Crashing Waves (Wayhaught Love Story)

Chapter Six: Car Troubles

Waverly
    Waverly woke up on the beautiful Monday morning. She glanced out of her window that looked over the homestead. The sun was shining brightly in the sky. She glanced at her watch, and it read 11:30. She had slept in until almost noon! That surprised Waves. She hadn't done that since high school. It was nice to be back home. This place felt safe and calm.
    The petite girl climbed out of her bed and headed down the stairs to the smell of bacon. Gus was standing at the stove with an iron skillet. The bacon was sizzling in the pan. Gus smiled. "Good morning, sleepyhead. I thought I would make you some breakfast before I leave for my trip."

    "Thanks, Gus." Waverly said and wrapped her arms around the older woman. "I will miss you. Please be safe." Gus hugged her niece back and gave an affirming noise. Gus scooped the bacon onto the plate with two eggs. She handed the plate to Waverly and headed over to her bags by the door.

    "I love you! I will be back in a couple weeks, but I will call to check in." Gus told Waverly.

    "Bye Gus! I love you too!" Responded Waves. Gus unlatched the door and went outside. Waverly watched from the porch as her aunt got into her old gray car and drove down the driveway, away from the homestead. Waverly walked back inside and sat down to eat her meal. She started a list in her head of things she needed to do. First, she wanted to see if the Library had any positions open. Then, she wanted to start repairing the homestead to it's former glory days. The fence needed to be fixed, and she thought that would be a good place to start. Waverly didn't quite know how to fix a fence, but it couldn't be impossible, right?

    She took her finished dish to the sink and washed it before sticking it in the drying rack. She ran back upstairs to get dressed. She had a pretty sun dress that she hadn't worn in ages. She pulled it out of her suitcase that was on the floor of her bedroom. She made the mental note to completely unpack soon. The sun dress was a light pink with embroidered white flowers around the bottom. It had short sleeves that fell across her shoulders. The dress came down to her mid-thigh. She grabbed a pair of white platform sandals and put them on. She smiled in the mirror thinking that the outfit she had picked out was super cute. She did a twirl and giggled. She realized how happy she was here in her hometown. She felt at home and like she could do anything.    
    She walked down the stairs and out the door to her new, (well, new to her) pick-up truck. Waverly climbed in the front leather seats. She breathed the air in deeply. The smell was a mix of tobacco, hay, and gasoline. It reminded her of her Uncle Curtis. She turned the key in the ignition and the truck sputtered to life. Then it quickly died. "Oh, come on." She mumbled under her breath. She turned the key again, and the truck roared. She waited a second, and when it hadn't died, she backed out of the barn and drove out to Holiday road. She turned right and headed towards Purgatory, which was about a 20 minute drive away. She quickly got the truck up to the speed limit of 65, and rolled the windows down. The air woodshed her hair and the smell of the country flowed through the truck. She turned the radio up and listened to the country music that flowed out. Waverly wondered if this was the station that her uncle had always listened to.

    She got about 10 miles from the homestead when the truck made a weird noise. She turned down the radio and listened again. There was another "Pop!" and the truck started to slow down. Waverly stepped on gas, but the car continued to slow. She took the truck to the side of the road and let it come to a rest. As soon as she had pulled over the engine started to smoke. "Oh, fudge nuggets!" Waverly cried out.

    She climbed out of the car and the wind took her dress. She frantically pushed it back down and walked to the front of the car. She opened the hood and smoke spilled out. She waved her hand in front of her face and coughed as the smoke had crept down her throat into her lungs. She noticed that there wasn't a fire in her engine, and that the smoke had gone down. Waverly knew she shouldn't turn the truck back on, but she was 10 miles away from the town or the homestead. She climbed back in the front seat of her car and grabbed her phone from her purse. She thought about who she could call. Gus? No, she was hours down the road at this point. Wynonna? Waverly giggled. "Okay, okay. People call 911 when these things happen, right? Well, I hope so or I'm about to look like the biggest goob." She muttered. She dialed the 3 numbers and a woman's voice came on the other line asking what her emergency was. "Well, I'm out on Holiday road and I think that my car caught on fire for a second. Well, I don't actually know if my car was on fire or not, but right now it's not smoking and I checked the engine and it looked fine, but I don't have anyone to call or anywhere to go and I just realized that I don't have any water or food and maybe that's a bad thing and I'm not prepared to spend the night out here..." Waverly rambled.