Blind Date A Book 2020 – Book #1
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Chapter 1
Every woman needs a man who will love them to the end of time. A man who puts her needs before his. A man who takes her breath away with a single glance. A man who will do whatever it takes to have a last goodbye kiss.
***
“What do you have there, Baby?” Jordan Snow took his eyes off the road for a brief second to glance at his wife, Emily.
Her oohing sounds had grabbed his curiosity, but Jordan didn’t need an excuse to gaze at Emily. From the little bump on the bridge of her nose to her svelte calves, he loved looking at his wife.
“The Christmas ornament I bought today for our new baby. Isn’t it beautiful?”
Jordan quickly glanced at the shiny bauble she dangled between them.
“Blue? What if it’s a girl?”
Giggling, Emily slipped another ornament from the bag on her lap. “I know, right? I bought two.”
Her squeal of delight made him want to stop the car and kiss her.
Is it wrong to love your wife that much?
“Pink and blue. Good thinking, little one,” Jordan chuckled.
Emily pushed her blond hair back behind one ear and held the blue bauble in front of her. “Now we’ll have a keepsake of our baby’s first Christmas. I know someone who can engrave it for us once we pick a name.’”
“And what about the ornament we don’t use?”
“Maybe we’ll use it for baby number two.”
“Baby number two, huh. Then I guess that means we have a plan.” Squeezing Emily’s hand, he asked, “Did you have a good vacation?”
Emily leaned in, laying her head on her husband’s shoulder and wrapping an arm around his. “I had the best time ever. I’m so glad we got to see one last sunset as a couple. The next time we come down for vacation, there will be three of us.”
Jordan brought Emily’s fingers to his lips and kissed them. His wife was wearing that orchid colored nail polish that reminded him of the silk sheets waiting for them at home.
“It was perfect, wasn’t it? You better check your seatbelt. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to our little baby.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Snow.” Emily saluted Jordan. He shook his head, laughing.
“Girl, what am I going to do with you?” Jordan asked, getting a giggle out of his wife.
“Are you excited about starting your internship on Monday? I so can’t believe you’re finally going to be a surgeon.” Emily’s voice was excited, pleasing Jordan.
“Let’s hope I don’t wet my pants my first day,” Jordan said, his voice solemn, sparking an eye roll from Emily. “I keep pinching myself because I’m sure I’m dreaming.”
Jordan gave a quick glance toward Emily, his grin conveying all the love he had in his heart for her before turning back to concentrate on his driving.
He was determined to get his wife and soon to be newborn home to Annapolis before daybreak. Jordan couldn’t wait for the next phase of their lives to begin.
***
Meanwhile…
Six miles away, an old Ford Fairlane station wagon with dirty tinted windows and a plastering of band promotion stickers across the back window, came rumbling out of a side road with tires spitting gravel. The clunker turned onto the highway with a jolt.
Inside, five boys and four girls, all between the ages of fourteen and nineteen, were packed in like sardines, either squeezed against each other or sitting on laps. They had left a kegger a few minutes earlier and were hurrying home to meet their curfews.
Traveling at over 60 miles per hour, the station wagon drifted over the center lane as the driver, Chad Rivers, leaned over to grab the cigarette he dropped on the car’s floor. Next to him, his best friend, Rick Anderson, paid no attention to Chad as he rooted around his feet for the lit butt. Instead, Rick twisted in his seat to see what the others were doing in the backseat. Wanting to be the center of attention, he took off his seatbelt and got up on his knees, facing the others.
Rick leaned over the back of his seat and began to belt out the lyrics to the hard rock song on the radio. Soon the others in the backseat joined in. No one was paying attention to the road as they careened into the other lane.
***
Emily saw the station wagon first. She screamed and grabbed onto Jordan’s arm, pointing at the station wagon racing toward them in their lane. “Jordan! Look out!”
***
Inside the station wagon, Chad Rivers finally snatched his cigarette from the floor and without looking at the road, turned to laugh at something happening behind him. The clunker was now 100 percent in the wrong lane. No one in the station wagon noticed the shiny red sports car they were about to slam into.
***
“Holy crap,” Jordan could see right away it was going to be too late to avoid all contact. He gritted his teeth as he twisted the Camaro’s wheel, making a hard left, desperate to avoid a head-on collision.
At the last second, the station wagon clipped the right front bumper of the Camaro, sending it flying off the road. Because the impact was a glancing blow to their fender and the alcohol was still working its way through their bloodstreams, none of the teenagers saw or experienced the hit, but it was enough to send the Camaro rocketing past some trees lining the road and flying down a steep embankment.
Inside the car, as it barreled down the embankment, Jordan and Emily turned toward each other, locking eyes.
It was out of their hands now, and they knew it.
Jordan put one hand out to protect his wife and child. Emily lost the ability to scream. She froze, her eyes wide with panic.
Their bodies slammed back and forth in the Camaro in spite of the seat belts. The cherished Christmas ornaments slammed against the windshield, shattering and sending shards of glass into the air.
Jordan’s head banged against the window on the driver’s door. Emily’s head snapped back, burrowing into her headrest. Grabbing the sides of the headrest, Emily held herself stiff against the seat.
At the bottom of the embankment, the Camaro landed on its nose and flipped over onto its roof, crashing through some weeds until it slid into the ditch wall of the culvert, coming to a crashing halt.
***
After the crash, it was eerily quiet except a clicking noise coming from the Camaro’s engine and the sound of the station wagon’s broken muffler as it sputtered and drove away.
Out on the highway, Chad finally turned around and steered the car back into the correct lane. Oblivious to the accident, most likely because he was drunk, Chad focused on getting home in one piece.
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