The Thousand Mile Love Story

by Natalie Vivien

  “Jillie, we know that you really loved her. But it’s obvious that the feeling wasn’t exactly mutual,” said Robin softly. And then she sighed. “If you give me your phone, I’ll read the text messages for you and, if you want…translate them so they won’t hurt as much if she’s still being a butthead.”

  Jill stared into the distance for a moment, adjusted the bandana on her head, and pushed the sunglasses up her nose again. And then she fished into her pocket, took out the phone—without looking at it—and handed it back to Robin.

  Robin paged through the phone, taking off her sunglasses as she held the screen at an angle against the glare of the sunshine directly overhead.

  “Well, the first text says that you’ve won a cruise for two. Spam,” said Robin, squinting. “The second says that your anytime minutes are at capacity. And the third… Leila says she misses you.”

  “Oh, my God. She misses me,” said Jill, whipping her head around to stare into the backseat, her eyes behind the sunglasses brimming with tears. “Oh, my God. She regrets what she did! Oh, God—what if this means that she wants to get back together with me?”

  “Not so fast, Jillie,” said Robin softly, paging through some more text messages. “I mean, she says some other stuff here. It’s kind of every other text message that she misses you, and then the next one says something nasty… I mean, I’m not going to repeat that stuff out loud.” Robin’s eyes got wide at one of them, and then she winced as she paged through to the next text. “I think she’s just at the stage of realizing that she made a really huge mistake that’s going to change her life. I don’t think she’s actually remorseful,” said Robin, sniffing as she handed Jill back her phone.

  Jill took a deep breath as she deposited the slim phone back into her pocket.

  “We love you, Jillie,” said Tiffany, reaching across the space between them and squeezing Jill’s hand before clutching the wheel again.

  “We love you, Jillie!” Andee and Robin repeated, smiling up at the woman in the front seat, who smiled a little. Which was better than nothing.

  “Say buh-bye to Virginia, ladies!” sang Tiffany, then, as she waved at the sign welcoming them to Maryland. “And hello, Maryland!”

  “Oh, thank God. I have to pee,” said Andee, as the blue Maryland welcome center sign declared that the rest area was only one mile away.

  “Cross every finger that they have coffee,” muttered Tiffany, glancing in the rearview mirror before flooring the gas pedal.

  Andee’s heart had only just recently returned to its normal rhythm since the incident in the cavern. She kept stealing sly (well, she thought they were sly) sidelong glances at Robin, who sprawled comfortably in the seat beside her. Because the back bench seat was so big, Robin could have her arm up on the seat back, where heads would normally rest, without touching Andee. But they were almost touching. If, for example, Tiff went around a sharp bend, then Andee would tumble into Robin, and they would touch.

  As they did just now.

  “Oof,” muttered Andee, her airflow getting interrupted by the seatbelt trying to strangle her as she tried to straighten herself, Robin’s arm around her shoulders. “Sorry, sorry,” she muttered, but when she looked up into Robin’s face, the woman’s mouth was curved up into an impish grin, and her brows were raised over her sunglasses.

  “My pleasure,” she murmured, setting Andee’s heart to racing as she leaned back in her seat, returning herself to her normal position.

  They pulled into the parking lot for the rest area, and Andee was the first one out of the car, practically leaping out of it in her haste to get away.

  “Hey, hey, hey, it’s starting to look like a pigpen back there,” said Tiff, blocking her way up to the sidewalk with her hands on her hips and her high-heeled toe tapping. “We’re instituting a new rule: you eat or drink out of something that becomes garbage, you get rid of the garbage at the next rest stop.”

  “Yeah, I had a friend last night who quite enjoyed our garbage,” Andee muttered, remembering the raccoon, as she turned back to the car. She avoided Robin’s eyes as she bent over, retrieving the wrappers from the floor. It took Robin, Andee, Tiff and Jill three trips each to dispose of all of the fast food containers, wrappers, cups and bits of paper that had collected upon the floor of the convertible. The trashcan, when they were through with it, was overflowing with a few states’ worth of garbage. Once it was done, Tiffany stood there, beaming and stroking her car door.

