A Sweet Collision, part 2

An ordinary, and frustrating, trip to the grocery store for some last minute Thanksgiving items is about to get worse before it gets better in this action packed meet cute by HN Roberts

Miss part 1? Catch up here

“Hey. You okay?” The man’s face turns to me and I get the full effect of him for the first time. Holy wow.

“Yeah. I think so.” I look past him to my sister’s car. “The car not so much.”

I watch as he his head turns to take it all in. The grimace on his face reminds me of just how bad the situation is. The space we are in somehow was between the tires of the cars we lay next to. If we had been any closer to the back, we might not have had legs, or at least feet. The guys own legs were squashed up so that he avoided the collision.

“What a way to start the holiday.” The guy sighs. “Can’t catch a break this year.”

Sirens begin to blare from far away and I can hear people screeching and yelling. “You’re preaching to the choir.” I nod at the car next to us that isn’t my sister’s. “That your car?”

“No.” He faces me again, basically holding himself up at this point over me in some version of a plank. Though more of a half one since he is using his knees to keep his feet in. “The car that almost hit you was.”

“Huh?” I can feel the confusion on my face mirroring my question.

“My brother was drunk. I left him in my car to sleep it off while I ran into the store. I didn’t think I would be in there that long. He must have woke up in the car and thought it was a good idea to drive home. By the time I reached it, he was climbing into the drivers seat and starting the car. I was running after it when I saw you right in his line of fire.”

“Must have been some run to catch me in time.”

He shrugs and a small, soft smile tugs at his lips. It is just big enough to let the shadows of dimples begin to pop in both cheeks. I am an absolute sucker for men with dimples. Just ask the two creeps I dated. There were only the two, my other three boyfriends, somehow sans dimples, ended up being decent people. Now that I am thinking about it, maybe there is a pattern.

“I was All-American in high school for my track team. Had a chance to try out for the Olympics, but family obligations kept me from being able to fly out to compete.”

“Huh. Well, Mr. All-American I think we better get up and survey just how bad the damage is.”

“My name is Cameron.” He does some move that gets him up swiftly that I swear I have only ever seen professional dancers do when I went to that one night club for a co-worker of mine who was getting married.

He holds a hand out to me to help me up. “C’mon. Let’s check things out. I hate to see what is happening with my brother.”

“You think he is still there?” By now the sirens are making it really hard to have a conversation they are so close.

“His ass better be.”

We stand there momentarily as we determine exactly how to get out from the small space between the cars that we were stuck in. I spot an officer and a paramedic by a car and try to wave them over. The EMT sees me first and radios to someone, hopefully telling them that we are in here.

Another officer comes loping over. A grimace on his bearded face. His hands rest on his service belt as he takes the two of us in. “Mullally. I thought I recognized the car.”

“Haversham,” the guy next to me says. “Wanna help me get out of here? It is the holidays. Why don’t you let your heart grow a little bit and help others in need?”

What the hell? The two seemed to know each other but I was chomping at the bit to smack the guy next to me to keep him from irritating the officer further. “Um. Excuse me.” I wave over at my sister’s car. “That’s my sister’s car that I came in. Can you help me?”

“She with you?” The officer continues to ignore me in favor of the man I am with.

“No. Which means you can stop being a prick and help her.”

Before he can, a paramedic approaches. “Are you okay? Were you injured?”

“I’m fine.” I tap Cameron on the arm. “He pulled me out of the way just in time.”

The guy looks me over. “I”ll still have to check you out as best as I can before you can move from that area. We can’t chance anything being hurt worse than you think.” He glances over at Cameron. “You as well, Cam.”

“We aren’t going anywhere,” Cameron tells him. “As you can see we’re pretty much stuck.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll climb over to you.” The EMT turns and yells to another one. “Grab my bag. I’m going over.” He drops the bag he was holding at his feet while he climbs over the two ends of the cars that are locked together to get to our small side. The three of us barely fit in the space. He points at Cameron. “You first so you can get out there and help.”

I shift so that Cameron can get closer to the paramedic. My body has to slide against his fully to make that happen and I can feel all the hair on my body stand on end at the contact. This guy seems to have some magnetic pull on me. I kind of noticed it back in the store. For some reason I kept looking back at him while we waited in line. It was like I couldn’t not look at him. Though I tried to act nonchalant doing it by glancing around the store to keep myself occupied in the long wait..

