The Open Road

by Quinn Loftis

  She and Jason got most of her stuff out of her apartment before any looters could get hold of it and took it to his motorhome. Skip had kept an eye on her place until she got out of the hospital. She didn’t exactly have much to steal, but what she did have, she wanted to keep. One evening, Jason and Brent took her meager selection of furniture, which consisted wholly of a couch, overstuffed chair, coffee table, a couple of end tables, and a bed, back to her childhood home. Samantha’s mother wasn’t there, so Sam left a note telling her mom why there was new stuff left in the garage and specifically forbade her from selling the furniture to buy drugs for one of her new boyfriends. Sam was quite sure this admonition would be ignored. Samantha felt like a coward, running from her apartment to a hidey hole in a national park where Derek couldn’t find her. But Samantha had to admit Charity was right. Until the police caught up with him, Samantha couldn’t hang around anywhere Derek might show up.

  Sam and Jason also had shopping to do. Jason needed a suit, for one thing. He hadn’t anticipated attending a wedding during his travels, so he didn’t have any formal clothes with him.

  Sam watched as Jason came out of the dressing room and did a little twirl for her. For a moment, he almost took her breath away. He was handsome, of course, but seeing him dressed up took his hotness to another level. Samantha tried not to let it show on her face. She rose and walked up to him, moving slowly in a circle around him.

  “Hmm,” she said, drawing out the sound and rubbing her chin. “I guess this miiiight work. If the lighting isn’t great in the church … maybe no one will see how hideous you are. Definitely need a different tie, though.”

  “You think I’m hideous?” he asked.

  She pursed her lips and continued circling him. Eventually, she stopped in front of him. “Well, you have pretty eyes … I guess. Maybe, if someone enjoyed tall, dark men with high cheekbones and strong jaws, you might look … okay in a certain light. Kind of hard to tell with this scruffy beard, though.” She patted his cheek and he grinned.

  She continued circling him. “And if a woman cared about strong arms”—she squeezed his arm for emphasis—“and a flat stomach, you might be passable. I guess I’ll let you take me to Charity’s wedding, but don’t be surprised if I dump you for someone hotter. There’s probably going to be a lot of eligible bachelors there. You better be on your toes.”

  “I’ll do my best, ma’am.”

  “Good, now let’s see if we can find you a decent tie.”

  * * *

  Saturday evening, a week before Charity’s wedding, Jason sat across from Samantha at La Madia. He watched her as she ordered dessert. They’d been through two courses and most of a bottle of wine. Jason thought the rosiness added to Samantha’s cheeks by the wine made her look like a painted porcelain goddess.

  “Are you sure you just want the one dessert?” he asked. “I promised you all of them.”

  “One will be sufficient for tonight. I’m not going to let you seduce me with unlimited desserts.”

  “Then what can I seduce you with?” he asked.

  “I’m not going to make it that easy on you, vagabond. This isn’t Vegas. There’s no Hoover Dam, and there are no secret scenic parking garages you can use to trick me into falling for you.”

  “But there is Mill Mountain,” he replied.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Someone’s been doing his homework.”

  “Believe it or not, I do know how to work the internet. Mill Mountain beneath the Roanoke Star, number one on Roanoke’s top ten list of romantic places.”

  * * *

  Half an hour later, Sam and Jason sat on a blanket in the park atop Mill Mountain. The stars above them were like tiny pinpricks in a black canvas. Other picnickers milled about, but, with the help of their cell phone flashlights, Sam and Jason had managed to find a mostly secluded spot. They’d stopped at a store on the way to pick up another bottle of wine and a couple of glasses, which Jason now poured. He passed one to Samantha and she sipped slowly.

  Lowering the glass, she asked him, “So, what do you think of our fair town?”

  “Quaint,” he replied.

  “That’s one way of saying boring,” she said.

  “It may not be the most exciting town I’ve visited this summer, but it has other attractions.”

  “Like?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

  “The people.”