  “That’s my sexy little baby,” she practically purred, patting her convertible.

  “It may be sexy, but it’s also the most ridiculous thing in the world to actually take a road trip in,” Robin snorted.

  “One requires style for a road trip, Rob,” said Tiffany with a sniff, as the four women made their way toward the rest area building, a big brick structure with a massive blue plaque on the side that read “Welcome to Maryland!” in a curving font. A happy couple were actually taking their picture in front of it as they walked past, the blonde woman glowing as the man beamed down at her, his arm around her shoulder. They looked young. Newlyweds. Andee almost ran into Robin as she angled her head back, watching them for as long as she could.

  “They look happy,” said Robin, a very purposefully nonchalant comment, as she held the door open for Andee. Andee nodded.

  “Thanks,” she muttered, entering the building. A whiff of Robin’s cologne followed her in, a soft, earthy scent that made Andee’s heart race.

  Andee was done first and wandered out into the main room of the rest area, glancing at the big map on the wall of the state, several glittery red arrows tacked to the map pointed up toward Baltimore. There was, thankfully, a machine that dispensed coffee (Tiffany would be so happy), and as Andee dug around in her jeans pocket for some quarters, she eyeballed the candy machine, too.

  And there, sitting on the bottom row of the vending machine, was something that made her pause.

  Andee stalked up to the machine, eyes wide as she stared down at that final row. This was…odd.

  She was a connoisseur of vending machines, and could—without error—tell you what the ones scattered around Asheville contained. And Andee would easily admit that one of the happiest moments of her life was when she’d purchased a vending machine for the exterior of the Puppy Parlor. As such, Andee could say with a fair degree of certainty that she’d never seen a Skor bar in a vending machine before.

  Vending machines sold the candy that most people would buy. It was one of the simplest examples of supply and demand. And not that many people loved the toffee nut crunch of a Skor bar. In fact, Andee knew only one person, had only ever known one person absolutely addicted to that candy bar.

  Robin.

  It was fate. Or maybe a really cruel joke. Or, just maybe, it was her subconscious trying to tell her something. Andee counted out the quarters in her hand. Just enough. And then she sighed, fed them to the machine, and watched the spiral of metal push a Skor bar down and into the little trough. She picked it up and shoved it into her pocket as Tiffany clicked out of the restroom and practically sprinted toward the coffee machine, Robin and Jill not far behind her.

  It wasn’t until they were on the road, and Andee was beginning to worry about the chocolate melting, that she fished it out of her pocket.

  “This is for you,” she mumbled, holding out the crinkled candy bar to Robin. “For earlier this morning. And…um. Last night. Um. I don’t know what happened. And this morning. I didn’t mean... Um. I’m sorry.” She swallowed and couldn’t bear to lift her eyes up to look at Robin’s face, but then she swallowed again and gathered all of the bits of courage she possessed. And she met Robin’s eyes.

  Robin had pushed the sunglasses onto her head again, and she was staring at Andee, her eyes wide and round and so blue, Andee knew she’d get lost in them if she looked for long enough. Robin’s mouth quirked sideways, and then she was grinning one of her easy Robin grins, the kind that always made Andee weak in the knees, that always conv
inced Andee to go along with whatever wild plan or scheme Robin had concocted.

  The grin that had made Andee fall in love with Robin, all those years ago.

  “Thank you,” said Robin then, scooping up the warm candy bar from Andee’s palm before tearing open the wrapper. It was gooey and almost completely melted, but Robin ate it all without getting a bit of chocolate on her fingers or face…not that Andee kept stealing little glances at her to ascertain this fact or anything.

  Andee’s heart warmed as Robin finished the candy bar, as she rolled up the wrapper neatly and put it in her pocket.

  “That hit the spot, And. Thanks,” she said. And she put her arm along the back of the seat.

  Robin’s fingers brushed against Andee’s shoulder.

  And Andee didn’t move and didn’t mind.

