“Where are you? I just got into the garage.” Of course he had, because he drove like a New York City cabbie.

“Uh I’m still like five miles out of town, Speedy.”

I heard him scoff and smiled in anticipation of his response. He had a very inflated sense of his driving skills, which was kind of adorable. “I didn’t even drive that fast. There’s barely any traffic at this hour.”

I nodded in the direction of the phone, like he could see me. “You know I like to go just under the speed limit at night, helps me feel like I’m more in control of the vehicle.” I sped up a bit, because it was true that there was no one on the road and I was driving mad slow, not that I would admit that to him.

“Did I accidentally call my grandpa?”

The genuine bafflement in his voice had me busting up. “All right, smart-ass, I’ll see you in a few minutes. I’m really close to town,” I said, grinning as I drove down the dark county road.

“Fine, I’ll leave the door—”

A siren coming from behind startled me out of the conversation. I tried to slow down in case a first responder needed to get past me, but when I looked in the rearview mirror, there was a patrol car behind me, its flashing lights trained right on my car.

“Patrice?” I heard Easton’s voice still full of humor, and for a moment it felt like I was in a dream. Like time had slowed down, and then I realized it was panic. I was scared.

“I think I’m getting pulled over,” I said woodenly, my bare hands on the steering wheel suddenly felt like sausages. Still I quickly tapped on my phone screen, and switched the call to FaceTime, as I steered the car over to the side of the road.

When I saw Easton’s face he looked terrified. “Where are you? I’m coming over there.”

I didn’t have time to answer, because I had to deal with the deputy rapping on my car window.

I lowered the window all the way down and made sure I immediately put both hands on the steering wheel where he could see them, and made eye contact when I respectfully addressed him.

“How can I help you, officer?”

Right how I’d learned on those videos.

Easton

The first thing I realized when I heard Patrice say he was being pulled over was that until that moment I’d never truly felt terror. I must’ve gone through the first thirty-six years of my life without experiencing helpless, debilitating fear before, because what I was feeling was completely new.