You really didn’t get far at all. I guess it worked out. It won’t take long for Joe to get there.
Anne rushed to respond, her thumbs flying:
No, no. Absolutely not. Do not trouble Joe with this. He has enough to deal with tonight.
She paused to consider her options and added:
I’ll just call for a tow truck. Or find a 24-hour roadside assistance service.
Coraline:
If I had my car, I would tell you to call a tow truck, then give you a lift home, but I don’t. You gave me a ride to the station, remember?
Anne:
Oh my gosh. I completely forgot. Why didn’t you remind me when I was leaving? How are you getting home?
Coraline:
I’m not. Joe’s going to drop me off at his place, a couple of blocks from the station.
She felt terrible for abandoning her cousin. Now Joe had to leave the station while on duty to take Coraline to his place. Anne had caused enough trouble for one night. She couldn’t possibly have him come change her tire.
Anne:
Don’t say anything to Joe. I’m serious. Forget I even texted you.
There was no response from Coraline for a long while, which made Anne nervous. Finally, ellipses started rolling on her cousin’s side.
Coraline:
Just stay put.
Anne bit her lip, worried that Joe was going to show up despite her very clear wishes. She put her phone on the center console with a resigned sigh. There was nothing she could do about it now, so she wouldstay putas instructed.
She leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes. But after a minute of uneventful waiting, her stomach growled uproariously. She hadn’t finished her dinner in her rush to get to the fire station, and she certainly didn’t have the wherewithal to eat once she got there. Now she was apparently starving, if the ruckus in her tummy was anything to go by.
Grabbing her purse, she headed for the convenience store that she had stranded herself next to. She walked in with the familiarbing-bongof a store bell and glanced around. She almost squeaked in excitement when she saw the perfect meal for a night like this—powdered-sugar mini doughnuts.
After picking up a packet of doughnuts in her greedy hands, she headed for the refrigerated aisle and grabbed a bottle of strawberry milk. The middle-aged man at the counter stared a bit too long at her face. Afraid he might recognize her, she pushed a ten-dollar bill at him and hurried out of the store without the change.
She relaxed once she was back in her car. It wasn’t that she was a highbrowed diva. She enjoyed meeting her fans, and the smiles she offered them were genuine. But sometimes, like tonight, she didn’t have the emotional capacity to beon. The fans wanted to meet Anne Lee, the actress, with her perfect makeup and her trademark “angelic” smile. They didn’t want to see a tired woman with tearstains on her face.
Anne flipped down the sun visor and opened the vanity mirror. Thank goodness she hadn’t been wearing any mascara. Other than slightly puffy eyes, she didn’t look like a total wreck. With a sigh, she closed both the mirror and the visor, then pushed a whole mini doughnut into her mouth. She hummed, smiling with the simple joy doughnuts brought, and washed it down with some strawberry milk.
A tired woman with tearstainsandpowdered sugar on her face, she thought with a laugh. She honestly could not find it in herself to care about her appearance at the moment. She just needed to be presentable enough not to scare Joe away.
After a glance at the clock on the center console, she made a quick decision. If she was going to indulge in her junk food cravings, she might as well enjoy another one of her guilty pleasures. She figured she had time for a song or two until Joe arrived. Scrolling through her phone, she found the original soundtrack to her first K-drama as the lead and blasted it on the car speakers.
She never watched one of her own shows, because it was too cringy. All she could do was give her everything on the set. Once the show aired, there was no going back. If she watched herself on TV, she would nitpick at her scenes and wish she’d done things differently, even though she couldn’t do anything about it. She did enough of that in her personal life. She didn’t need to torment herself with more impossible wishes.
But she loved listening to the soundtracks, because it reminded her of her favorite scenes—the sweet moments wherethe characters pine for each other, the heart-wrenching scenes where all hope seems lost, and the exhilarating moment when the characters finally come together. The songs brought all those memories back to her.
Anne only listened when she was alone, though, because it seemed like such a narcissistic indulgence. She would probably die of embarrassment if anyone found out. Even so, she couldn’t deny she loved it.
With her mouth half full of doughnuts, she tilted her head back and belted out the chorus to the main theme song, holding her fist in front of her face like a mic. She kept singing even when powdered sugar puffed out of her mouth and rained down on her nose.
A knock at her window made Anne jump in her seat. When she spun to face the window, she saw the bottom half of a broad torso. Joe was already here.Damn it, Coraline.Not only had her cousin sent her fiancé, she must have rushed him because Anne hadn’t even finished listening to one full song. She cringed with embarrassment, hoping Joe didn’t recognize it from the K-drama soundtrack.
