The Bikini Car Wash (27 page)

Pete nodded. “And even if she did, Mom has been so disappointed by my father so many times over the years, I honestly think that she’s become nearly immune to it. And if it was meant for Mom, if she could have heard it firsthand, I don’t think it could have made even a dent in the problems those two have had over the years. He told her he loved her all the time, but it never changed the way he treated her. This wouldn’t have changed anything either.”

“But it sure changed things for Miss Kepper,” Andi said.

Pete agreed.

“It’s so hard to know what is true and what’s not true. Even the people who are relating the facts can’t be sure.”

“So what do we do?” Pete asked.

“I think we try to live our lives and be happy,” Andi said.

Pete leaned forward and planted a little peck on her lips. “I think I can live my life happy if I get to live it with you.”

“You know, I think with the right kind of contractual agreement, we could probably make that happen, Mr. Guthrie.”

He kissed her again.

“What they say about you in town is that you’re the kind of businesswoman who gets her way in every deal.”

“This kind of deal allows no cheating,” she said. “We need to try to be as honest with each other as we can. And we won’t waste too much time trying to make sense of things we can never really be sure about.”

“Do you want to shake on it?”

“I’d rather try to find out if any of those bedrooms have locks on the door.”

“You are scaring me, woman,” Pete said. “This kind of risky behavior is not what we’re accustomed to in Plainview.”

“I’m fearless,” Andi said. “I think I get that from my mother.”

Lovers Leap Overlook at Mt. Ridley had to be the most beautiful site in town for an outdoor wedding. The first autumn cold snap had signaled the trees to turn their leaves to red and orange, yellow and gold. But today, barely a year after her mother’s death, the sky was blue, the sun was warm and it was a perfect day for a wedding.

The bride wore a ruthlessly unadorned ankle-length gown of metallic champagne satin. The three-quarter-length sleeves and the multiple strands of sparkly jewels around her throat were the only concessions to a woman of a certain age.

The groom, in a new gray suit with a pink rosebud in his
lapel, was grinning like a fool. Or perhaps grinning like a man who’d waited a lifetime for this day to come. And most of that life he never believed that it would ever happen.

Beneath the gauzy canopy, Father Blognick seemed distinctly uncomfortable. Rabbi Goldman wasn’t any happier.

At the four corners of the structure stood their four children. Andi and Jelly were in matching dresses of deep fuschia. The first time they’d had matching clothes since grade school, Jelly had enthusiastically pointed out.

On the opposite side, the Joffee brothers looked positively dashing. Also slightly dangerous, their matching expressions daring anyone to say anything unfavorable about the unexpected choices of the happy couple.

Andi watched the ceremony with a surprising sense of peace. Pop and Rachel loved each other. Anyone who doubted that only had to look into their faces.

Pop thought that Andi’s mother would be happy for them. That she would wish them well and be glad they were finally together. Andi didn’t know about that. She didn’t know her mother well enough to speculate. And even if she did, it would be just that, speculation. Her mom had gone on to heaven and Pop was still here. The vow, “’til death do us part,” meant just that. No holding on to the past allowed. Besides, the future was worth embracing.

Andi had reluctantly put the CLOSED FOR THE SEASON sign in the car wash window. It had been a strangely sad, but also celebratory moment. She’d stayed open all summer. She’d paid two employees who might have spent the summer out of work. After paying her utilities, she’d still managed to make a profit. She called that success.

Initially she’d set the town on edge, but in the end there were no protestors, no legal maneuvers, no problems really to speak of. People got accustomed to seeing the staff in their swimsuits and it got to be no big deal.

Unfortunately, that was true for the customers as well. After the initial burst of waiting lines, it became a car wash, not an event. Toward the end, it was as much Mrs. Meyer’s group, the senior citizens who didn’t want to drive to the interstate, as the ogling men who kept them in business.

She gave a casual glance across the crowd. There were people here who’d openly reviled her as a modern-day harlot. And there were also some who’d championed her as a heroine. But mostly, they were just people from her hometown. People who had regular hopes and dreams, some of which had been busted to bits in the last few years. But they were trying to put them back together, piece by piece.

