She turned to see a young couple behind her, standing arm in arm. They only had one item, a bottle of wine the man held in his free hand. Although Louisehad been in line for quite a while and it was now nearly her turn, there were a lot of items in her cart and she was in no hurry, so she let the couple ahead of her. The man said with a handsome smile that it was not necessary, but the woman appeared to Louise eager to leave, so she insisted.

The man, who had dark brown skin and wore a black leather jacket and white jeans, held a hand up and smiled. “Fine, fine, then. But only because my new bride and I are looking forward to starting our night in, watching movies under a blanket. You’re too kind.” They moved past her and stood near the beginning of the conveyor belt.

Louise studied the woman. She was tall, but not too tall, and she had a nice figure. Ruddy-blonde hair cascaded halfway down her back, ending in smart inward curls. She had on a tight-fitting green dress that seemed out of place with the man’s outfit. But then again, she reasoned, she didn’t understand much about the world anymore, and especially not since Jeff died. Since then,life for Louise had just been a big ball of blah.

She was admiring the young woman’s tiny waist when she saw a hand appear near the small of her back. It was the woman’s hand, and she opened and closed it, opened and closed it, thumb tucked inside the fingers like a bad fist. At first, Louise simply thought it was odd, wondering if she had an itch or a cramp. But then she remembered something she’d seen on social media and retrieved her phone. She searched the gesture and was horrified to find that it meant someone was being kidnapped and needed help.

She wished Jeff were here. She’d tell him the situation and he’d know exactly what to do. But she was alone, old and afraid; what was she supposed do about this? She was just a regular person at the store for regular things on a regular night. Jeff had been the protector, a quick-thinking man who seemed to operate in spite of fear—a concept foreign to Louise, who had always been timid and preferred safety.

Heart racing, she quickly scanned the store but saw no security guard. Oh, come on, she thought. It’s five-thirty. Where the hell does he have to be right now? Then, another thought: the parking lot. Somehow, the thought comforted her. The parking lot. Yes. Safer, out in the open, and full of people who were not distracted by their shopping chores. She’d snag the guard out there and let him know.

They paid for the wine and the woman shot Louise a troubled look as they walked toward the exit. Before Louise could consider what she was doing, she mouthed the words I got you to the woman. They disappeared out the door.

She turned to the cashier, a petite brunette in her twenties, and told her she’d forgotten her money but would be right back. She scooted her heavy cart across to the locked cigarette windows and hurried out after the couple, refusing to let panic set in and take over.

Winter had nearly arrived and the days were short. There was just enough light left that she easily found the pair in the parking lot. They were walking to the back where there were fewer cars. Louise looked in all directions, but there was no guard out there, either.

The couple stopped at a big brown van. The man opened the side door instead of the passenger door and was motioning for her to get in. The woman shook her head and he extended his arm toward the inside of the van, hand on her back. This isn’t right at all, Louise thought.

With no security to help, Louise thought quickly and mustered up her friendliest drawl. “Yoo-hoo! Hi, you two! Over here!” She waved her arms as she approached, watching him carefully but wearing a smile.

The man looked back and he smiled, too. The woman looked back, as well, but she wasn’t smiling. She looked terrified and sad, helpless. “Yes?” he said, his cheery tone giving nothing away.

“You know, I was wondering… Can I borrow her for a second? I know you’re eager to get the night started but I just love her dress so much and since she clearly has good taste, I would like her opinion on one I just bought today. It’s for an anniversary and I would feel so much better if she told me I’d chosen well. It’s just over there in my car. Would that be okay?”

The man shifted uncomfortably. Louise could almost hear the gears turning in his head above the boom of her own heartbeat in her ears, knew that he wanted to say they were pressed for time but couldn’t. She saw the resolve, the defeat, when the sigh came and his shoulders relaxed. “Sure. You are right, she has good taste.” He turned to the woman. “Don’t be long, honey. Remember we have that murder mystery to watch.”

