Excerpt of The Road To Comfort by Becky Lower

Droplets of rain began to pepper her skin. With a deep sigh,
she flung open the passenger door behind the driver’s seat
and climbed in. At least she could put her feet up there
while she waited out the storm. And she could do something
to quiet her uneasiness and her rumbling stomach.

Juliette pulled her bag of snacks onto her lap and removed a
bottle of water from her stash in the cooler. If she was
going to be stuck here for a while, she’d at least eat well
and stay hydrated. She leaned forward and slid her purse
through the armrest opening and pulled out her Kindle.
Nothing like a forced break from the dreariness that was
Middle America to allow her to catch up on her reading. Her
fingertips on one hand were turning orange from the Cheetos
she was consuming at a rapid pace as she turned the virtual
pages on the machine with the other.

Lightning flashed in the distance, and the rain splattering
on the windshield became more intense. Juliette raised her
eyes from the book, her concentration interrupted. The storm
was rolling in quickly, and grayish-black clouds now
darkened the entire sky in front of her. Great. Now she’d
have to fend off the corn children in the dead of night.
Uneasiness threatened to turn into panic as it settled in,
big-time. She jumped out of the backseat and climbed behind
the wheel. She didn’t care if it seemed stupid, she turned
the key once more, praying for a miracle. Nothing. She
pummeled the steering wheel with her Cheeto-ed fingers as
she assessed her situation. She was in a broken-down car on
the side of the road, in Kansas, Nebraska, or Oklahoma with
monster children about to emerge from the surrounding
fields. Oh, and yes, a storm was rolling in. Could things
get any worse?

A steady clip-clopping sound broke into her tormented
thoughts. She glanced into the rearview mirror and spied a
horse and rider coming up the side of the road behind her
car. You’ve got to be kidding. Help had finally arrived, but
it was in the form of a cowboy, wearing a black hat and a
duster coat? And he was on a horse. Oh, yeah, she was a long
way from civilized Ohio. The sun burst forth behind him in a
last hurrah as the dark clouds raced toward them. Terrific.
Evidently, things could get worse. Much worse.