Cameron was freaking handsome. I thought so when I couldn’t see his face back in the store. And now that he lost his hat, I could say without a doubt that he was the type to grace romance book covers and get them sold out without any blurb on the back. His sandy brown hair, though cut short, just had a hint of curliness to it. Or maybe a wave. I wasn’t exactly the girly girl type to know the difference. His eyes were a light coffee color. Just like I prefer to drink it, mostly coffee and a dash of milk. And those God-given dimples, that should make me run away screaming from past experience. Standing at about six foot something, he towered over my five foot six height, seeing as I left in sneakers and not my usual high heels. Which considering the circumstances was a damn good thing.

“Hey.” I feel a hand on my arm and shake myself out of my thoughtful stupor. “Yeah?”

“You okay?” Cameron reaches up to grab my face in his large hand. His eyes dart between my own as if looking for something. “You zoned out there.”

“I’m good. Just thinking.” I give him a small shrug. “Don’t exactly know how I am going to get back to my sister’s house and I still need to go grab groceries again before the store closes.”

“Let me worry about all of that.” He moves me against him as we shift again. “You get checked out. I’m going to go see what the situation is.”

“Miss?” The paramedic tries to gain my attention as I see Cameron slide over the front end of my sister’s car to get out of the blockage.

“Yeah. Sorry.” I shake my head and give him a small smile. “I’m fine. Really.”

“Still have to check, Miss…” He lets it hang there for me to fill in.

“Miss Rowan Atwood.”

He makes me go through a bunch of actions and answer a shit ton of questions before he finally slides back over the back of the car and help me to get out as well. What I wasn’t expecting was just how bad everything looked from this angle. With no job and none on the horizon, I had no idea how the hell I was going to get my sister a new car. Because this one… This one was done for.

“Hey. It’s going to be okay. I promise.” Cameron stands there at my side with a jacket on over the one he had previously. This one heavy and reflective. A coat that the other firemen were also wearing around the scene.

“You’re a fireman?”

“Yeah.” He does a small little turn holding his hands out to his sides slightly. “Whatcha think?”

I can’t help but laugh. “You pose with animals and fire for calendars?”

He gives me a wink. “Only if you ask nicely.”

Crossing my arms, I try to rein in the thrill that wink gave me. “What’s wrong with you? Are you a stalker? A hitman in your spare time? Beat up women and children?”

“No. No. And God no.” His face frowns. “And I don’t even leave the toilet seat up. What kind of monster do you take me for?” He nods his head in the direction of a man being led away in cuffs. “But I do have a knack for seeing the good in people. Especially ones related to me. So much so that I give them far too many chances to hurt me and others. And for that I apologize.”

“You done flirting now, Mullally?” The grumpy officer from earlier approaches us. “I need to ask her some questions.”

Cameron smiles down at me. “Never. But she is all yours.” He grabs a hold of my arm gently. “Find me when you are done giving your statement. I’ll help you find some way to get home.”

“Thanks.”

Hours later, I am exhausted. I have repeated my story multiple times to multiple people, been checked over twice, and still have to get into the store before it closes in twenty minutes. Charlie is on her way to pick me up in a car that she rented at the airport. At least one of us thought to do that. We won’t be completely car-less this entire weekend. And I can’t find Cameron anywhere.

I stop a fireman who is packing up. One of the last people still roaming around, besides the two officers still talking to witnesses. “Excuse me. Have you seen Cameron Mullally?”

“He was taken down to the station about an hour ago, ma’am.” He looks me over, while not creepy per se, it isn’t exactly making me feel comfortable. “Anything I can help you with?”

“No thanks. I’m good.”

I make my way into the store and grab a cart as they announce that everyone should be coming up to the registers to check out. I basically run through the aisles grabbing all that I remember. I threw the list away on the way out of the store that last I’ve exited. The lines are much shorter this time around and I am in and out before they lock the doors.

Two cars line the sidewalk. My sister honks at me from the closest one. But it is the one behind her with the guy standing next to it that catches my attention. I make my way towards him. “I thought you left.”

“I did.”

“And you came back.”

He lifts one shoulder. “Told you I would.”

I notice that he has changed clothes. And his cologne smells amazing. He must have run home to shower. “Thanks. But my sister is here to pick me up.” I give a nod at the car in front where my sister is getting out after popping the trunk open.

“That’s good then.”

“Yeah.”

“Need some help?” He gives me a soft smile as he steers the cart back toward the other car.

“Oh, just give him you

r number and be done with it,” Charlie calls out to us. ”He’s hot.”

“Want my number?” I ask him awkwardly.

“Definitely.”