The Road to Glory (10 page)

"I was a mechanic at Jiffy Lube."

"And was that what you wanted to do?"

"Hardly," he snorted.

"Then what’s your heart’s desire?"

Tony kicked at a pebble. "Who the fuck cares?"

RJ burst out laughing. "Why, I do, of course. What is it then? A musician? A soldier?"

Tony shook his head. "A sculptor," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I like to work with clay." He frowned. "I learned in juevy. We had art class once a month and sometimes we got to work with clay."

"An artist it is, then."

Tony’s brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"It’s my job to find you a job and you just told me your heart’s desire." RJ scratched her jaw speculatively. "I don’t think we’ve any other sculptors in Glory. But I’m sure we can find a kiln someplace. Now, let’s get inside. Mrs. Amos will be expecting us."

"My jacket. It –"

RJ gently tugged one of Tony’s arms from around his torso. The street lamp easily illuminated the long line of lurid track marks that scarred his flesh. She laid a warm palm on the scars. "Nobody will be judging you here, Tony." She grinned and with a wipe of her hand the marks on his arm disappeared. "But just to make you feel a little better."

Tony’s eyes widened and he stared at RJ in awe.

The woman laughed. "C’mon now. If I’m late with you, Mrs. Amos will be telling my mother I’m not doing my job and there’ll be hell to pay." RJ made quick work of the sidewalk … with Tony scrambling after her.

*  *  *

The squirrels jumped out of the truck. A town! A park! This was feeling much more like home.

"Where are we?" asked the male.

"I have no idea. Wait." She scampered over to a tree at the edge of the park. A sign written in squirrel, far too small to be noticed by human eyes, was carved into the trunk of a large tree. It said:

Welcome to Glory. Your asses are dead. Bummer.

Have a Nice Day!

Wide eyed and in shock, the squirrels looked at each other and screamed in unison, "Ahhhhhhhh!!"

R
J RUBBED THE HOOD of her truck with a soft cloth, the pickup’s shiny black paint job reflecting the morning sun. She bent over slightly and lifted her sunglasses as she looked at what she thought was a smudge. "Antique, indeed," she snorted as she wiped away the spot.

"It is an antique, RJ. It’s almost sixty years old."

She stood up and turned to face Pete. "Now don’t you be starting on my favorite girl too. It’s bad enough that Leigh thinks of her as a rust bucket."

"That’s just the way she sees –"

RJ raised a hand to forestall the cook’s words. "Yeah, yeah, yeah I know. But look how beautiful she
really
is." She gazed at the truck woefully. "It’s not fair that Leigh can’t see her beauty as well."

Pete had to admit that RJ was right. The dark-haired woman had treated the truck with tender love and care for a very long time. He blew out a deep breath and handed RJ the cup of coffee he’d brought her. He’d been doing it since the late ’40s, and it had become a comforting ritual for them both. A cup of coffee in the small downtown park before their day began, just so they could talk about everything that was going on at the diner or in Glory or how their community’s latest addition was fitting in.

RJ tossed the rag into the front seat of the truck, then followed Pete to a bench under the tall oak tree across from Mrs. Amos’ house. As she took her seat, she noticed Flea sitting at the base of the tree, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she stared up into the branches.
Leigh’s right. She gets stranger every day.

She sipped her coffee, then glanced across the lawn at the store where her mother was shopping. RJ pulled her cigarettes out of her pocket, hoping she’d be able to finish one before her mother was done shopping and she would need to drive her back home.

"So," Pete sniffed his coffee appreciatively. "How’s Tony doing?"

RJ thought about that for a moment before she answered. "He’s gonna be just fine. He’s already making new friends and is adjusting to all this very well." The way that young folks fit into Glory always surprised RJ. Had she not been doing this for a lifetime she would have guessed that the older people would be more prepared for death and what lay beyond. They’d lived longer, known it was coming, had time to plan and prepare. But that usually wasn’t the case. The young folks, so often stunned to be here at all, tended to take things in stride, adjusting to death the way they adjusted to life — with a blind acceptance. To them, forever was just a word and tomorrow was greeted with more enthusiasm than fear.

