Grocery Shopping

Driving

The two drove homewards in silence for a while, Grace humming an indistinct tune and Paul tapping his fingers on the wheel. Then her phone rang, trilling musically through the car.

"Hey sweetie, what's up?" The rain pound on the windscreen, trying in vain to stop the wipers.

"Joan darling, hello?"

Paul looked inquisitively over at his wife and raised an eyebrow.

"We'll be home soon, promise. We just left the supermarket and are on our way. How hard is it raining at the house?"

There was a pause, and Paul returned his focus to the highway.

Grace laughed. It was a bird-like, gleeful sound; Paul couldn't help but smile.

"That's good, the rain's pretty bad here so traffic's heavy. Since it might take a while, would you mind microwaving some pizza for you and David, and then we can all have cake later?" Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed. It was all she could do not to apologize outright. She dropped her gaze to the cake in her lap, smiling weakly and hoping it would be enough to win Joan's forgiveness.

Understanding her distress, Paul looked over at her and pat her shoulder before returning his hands to the wheel.

"Guess that's our cue."

Paul and Grace both laughed.

"Love you too, sweetheart."

"Love you!" Paul leaned across the gear shift and tried to call into the phone before his wife hung up. "Why didn't you let me say bye to her?" he pouted.

Grace rubbed his arm gently. "Sorry, didn't mean to."

"I know."

There was silence for a few moments.

"I know why we're late, I just wish that we weren't," lamented Grace.

Paul put a hand on her knee reassuringly. "It's a big birthday, she's finally a teenager. I wish we could've had a family dinner, too. We'll make it up to her though, okay?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder how her homework's going. Think she's finished with it yet?" Paul smiled softly.

"Knowing her, maybe. But then again, David's playing and we left her to babysit so she might've gotten distracted."

"Rather, David might've distracted her."

They both chuckled. Grace went back to humming the same tune as before, placing a hand on top of her husband's. He tapped his fingers on her knee and bobbed his head along to her tune.

"What song is this?" he asked, glancing over at her.

"You know, I'm not entirely sure. I think I keep switching between Elton John and Beyoncé."

Paul guffawed. "How does that happen?"

Grace just shook her head, grinning. Then she scrunched her eyebrows together, narrowed her eyes to better see in the rear-view mirror, and whipped her head around, her hair flying past her husband's face.

"What? What is it?" Paul frantically looked between the center rear-view mirror and over his shoulder.

"Look out!" Grace shrieked.

Paul spun the wheel away from the fast approaching headlights.

Their wheels lost traction. They skid across the lanes. The truck caught up, gaining ground fast and blinding them both, and careened into their bumper. Sparks flew despite the wet, the sound of nails on a chalkboard broke through the incessant rain, and the mangled cars ground to a stop, hazard lights flashing in the dark.