Ignite (2 page)

“Let’s check,” he said as he clicked a few buttons on the computer screen and typed in my license number. “Oh, you haven’t been. You got a ticket last year.”

He smirked at me as though I had committed a felony.

“Just one though, I think,” I said as I shrugged. I was unsure as to why I was trying to defend myself to a man who was wearing a cheap headband that was probably intended for a four-year-old. Couldn’t he just cut his hair?

He bobbed his head around and pretended he had to really think it over. As though he were the supreme authority on who was able to renew their drivers license.

“I guess we’ll still let you through.”

I visibly rolled my eyes so he could see how annoyed I was.

He made me take the bothersome driving pre-test that had me staring into a black box in order to determine whether or not I could distinguish right from left, and that I could see flashing lights. Thankfully, I passed. He handed me a receipt, and told me to go sit down until my name was called. I was glad they were going to call me by name this time and not some random number. Those were too easily missed and fostered way too much anxiety on my end.

As I turned around to find another seat, I noticed that the Henry Cavill look-alike was called over to the booth I’d just vacated. He didn’t turn to look my way once, so I tried to forget about him and found another seat closer to the photo area.

After a few minutes, they called me for my picture.

The photographer wished me a belated birthday, and took what I was sure must have been my worst I.D. photo yet. He handed me my temporary paper I.D., and sent me on my way. I realized I hadn’t checked my phone in a while, I reached into my purse and pulled it out as I headed for the door.

The display was flashing at me, but I hadn’t heard it ring. There were seven missed calls from my uncle Jed in the past half hour.

I stopped in my tracks, completely confused as to why he would need to talk to me so urgently. I gasped and shut my eyes as I was immediately pulled back to the call from Jed that shattered my life: the call in which he informed me that my dad didn’t make it out of a mine collapse.

A split second later, I was opening my eyes, but I was disoriented for a new reason. Something, or
someone
, ran into me and knocked my phone and paper license to the ground.

I bent to pick them up, but another hand went for the paper when I went for the phone. I stood up, completely embarrassed that I’d just let my emotions get the better of me yet again. In the DMV, no less.

Our eyes met, and I sucked in a breath. He studied what he was holding and read off my name. The sound of his deep voice caught me off guard.

“I’m so sorry, Lauren Annabelle Lindsay, five-five, hazel eyes, red hair, 3239 Summit Drive,” he said as he flashed a dazzling sideways smile at me. From anyone else, this might have been too invasive. But this guy knew he could say something like this to a girl and have it charming, rather than an I’m-going-to-stalk-you-home-and-kill-you-now kind of way. His mouth was raised up higher on one side, and I could see the faint outline of a dimple on his cheek. I had the strange urge to reach out and touch it.

Confidence radiated off of him in waves, and I got the distinct notion that this guy knew he could say anything to a girl and have it be utterly flustering.

“Uh, thanks,” I managed to say and as I snatched the paper he held out to me.

We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. He looked like he was about to say something, but seemed lost for words. I knew the feeling. It was like my brain had decided to take this moment to memorize every feature on his face rather than come up with anything to say to him.

My phone began vibrating loudly in my hand and broke my reverie as a picture of Uncle Jed flashed across the screen.

“Sorry,” I said quickly. “I should really take this.” I pointed at my phone with my other hand and wrinkled my brand new license in the process.

He shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, yeah,” he said almost nervously. “I have to um… my picture.” He nodded towards the photographer, who was clearly annoyed that his latest appointment hadn’t come over to the window yet.

I grinned more easily now.

“Yeah, you’d better go now or else You’ll be camped out until next week,” I said, hoping he would pick up on my humor. He must have noticed all of the people who were turned away for missing their appointments when we were waiting.

“Shoot,” he said as he snapped his fingers and went along with the joke. “My supplies will probably run out by tomorrow.” He beamed back at me, turning up the charm I’d noticed before.

I started to move out of his way so he could get to the counter, but he turned at the last second and held out his hand.

Without even thinking about it, I took it as I tucked my phone and license under my other arm to quickly reach out and return his gesture. Strangely, I was eager to have an excuse to stay a moment longer.

“Nice to meet you, Lauren
Annabelle
Lindsay,” he said. “Hope to see you around.”

I couldn’t help but stare at the dimple in his cheek again. An eternity later, I realized I was still holding his hand and I didn’t exactly want to let go. What was happening to me? I wasn’t the girl who swooned over random guys in the DMV.

“See you,” I said as I nodded and dropped his hand.

I turned to leave as fast as I could. I let out a breath I had been holding in and realized he never told me his name. Or had he? The effect he had on me fogged my brain completely.

Of course I would meet a cute guy in hell, and then he would make fun of my middle name. You don’t get a lot of Annabelles in the land of Elizabeths and Maries.

I pushed my way through the exit doors, dialed Jed’s number, and listened to it ring as I walked to my car.

“Lauren,” he said in an all-too-serious tone. “How are you?”

Why was he wasting time with pleasantries when he needed to talk to me so badly?

“Fine.” I cut to the chase. “What’s going on?”

“Sweetheart,” he said in the same voice that he used two years ago to tell me the worst news in the world. “You need to get down to the hospital right now.”

I dropped my phone in the middle of the parking lot and groaned as it skidded underneath my car.

I PULLED UP to the hospital and took a deep breath. Jed refused tell me over the phone why I needed to be at the hospital so urgently over the phone, but I knew he would never act like this if it wasn’t important.

I walked through the emergency room doors and immediately saw him waiting for me.