  “Oh, do you find us Roanokians a pleasant lot?”

  “Very pleasant and attractive, but mostly just one in particular,” he said, leaning closer.

  “Oh, yeah, and who might she be?” Samantha leaned in as well and stared into his eyes, her lips parting.

  “Who said it was a she?”

  Samantha burst out laughing and flopped back onto the blanket. He was funny, but Jason’s actions weren’t lost on her. He’d done that on purpose, made a joke to avoid kissing her. Jason fell back next to her. They both stared up at the stars, feeling a cool breeze blow across their bodies.

  “What’s going to happen, Jason?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Next week, after Charity’s wedding. After you leave Virginia.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” he said. “And I think I want you to come with me.”

  Samantha laughed. “Yeah, right,” she said.

  “Why are you laughing?”

  “I can’t leave Roanoke. It’s my home.”

  “People have to leave their home sometimes,” he said. “I’ve left mine.”

  “That’s crazy. I have a good job here.”

  “And you can find a new one later. I wouldn’t mind supporting a hitchhiker for a bit until she gets back on her feet. Besides, I think I might need you.”

  “Why would you need me?”

  “I only have a couple more states until I hit Louisiana. You know that’s where the accident happened. I was in a really dark place in the Northeast, Samantha. You brought me out of that. I don’t want to go there again.”

  “Wow, pressure much?”

  “No pressure,” he said. “I just think the trip could be good for both of us. You need to get away from your psychotic ex-boyfriend, and I need someone to talk to besides a faded photograph.”

  Samantha chewed on her tongue. As much as she would like to hop in an RV and tour the country with Jason, she couldn’t just drop everything … could she? She began to think about her responsibilities in Roanoke. Her mother was MIA. She had no other family to speak of. Samantha wasn’t in school. Her job was good, but not exactly a career. Charity and Jessica were really the only other tie she had to the place. And she knew exactly what Charity would say: "Get your ass in that RV and get the hell out of here.”

  Maybe Sam could leave, but she didn’t want to go like this. She was glad she’d helped Jason cope with his issues, but Samantha refused to be with him just to distract him from his ex-wife. Samantha had been nothing more than a distraction for entirely too long. Either Jason liked her for who she was as a person or he didn’t. She wasn’t going to be a rebound girl, and she wasn’t going to be his crutch.

  “I don’t think so, Jason. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me this week. It’s been fantastic getting to know you, but I think you need to deal with your issues first. I’m not a human antidepressant. I can’t help you get over Bethany. You have to do that on your own.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “You look amazing,” said Jason and he meant it. Samantha was beautiful. Though it had faded, her black eye could still be seen if someone looked closely enough. But, thanks to Jessica’s experienced touch with makeup, the damage was minimized and Samantha’s face was otherwise flawless. Part of her wild tresses had been braided on each side of her head. They wrapped around and met in the back, forming a crown with her dark hair that made her look like a princess. The rest was left to cascade down around her shapely shoulders. The sage-colored chiffon bridesmaid dress she wore was a princess V-neck in the front. It contained a correspondin
g plunging V-cut in the back, and the fabric flowed to the floor.

  Not that Jason could have described with any accuracy the cut of the dress or the type of fabric it was made of. He just knew it exposed her pleasing form in just the right places. He could hardly pull his eyes from her milky skin. But he did when she cleared her throat for the second time.

  “Are you quite done?” she asked. She stood in the doorway of the ladies’ dressing room with her hand out.

  Jason shook his head, appearing to come out of a stupor. “Yes, quite,” he said, passing the tissues he’d been ordered to retrieve for her and the rest of the bridesmaids. He could hear giggling and chattering from within the room where the bride and her entourage were getting ready. “Is Charity mad at you?” he asked.

  “Mad? Why would she be mad?” asked Samantha, confused.

  “It’s impolite to look better than the bride on her wedding day. She should be furious at you.”

  Samantha colored. “Get out of here,” she ordered. “Don’t you think it’s about time you got dressed as well? The wedding starts in half an hour. The guests will be here any second.”