Murder. Louise felt chills run down her back and over her arms. At that moment she became angry with Jeff. How could he leave her here like this? Why did she have to do this part all alone? Why did she have to intervene? She didn’t do this type thing! That was his territory!

She forced herself back to the present moment, forced the fear bubbling up from her gut to ease off, if only for a little longer. She just needed to be strong a small while longer. She straightened her shoulders and smiled. “Thank you very much. I’m so sorry to intrude. It’s bad form.” She did her best to appear nonchalant as she walked past the pair. “Come on, sweetie. I’m over here, the maroon LTD that’s too long and too big to be good for anything but drinking gas.”

As they walked, the blonde woman whispered Thank you thank you thank you thank you almost without moving her lips. He’s dangerous. A jolt of strength ran through Louise, who still couldn’t believe what was happening. “We ain’t out of the woods yet, sweetheart,” she whispered back. “When we get to the car, you get in. I never lock it.”

Moments later they were at the giant LTD. Louise gave a quick look back and saw the van but not the man. Good. A small head start might mean the difference. The blonde woman raced to the passenger side and opened the door. The car’s dome light blazed. Replacing the stock bulb with a bright LED unit was one of the last things Jeff had done to the car, save for an oil change. He thought Louise needed more light.

“Quick! Just get in and shut the door,” Louise urged as she jumped into the driver seat. Shit. The keys! Where are the keys? Louise again managed to extricate herself from the grips of panic, something she wasn’t prone to doing, and remembered they were in her purse, where they always were. She fished them out, felt for the longest key, and stabbed it into the ignition cylinder. Her wrist turned and the car roared to life. Neither lady had ever been happier to hear a car start on the first try.

Louise grabbed the column-shift and pulled it into Reverse. When she heard the familiar clunk of engagement she stepped on the accelerator—a little too hard. The car moved violently backward at high speed, causing the blonde woman to place a hand on the dash to steady herself. “Put your belt on, honey!” Louise yelled.

“I’m trying!” the blonde woman yelled back.

“Sorry,” Louise said. “Little jumpy.” The woman smiled and shook her head. Louise switched on the car’s headlights and shifted into Drive. Her foot was nearly off the brake when there came a bang near the rear of the car. Louise checked her side mirror and saw the man from the van near the trunk and approaching the doors. He didn’t look pleased. “Hang on, sweetie.”

Louise mashed the car’s accelerator pedal and the car shot forward, nearly breaking the tires loose. She steered the maroon land barge out of the lot and onto the street, where it entered the right lane with a shower of sparks from the undercarriage. The front passenger hubcap rolled away, hit a curb, did a dance near a tree and fell over as the big LTD sped down the street and ran a red light through an empty intersection.

A mile or so down the road, Louise eased off the pedal and the car glided back down to the speed limit. “Are you okay, honey? What happened? You know, without cell phones being what they are I wouldn’t have known the sign you were showing.”

The blonde woman, tears streaking down pale and perfect cheeks, said nothing. Instead, she undid her seat belt and leaned over, hugged Louise as tight as she could while still allowing her to drive. Both women were shaking. “Thank you,” she finally managed to whisper. “Thank you.”

“Tell me what happened, sweetie.”

They were well away from the supermarket now on a busy thoroughfare, headlights and taillights peppering the incandescent landscape as full dark approached. Louise put on her blinker and turned into a well-lit parking lot. She drove past all manner of strip mall businesses and finally pulled into a spot away from any other cars, near a closed-down Taekwondo studio.

The traumatized blonde woman had begun telling her what happened at the grocery store when a brown van pulled into the lot and slowly traced the perimeter. Louise watched in horror as it hesitated near a parking island and then headed right toward them. The woman was saying something about being tricked at the grocery store when the van picked up speed. Jesus, Louise thought. He’s going to hit us! “Sorry, honey, we gotta go again,” she said, and started the big LTD once more. As fast as she could, she jammed it into Drive and stomped on the accelerator pedal. The woman screamed when she saw the van, now only feet from them. Louise’s quick reaction time proved effective and the van missed the LTD by inches, speeding off toward the studio and screeching to a stop just before the curb. Then it was backing up.