“Sorry,” I told him, waving my crunched phone around. “It’s broken. I came as fast as I could.”

“Lauren,” greeted me somberly.

I rushed into his arms, grateful that he was standing before me unscathed, and sighed from relief. He enveloped me in his arms and I inhaled his signature scent of of cigar smoke and leather from his jacket.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I took a step back.

His beard was grayer than the last time I had seen him a few months ago, and it appeared as if the wrinkles on his face had multiplied.

His brows knit together.

“I’m glad you didn’t have to drive far. Come sit down, kiddo,” he said quietly as he led me to an empty waiting room around the corner.

He looked me straight in the eyes, and I sat on the edge of my chair expectantly. I knew it couldn’t be about my mom because that would be much too urgent to leave until I was there in person. Part of me doubted that he would even know if something was wrong with her. I would have to wait and hear it from my twin brother, Tucker. For reasons unknown to me, she only ever talked to him, and I couldn’t put an exact date on the last time I had seen her. Plus, she was probably halfway across the country with her new pilot boyfriend.

“I really don’t know how to tell you this, sweetheart. I thought I’d only have to deliver news like this once in your lifetime, and that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Someone was dead. I just knew it.

“Uncle Jed, just tell me.” I took a deep breath as if it would hold me together for whatever he was about to say. I didn’t really want to know, but I couldn’t stand the suspense any longer.

He put one hand on my shoulder, but it seemed more like he was gripping me for support, rather than comforting me.

“It’s Linda.”

For a split second, I had no idea who he was talking about and my mind raced at the possibilities.

“You mean Dad’s wife Linda?”

He nodded solemnly.

“Yes. There’s been an accident.”

I swallowed and suddenly felt like I needed a drink of water.

“What kind of accident?”

“I’ll get to that,” he said, gripping my shoulder tighter. “First, we need to talk about some legalities.”

I still didn’t understand. What legalities could I possibly be involved in? My dad wasn’t here anymore. His estate had already been settled. Linda got everything. I had only met the woman twice in my life, but I wasn’t her biggest fan, considering I lost touch with my dad much during the time they were married. Then I’d lived with my mom until she’d run off.

I looked at Jed expectantly and tears started to well in my eyes as I thought about my dad.

“Sweetheart,” he said again, “Linda left everything to you.”

I shrugged and tried to force my eyes to stop watering.

“Okay, well that was nice of her, considering she took everything that Dad wanted me to have when he died.”

I knew that sounded cold, but that was my honest, gut reaction. Linda and I clearly had not been the best of friends and I wasn’t all that shaken by the news of her death.

Jed shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “She left you the kids,” he said bluntly.

My heart stopped.

Kids? What kids?

“What are you talking about?”

Panic started to overtake me as I pictured the children from my dad’s funeral.

“Callie, Chase, and Emma. She left you her
kids
, sweetheart,” he repeated.

Kids were a big deal. I got it. I really wished he would stop calling me sweetheart, because he only did that when he was delivering terrible news. Watching an enormous, mountain of a man like Jeddediah Lindsay look miserable as he told me all of this made it even worse, because I was sure I was one of the only people who had ever seen him like this. The rest of the world wasn’t privy to any of his emotions.

“I don’t understand,” I said incredulously. “How can she do that? And why? Isn’t there anyone else to take care of them? Grandparents? Aunts? Distant cousins? What about you and Mary?”

I didn’t even know how old they were. I had met them at Dad and Linda’s wedding and then again at Dad’s funeral, but that was four years ago. One of them was just a baby then. No one had ever told me if it was my Dad’s child, but frankly, I didn’t care. I’d always doubted it since I liked to think of Linda as someone who got around. It was a mystery to me why he’d married her in the first place.

Jed shook his head.

“Mary can’t handle children with her flare ups, and unfortunately there’s no one else. That’s why I asked you to come here,” he said softly. “You have a lot of legalities to work through. I thought it would be easier to meet you here than if I asked you to meet at the house. As Linda’s lawyer, I’m allowed to disclose all of this to you. You don’t need to make a decision right this second, but it does need to be made soon.”

My head was still spinning.

“What kind of decision?” I asked, even though I was afraid to hear the answer.

“You’ll need to decide whether or not you will take legal guardianship of them.”

This was too much. I’d barely just turned twenty-one, and I didn’t know them. How was I supposed to make a decision based on absolutely nothing? I couldn’t just throw my life away for them all because my wicked stepmother had decided to so generously give me her children in the event of her death.

“Hold on,” I said as I raised my hand. “What exactly happened to Linda?”

Jed’s face darkened even more.

“We’ll talk about that later,” he said, dismissing it quickly.

This was the second time he’d avoided the subject, so I had the distinct feeling that he didn’t
want
to talk about what had happened to her. It obviously wasn’t pleasant.

“Let’s get you home and get some rest,” he said. “Mary is at their house staying with the children.”

Jed wasn’t someone who was easily defied, so I stood reluctantly and followed him to his car.

“Where are you parked?” he asked. Then he unlocked the doors and motioned for me to get in.

“Over there,” I said as I pointed to the south lot. “I’ll meet you at their house.”

Jed clicked his teeth.

“No,” he said sternly, using the voice I was sure had swayed hundreds of juries. “Give me your keys, I’ll have your car driven over to the house by tomorrow morning.”

I reluctantly handed them over and tried to keep a straight face, but inside I wasn’t okay. I understood that he was afraid I would run, but where was I supposed to sleep? How was I supposed to do anything without my car? I already didn’t have a phone. He was trapping me in this surreal situation, and I had no idea how to react.