The sharp trill of her cell phone pulled Marie out of her uneasy sleep. Her annoyance at being awakened disappeared, only to be replaced with hope, as she noticed the name of the caller.
"Good afternoon Jubes."
Marie prayed she had infused enough positivity into her voice to fool Jubilee. Even temporarily. While she was holding onto the hope that Hank would be able to come get her, she didn't want to lead off straight away with her problems.
"Hey Marie. So Hank and I are beginning to wonder when you are planning to arrive? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you are getting the chance to finally take your long awaited road trip, but it's been a few days longer than expected"
Biting her lip, Marie decided to get it over with.
"Sorry Jubes. I know you have been waiting for me to get there so I could help you get ready for the babies. Turns out what started as a once in a lifetime cross country road trip has become a nightmare."
Marie could feel the heaviness in the silence on the other end of the line. 'In for a penny, in for a pound' Marie thought using one of her mother's often used phrases.
"Once I crossed into Canada, I began to notice a clanging noise under the hood of my car. I made it to this little town outside Saskatoon. The mechanic gave me a long list of problems and a bigger price tag."
"Oh Marie, that's horrible. Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Do you think Hank could drive down? I could possibly sell the car for parts. I'll cover his costs."
An awkwardness descended over the entire conversation.
"Marie, you know we would do anything to help you. Hank would be happy to pick you any other time. Unfortunately, he's covering extra shifts at the hospital so he can take extra time off after the twins are born. I'm sorry Marie."
Tears traced down her cheeks as she realized she was well and truly fucked.
Her only option now was to somehow come up with thousands of dollars seemingly overnight. Marie's breathing became labored as the walls began to close in on her.
Jubilee's voice sounded far away. Her vision tunneled until black dots floated before her.
She forced herself to say her goodbyes and hang up the phone before everything went dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She woke up to a heavy pounding on the door or walls. She wasn't entirely sure. It felt like the front half of her room was under attack.
Dragging herself out of bed, she stumbled across until she could look out the peephole.
The mechanic, Logan, and the lady from the hotel's front desk were standing right outside. The woman was wringing her hands while Logan looked to be preparing to kick in the door at any moment.
The twin looks of shock mingled with relief that crossed their faces would've amused Marie any other day.
"Well it's about goddamn time you opened the door lady. Any longer and Effie was going to call emergency services."
A confused look was the only answer she gave the surly man.
The older lady stepped forward and tried to delicately explain the nature of their alarm.
"We've been getting an emergency alert from this room for the last 20 minutes. The phone has been off the hook, triggering an alarm. We have to check it out in case it's a true emergency. Typically it's just that the guest takes it off to prevent calls disturbing them or they don't place the receiver back into the cradle completely. In my 15 years working here, I've only had a small handful of instances where it was a true emergency."
Marie grimaced at worrying this lady. She wasn't even sure why the phone would be sending alerts. She hadn't touched it the entire time she'd been here. Glancing back into the room, she could see that somehow the phone had fallen into the floor.
After numerous apologies to her, she was finally able to convince Effie that all was fine and she didn't need emergency services. The older lady seemed eager to accept the apologies and headed back to her desk.
Logan, on the other hand, was not so easily swayed and stood like a solid oak tree refusing to budge from his spot.
"That's a great story you told Effie. Now you wanna tell me the truth." He peered down at her. It felt as though he was looking into her soul.
Fully prepared to brush him off as well, at least until she was ready to address the issue with lack of ability to pay for her car repairs. Yet somehow she found herself giving him the full story. She had left her fiance, drove thousands of miles to find a fresh start, only to find herself broken down in a town she still did not know the name of. For all intents and purposes, she was stuck here indefinitely. That thought alone was enough to push her into another panic attack.
Seeing Marie's distress, Logan forced her to sit on the ground, pushing her head between her knees. He unconsciously placed her hand on his chest, letting her feel him breath in and out. Eventually she began to mimic his calmer breathing pattern and the edges of her vision cleared up.
Never having been accused of being a touchy feely guy who was in touch with his emotions, Logan was out of his element here. He wasn't even sure why he cared about this particular woman. She was just passing through and he was unlikely to ever see her again once she left. But when he had seen Effie nervously knocking on the door with no answer, he had tossed down his tool and raced to her door.
Feeling eyes on them, he looked across the street. Jean, along with her entourage, was standing outside the shop, glaring at him. Well, in reality, she was glaring at the lady next to him. He felt a protectiveness swell up in him.
Forcing both the crowd across the street and the rightness of being near Marie out of his head, he pulled her gently into his side. Giving her a few minutes to gather herself, he began to formulate a plan to solve her money problem.
He'd get her to agree to go to lunch and then he'd lay it out for her. It was the most logical solution. The thought made him smile.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Not completely happy with the first part of this chapter, but I have to let go of my perfectionist tendencies.
Warnings for panic attacks in this chapter.
Warnings for panic attacks in this chapter.
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll have a new chapter up soon.