Honeymoon for Three (13 page)

It was coming back. She had long forgotten
about that night. Repressed it. She had gone as a cheerleader.
Nothing unusual about that since she was a cheerleader at Fenwick
High School. Underneath her cheerleader uniform she had worn sexy
pink panties, instead of tights, and a pink bra.

It was her secret, and she didn’t really
intend to show off her fancy underwear—at least that’s what she
told herself—but when the Thunderbird wine started flowing, she
became warm—from the wine, the bodies, and a fire in the fireplace.
Somebody put marching music on the phonograph—the kind the school
band played at football games. That’s when she started doing
cheerleading routines. Which made her even warmer.

The boys, who had also been sucking up the
wine, started shouting, “Take it off.” She used the heat to
rationalize taking off her sweater, evoking more cries. So she took
off her skirt. She remembered doing handstands and then going out
in the yard and turning cartwheels. She wasn’t certain what
happened after that. Alfred must have been at that party—she didn’t
remember—but what did he know that she didn’t? How did he find out
about the mole on her breast? Penny decided that silence was her
best defense.

Horns blew behind her. She was stopped in a
traffic lane on the narrow road. Cars were trying to get by. She
drove forward, still trembling a little.

“You did a striptease,” Alfred said. “Then
you passed out on the lawn.”

She must have passed out because her memory
ended at that point. It was definitely out of character for her. It
had cost her a boyfriend, although that had been a minor loss.
There were plenty of boys aching to go out with her. But what about
Gary? She had represented herself to him as an All-American girl.
Would this bother him? After all, it had happened seven years ago.
Youthful indiscretion.

What had occurred after she passed out? She
was afraid to hear what Alfred was going to say next.

“Of course, I wasn’t drinking,” Alfred
continued.

Ouch. Puritan Alfred.

“I was looking out for you. I and another
guy carried you upstairs and put you on a bed in Joan’s spare room
so you’d be safe.”

Uh oh. She definitely didn’t want to hear
this. She spotted the green VW stopped at a turnout. She pulled in
behind it. This should give her a reprieve for a moment. And time
to collect her thoughts.

CHAPTER 14

Gary saw the Ford coming around a curve and
breathed a sigh of relief. He had started to worry when he saw that
Penny was no longer behind him. He pulled into the first available
turnout and waited for several agonizing minutes. Had she lost
control of the car and…? He couldn’t bring himself to finish that
thought. But he realized how empty life would be without her.

Penny brought the car to a stop and got out.
Alfred exited awkwardly from his side. He really was hurting. Maybe
it
was
dangerous for him to drive. Penny walked directly to
Gary and gave him a big kiss. That was a nice way to be
greeted.

“What happened to you?” Gary’s anxiety made
his voice harsher than it should have been.

“I…I thought I had a flat tire. We stopped
to check.” Her voice sounded strange.

“It’s dangerous to stop on this road. Let me
check the tires.” Gary walked around the Ford. The tires looked
fine to him. He went back to Penny. Alfred was a few feet away,
looking up at the Garden Wall, a spectacular mountain ridge.

“Is Alfred acting okay?” Gary sensed that
Penny was jumpy. He had labeled Alfred as a weirdo from the moment
he met him.

“He’s fine,” Penny said, quickly but
unconvincingly. “He’s complaining about his aches and pains, but I
can handle him.”

“He can ride in the VW with me for a
while.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to foist him off on
you. He’s my classmate and my problem. I’ll drive him.”

“Your problems are my problems.”

“What I mean is, I don’t want him to bore
you. At least he and I can reminisce about the old days.”

Gary wasn’t satisfied. He was about to argue
when Penny said, “His legs are really sore. He has to stretch them
out. He needs the legroom in the Ford.”

The VW actually had a lot of legroom for
such a small car, but Gary didn’t want to start an argument right
there, especially in front of Alfred. He decided to accept the
situation.

***

Penny dreaded what was coming next, but she
couldn’t let Alfred ride with Gary, at least until she heard how
bad Alfred’s story was going to get. He had become a loose cannon.
The little convoy started up again, with Gary in the lead. Alfred
didn’t say anything at first. Penny decided to wait him out. Maybe
he would forget about it. Maybe it was just a bad daydream. She
navigated the mountain road slowly and carefully, staying close
behind Gary.

“The guy who helped me carry you upstairs
was drunk. He wanted to do more than just put you on the bed, if
you know what I mean.”

