as for him, he was more apt to notice what was
“I’ve also got to see about getting a new rental car,” Charly was saying. “I’m going to have to call them and break the news about the accident, see what they’re going to want me to do.”
“You’re insured, I hope?”
She gave him a “What kind of an idiot do you take me for?” look. “Fully. I just hope they’ll be willing to deliver a car to me here. I’d hate to have to go to the nearest rental office, which is probably going to be in Huntsville or someplace like that.”
“No problem if you do,” said Troy with an easygoing shrug. “I’d be glad to take you wherever you need to go.”
She muttered, “Thanks, that’s nice of you,” in a stiff, unnatural voice, as if it was a difficult thing for her, being beholden to someone. For a woman in as much difficulty as she seemed to be, she did have an overabundance of pride.
She walked a ways, watching her feet, then cleared her throat and said bluntly, “You know, once I have a car, there’s no need for you to stay around.” That was so close to Troy’s thoughts that he gave a bark of laughter, which seemed to surprise her. She looked at him almost in alarm, and added hastily, “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, I really do.” She stopped there, with a look on her face that told him she was probably remembering the way they’d spent the night, realizing how that sounded in light of it, and getting more and more embarrassed by the minute. She tried again. “Um, what I mean is, I know you must have things to do, places you need to be. Once I have a car, and I get my purse back, you don’t have any…”
“Obligation?” Troy said huskily, stopping her with a touch on her arm and turning her to face him. He heard a tiny break in her breathing that sounded almost like fear, and then her shoulders relaxed and her cheeks went pink, which he personally thought looked good on her. She muttered something under her breath, looking away, looking down at Bubba, looking anywhere except at him. He touched her chin, bringing her face back to him, although her eyes wanted to stay hidden under the cover of her lashes. “Hey,” he said, teasing her, “why are you so anxious to get rid of me?”
She laughed-a small, painful sound-then pulled away from him and walked on. He fell into step beside her. After a moment she drew a quick, catching breath and asked, “Have you…ever done anything you were ashamed of?”
It was so out of the blue, he let go the breath he’d been holding in a gust of surprise. “Hell; yes. Hasn’t everybody?” She made a small, impatient sound. Still off balance, he glanced at her and saw only a profile that looked as if it had been carved in marble. “Hey, look, this isn’t still about last night, is it? Because I have to tell-”
“No!” Her eyes leaped to his face and hung on for one amazing, intoxicating moment.
That was when he realized how important it was, and what it meant. That was when his heart started to beat faster, and prickles of fear mixed with excitement began to crawl along his skin. Because he suddenly knew it was her own story she meant, and that maybe she was trying to figure out a way to share it with him at last. And because he could see that opening up after a twenty-year silence might not be as easy a thing as he’d thought.
Scared to death he was going to say or do the wrong thing and make her change her mind about telling him, he gave it some thought, then said carefully, “Matter of fact most of the things I’ve done that I was ashamed of were when I was young. I think it goes with the territory.”
She gave her head an angry shake and then for a while said nothing. Just when Troy was thinking to himself, Okay, man, that’s it, that’s all, you blew it-she drew an uneven breath and said, “You’re talking about…like, smoking and drinking, sneaking out at night, lyin’ to your mom, playin’ hooky, two-timing your girlfriend-”
Troy interrupted with mock horror. “Damn, you
“You don’t know the half of it.” Her smile flickered on and off as if it had a faulty connection, and when she went on, her voice had the gruffness of embarrassment in it. “No, what I’m saying is, those kinds of things, yeah, you did them when you were young, and maybe you were ashamed then, mostly because you knew you were supposed to be. But now? Think about it. Tell me honestly-do you really regret most of the stuff you did back then? I’ll bet you even brag about it.”
He rubbed the back of his neck while he thought about it, then gave a soft chuckle of acceptance. “I guess I don’t. No more’n I regret havin’ been young.”
She nodded tensely. Another moment or two went by. Then she pulled in another breath she didn’t really need. “What I’m talking about is something…bigger. Something that not a day goes by you don’t think about it. Something you dream about, and wake up in a cold sweat thinking about. Ever do anything like that?” Her voice had taken on a new hardness, as if, he thought, she were pushing it through clenched jaws.
He didn’t say anything for a minute. He was thinking about a night lit up by burning buildings instead of stars, a night when the smells of the sea and jungle mingled with the smells of petroleum and blood. And of the friend he’d held in his arms while the life drained out of him.
He drew a careful breath of his own. “Yeah, I have.”
“How do you live with it?”
He thought about it, but didn’t have any answers for her. Not the ones she wanted. “I guess you just do,” he said gruffly. “You move on.”
She gave him a look and said no more, leaving him with a black, angry feeling that he’d failed her.
After that walk in the park, reuniting Charly with her luggage was a breeze. The officer on duty at the police station directed them to the impound yard where the Taurus’s remains had been taken, where they were informed that the suitcases had been removed from the trunk of the wrecked vehicle and transferred to a locked storage facility. A short half hour’s wait later, the suitcases had been retrieved and signed over to their rightful owner. Even Charly had had to admit that there were some advantages to small-town living.
Troy had figured she’d want to go back to the motel and change, but she had him pull into the first gas station they came to instead. He got the key for her, and she hauled a big old garment bag and an overnight case into the hot, scuzzy little rest room with her and shut the door.
When she came out, he almost didn’t recognize her. She was wearing a pale gray suit that fit her like a glove, with sable velvet trim on the collar that exactly matched her hair, and a narrow skirt that stopped just above her knees, and that, along with the black high-heeled shoes she was wearing, made those long legs he’d noticed this morning a sight to behold. Her hair seemed to have all but disappeared, slicked magically away from her face and up into some kind of twist at the back of her head, which made her neck look a mile long-reminded him a little bit of Audrey Hepburn. Her lips were the color of hot fudge, and looked every bit as tasty, too. He thought he might have to rethink his position on makeup.
He realized he was staring when Charly said, “Well?” in a sharp, uneasy voice.
He swallowed saliva and muttered, “You look great.”
“Thanks,” she said dryly, and handed him her overnighter.
“Uh, don’t mind my askin’,” he said as he loaded the suitcases into the Cherokee, “but is there a reason you need to get so dressed up just to go pick up your purse? You look like you’re fixin’ to go to court.”
“Funny you should say that.” He looked at her and saw that she was smiling. It wasn’t a pleasant look; there was something about it that made a tingle go down his spine. Something dark, and full of secret resolve. “As a matter of fact this happens to be my favorite ‘impress the hell out of the judge’ outfit.”
“I hope she ain’t female,” he muttered, watching her hike up her skirt in order to lever herself into the Cherokee.
She laughed with a kind of fierce jauntiness that suited her about as well as hot pink vinyl shoes would have matched that outfit.
They drove through town in silence, except for Bubba’s heavy panting and Charly saying things like “Turn left here,” and “Right at the next corner.” Troy felt uneasy but couldn’t put his finger on why. As he drove through sun- dappled neighborhoods past white-haired ladies on riding lawn mowers, shirtless guys washing their cars and kids
