde hair then answered rainbow car’s question. She really wanted to learn the other driver’s name but she was too chicken and didn’t want to cross any lines. “Yes, a shovel. And it wiped out the front passenger tire on my pretty blue car.”

  “Hmm, that sucks. Do you have a spare?”

  The engineer sighed. “Of course I have a spare. Now ask me if I’ve changed a tire before.”

  Kelsey laughed in her own car. “Have you changed a tire before?”

  After a tick, the app chimed. “Nope.”

  She grinned at the nerd car’s answer. “Oh you poor child. Do you have some strapping young lad coming to your aid then?” Kelsey mentally crossed her fingers, hoping the answer would be no. She wasn’t sure why but she really wanted this stranger to be single. Oh, and gay.

  Tinny laugher followed the chime. “No lads at all, strapping or otherwise. And none of my lady friends are close enough to help.”

  Kelsey squealed and did a little dance in her seat. “Woot, she likes the ladies!” She abruptly sobered as traffic picked up again. Deciding that it was only right that she come to her fellow driver’s aid, she signaled and merged into the right-hand lane. She down-swiped. “So you have a lot of lady friends, do you? You sound like trouble.” Meanwhile her internal voice was asking what she was doing and pointing out that the nerd car could be a serial killer, a mouth breather, or dumb as a rock. Kelsey had a thing for smart girls. Shaking her head to silence the annoying voice she spoke aloud to the empty car. “She’s probably not dumb because I don’t think she’d have picked a nerd car icon. That’s one status you don’t claim unless you are one.”

  Jamie nearly swallowed her tongue when the reply came. She ran her finger slowly down the phone screen. “Um, maybe? What about you, rainbow car? Do you have a lot of lady friends?” While she was pretty sure rainbow car must be gay, one could never be too sure.

  “Oh, I’ve had a few here and there. And by the way, that’s a cute car you have.”

  The driver of the cute, if broke-ish, car looked into her rear-view mirror to see a little silver economy car pull up behind her and put its flashers on. Both cars were far enough off the highway that they could exit on the driver’s side of their respective vehicles safely. The woman who got out of the silver vehicle was wearing a set of scrubs which did little to hide her curves, and she sported a dimple on her left cheek. But it was the stranger’s smile that did Jamie in. It was a real heartbreaker. Before the rainbow car driver arrived at her door Jamie sighed. “Damn. No way is that woman single.” She was startled by a rap on her window so she pushed the ignition button once and rolled it down. Playing along, Jamie raised a single eyebrow and drawled at the other woman. “Yeeeesss?”

  “Nerd car?” Kelsey asked, only slightly uncertain.

  Jamie nodded and grinned back. “Rainbow car?”

  Kelsey laughed. “Actually, it’s silver and it’s Kelsey. It’s only rainbow car if you’re nasty.”

  “Seriously? You did not just say that!” They both started laughing, then Jamie was pulled back into the present by the honking of a passing car. She held out her hand through the window. “I’m Jamie, and thanks for rescuing me.”

  Kelsey shook her hand and grinned at her. “My going rate is fifty dollars an hour but don’t worry, I offer a family discount that takes everything off in the end.”

  Before she could think to filter her words, Jamie responded with the comeback that had been branded into her head by the old team she used to manage. “That’s what she said!”

  “Oh my God!”

  “Oh shit! Sorry, that was completely inappropriate!”

  Kelsey cracked up laughing but recovered quickly. “You really are a nerd! Now pop your trunk and let’s see if we can get this pretty blue car of yours up and running, eh?”

  It took less than fifteen minutes for Kelsey to change the tire while Jamie stood awkwardly nearby and delicately handed her the requested items. The blonde grumbled while her new friend crouched down to tighten the last lug nut. “I feel like such an idiot. I could have probably just changed the tire myself.” Her words trailed off when Kelsey stood up and gave her another dimpled smile.

  “Seriously, I don’t mind helping out. And don’t tell anyone but I kind of like changing tires. It’s very hands-on and I never want to admit to my dad that I fell out of practice. He’s the one who taught me to change tires when I was in high school and told me that someday it would come in handy.”