In Glory, a person’s outer form was a combination of how they saw themselves and how others saw them. And Glory had its share of old codgers. She laughed to herself, admitting that most of them were lovable souls that somehow still managed to be thorns in her butt.

She turned to Pete. "He asked for something called a CD player. I don’t have a clue."

Pete nodded. "I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry about it."

"I need to try and catch up a little." RJ scowled unbecomingly. "Seems that a lot of things have gotten past me. I’m starting to feel a little out of touch again."

"Speaking of that." Pete bumped shoulders with his friend. "We think you should take a little vacation."

"Oh, ‘we’ do, do we’? And where would I be going? My options are pretty limited."

Pete scratched his jaw, wishing he hadn’t forgotten to shave this morning. He hated stubble. "That’s not completely true, RJ. Arrangements can be made, you know. And I can think of one cute, fair-haired trucker who’d probably be pretty happy if you wanted to spend some time on the road with her."

RJ rolled her eyes, her head dropping forward. These people wouldn’t give up until she was barefoot and pregnant. Not that Leigh would be much help in that department.

"Pete," her tone was serious. "I don’t know about that. Not that it wouldn’t be a lot of fun." She groaned inwardly, her mind flashing to the soft lips pressed against her throat. "But I’m not so sure that’d be a good idea. Not to mention the fact that you’d best be minding your own business."

"She makes you happy, Fitz. Any fool can see that."

"Especially if that old fool happened to be sitting just outside the bathroom in the garage the other night, eh?"

Surprisingly, Pete blushed to the roots of his hair. "Let me amend my former statement. She makes you
really
happy."

"Smart ass," she murmured. Not that Pete was wrong. She just didn’t like the fact that he was rubbing her nose in it.

RJ crossed her arms over her chest. "But it’s not like we can really be together, is it?" Sure, the sex had been great. Better than great. But she was already feeling a little guilty about the time they’d spent together.
Damn Catholic upbringing
. "She’s a beautiful woman, who should be spending her time with someone … with someone …"

"Like you?"

"I wasn’t going to say that!"

"Of course not." He looked smug. "You’re not as smart as me."

RJ’s eyebrow quirked but she said nothing, burying her nose in her coffee cup instead.

Pete pressed on. "We’ve been talking about all this, RJ. You’ve worked hard. And we love you. But let’s face it, you’ve never been a hundred percent happy here. Getting out for a while, spending some time with Leigh, it would be fun, wouldn’t it?"

"Pete…"

"What’s your heart’s desire, RJ Fitzgerald?" Pete’s eyes twinkled.

RJ shook her head, laughing softly. "Very funny."

She sighed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I admit it, it would fun."
The way I feel with her… Jesus
. "I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but being with her was the best time I’ve had in years."

Of course it was.
"You should go for a few days. It’s not impossible, Fitz. You know that."

"It may not be impossible, but it’s still not likely. And Leigh might not want to be traipsing around with nearly a stranger."

"You didn’t seem like strangers to me. Especially after what you two were doing."

RJ narrowed her eyes. "You know what I mean, Peter, the troublemaker."

Pete tossed his cup into a trash bin alongside the bench. He stood and pulled up the pants that had dropped just a little below his ample belly. "If nothing else, it would be an opportunity to ‘catch up’ with the world a little, so you won’t feel so out of touch when someone like Tony comes along."

She nodded reluctantly. That much was true. Based on the folks coming into Glory and that radio in the diner that only got that hideous A.M. station, things had changed since WWII in ways she couldn’t even imagine. RJ focused on Flea as she circled the base of the tree. "What makes you think that Leigh would be wanting me to tag along with her to begin with? We were only having a bit fun, Pete."

"Oh, puleeeze!" Pete tried not to roll his eyes. RJ was certainly a stubborn one. But after only talking to Leigh a few times, he suspected that she was exactly the same way. He was hedging his bets. "Let’s just say that someone who is very persuasive is planting a tiny seed in your friend’s brain."

"Would that friend be the lady trucker?"

RJ jumped to her feet at the sound of her voice. She spun around to face her mother, who was holding an overflowing bag of groceries.

Katherine passed the bag to her daughter and looked at her disapprovingly, clucking her tongue against her cheek as she waited for an answer.

