Featured image by Bruno /Germany from Pixabay
Gospel truth, this wallet didn’t even have the medical card required to drive a semi across state lines. I wonder just how much she knows about trucking. Hell, does she even know what class of driver’s license is required? Come to think of it I never asked what she did for a living.
“Come on” she said as she passed me. “I’ll lead so you can check out my ass. Walking with your arm around me is probably far too personal for you.”
“What part of leaving here when the phone rings did you not understand?”
“Oh, I understood just fine. That doesn’t mean you can’t make me feel warm and special during the time you are here. I already told you, sometimes a girl wants to step up when she steps out. Nearly every guy in that place is going nowhere. Twenty years from now they will still have the same low wage job they had out of high school. Most of them will have a few kids, some by more than one woman, and no possibility of clawing their way out of this part of town” rattled off Melony, getting her dander up a little more with each word and walking backwards so she could look in my eye as she delivered this lecture.
Honestly, I was hoping for an out here. If I could say just the right thing she would be pissed off enough to toss me out. She wouldn’t know which hotel I was at or which name I was using. I could be out of this clean. “This is information I need to know, why?” I asked, hoping that was just enough, but not too much. Difficult balance. Too much would have her screaming at the top of her lungs and possibly police showing up though I had to believe the police tried not to come to this part of town.
“Anyone of them would have taken me back to their place with their arm around me so I at least felt warm and wanted” she responded gaining volume, pitch and tempo.
Ah shit, she was still winding up. Not cool.
“There hasn’t been anyone in that place I would even remotely consider letting come home with me in years!”
Getting out of this is worth one more try. “I . . . was on my way to a hotel. I . . . didn’t try to pick you up. I . . . am just looking to sleep until my phone rings. Whatever this is, none of it is my fault, I don’t care how female logic tries to package it, spin it or assign it. Good night.” Perfect timing. I was at another cross street and it looked like it went all the way through. I turned and continued walking at my earlier pace. I began thinking Henry wasn’t the only one pursuing a trophy bass tonight.
Made it less than twelve steps.
“Wait” came a softer more defeated voice. “My place is right here, second one from the corner. If nothing else you will at least be there if Billy stumbles down this way” she said trailing off.
This girl is a train wreck that was hit by a plane crash and is rolling downhill towards a daycare center. Just keep going I screamed in my head. I honestly tried to take my own advice. I kept walking away. I heard her heels clicking behind me at something of a jogging pace. You’ve got high heeled sandals on, why are you even trying to run? Thankfully I didn’t actually utter the question.
I expected her to hit me with the wine bottle I believed was in the bag she was carrying. Mentally I prepared myself to roll so it would be, at best, a glancing blow. She passed me, grabbing my left wrist rather hard to stop herself while spinning in front of me wrapping me in a hug, pressing her body into mine.
“Listen” she said softly but in a somewhat stern ‘mom’ cadence. The kind women use when explaining to a child what they had done wrong. “Your friend wasn’t the only one in there tonight seeking something out of their league.”
“True, there was Billy” I replied.
She laughed “yes, . . . yes he was. But what I mean is that I just want however long you have. You see where I live. I have three kids. Despite my looks, I ain’t ever getting out of here. I know that. I don’t even play the lottery because I know that winning ticket will never be mine. I know that when you leave here there isn’t a snowball’s chance in Hell I would ever be able to track you down or tag along. Just tonight, or however much of tonight there is. That’s all I’m asking for. If you prefer a hotel, that’s fine. I have condoms. This is a sure thing.”
I put my arms around her and took a breath to say something and she continued. “Despite what you may think of me, I have never thrown myself at a guy before. I just want a chance to find out what it could have been if I hadn’t screwed up in high school. I had the looks to get as far from here as I wanted, but not after I got pregnant.”
continued . . .
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