As the mixed message marriage ceremony concluded, Father Blognick blessed them. And Pop stomped a piece of crystal with his foot. They were pronounced man and wife. They kissed each other, waved to the crowd and then walked arm-in-arm through the pathway between the chairs.

Andi watched a bit nervously as Jelly and Seth paired up to walk behind them. Her sister’s chin was high and proud. She didn’t miss a step. Andi and Dave walked behind them.

“So my official stepsister, what’s next?” he asked.

“We drink, we dance, we eat cake?”

“What about the hora?” Dave said. “Don’t we need to get those two dancing up in the air in chairs?”

“Just don’t drop them,” Andi said. “At their age somebody is bound to break a hip.”

But the reception proceeded without incident. Everybody was on their very best behavior. There seemed to be almost a competition going on between the ladies of St. Hyacinth’s and those from the synagogue. Sort of like, “we’ll show them that we can be more open and welcoming than they ever could!” Whatever, it was working. And Andi was grateful.

The party pretty much started without the principals as the family posed near the scenic ledge for photo after photo after photo.

“Do I get these in a picture book?” Jelly asked a half-dozen times. “Do I get these in a picture book?”

The photographer assured her she would, but Jelly had her doubts.

“Perjury will get you time upstate,” she warned the poor man. “Remember you’re under oath!”

Andi hardly got a moment to hug the happy couple and wish them well. The caterer, looking desperate, called her away. The cranberry-mango chutney was missing and she couldn’t serve the turkey breast without it.

Andi spent at least the next hour being the point person for every possible emergency. Including more guests than flatware and an inexperienced server pouring the toasting champagne into the dinner glasses.

“Hi Andi! Hi Andi! Hi Andi! Hi Andi!”

Tony Giolecki and his grandmother were among the guests. Tony wasn’t used to such a big, fancy party. But he looked good in his Sunday suit and was obviously having a nice time.

“Andi’s my girlfriend,” he told the caterer and the waiter and guest after guest after guest. “Andi’s my girlfriend. Andi’s my girlfriend.”

“Tony,” she said. “You’d better go find your grandma and eat your dinner, because when the dancing starts they’ll take the food up.”

“I gotta eat,” Tony agreed. “I gotta eat. I gotta eat. I gotta eat.”

Andi didn’t get to eat. By the time everything was running smoothly, she hardly had time to slip into her seat at the head table for the toasts.

Dave’s was clever and entertaining, he had the crowd laughing.

Andi’s was more heartfelt.

“I’ve always known how lucky I am to have my pop,” she began. “He is just the kind of guy you can always depend on. He’s the guy who, when you need help, will always be there with a wrench or a hammer or a shoulder to lean on. Today, he’s getting a helpmate of his own. Rachel, I hope that you and Pop have a hundred years of life together and are as blissfully happy as you deserve to be.”

Andi raised her glass sincerely and the applause was spirited.

When the dancing started, people finally got up and started moving around again. Andi shook a hundred hands and smiled until she thought her face might break.

She spotted a small familiar young fellow in the crowd. He hurried toward her, followed by his parents.

“Caleb,” Andi said. “Don’t you look all grown up.”

“This is my first time to be at a wedding, that I remember,” he said. “And it’s pretty cool.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

Just as Tiff and Gil stepped up to join them, Caleb added, “We’re going to have our own wedding. And I get to be in it this time.”

“What’s this?” Andi asked, looking hopefully at Tiff.

“We told Caleb to keep it a secret,” she said.

“Sorry, Mom.”

“Well, this kind of secret is sure to get out,” Andi said. She smiled at them both. “Well, best wishes, congratulations, whatever. I’m happy for you.”

Tiff shrugged, a little embarrassed. “We’re back together and it’s working. So…so we decided to make it official.”

“That’s great. That’s so great.” She hugged Tiff and shook hands with Gil.

“We’re going to wait a couple of months on the wedding,” he said. “I’ve just been accepted into an eight-week course at the hospital. If I pass the test, I should get steady employment. So we’ll have double reasons to celebrate.”

“Congratulations!” Andi said. “What are you going to be doing?”

