Fear Of Broken Glass

Hitchhiker

Ash slammed on the brakes and swerved to the far side of the wet road, narrowly avoiding the solitary hitchhiker. He had his thumb thrust out in the hope of a ride out of misery, turning his head as the car passed by. Ash cursed, shifting into a lower gear, speeding up.

Justin saw the face of a young woman, their eyes making contact, separated momentarily by a pane of glass studded with rain. 'Pull over.'

Ash looked across.

'Pull over!'

Ash applied the brakes again, pulling over to the side of the road. Justin wound down the window, a thousand raindrops between them. The moment lasted but the time it took for the droplets to kiss the polish of a clean road; the hitchhiker standing as still as a statue close to the middle of the road, legs parted, looking in his direction.

'Where are you going?' he shouted out.

She just stood there, hesitant, as if she wasn't sure who they were, not used to someone speaking English in such a backward place, in the middle of the road on a miserable, wet day in the autumn.

'Do you speak English?'

The hitchhiker paused, then nodded. Head down against the rain, she ran towards the passenger window. 'Anywhere but here,' she said in American English.

Justin held the look for a moment, then turned to look around.

'My car's a couple of kilometers away.' She said as if reading his mind, looking up and down the road, returning her attention back to Justin. 'Can I have a ride?'

Justin didn't know what to say.

'I could really do with a ride.'

There was something about her that didn't quite seem right, he thought. Then seeing how attractive she was, he looked across at Ash. Ash nodded, once. Justin raised a hand, motioning to the door behind him. 'Be our guest.'

She released the straps holding her pack, letting it down and opening the door, climbed in. 'Are you English?' she asked, closing the door.

Justin nodded.

'Sorry for getting your car wet.' Water dripped off her backpack and drab waterproof anorak stained with mud. She peeled back her hood, revealing damp blonde hair. It gave her a tussled, sexy look; light white edges on a darker bed, wet and clinging, strands hanging forwards over one side of a fine, almost perfectly formed face.

If he'd had any breath she would have taken it then and there. Justin smiled instead.

Ash looked at her from the driver's mirror as he indicated, pulling out and nodded in greeting. 'Ash – I could have run you over.'

She looked at him, eyes meeting. 'I'm Ulrika.' She looked out of the back, then smiled before turning towards Justin. Then she looked up into the mirror again, rain dropping off her lashes, brown eyes that seemed fragile and yet reassuringly self-confident.

Justin smiled back from the front seat. 'Hi, I'm Justin.'

Ulrika leaned forward raising her hand, taken by his, giving him her attention. 'Thank you so much for stopping.'

'What are you doing out here?' Ash asked.

Ulrika looked back up into the driver's mirror. 'Just an assignment gone wrong; I got caught in the rain.' She shook her head, looking away.

'What kind of assignment?' Justin asked.

'I'm a photographer; magazines, mostly.' She looked back out of the rear window for a moment, then turned back to Justin with a sense of gratitude. 'I'm working on an article – Swedish lakes. It usually goes well. But today ...' She looked up at the sky, then back again. 'I guess I got unlucky... and lost.'

Justin relaxed, understanding now why she seemed so desperate to get in.

'You research landscapes?' Ash called out.

Justin watched her look towards the driver's mirror again. 'What kind of pictures?'

'Anything... natural.' She seemed to be weighing him, then shivered, rubbing her hands together as she turned to look back down the road.

Justin looked down at her clothes. 'Christ, you're soaked.'

It was Ash who asked the question. 'So how did you end up in the middle of the road, miles from anywhere then?'

***

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