Sure enough, one day Glenn’s wife followed him to Sue’s house. That night she flagged Doyle down while he was driving up his driveway and told him all about what his wife was up to.
The next day Doyle came home at lunch time and caught Sue and Glenn in the act. I still consider it a miracle that he didn’t kill Glenn or Sue, or both of them. But he did beat Glenn up and then physically throw Sue out of the house.
Surprisingly, this story actually had a happy ending. Glenn left his wife, and he and Sue moved in together. I’d never seen Sue so happy. Doyle kept everything he and Sue had, including her clothes, but Sue was just glad to be rid of him. Glenn’s wife also took everything they had accumulated, so Sue and Glenn didn’t have a pot to piss in. But Glenn still had his job working at a garage and they had each other.
I was happy that things turned out well for Sue. She’d been through so much tragedy and chaos in her young life. She deserved to be happy and secure and loved. And I was happy for a more selfish reason: I needed to know that there could be a happy ending. All I’d ever experienced or witnessed around me were stories that ended badly.
chapter 30
Sue and Glenn fixed me up with a friend of Glenn’s from the garage who lived in a little apartment behind their house, Ricky. He was a thin, wiry guy with lots of energy and charisma, and he was twenty-two years old—seven years older than me.
I’ll never forget the first time he picked me up on his motorcycle. I hadn’t been on one before so, when I got on the back, I hung on for dear life. Ricky wasn’t very big so putting my arms around his waist didn’t make me feel all that safe. One good pull and I was afraid he’d be sitting in my seat and I’d be on the ground. But Ricky was stronger than he looked, and even though I was petrified of that roaring monster, the ride was also thrilling—it reminded me of how I felt driving in Ruby’s red convertible.
Ricky wasn’t very good looking but he was crazy about me. In a way, I guess I was using him. Sue and Glenn were so in love that I felt lonely hanging out with them when I didn’t have a date too.
The four of us spent the rest of the summer before my junior year together, going to the Bakersfield Speedway every Saturday night to watch the drag races, partying at Sue and Glenn’s, and going to the drive-in. I felt happy because it kept me out of my house, and because Sue and Glenn’s happiness was contagious.
Ricky made me feel pretty and sexy and desirable. We’d go back to his apartment late at night and lie on his bed and make out, and he was always a gentleman—not that I cared. By this point, I was ready for sex, but I exuded such a “good girl” persona that guys usually left me alone. Ricky treated me with respect and I appreciated that. But I also secretly wished he’d try to go further.
Sometimes Ricky just stared at me and caressed my hair and face. “You’re so beautiful,” he’d say. “I love you so much.”
But I didn’t take him seriously. How could he be in love with me? We hadn’t known each other that long. And besides, I didn’t think anyone could really love me.
One Saturday night in late August, just before school started, things got hot and heavy between us. Instead of stopping the way he usually did, Ricky kept right on touching me. Before I knew it, we both had our clothes off and were just about to have sex—and then he jumped up, put on his jeans, and went out the door.
“I’ll be right back,” he said over his shoulder. “Gotta get me a rubber from Glenn.”
I lay there naked in the dark, completely turned on, anticipating what it would be like to have sex with Ricky, someone who I knew would be gentle and loving.
But when Ricky came back, he told me Glenn didn’t have any rubbers since he and Sue were trying to have a kid.
“Why don’t you go to the store and get some?” I asked. I was glad he’d had the presence of mind to think of them since I was deathly afraid of becoming pregnant.
But it seemed like the evening air had cooled Ricky off.
“It’s late. Maybe we should forget it,” he said. He kept his jeans on and lay down on his side, facing me. “We shouldn’t anyway. Not until we’re married.”
I was too shocked to say anything. I suddenly felt cold and vulnerable lying there with just the sheet covering my nakedness.
“Will you marry me, Beverly?” he said softly, gathering me up in his arms.
I didn’t know what to say. Marrying Ricky was the last thing on my mind. But I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. So I tried reasoning with him.
“I’m too young to get married, Ricky. I’m not even out of high school.”
He wasn’t having any of it. “Okay, but why can’t we at least get engaged and then get married once you graduate?”
I felt more and more trapped as I tried to find a way to
