Free Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

head to the left. Pain shot through his upper back.
    The Expedition was about fifteen yards away. Even seated, the young driver seemed tall. He sat sideways, legs hanging out, one big hand cradling a phone, the other covering his free ear. Dark-black shades, despite the rain, covered his eyes. He appeared okay, but his front fender was smashed. Shards from the taillights were scattered over the asphalt. Expedition had his own EMT next to him. A white guy. Older. Probably didn’t smell of lemon and peppermint.
    Careful, his back stiffening, something jabbing him each time hebreathed, Ben twisted his head as far as possible, searching for Maddy. Flashers from three ambulances made kaleidoscopic patterns in the growing puddles.
    Wet broken glass reflected in the ambulance lights.
    He forced his neck to the right. Before he even knew he’d done it, he reached for Evanne’s hand.
    A red briefcase, open, papers strewn over the road, had landed about twenty yards from the car. Ben felt light-headed. He squinted through the rain. Two men laid a woman on a backboard. A red sandal swayed off her right foot; her left was bare.
    Dirt streaked the woman’s blood-covered blouse. The men wheeled her still body toward a waiting ambulance. As they positioned the stretcher to enter the vehicle, the woman’s face became visible.
    Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, please, no.
    Under the oxygen mask was Maddy, the gray pallor of her skin visible even through the rain.

Asleep
----
    August

CHAPTER 7
    Emma
    More than anything, Emma wanted to leave the community center’s dank locker room. She’d been on edge since the morning, when an army of water rats ran along the nearby wharf. Despite the way she’d pretended to be brave with her campers, now, with the camp day over, her stomach turned in skittish little jumps, unease growing as she waited impatiently for Caro and Sammi to finish changing their clothes.
    Emma inspected herself in the wavy unbreakable mirror for the umpteenth time. Her thighs appeared bigger every day and her nose looked like a missile. Her eyes were too close together. The fact that Zach even looked at her was some sort of miracle.
    Of course, she didn’t have to worry about whether or why Zach liked her anymore. The way her parents were acting, it would be years before she was allowed to see him again.
    Seething thoughts looped, the fury she’d put away while working with the kids returned. With camp dismissal over, she could give full rein to being angry with her idiot parents.
    Emma turned to Caro. “I’ll probably never be able to leave my house again this summer.” Emma threw her backpack over one shoulder,her head suddenly pulled back as her braid got caught in the strap. “Help,” she yelled.
    Caro lifted the fastening and pulled out Emma’s hair. “Doesn’t it drive you crazy having it that long?”
    Emma shrugged. “Not really.” She couldn’t admit how much she loved leaning back on her mother’s legs, going into a dreamlike state as her mother slid the brush through her hair—making French braids or just bringing out the shine with a hundred strokes while they watched television.
    Not that she’d ever let her do it again.
    “Can you at least get ice cream with us?” Sammi pulled a tight white T-shirt over her head, muffling her tentative voice, which ended on a rising note as though questioning her own idea.
    “Everyone’s meeting at Kelly’s—including Zach .” Caro gave Emma an annoying smile as she singsonged Zach’s name.
    Emma shook her head. “My mother’s picking me up.”
    “How long are you really grounded?” Sammi opened the wide metal doors of the community center, blinking as the wind whipped her brown hair around her face.
    “I told you. Until school starts.” Hatred of her parents shuddered through her.
    They walked along the beach wall. Two joggers ran by, almost knocking down a toddler gripping a plastic bucket. Afternoon sun slanted over the gritty beach, blurring the