“I’m going to be a nurse’s aide,” he answered. “There’s a lot of opportunity in that, both at the hospital and in home health care. I’ve got a lot to learn, but at least I already know how to carry a bedpan.”

They both laughed as if they were delighted by the prospect.

“I’m really happy for all of you,” Andi told them.

They were obviously happy for each other, too. Andi later saw Tiff and Gil on the dance floor together and thought they looked exactly like what they were, a young couple in love.

But they weren’t the only young couple in attendance. Andi caught sight of Cher-L in the crowd. It was a wonder that she recognized her. Since the closing of the car wash, she’d lightened her black-and-blue goth hair to a light ash-brown. And she was accompanied by a very handsome, buff-
looking guy who was somehow familiar. Andi figured he must have been one of the customers at the car wash.

When they finally ran into each other, Cher-L hugged her excitedly.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too,” Andi said, only realizing it was true when she said it. “I love your new hair.”

“Oh, thanks,” Cher-L said. “I did it for my new job. It doesn’t really scare people off the way the old hair sometimes did.”

“You have a new job?”

“Oh, I haven’t told you?” Cher-L shook her head. “It is so totally cool. Of course, it’s not a real
real
job. I don’t get wages, just commission, but I’m doing good. I’m working at Spangler’s Used Cars out by the interstate. I thought, you know, I know cars and I know how to sell people stuff. So I just went out there and proposed myself. So far, it’s working great.”

“Oh, Cher-L, that is fabulous. I’m so proud of you.”

“Oh, that’s another thing,” she said, sheepishly. “I’m just plain Cheryl again. That really works better and I don’t have to spell it or explain it all the time.”

“Well, okay, Cheryl. If it’s what you want, then I’m very glad about that.”

“Thanks. Me, too.”

“And who is this handsome guy you’re not introducing me to,” Andi said. “I promise I won’t try to cut in.” She addressed the familiar young man directly. “Hi, I’m Andi Wolkowicz.”

“Doug Mayfield,” he said, taking her hand. “I guess you don’t recognize me out of uniform.”

“Oh…oh, of course, Officer Mayfield. It’s good to see you again. So glad you could come and that you could bring our Cheryl.”

He winked. “I try to see she doesn’t go anywhere without me.”

They all laughed.

Jelly came by and dragged the two back out on the dance floor. She motioned for Andi to come as well, but she declined.

Andi had spotted Pete several times in the crowd, but somehow, every time she headed in his direction, she got called away. She spoke for a few moments to his mother. Madeleine looked great. She was doing a big remodel of her home.

“I’m really just getting it into some sort of condition for sale,” she told Andi. “I want to move into something smaller. So I’m trying to get all the work done this fall and winter, so I can put it on the market in the spring.”

Andi nodded. “Pete told me that you were going to Chile and Argentina this winter.”

“No, I’ve decided against it. I haven’t spent enough time in town the last few years and I just want to stay home, I think.”

There was something slightly insincere about her answer, but Andi had decided that she no longer cared that much about what people thought was true.

“I actually gave my reservations and my travel plans to Doris,” Madeleine said.

“Doris Kepper?”

“Turns out that she always dreamed of retiring and doing some travel. Now she can.”

That bombshell sort of rested at the back of Andi’s mind.

Pop came and got her to take a turn about the floor.
During an awkward fox-trot to “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” she asked him about it.

“Miss Kepper is going to retire from Guthrie Foods,” she told him.

“Really?”

“Yes, and Pete hasn’t mentioned it at all. I mean I know I’ve been busy with your wedding, but I’d think he would have mentioned it.”

“I guess it just didn’t come up,” Pop said.

“Do you think it just didn’t come up?” she asked. “Or do you think it didn’t come up on purpose?”

“I don’t get what you mean.”

“Pete knows how desperately I’m looking for a new job. And he knows how more than qualified I am to do that one,” she said. “Do you think that he doesn’t want me to know about it so that I won’t apply? It’s a family business, but I’m sure they still have rules about hiring people you’re dating. And giving a plum job to your girlfriend, even if she’s qualified. I guess that would look really bad. Is that what he’s thinking?”

“I don’t know, Andi. I think you’ll have to ask him.”