  Jamie smiled back at the woman whose good nature was infectious and couldn’t help her own flirting. “And have you handled a lot of women’s, hmm, tires?”

  Kelsey smirked. “Enough.” She stared down at her hands and attempted to brush the grease from her fingers. Jamie scrambled over to her trunk and pulled out a container of industrial wet wipes. The dental assistant took the offered wipe and thoroughly cleaned her hands while Jamie discretely did the same. “Thanks.”

  The engineer shook her head. “No, thank you! You’ve been a life saver, seriously!” Jamie watched as the other woman blushed under the praise. Kelsey had high cheekbones with a slightly exotic tilt to her eyes, and her skin was a smooth and tan. The only distinguishing marks on her face was the single dimple on her left cheek and a half inch vertical scar that ran through the center of her eyebrow. Jamie glanced down at her smart watch to note the time. “So because I owe you, would you like to, um, have, uh, dinner?”

  “No.” Kelsey had watched Jamie size her up and recognized the slight predatory gleam in the other woman’s eyes. Despite the distinct lack of smoothness with which Jamie asked her to dinner, she had a feeling that her nerd friend was a smooth one indeed. Kelsey figured that Jamie tended to put her dates on the menu. There was a vibe that certain women gave off and the blonde had it in abundance.

  Startled, Jamie’s eyes widened at the rejection. “No?”

  Kelsey took pity on the flustered woman and clarified her response. “No, you don’t owe me. But we could definitely have dinner sometime.”

  “How about tonight?”

  Jamie’s voice was hopeful, perhaps too hopeful. The predatory gleam was back and there was no way Kelsey would fall for that. “No.”

  “No again?”

  Kelsey nodded. “No, not tonight. I have plans.” The blonde’s face looked so crestfallen, Kelsey almost changed her mind. But she didn’t. Getting shot down was good for a soul. “You’ll just have to ask me again sometime and see if I say yes. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really need to get on the road.” She smiled to show that she had no hard feelings.

  Jamie was shocked but her brain finally scrambled into action just as Kelsey got back to her own car and opened the door. She yelled out loud enough to be overheard above the traffic. “Hey, what’s your number? How do I get in touch with you?’

  Kelsey
yelled back. “Easy, you can find me at Roy G. Biv!” Then she got in her car and, after putting on her blinker, she gunned it back into the right-hand lane. Only pissing off a few people when she slowed them down.

  “Roy. G. Biv, what the? Oh! She’s a smart one!” Still in disbelief, Jamie leaned up against the side of her car and ran a hand through her hair. “Holy shit, did that just happen?” She pinched her arm hard. “Ow, damn it! That was stupid, Jamie. Now get in the car, bring up the dulcet voice of Nigel, and get your ass home!” The speedy little blue turbo gunned its way into traffic without disrupting the flow whatsoever. There was something to be said for fast girls and even faster cars. Jamie thought about the way she was just shot down and came to the conclusion that Kelsey didn’t seem to like either. “Damn.”

  THE NEXT WEEK Jamie was sitting across from her friend Jenn. It was the same Jenn who was best friends with Tori, and she spent the first three minutes of cooling coffee smirking at Jamie. The coffee shop was busy but not too noisy. The Scalded Crow was a popular place in the gay district and they served vegan cookies, which was why Jenn always wanted to meet there. Not for the first time Jamie wondered why she couldn’t just settle down and get serious about someone. And if one didn’t mind the strange veganism and a few other quirks, Jenn was a great catch. Beautiful chocolate-brown skin, shoulder length hair pulled back into a wrap, a great smile, and quick-witted. Jenn’s eyes were so deep you could drown in them. She was a woman that can and had made Jamie whimper plenty.

  Unfortunately Jamie had her rules and a relationship with Jenn broke a few of the main ones. Besides being on a severely restrictive diet, the gorgeous black woman had a ten-year-old son named Malcom. Jamie got along really well with Malcom but she had no desire to have children of her own. And they’d always been careful to limit the amount of time Jamie spent at their house, so Malcom never got attached to her as more than just his mom’s friend. Besides the whole parenting thing, there was an even bigger reason why they would never have worked out. Jamie didn’t want to be tied down by anyone. She had been there and done that twice and was not doing it again.