Page 90 of Breaking the Ice

Taking a deep breath, I run my hand through my hair. “Which light is on?”

“The one that looks like a helicopter. It’s on all the time, though.”

“A helicopter?” I echo. “What the hell? This is a car, right?”

My attempt at lightening the mood with a joke doesn’t help.

“I don’t know!” She throws her hands up. “That’s what I see.”

Getting in her space, I stare at the dashboard. I don’t know where she’s getting a helicopter. “That’s probably a check engine light. Do you have an owner’s manual to see for sure?”

“No.” Isabella shakes her head. “They were expensive. I didn’t want to replace it, so I usually just pull it up online.”

Okay, that makes sense. I can do that. Cars whoosh by us as we Google and verify that, in fact, it is a check engine indicator. But I don’t know anything more than that, besides that the car isn’t working.

“Alright, I’ll go pop the hood.” Not like that will give me any insight, but it’s what guys do.

“Evan.” She puts her hand on my arm, stilling my hand on the door. “We don’t really have time to spare.”

“I know,” I yank my arm away. My words are clipped, shorter than they should be. I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Just give me a minute.”

I try to ignore the hurt that crosses her face as I lumber out and wrestle with the hood release. I get it propped open and stare at all the guts of the car. Nope, I got nothing.

But I might know a guy who can help. Slipping my phone from my pocket, I make a call.

“Hey, man!” Mateo greets me. “You ready to kick ass tonight?”

“Um, yeah. But I actually have a car question for you.”

Mateo’s family owns a mechanic’s shop in town, and he works there part-time. “What’s up?”

“That’s the problem. I have no idea. The check engine light came on and the car died. Made some weird noises, too.”

“Okay.” His voice perks up. “I’ll come see.”

“I appreciate that so much, dude, but you can’t.” The wind cuts through me, and I sigh, adjusting my collar. “We’re in Tennessee.”

“That’s not good. Want me to see if I can find a reputable shop in the area?”

What I really need is for this to not be happening to me. “Is there anything you can recommend from there? Maybe I could text you pictures?”

“I mean, I guess we could try that. But without being there…” He trails off, doubt coating his words.

“Alright, hang on. I’ll send you what I’ve got.” Because what else am I gonna do?

I snap some pictures and send them to him, shifting my weight from foot to foot as I wait for his verdict.

“I don’t know, Evan,” he says. “I wish I could tell you more, but I’d need to get my hands on stuff and test it out.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, a headache forming behind my eyes.

“Are you gonna make it back to campus for our flight?”

Coach’s disapproving look flashes in my mind. Missing because his daughter was sick was one thing—and even then, he wasn’t sympathetic. Not catching a flight because I went on vacation? He’ll kill me. I won’t get to play the rest of the season, and all my tutoring, all my hard work for my senior year, everything will have been in vain.

“Absolutely,” I say, determination lacing my tone. “There’s no way I’ll miss it.”

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