Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 13

An hour of bumbling around in the morning while she attempted to get dressed, grab food, and pack her bag made her realize how annoying this whole sprained ankle thing was going to be. She hadn't thought much about it yesterday, but when she was a kid and sprained her ankle, her parents had of course driven her everywhere, made her dinner, and carried her stuff for her. Being injured while living on your own was much more difficult, and that made Jo vow to be a lot more careful when it came to nefarious tree roots in the future.

Jo sighed as she glanced with longing at the coffee maker and then down at her phone. 7:27. Nope, no time, Well, at least she knew for tomorrow how long she was going to need to get ready. Maybe the little food court at the school would have a coffee place or, if she was really desperate, a McDonald's with hopefully passable coffee.

She made her way to the foyer with her lunch, then sat down to put her shoes on. Just in time too, because as she finished tying her laces, there was a knock at the door. Jo started up--she hadn't expected him to come to the door. She thought he'd just honk from the driveway the way her ride had done when she was in high school.

"Just a minute," she called, standing up and leaning forward to turn the lock. The handle was just out of her reach, so she hopped a step and grabbed the doorknob, pulling it open. "Come in," she said.

Ryker carefully stepped through, while she hopped out of the way and back toward the bench to grab her bag. "I got it," Ryker said, swiping it out from under her hand. "You got the crutches, remember?"

Ugh, those blasted things. Jo heaved a sigh, causing Ryker to laugh.

"Come on," he said, holding the door open for her. "I promise you'll survive this."

"That's debatable," she said, her voice almost as growly as Ryker's had been yesterday. But she hobbled forward, then locked the door after he came through. Turning back around and glancing up the driveway, she wasn't surprised to see that Ryker drove a truck--half the people that lived here seemed to. It was an old Dodge, with a nice blue color that seemed to reflect the sky. "Nice truck," she said, making her way slowly down the steps. Ryker hovered while she did, but at least he didn't try to swoop her up into his arms again. If he had, she might've brained him with one of her crutches. Accidentally, of course.

"Thanks," he said, looking up for a moment. He continued with obvious pride," my dad and I fixed it up a few years ago." Jo would've thought the mayor's son would have some sort of flashy ride, but she supposed that she didn't actually know what his parents did. Or maybe neither of them was the mayor. Maybe he just liked fixing cars.

"You like working on cars?" she asked as they made their way to the truck.

Ryker nodded. "When I have time. I just like fixing things in general. Good to feel useful, you know?"

"So you're saying you understand why I hate being stuck on crutches right now?"

His mouth twisted a little in amusement as she caught him. "Well of course I do," he said, opening the truck door for her. He held his free hand up as she glared at him. She just basically said she wanted to be independent! "Not helping you in, just holding the door open like any gentleman would do."

Fine. Whatever. She used the handle above the door to pull herself in the truck, then brought the crutches in next to her on the bench. Before Ryker could close the door she held out her arms for her bag. Thankfully, he handed it over before moving around to get in on the driver's side.

Once they were headed down the driveway, Ryker glanced over at her. "So what time is your first class today?"

""9:30, you?"