But much too much.
All of a sudden, I couldn’t hear a word Lee was saying. I kept steering us along the road, smiling and nodding and turning my head to look at her—first at her face to make sure she wasn’t watching me, then at the curve of her exposed breast.
I felt breathless and hard and guilty.
But I couldn’t stop myself.
Suddenly, she yelled, “Watch out!” and flung her hands out to grab the dashboard.
My eyes jerked forward in time to see a deer straight ahead of us. I swerved and the deer bounded out of the way and I missed it just fine. But then I couldn’t come out of the turn fast enough. I took out a speed limit sign.
We weren’t hurt, though.
Next thing I knew, Lee and I were standing side by side in front of the truck, looking at its smashed headlight.
“I’m really sorry,” I said.
“That’s okay, honey,” she said. “These things happen.”
“Danny’s gonna kill me.”
She patted me on the back and said, “No, he won’t. We’ll just keep this between the two of us.”
“But he’ll see the damage.”
“Let’s you and I just forget you had a driving lesson today. Danny’ll think I’m the one who crashed. That’ll suit him just fine, anyway.” She smiled at me. “You know how he loves to whine about ‘women drivers.’ ”
“I can’t let you take the blame,” I protested.
“I insist.”
“But…”
“If he finds out you did it, he’ll tease you to death and he’ll broadcast it to everyone he knows. You don’t need that.” Then, giving my shoulder a friendly squeeze, she added, “Besides, it’s my truck. If I say I was driving it, I was.”
Lee never told on me.
For the next week or so, Danny had a lot of fun at her expense. I was tempted to confess, but then everybody would’ve known Lee had lied. That would’ve made things worse all the way around.
Anyway, that’s the kind of woman Lee was. I could count on her to help me retrieve Slim and Rusty, and she wouldn’t blab about it.
I just hoped she’d be home.
Chapter Nine
I stayed fairly calm most of the way to Lee’s house, but the sight of her pickup truck in the driveway turned me into a nervous wreck.
She’s home!
I felt a lurch of panic.
Even under the best conditions, I sometimes chickened out about visiting Lee. That may seem strange, since we were such great friends. But you’ve got to understand how beautiful and special she was. As much as I liked being with her, I hated the idea of intruding on her. I wanted her never to think of me as a nuisance.
I didn’t much want her to see me shirtless and sweaty and filthy, either.
All of a sudden, I changed my mind about asking for Lee’s help. Instead of heading for her front door, I kept on walking.
Maybe I would just go home. If I told Mom the truth, she would take me out to Janks Field. Then she’d tell Dad all about it, and he…
“Dwight?”
My heart jumped. I turned my head and saw Lee in the doorway, holding the screen door open.
“Oh, hi,” I called as if surprised to find her in this neck of the woods. “What’re you walking away for?” she asked.
I stopped. “I’m not”
“How about a Coke?”
I shrugged. “Okay. Thanks.” I hurried across her front lawn.
She stood there, holding the door and watching me, a look on her face as if she knew everything but considered it more fun to play ignorant.
Not dressed for company, she was wearing an old blue chambray shirt—probably one of Danny’s. The sleeves were rolled halfway up her forearms and the top couple of buttons weren’t fastened. Her shirt wasn’t tucked into anything. (Maybe she wore nothing it could be tucked into.) Her legs were bare, and she didn’t have on any shoes or socks.
As I trotted up the porch stairs, she asked, “Where you been hiding yourself?”
I shrugged and blushed. “Nowhere much,” I said.
In the doorway, she gave me a hug. I didn’t often get hugs from Lee; only if we hadn’t seen each other for a long time. I put my arms around her. As she kissed my cheek and I kissed hers, she gave me a good solid squeeze, mashing me against the front of her body. Her shirt was soft against my skin. By the feel of her breasts, I knew she wasn’t wearing any bra.
It was just about the best hug ever.
But we broke it up after a couple of seconds. Lee turned away, saying, “Come on, let’s get those Cokes.”
I followed her toward the kitchen, watching the back of her shirt. It draped her rear end, then stopped. The tail fluttered slightly as she walked.
“So what’ve you been doing with yourself?” she asked.
I suddenly remembered.
“Oh, yeah,” I said.
That was all I needed to say.
About one stride into the kitchen, Lee stopped and turned around and raised her eyebrows.
“Maybe the Cokes better wait,” I told her.
“What is it?”
“I was sort of wondering if you’d let me borrow your truck for about half an hour.”
“Sure,” she said, not even hesitating to think about it.
“Thanks.”
I followed her through the kitchen. Her brown leather purse was on top of the table. She picked it up, reached inside, pulled out her keys and tossed them to me. I caught them.
“Thanks,” I said again.
As I started to turn around, she said, “I’ve got nothing to do for a while. Want me to come along?”
I must’ve made a face.
“Guess not,” she said and shrugged.
“It’s not that. If you want to come along, it’s fine with me. I just don’t want to… you know, impose on you.”
“When you’re imposing, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay.”
“And you’re not.” She gave me a quick smile. “Not yet, anyway.” The smile gone, she added, “You need some help, don’t you?”
“Well, I need a car. But it’d be great if you want to come along with me.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“Sure.”
“Where’re we going?”
“Janks Field.”
She let out a laugh, throwing back her head, then shaking it. When the laugh was over, she said, “That explains plenty.”
“Still want to come?”
“You bet. But what’s the problem?”
“Slim got attacked by a dog.”
Lee grimaced. “Slim being Frances?” she asked.
“Right. Anyway, it didn’t hurt her much, but she fell down and got some cuts. I was afraid she’d bleed all over the place if she tried to walk home, so I left her there with Rusty. They’re on top of that snack stand.”
“What about the dog?” Lee asked.
“It was still there when I left. But it can’t get to them as long as they stay on the roof.”
“So the idea is to drive out and rescue them?”
“That’s it,” I said.
“No problem. Just let me have a minute to get dressed. Go ahead and grab yourself a Coke. You look like you could use one.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“If you want to wash up or something, feel free.”
I nodded, and she left the kitchen. When she was out of sight, I sighed.
Cheer up, I told myself. She’ll be back.
But “dressed. ”
Sighing again, I stepped over to the sink. I washed the dried blood off my hands, then splashed cold water onto my face. I used a wet paper towel to clean the sweat and grime off my arms and chest and belly. After that, I took a Coke bottle out of the refrigerator and pried its cap off.