“You were a Boy Scout?”
I replaced the spray nozzle, rinsed the remaining shampoo off of my arms, pushed open the door, and left.
“How come I have to answer your questions, but you don’t answer mine?” she asked as I toweled off.
I finished drying my hair and hung up both towels. “I was, but that was a long time ago. I’m not that guy anymore.”
I left the bathroom. My past came in two flavors: before prison, which was now irrelevant, and after prison, which defined who I was. As far as everyone else was concerned, prison had erased the Boy Scout version of me and created the man I was today.
“Tell me about it,” she yelled from the shower.
I ignored her.
“Chicken. Bawk, bawk, bawk.”
I moved back to the doorway. “Later, Red. I have work.”
We were both right.
Debbie
An hour later, Luke escorted his visitor out the door.
I watched out the window as Mr. Grungy climbed back into his pickup, started the engine, and rumbled away in a cloud of exhaust smoke. I’d embarrassed myself by nearly jumping out of my skin when he’d knocked at the door, even though Luke had warned me he expected someone. It was a reaction I had to learn to tame.
Luke returned to the house, scratching the back of his neck.
“Are all your customers like him?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” He leaned against the wall and eyed me.
“He didn’t seem like he had two nickels to rub together, much less money to pay you.” The guy looked like the kind of customer I would keep an eye out for at the Minimart, because he might want to make off with a bag of chips he couldn’t afford.
Luke nodded toward the kitchen and started walking that way.
I followed.
He pulled open the fridge and looked inside before grabbing a can of Coke. “Want one?”
I shook my head.
He popped the top and chugged a gulp. “Bikes are a passion to some people. If it’s your passion, you’ve got money for it—even if that means you’ve got money for nothing else. So long as he has green bills for me, I don’t care what he does with the rest of it, or if he has any left over.”
I guess it made sense. I’d known girls who would spend almost their entire paycheck on shoes and then eat ramen the rest of the week.
Luke gulped another slug of soda and checked his watch. “I’ve got to make a run down to Richmond to check out a wreck for parts. Want to come along?”
I stepped forward and put my hand on his chest. “I can’t. I have work this afternoon.”
He gently pulled me close.
I leaned my head against his chest. “How much time do you have before you have to leave?” When I shifted my hips forward, the growing erection in his pants proved he was thinking the same thing I was. “You got anybody else coming by?”
He rubbed a hand down the length of my back. “No.”
I pulled myself tighter against him, relishing his warmth. “Then maybe…” I let the invitation hang there.
He sighed and kissed my forehead. “Later. I can’t be late.”
I let him go. “I’m holding you to that, mister.”
As he gathered up his things, I wondered what tonight would bring. We’d done the table… Maybe this evening I could manage doggie if I stood on my bad leg next to the bed and put my good knee on the mattress. Or there was the back of the couch.
Being wounded sucked. I wanted to feel his body covering mine, pull him in with my ankles wrapped behind him, and look into his eyes when he came.
Next week was a long time to wait.
When I left for work, I thought of Luke the entire drive to the Fairfax store. The man had taken up residence in my brain full time now, and that brought up ugly issues.
As much as I wanted Luke, I had to escape this town. I’d taken the leap and decided to leave Mom and Dom behind, yet here I was on the temporary lily pad of Luke’s place—in between staying in town and disappearing to another state. Saying goodbye to Luke was going to be hard, but it couldn’t be avoided. All I could do now was enjoy the time we had together, earn my escape money back, and pursue my destiny without him. Every moment with him made staying more tempting, but it was still impossible.
That meant enduring the hard goodbye and dealing with the consequences. At least I knew it was coming, and it wouldn’t end up a devastating surprise like losing my parents had been all those years ago.
The difficulty couldn’t be helped. What choice did I have? Luke’s life was here, and mine had to be elsewhere. Dom had seen to that. Mom choosing to marry him had determined my fate and brought me to this point. If she hadn’t made that one choice, my life would be so different.
I pulled into the Minimart parking lot and pushed away thoughts of what could have been.
As Mama Garcetti demanded, I parked in the space at the farthest corner from the store so the customers could have the close ones. After shutting down the engine, I felt oddly exposed, facing the main street without even a few bushes between my car and everyone driving by. Any one of those cars could contain someone who’d tell Dom where I was. With the unpainted fender, my car was instantly recognizable and screamed to be noticed.
Starting it up again, I drove out and chose the sporting goods store two doors down. They had a small lot in back, where nobody driving by could see my little car.
“Hey, girl,” Annie called as soon as I entered the Minimart. “How ya feeling today?”
“Better, thanks.” I patted the beanie I still wore. “Can’t wait to get rid of this though.”
It was like none of our customers had gotten enough sleep last night, or hadn’t had their morning coffee yet. They kept forgetting things. Another one forgot the Twinkies he just had to have and made a second trip to my register to pay for his extra item.
After he left, Annie elbowed me. “You going braless is helping business. Maybe you should keep it up.”
I glared at her. “It’s a medical issue. I’m not supposed to have anything rubbing or pressing on the bandage until the cut is healed enough.”
“Riiiiiiiight,” she said, drawing the word out. “And who told you that? Your biker Romeo, I’ll bet.”
I pushed her away. “Get outta here.”
Luke’s eyes did always gravitate to my bust. But telling me I couldn’t bra up just to watch me jiggle? That couldn’t be it, could it?
And were these guys purposely making extra trips to my register?
I considered adding a sweater, but it was a little warm for that.
By the afternoon, I was having fun with it. Annie and I had devised a test. For half the men, I stood absolutely still with my shoulders hunched forward. For the other half, I held my shoulders back, chest out, and bounced on my toes, just a little.
Annie was right. A lot of guys decided to buy something extra from bouncy me.
“Do you think we should tell Mama Garcetti?”
I scoffed. “You can’t be serious.”
“You never can tell,” she said. “She might like it.”
“Go ahead if you want, but I’m not suggesting it. This isn’t Hooters.”
A half hour later, we were about to be relieved by Peter and Jasmin, and Annie was still contemplating suggesting her sales-improvement plan to Mama Garcetti.