RJ began poking around the sack so she wouldn’t have to meet her mother’s inquiring stare. "Uh … well …"

"Ruth Jean, I don’t like that girl."

RJ eyes darted to helplessly to Pete then back to the forceful older woman. "Mother, you don’t even know her."

"What do I need to know about her other than the fact that she’s alive? I think even you’d have the good sense to know that this is going to keep you apart from her. Assuming you ever get past just wanting to take her to bed."

RJ’s mouth dropped open. "Mother!"

Pete tried to intervene and save his rapidly sinking assistant. "Now, Katie –"

"Don’t you ‘Now Katie’ me, Pete. You more than anyone should know it’s not possible for them to be together and you shouldn’t be encouraging Ruth Jean to go and be with that girl. In the long run it’ll only hurt them both. That is, if they ever get past just wanting to –""

"I know. I know," RJ said quickly. "For the love of Mike, you don’t have to say it again."

Pete sighed heavily. "But they seem to make each other happy."

"All right, so they make each other happy. Eating ten pounds of chocolate in one sitting would make me as happy as a lark. But that doesn’t mean it’s what I should do, now does it?

"Bu–"

"Are you gonna let Ruth Jean out then? Are you gonna let her leave Glory permanently? Are you gonna let them be together should they want that?"

"Be together?" RJ tried to throw her hands in the air, which was a terrible mistake considering she was still holding her mother’s groceries. She fumbled with the bag. "Is it necessary to marry me off just because I took notice of a pretty woman?"

Katherine ignored her daughter’s comment and continued to focus on Pete. "Or are you gonna let them be happy for a short time and then make her come back, so she can be more miserable than before. She –"

"I’m not miserable!"

Pete and Katherine both shot RJ a stern look and barked, "Don’t interrupt."

"Stop!" RJ moved between Pete and Katherine. "Just stop."

The anger and hint of defeat in RJ’s voice made Pete’s chest tighten.

"I won’t be pushed into doing," she glared at Pete, "or not doing," the glare shifted to her mother, "something to please either one of you. It’s my eternity and I’ll spend it the way I see fit!"

RJ was breathing hard and both Pete and Katie could hear the tears in her voice. In all the time Pete had known her, he’d never heard her raise her voice to Katherine. And by the look on the older woman’s face, she realized she’d pushed RJ too far.

RJ cleared her throat and took firm hold over her emotions. "Come now, Mother. I’ll take you home." She strode over to the truck, not bothering to say goodbye to Pete or wait for her mother to join her.

Pete’s voice dropped to whisper. "You should be ashamed, Katie. RJ deserves a chance to be happy just like everyone else here. And she never will be if you keep acting like this."

"If you can figure out a way for her to be happy with this girl, I’ll gladly accept it. Otherwise don’t be filling her head with such foolishness. You know better than anyone that almost nobody leaves Glory." She spoke faster when it appeared that Pete was going to break in. "If you can arrange it for RJ to go be with this girl, I would never stand in her way. I’m not a fool, Peter."

Pete’s shoulders sagged.

"I can see the connection between them, same as you. And despite the teachings of my generation, I’d gladly welcome the trucker –"

"Leigh," he supplied.

Katherine nodded. "Leigh … into my family." She paused and searched Pete’s face, her eyes widening with realization. "Ruth Jean’s already been given permission to go?"

"Almost."

Katherine pursed her lips. "When ‘almost’ becomes ‘yes’ you won’t hear another word from me. Until then, don’t be getting her hopes up."

With that Katherine marched over to Carol, waiting patiently as RJ opened the passenger door. Before she got in, Katherine looked up at her daughter and smiled reassuringly. She kissed her on the cheek and got into the truck.

Pete frowned, his heavy brow furrowing as the truck drove out of sight. Flea, who was apparently satisfied that there was nothing up the tree that she couldn’t live without, jumped up on the husky man’s shoulder and nuzzled his neck. Pete absently stroked her soft, coal-black fur. "What do you think, Flea?"

The cat meowed loudly and batted at Pete’s face with her paw. "Yeah. I know," he grumbled. "I need a shave."

*  *  *

"You take these with you, Ruth Jean!" Katherine tossed her daughter two Golden Delicious apples as the young woman hurried down the back porch steps.