  “Where are we headed next?” asked Tiffany, glancing at the GPS propped on the dashboard. “You told me to type in Baltimore this morning, Rob, but where in Baltimore are we going to first? Jill’s gotta change the address soon, ‘cause we’re getting close.”

  Robin grinned her sly grin and took the piece of paper out of her pocket. She told Jill an address, ending in “Baltimore, Maryland,” which Jill dutifully typed into the GPS and propped it back up.

  “Any hints?” said Tiffany, glancing in the rearview mirror at the two women in her backseat.

  “No hints,” said Robin, shrugging and steepling her fingers, one brow up as she grinned. “But you’re going to think it’s certainly…different.”

  “I wonder, sometimes, at the wisdom of permitting you to plan this road trip,” snorted Tiffany, laying on the horn as she narrowly avoided plowing the car into a semi as she merged into the next lane.

  “And I wonder, sometimes, at the wisdom of letting you drive. But mostly I don’t mention little things like that,” said Robin, laughing.

  “Do not ever anger the redhead,” said Tiffany, nodding agreeably as she laughed.

  “And always trust Robin!” said Robin, putting her hands behind her head and leaning back, eyes closed, grinning her Cheshire cat grin.

  ---

  “Oh, my God. You’re kidding,” said Tiffany, brows up and hands on her hips. She spoke these words in a tone that implied that Robin had better be kidding—or else.

  “Nope! Broaden your horizons a little, Tiff!” said Robin, shutting the car door behind her as all four women stared up at the worn wooden sign.

  The sign read, in a blue old-fashioned script that reminded Andee of the fifties, “The Museum of Dentistry.”

  “Well, this will be different,” said Jill, a pained smile on her face as she shut the car door behind her.

  Andee blinked, staring at the sign and then at Robin, and then back to the sign again.

  “Okay, so it’s not a usual tourist destination, like Yellowstone National Park or whatever. But it’s historical! And you’ll learn lots of cool facts that you can bring out at cocktail parties. Trust me!” said Robin, ushering the other women up the stairs and toward the door of the museum, which was housed in a large brick building. How much history did dentistry actually have? Andee wondered.

  Inside, the bored curator made them sign the guestbook and pay for admission, yawning as Andee asked to borrow her pen to sign. They were given brochures, and the curator glanced at her watch before yawning again, twirling a curl of brunette hair around her finger.

  “We’re closing in an hour,” she warned. “The regular isn’t here today, so I close up shop right on the button.” She tapped her watch, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

  “We’ll be done in an hour,” Robin promised, flashing one of her easy smiles at the girl. The girl straightened under that smile, grinning back. They entered the museum proper, and Robin leaned toward them. “I’ve been here a couple of times. The staff curator’s a real sweetheart,” said Robin, then, voice in a conspiratorial whisper as she cast her eyes heavenward.

  “A couple of times?” said Tiffany, hitching her purse up higher on her shoulder as she shuddered and avoided a widely grinning mannequin (with perfect teeth, Andee noted) as they wandered into the museum proper. “You get a perfect ten in weirdness, Rob.”

  “That is the ultimate compliment, my dear lady,” said Robin, laughing. “Do you guys want me to give you the tour? O-o-o-okay. I’ll take your silence as a no.” She began walking backward, chuckling as she spread her arms with an innocent expression. “May I use this time to gently remind you that you’re the crazy people who put me in charge of planning this whole road trip?”

  “That’s because I was under the mistaken impression that, as an adventure lifestyle whatever-the-hell-you-call-yourself at your job, you’d been to some interesting places,” said Tiffany, trying to avoid looking at a case that housed George Washington’s dentures.

  Andee, intrigued in spite of herself, wandered over and read the placard.

  “This is interesting,” said Robin, in the smuggest tone possible. In spite of herself, Andee chuckled.

  “This has turned into Survivor, Road Trip Style,” said Tiffany, huffing out her breath and clinging to her purse’s strap like a lifeline. “Oh, my God. What is that?” she muttered in revolted wonder, wandering over to another mannequin.