  He stood in his suit pants, dress shoes, and a white undershirt. “I’m a dude. Five minutes and I’m good.”

  “Five minutes and you’re passable. Don’t forget what I told you at the department store. You better be on your toes this evening.”

  “I’ve already shaved for you, woman. What more do you want from me?”

  “The first dance, for a start.”

  “Deal,” he managed to say before she shut the door in his face. As he stood there, staring after the door and wishing she would reopen it just so he could look at her for another five minutes, Jason realized something. This was the first time he’d ever looked at a woman, actually noticed she was attractive, and hadn’t compared her to Bethany. Wondering what this meant, Jason walked slowly back to the pastor’s office that the men in the wedding party had pressed into a makeshift dressing room.

  Though Jason wasn’t a member of the wedding party, he and Brent had hit it off well since Jason’s arrival in town. And Jason had been happy to help Brent and Charity get ready for the big day by running errands and shuttling family members here and there using a borrowed vehicle. Since Samantha, as the bridesmaid, was already doing those things, and since Jason had refused to leave her side since she left the hospital, he naturally fell into the role.

  The past week was hard for Jason to describe. Despite Samantha’s refusal to join him on the rest of his trip across the country, things hadn’t become awkward. At first, he’d been scared Samantha would stop seeing him, leave his RV, and insist on staying elsewhere. But she hadn’t. She still acted as if she was genuinely interested in him. Which only made him wonder all the more why she wouldn’t join him.

  Is she still hung up on her old boyfriend? He’d heard of Stockholm syndrome, but that couldn’t be the case after what Derek did. Samantha is too independent for that.

  Later, Jason sat a few rows from the front of the church, listening as music played softly. He couldn’t help but think back to his own wedding in a similar church. Bethany had been radiant. She’d cried through almost the entire ceremony. Jason had never been so happy. But he couldn’t think of that happy day without thinking of the second time he stood with her in a church. This time, she was in a closed box next to two others, and he was the one crying. They’d practically had to drag Jason away from the coffins so they could take them to the gravesite. Now, looking back, it was as if those two experiences stood as bookends, encapsulating a volume of tomes that represented his life with Bethany. A list of volumes that didn’t take up nearly as much room on the bookshelf of his life as it should. He knew he could open those books and read them whenever he wanted, but he could never write another one.

  The thought fled as the volume of the music rose and the back doors of the sanctuary opened. A man in a tuxedo with a sage-green lapel escorted a young woman Jason didn’t know down the aisle. Then came Jessica, escorted by another of Brent’s friends. Jason knew Samantha was coming next. He practically stood in his seat as he craned his neck to see her enter. Finally, she did, and his lungs seemed to stop working while his heart began to work overtime. He tracked her the entire way, a goofy grin plastered on his face. Somehow, she was even more beautiful than the last time he’d seen her.

  “You’re drooling,” she whispered out of the side of her mouth as she walked by, her own goofy grin stuck firmly in place. Then she passed and took her place on the stage, entirely too far away from Jason, in his opinion.

  The wedding march began, and everyone turned to face the back of the building. Everyone but Jason. Charity might have been the picture of beauty, an angel, Aphrodite herself come down from heaven, but Jason would have never known because he couldn’t take his eyes off Samantha for longer than a few seconds.

  The previous week, Jason had been unsure he could finish his trip across the United States because the pain of doing so without his Bethany was just too great. Now, he didn’t know if he could finish it without Samantha. The ache of Bethany’s loss was still there, but it was duller now. It had lost some of its sting. Being with Samantha the past two weeks had given him hope. Everything he’d said about her in his last video was true. She amazed him. Samantha was as stubborn as an old mule, as mouthy as a teenager, and as impatient as a toddler. But her heart was pure gold. She was kind, devoted, and caring. Not to mention, strikingly pretty. She was an absolute treasure, and Jason was grateful to have found her. He decided, then and there, he wouldn’t leave Roanoke without Samantha.