“Go, go!” the woman screamed at Louise. “This guy’s crazy!”

For the second time that evening, the LTD created a spark show as it exited the lot and bounced into the street. Louise never let up on the pedal as the big car rocketed toward an intersection. She checked the rear view to see the van bouncing out of the lot and turning after them, headlights all over the road as its tires searched for traction. “Where the hell is a cop when you need one?” Louise said, half to herself and half to the woman. “Hang on.”

As she ran the red light, she laid on the horn and made a broad sweep so she didn’t enter the intersection at ninety degrees. The van ran straight through, narrowly missing a red SUV that slammed into a curb to avoid collision. The blonde woman had taken out her cell phone and dialed the police. While she was telling the dispatch operator everything she knew to that point, Louise was concentrating on keeping the big maroon car on the road while keeping her eyes on the van behind them.

Louise was pushing seventy in a thirty-five zone, but traffic was light and easy to navigate. The van stayed close behind. She heard the blonde woman doing her best to tell the dispatcher their location when she heard a sound she at first didn’t believe, and then was never more thankful in all her life to hear: a police siren in the distance, growing closer. God, please say that’s for us, she thought as she steered around a small blue car in the left lane.

She scanned her mirrors. Behind the van by a hundred yards, she found the source of the sirens: three police cruisers, twinkling as their roof lights and headlights flashed out of sequence. Louise thought she should feel more relieved to see them, thought she should feel more hope. But, what if their presence causes the driver of the van to do something stupid? For now, Louise reasoned, she’d just keep the LTD going straight and going fast. As long as that van was behind her, she was going todrive.

She kept her eyes on the van’s headlights and the police behind, glancing at the road only every few seconds. Then, the headlightsdisappeared and the mirror showed onlyblack. She heard skidding tires and then the rear view cleared, revealing two police cruisers that had backed off to avoid the van, which was skidding to a stop backward against the safety railing.Louise guessed they must have used a pit maneuver to disable the van.

The two units that had backed off from the chase now sped up to catch the LTD, lights and sirens still going. Finally feeling safe enough to pull over now that the van wasn’t behind them, Louise slowed down, put on her indicator, and steered onto the shoulder, easing to a full stop. She put the gear shift in Park and turned the key. The engine died and for a few short moments, there was a silence so complete it was jarring. Louise thought she had never fully understood the term deafening silence until that evening. And then, the woman’s phone, high-pitched and tinny: Ma’am, are you still there? I’ve received word that contact has been made. Ma’am?

***

After the two women had answered questions from police in the back of one of the cruisers, and after the man in the van had been arrested and charged withhuman trafficking and a slew of other, more minor offenses, and after the officers had thanked the women and told them how lucky and heroic they had been, and after the blonde woman had been dropped back off at her car, Louise studied the front of the supermarket, now closed and dark and ominous, and wondered what had become of her cart full of items. Some poor employee probably had to put them all back, one by one, she figured, and shook her head. “Sorry,” she said aloud to the store, and set for home.

Between the store and her house, on a long stretch of road that connected the city to the outlying neighborhoods, Louisethought that Jeff would be very proud of her, of what she’d done. He had always told her she overthought everything, and he’d been right. And to break her of that, the universe had sent a situation in which too much thinking was not an option. Only action provided any chance whatsoever.

In the dark cabin of the big maroon LTD, headlights cutting through an ink-dark night, Louise smiled—a small one at first, but it soon grew larger and larger until she felt it on her ears. She reached out and turned the radio on. A song she hadn’t heard in a very long time was playing, and memories flooded her mind. Good memories. Special places and times and people. Not lost since Jeff died, just different. Aged now, and appearing more like sepia photographs in a worn-out album, but timeless and wonderful nonetheless.

She turned the volume up and sang along, her shoulders and head flowing with the rhythm while her eyes filled with tears and her smile glowed in the green lights of the LTD’s ancient dash.