  “I think I’m learning that the history of dentistry was…creepy?” said Andee, her head to the side as she took in some of the earliest tools of the trade. They involved a plier-like device called the Claw that would probably start showing up in her nightmares sometime soon.

  “That’s one way to look at it,” said Robin, pausing beside Andee as she glanced into the case, too. Then she chuckled. “Look, we’re going to the Baltimore Aquarium right after this. I just wanted to show you ladies some weird, off-the-beaten path stuff, too.”

  “Oh, it’s weird all right,” said Andee, grinning, and then she was actually grinning at Robin. She realized, then, that this was the most natural exchange they’d shared during the entire trip.

  And they were being natural with each other in front of a case of outdated devices used to pull teeth.

  She supposed things could be stranger.

  “Um,” said Robin, shoving her hands into her jeans pockets in one smooth, graceful motion that made Andee’s heart beat just a little faster. “About…last night. We don’t have to discuss it,” she said quickly, when Andee began to stiffen. “But I just thought… I mean.... Why?”

  “Is this really the best place to talk about it?” said Andee softly, glancing sidelong at the case containing George Washington’s dentures. She had learned from the placard that—contrary to the popular American myth—his teeth weren’t actually made out of wood. They were made out of hippo, cow and human teeth.

  She really couldn’t think of a cocktail party where she could pull out that little fact, but she had filed it away, anyway, just in case.

  “I mean, I could certainly wait to talk about it until we got someplace weirder. Like, you know, when we get to Ripley’s Museum,” said Robin, the corners of her mouth twitching as she tried to suppress a smile. “But that’s still a few states away, and it feels like a kind of timely thing to talk about now.”

  “Does there have to be a why?” asked Andee softly, Jill and Tiffany making inappropriate sounds across the room as they stared up at a mannequin balancing on a wooden stick clenched between her teeth. Andee glanced back at Robin, ignoring everything else around her. “I mean, there really wasn’t a why.” She lowered her voice, cleared her throat. “I just…wanted to kiss you,” she said simply, feeling her cheeks redden. Had she actually just said that?

  Robin’s brows went up in surprise, and then the corners of her mouth were twitching again as she bit her lip, trying to keep a straight face. “Well,” she said then, leaning closer, propping her hand against the wall above Andee’s head, making Andee’s heart beat a million more times per second than any respectable heart should. “What if I wanted to kiss you?”

  “Have you guys seen this one? Oh, my God. It’s so gross. Really
, I don’t think I can handle much more of this,” said Tiff, clicking across the tile floor toward them before she stopped in her tracks, taking in the scene. A very slow grin spread across her face. “Scratch that! I mean, this is my favorite place in the world!” she said, plucking at Jill’s sleeve as Jill kept walking past her. “Come on, Jillie, let’s go stare at those torture devices a little longer!” she practically sang, all but hauling Jill behind her.

  Andee tried to keep a straight face, too, but a few chuckles escaped before she glanced up at Robin. Robin, who was staring down at her with her head cocked to the side, a mischievous smile playing over her lips, her eyes dazzling blue and bright.

  The loudspeaker crackled to life overhead. “The museum will be closing in five minutes,” said the bored-sounding woman at the desk. “Please return to the front now.”

  Tiffany checked her watch across the room and sighed. “Time flies when you’re staring at teeth! Who knew? Come on, ladies. Let’s go get something to eat. I’m famished,” she said, grinning widely and winking at Andee as she clicked past.

  Andee tried not to think as she followed the rest of the women out. She tried not to think, because when she thought, she remembered, and when she remembered, everything fell apart. And she wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore. She’d changed. Robin had changed—though she still retained all of the quirks that had made Andee fall in love with her…

  Andee tried not to think.

  And Andee failed.

  Andee shoved her hands into her pockets as the four women left the Museum of Dentistry. She watched Robin walk down the stairs, laughing about something with Tiffany. She realized then that, though ten years had passed, it was still so much like it was once. Once upon a time.