Crashing in Love by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Author:Jennifer Richard Jacobson [Jacobson, Jennifer Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781536222319
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2021-10-14T22:00:00+00:00

I retrieve my bike and take a long gulp of water (Motivate, Hydrate, Feel Great) and realize that even though I’m on my way to see Mrs. Wagner, I do feel pretty great. Not only do I have a job that will keep me in town — and so close to Gray! — I also have a new lead on the hit-and-run driver.

Because really, who else would make a point of stopping by the hospital and inquiring about Gray (whom he supposedly doesn’t even know)? It’s a pretty short list: a reporter, like my mother; the officers on the case; Mr. Blake, the camp director; and me, the girl who found him. And the person who feels guilty for hitting him.

All I have to do now, I tell myself, is apologize to Mrs. Wagner.

When I pedal around the bend, Mrs. Wagner is sitting in a rocking chair on her front porch, like she’s waiting for me. She has the same coffee mug as yesterday in hand.

I slide off my bike and walk it up her stone path.

She doesn’t say hello or anything.

My earlier confidence evaporates. My body is suddenly shaky. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Wagner,” I say as soon as I’m within earshot.

She leans forward ever so slightly. “Sorry for what, Miss Campbell?”

I come a little closer. “I’m sorry for trespassing, and peeking in your garage windows, and lying about the cat.” I hope I’ve covered everything.

Still she waits.

So I add, “I want you to know that my mother had nothing to do with my snooping. She had no idea what I was up to, and she was pretty mad when she found out.”

“You were convinced I was the one who hit that boy, weren’t you? That I hit him and just drove off and left him to die.”

It all sounds perfectly awful coming from Mrs. Wagner’s mouth.

I think of lying, of telling her that I didn’t think any of those things, but then I’d have one more wrong piled on my conscience, so I nod. “I guess I don’t know how someone would act when they’re really, really scared of a horrible mistake they made.”

Mrs. Wagner lifts her chin, then rocks back. “How are you acting now?”

I try to think, but my brain feels frozen. Am I doing the right thing?

I came here.

I said I was sorry.

I told the truth.

“Now you know,” she adds.

“Know what, Mrs. Wagner?”

“What to do when you make a really horrible mistake.”

Maybe that was her way of telling me I’d done the right thing, I think as I turn to head home. But it doesn’t matter, because I will never allow myself to make another mistake again.

Ever.

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