Shimmy Bang Sparkle(62)
She raised her sunglasses and turned to me. “I know that. I never thought you were. But if we share the risk, it’s only fair that we share the reward. I think half and half is what makes the most sense.”
Jesus Christ. Fifty-fifty was a fucking sweet offer, but way too generous. “I’m your pinch hitter, Stella. You can’t be paying me for the whole season.”
She smiled a little and rolled her eyes. “You’re such a dude. The going gets awkward and you lean on baseball.”
“Keep your woman-logic off my man-brain,” I said, totally unable to keep the smile off my face. “But seriously. What about Roxie’s son, Ruth’s plans, Mr. Bozeman? Your ranch? I don’t need the cash like you do.”
Priscilla nuzzled into Stella’s T-shirt. “But you’ve got bills of your own. You’re starting over too.”
I didn’t need the reminder. The Texan had texted me every day since I saw him last. The guy was like an incurable rash. But she was more important than any of that shit. “I’m doing it for you. You know that.”
Her cheeks flushed bright red, like she’d just run a mile. “Fine. Then forty-sixty.”
That still didn’t leave her with as much as I wanted her to have. “No dice.”
Now she was getting a little indignant, all flared nostrils and furrowed eyebrows. I liked her pretty, but I liked her pissed off too. “What? Who bargains backward? You want less than forty?”
“Yeah. Twenty-five. Split it four ways. That’s the most I’ll take. And it’s way more than I need.”
She sighed hard and looked out the window. “You’re a piece of work.”
Said the pot to the kettle. “That’s my offer. Take it or leave it.”
It took her a few mile markers to respond, but finally she did. “That’s more than fair. And the girls will be grateful.”
I had a very real feeling that I wasn’t going win a whole lot of arguments with her, so I reveled in this victory. “Good. So we got a deal?” I asked, and stuck out my right hand. Stella looked at it and laughed a little.
“Gonna leave a guy hanging out here? Shake my damned hand,” I teased her. “Hurry before I spit in my palm.”
That wonderful laugh filled the RV, but still, she didn’t shake my hand. Instead, she took my right hand in her left one. And squeezed.
We drove on like that, hand in hand, for miles. The horizon seemed endless, and there were thunderclouds in the distance. We passed a sign that said NEXT REST STOP, 170 MILES. Stella had her hand in mine, and Johnny Cash boomed from the stereo. She was singing along to “A Boy Named Sue,” bringing down the house. In other words, life was perfect.
That is, until I pressed the accelerator . . . and smoke started to pour out from under the Love Boat’s hood.
We pulled off on the side of the highway, near the exit for Canyon Diablo and Two Guns. I yanked the lever to pop the hood, while Stella thumbed worriedly through the handbook, which was cute as hell but wouldn’t help us at all. I didn’t tell her so, though, because as she read she leaned forward slightly, making her seat belt tighten across her chest. The Johnny Cash T-shirt was cut low enough to reveal the soft white inside curve of her right breast. It was like being hypnotized. Cash was flipping me the bird, and I didn’t give a shit. Not until she glanced at me did I snap out of it. “Jesus. Sorry.”
“Staring at my girls?”
“They’re like an eclipse, Stella. It’s impossible to look away.”
She made an embarrassed tsk and tucked the manual back into the glove box. Priscilla zoomed around the RV once, then tried to climb up into Stella’s lap, her hind feet flailing in the air. Stella whispered, “Think I better take her outside. Probably needs to t-i-n-k-l-e.”
I unbuckled my seat belt, while Priscilla danced around in circles because she definitely knew how to spell. “Be careful,” I told Stella. “Snakes and whatever.”
She snorted a little. “Do I look like the sort of girl who wanders off into the sagebrush? Even in boots?”
Actually, she looked like every fantasy I never knew I deserved to have, made real. I liked her in the wig, I liked her without. I liked her dark, I liked her light. I liked Stella Peretti every fucking way she’d let me have her. Tucking a few poop bags into her pocket, she slid out of the passenger’s side with Priscilla and sashayed her perfect hips down the side of the road. Priscilla galloped ahead, into the twenty wonderful feet of retractable leash freedom.
Stella knelt down to adjust her boot while Priscilla ran circles around her, winding the leash ever tighter. Even with the doors closed, I heard the laugh.
The part of my heart she’d already unlocked started talking. Is this what love feels like?
The part of my heart that hadn’t been unlocked answered. Hold your goddamned horses.
Except I didn’t want to hold them. Not at all.
I got out of the RV and climbed up on the front fender. A plume of smoke escaped from under the hood as I propped it open. It smelled hot, like a dusty electric heater. The whole engine was ticking and hissing, so I went back inside the RV and took a fresh dishtowel from where it hung on the miniature oven. Back under the hood, I wrapped it around my hand and undid the radiator filler cap. Using the flashlight I had on my keys, I tried to check the fluid level, but I couldn’t see shit. So I gathered up a mouthful of saliva and spat inside. It hissed back at me like a hot griddle.