while waiting

the cold curled around the corners of his collar, up the sleeves of his t-shirt. "Where had she gone?" breathing breath into his cupped hands, his mind went everywhere with explanation. Relaxed at first 'she must have gotten caught up talking to the attendant, she's just stuck in a conversation', but as the minutes kept turning his thoughts turned with them; 'what if someone held up the gas station? she could be in trouble, she could be hurt'. he knew better than to believe any of the paranoia his imagination conjured, she had held her own in much harsher situations, but that wasn't enough to stop the hard slapping of his heart in his chest. it was a cloudless night. the dark middle america sky opened up into navy vastness and he felt small on the side of that highway. they had been pushing through the night, hoping to drive that Buick across Kansas before the sun rose, when the car sputtered itself to sleep on that shoulder, the gas needle resting on empty. It was a careless, sleepy oversight and then they were 10 miles from the closest service station, stranded and alone on the Great Plains. 'But three hours is far too long for her to be gone. Where is she?' he jams in hands in his pockets and tries to keep his head from spinning. 'She'll be back any minute now, just be patient, just relax.'