  Okay, that sounded a bit creepy. I’m not going to kidnap her. But if she wouldn’t come, he would just have to stay. He couldn’t leave her in that town with her lunatic ex-boyfriend still at large, anyway, especially with Charity about to go on her honeymoon. What kind of man would he be if he did that? Unless she insisted he leave, of course. Then he’d just have to soldier on. He hoped like hell that didn’t happen.

  * * *

  “Shit,” Samantha said as Charity stomped her toe. Even though she’d whispered the word, it was caught by the minister’s microphone and broadcast out to the entire congregation. “What?” eyes wide, Sam mouthed to Charity.

  “The ring,” Charity mouthed back, the bride’s own eyes wider and full of fury. She was standing there with her hand out to Samantha and had been, apparently, for some time.

  “Oh, sorry,” Sam whispered, groping for Charity’s wedding ring and passing it to her. Samantha had been so fixated upon Jason sitting a few rows back in the audience, she hadn’t even heard the preacher ask for the ring. Charity rolled her eyes and snatched the tiny golden object. The minister cleared his throat and continued. Samantha went back to daydreaming about driving across the country with Jason in his RV.

  When the minister finally announced Mr. and Mrs. Brent Smith, Sam felt like the ceremony had been going on forever. She was dying to get to the reception and dance with Jason. Unfortunately, she had to stay for pictures, which took forever. While she was doing picture pose roulette, Jason waited for her. He hadn’t moved from his third-row seat, but she did notice him pull out his phone and record a video for his travel blog. It was the first upload since the video in which he had basically told the world he was going to kill himself. The comments on that video had been encouraging. Hundreds of people had left him notes to hang in there. She hoped, when they saw this video, everyone wouldn’t be as angry at Jason as she had been.

  When she, Jason, and the members of the wedding party finally made their way to the outdoor reception area half an hour later, Samantha was tired and hungry, but she refused to be cranky. She was here to celebrate her friend’s special day. And celebrate, she did. Samantha had rarely had so much fun. She’d never really liked weddings before, but Charity’s was a blast. The open bar may have had something to do with it. But Jason was probably the bigger reason.

  The outdoor reception hall was exquisitely decorated. The lighting was per
fect under the pavilion. Picturesque gardens surrounded the dance floor and a large willow tree overlooked a bubbling brook directly behind the meeting area.

  After the bride and groom finished their first dance, and the obligatory family dances were out of the way, she and Jason were the first ones on the floor. She, Jason, Charity, Brent, Jessica, and a long line of men who wanted to dance with Jessica cut a rug all night. The way they danced reminded Sam of their time in Las Vegas. But this time, the upbeat music was intermingled with slow romantic songs, and she and Jason didn’t miss an opportunity to cling to one another.

  Samantha laid her head on Jason’s shoulder as they swayed back and forth. His hands rested on the small of her back. She’d long ago kicked off her shoes, and he’d lost his jacket and tie and rolled up his shirtsleeves.

  After a few moments, he asked, “Have I met all your expectations for the evening, Princess Samantha?”

  She leaned back and looked him in the eyes. “You’ve been … serviceable.”

  “Are you sure there aren’t other suitors here with which you’d like to dance? You were right. They are several eligible bachelors, I believe.”

  “I could, but the night grows long and I am tired. I don’t desire to train another suitor at this time. You will have to suffice.”

  “That’s good, because I don’t think another suitor could do this.” Without warning, Jason placed a hand on each side of Samantha’s face and pulled her lips to his. She was so surprised she almost jerked away, but his scent and the feel of his soft lips locked her into place. Her own lips parted and the kiss deepened. His soft tongue met hers and they rubbed against one another. The kiss went on and on. By the time he pulled away, they were both panting from lack of oxygen. Samantha’s cheeks were flushed.

  Then Samantha heard giggling and clapping. She looked over to see Charity and Jessica making smoochie faces and giving her a thumb’s up from over by the punch bowl.