Into the Sunrise

Chapter 2-2

Lorna looked at the woman who’d sat beside her. The same one who’d been sitting a couple of stools away along the counter. Lorna had noticed her even before she passed the menu along. Pretty, late twenties maybe, and a little shorter than Lorna, hair rather out of control, black skin given mauve highlights under the diner’s cold-toned lights.

It took Lorna only a second to get what the other woman was doing. The face of the guy who’d started talking at her uninvited fell as Lorna put down her glass of water, left the cash for the check on the counter, and picked up her purse.

“I’m done,” she said. “Let’s go.”

The two women slid off the stools and walked out of the diner. A few yards from the door, they stopped, and Lorna offered her hand for a shake.

“Thanks for the rescue. I’m Lorna.”

“Zoe. No problem, Lorna. You okay?”

“Fine. He wasn’t too obnoxious.”

“He looked like he was boring you, and if boring people to death isn’t a crime, it should be.” Zoe grinned. If she was pretty before, then her smile took her up several notches to “gorgeous.” Certainly never boring. “You’re staying at the motel?”

“Yes.”

“Me too.” Zoe’s smile faded slightly. A moment of silence stretched. Then she shrugged and pulled the tan suede jacket she wore closer about her. The sun was down and a chill springing up. “Okay, I’ll say good night.” She started to turn away.

“Wait, ah…” Lorna didn’t want her to go. She just…didn’t. “Are you really ready to hit the sack, or do you want to get a drink?” She smiled, more tentatively than Zoe’s unabashed grins. “To say thanks for the rescue.”

“Sure,” Zoe said, turning back to her. The sound of the diner door opening made them glance around. The guy who’d been hitting on Lorna came out, with a couple of buddies.

“Let’s go.” Lorna turned toward the bar. Zoe clocked the guys too, fell into step beside Lorna, and slipped an arm through hers. Lorna feared the men would come into the bar too, but they headed off across the lot to a car. She sighed her relief at that and then enjoyed the fact that Zoe was linking arms with her. It was only a solidarity gesture, she was sure. Mutual support against the guys who might cause trouble. They separated as they arrived at the bar, and Lorna held the door for Zoe to go in.

A decent sort of place. Catering to the motel, so not too intimidating for a couple of women to walk into. They certainly got some looks as they walked to a table. Why not? We’re hot as hell. Lorna grinned to herself. Zoe gave her a quizzical look but didn’t ask what the grin was about

A waitress took their orders. Zoe asked for a draught, and Lorna fought down the urge, from long habit, to ask for a ladylike glass of white wine, and ordered a draught as well. The foaming beers arrived quickly, and the waitress left again.

“Cheers,” Zoe said, raising her glass. Lorna hastily raised hers too, sloshing some beer on the table, to clink against Zoe’s.

“What are we toasting?” Lorna asked.

“Route 66.”

Lorna laughed. Appropriate. “I’ll drink to that. Route 66 and the open road.”

They drank. Zoe stood up after a moment and took her jacket off, draped it on the back of the chair. The bar was hot, but Lorna was in no hurry to leave. Without the jacket she had a better view of Zoe’s figure, which was worth looking at. Her hips had exactly the right curve to look fantastic in low-rise jeans. She wore a close-fitting long-sleeved shirt on top, a Henley, with the buttons all done up.

“So, where are you heading to on Route 66?” Lorna asked.

“Vegas maybe. Which isn’t on that route, I know.”

No. The route itself didn’t even exist as it once had. Route 66 was more an ideal of the open road. The dream of what it meant to drive across the country. The dream Lorna had decided to live for the next couple of weeks. She’d hoped to be across the state line into Nevada before she stopped for the night, but LA traffic had been even crazier than usual. By the time she reached Barstow, she was tired enough to want a meal and a bed more than she wanted to cross an arbitrary line on a map.

“Only maybe Vegas?” She asked. Zoe didn’t have a plan? An ultimate destination?

“I might look for a job there. Or I might head to my folks’ place in Missouri. Things are a bit up in the air. Where are you heading to?”

“Long Island.”

Zoe stared. “That’s a long way.”

“I’ve been left a house there. I’m going to move into it.”

“That’s nice. Seems a long way to drive, though. Why not fly?”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Zoe raised her glass again. “To fun!”

It was a reasonable question, though. Lorna could have flown. She could have held off on buying a car until she got there. If she’d flown, she’d be moving into Aunt Ellen’s house tomorrow. But she wanted this drive. She wanted the time to think and reflect. She wanted the adventure. She wanted to meet interesting people along the way. People like Zoe, who was only maybe going to Vegas.

“I’m driving from LA,” Lorna said. “What about you?”

“Northern California. Bush fires burned down my house and my job, so I decided it was time to move on.”

Lorna stared. “Your house and—”

“When I say house, I mean the motel I was staying in. Weekly rates, you know.” She looked mildly embarrassed and took a pull at her beer. “It was only a temporary place. Sort of got stuck there a few months ago, and I was, I don’t know, regrouping. Deciding what to do next.”

“Stuck? How?”

“Long story.” She cast off her introspective look and leaned across the table, resting her chin on her fist. The heat of the bar was bringing out a light sweat on her forehead. She almost glowed, the lights here warmer toned than in the diner.

“So tell me about the fun you’re hoping to have on this drive, Lorna.”

Lorna could think of something fun she’d like to do, with Zoe. My God, that’s a crazy thought. She certainly hadn’t planned anything like that on this trip. Once she got to Long Island, once she took stock and the divorce was in the works, she’d be open to it. But not now…

“Probably wouldn’t be considered fun by most people. I do want to see some things like the Mojave Natural Preserve and places like that. You know, nature, landscapes.” She smiled self-deprecatingly. It sounded boring. But the pictures she’d seen of desert landscapes intrigued her. For the past decade, when they’d gone on vacation as a family, Jeff had usually wanted to go places with a good golf course. And Dominic liked to swim. Neither would find the barren red desert a fun place to visit.

“That does sound, ah, really interesting,” said Zoe.

“And by interesting you clearly mean dull as dirt.” Zoe seemed a lively and social kind of person. Another one not for the desert.

“No, no, I’m sure it’s beautiful. So Mojave is where you’ll go after here?”

“Yes. Then I’m thinking of taking a couple of days in Vegas too.” Was she? The noise and lights of Las Vegas had never attracted her. But if she was taking a slow drive across the country, looking for adventure, then why not? And if Zoe happened to be there at the same time…

Those thoughts again. Of running her hand over the curve of Zoe’s hip. Of palming the full breasts and kissing them. Feeling Zoe quicken and writhe beneath her…Stop it. Frustration, nothing more. Too long since…She abruptly couldn’t remember the name of the woman from the gym a year ago. It hadn’t been an affair, as a couple of others before her had been. There hadn’t been any emotional involvement. No love. Not even a brief infatuation. There hadn’t been anything beyond s*x. Then the woman had stopped coming to the gym, and Lorna had no number or address for her. They’d never talked about their lives when they’d gone to a motel together after the gym. Sometimes Lorna wondered if she’d dreamed it.

She wasn’t dreaming. Zoe was real and right here and chatting about Vegas, talking about maybe finding work there rather than heading home. Interesting how she seemed reluctant to go home even though she spoke warmly about her parents. Was there an issue with her folks? Why might that be?

The waitress came back when their glasses were empty, and they got a couple more beers.