Penny cringed inside. She knew all too well.
She noticed that Alfred had placed his hand on his stomach with his
fingers inside his shirt, like pictures of Napoleon she had seen.
That gesture had helped her identify him at the Space Needle.

“I kicked him out of the room and shut the
door. I put you under the covers so you wouldn’t be exposed.”

Alfred paused again. What did he want, a
medal? This was agonizing, hearing the story come out piece by
piece. She didn’t know whether he was telling the truth, but she
couldn’t contradict him.

“You don’t remember any of this, do you?”
Alfred said.

He had called whatever bluff she had. “I
remember things.” She tried to sound indignant, but the words
didn’t come out very forcefully.

“You were very grateful to me.”

Penny could tell that Alfred was watching
her, waiting for her reaction. She decided to return to
silence.

“
Very
grateful, if you know what I
mean. And I really like your mole.”

So this was the story. This was what he
would tell Gary. She shuddered.

Additional memories returned to her. She had
indeed woken up in Joan’s spare bedroom in the wee hours of the
morning—naked. With a splitting headache. Once she figured out
where she was, she turned on a light and found her clothes in the
room. Someone had collected them for her. She got dressed, snuck
out of the house, and walked home. It was less than a mile. She
snuck into her own house and made it into her bedroom without being
seen. Her brothers were asleep. Her mother was asleep. Her father
was asleep and probably drunk to boot.

There was gossip at school, of course—that’s
what had cost her a boyfriend—but nothing that enlightened her
about what had happened when she was unconscious, except that it
was Joan who had put her clothes in the room. It was a lost slice
of her life that she couldn’t get back.

Penny negotiated a hairpin curve and said
slowly, “There’s no way I’m going to run off with you. So what do
you want?”

“I want to be your friend. That’s all,
Penny. I just want to be your friend.”

Alfred’s voice had a pleading tone. And the
word “friend” sounded innocuous enough. If only he would settle for
that.

***

They were cooking their dinner at St. Mary’s
Campground located at the east entrance to Glacier National Park.
At least they weren’t sleeping in the campground. They had gotten
two inside rooms at St. Mary’s Lodge. Alfred hadn’t argued about
getting himself a separate room. He had Penny where he wanted her,
and he wouldn’t push his luck just now.

Gary was tending to the Coleman stove. He
was very good at this camping stuff. Good at climbing treacherous
mountain trails and staying in places with no heat, lights,
bathrooms, or hot water. Roughing it. Making Penny rough it. This
was no life for Penny. Alfred would see that Penny lived a life of
luxury.

Alfred helped Penny set the wooden picnic
table. Gary was busy at the stove. The hamburgers wouldn’t be ready
for a few minutes. Alfred said to Penny, “Come with me and watch
the sunset. It’s going to be beautiful.” He didn’t care that much
for sunsets, but it was a convenient excuse to get Penny away from
Gary.

She looked at him. He returned her gaze. He
had the power to make her go with him. It gave him a surge inside,
almost electrical in nature. She told Gary they’d be back soon and
walked beside him. He took her to a spot where they could see the
beautiful sunset better, but also a spot away from everybody
else.

He gave her a few seconds to admire the
sunset and then said, “I need a hug.” He took her by the shoulders
and turned her toward him. He put his arms around her, going inside
her arms that hung limply by her sides. At first she just stood
there. Then, slowly, she put her arms loosely around his neck. She
felt good against him.

He lowered his hands to the bottom of her
sweater and slid them underneath it. He untucked her shirt and
pulled it up until he felt the bare skin of her back. He felt her
muscles tense, so he stopped moving.

She started to pull away. He held her with
one hand and moved his other hand quickly around her body,
following the curve of her waistline, letting the smooth skin slide
sensuously through his fingers. He found her bellybutton. Her
fabulous innie bellybutton. He touched it as he would a shrine,
respectfully.

Penny abruptly jerked away from him and
punched him hard in the face, making him stagger backward and grunt
loudly.

“Don’t ever do that again,” she shouted. She
turned and ran back toward Gary and their picnic spot.

Alfred watched her go, feeling his aching
jaw with his hand. She really packed a wallop. Anger flared inside
him. How dare she hit him? She would pay for this. As he practiced
opening and closing his mouth to make sure his jaw wasn’t broken,
another thought came to him.

He had gotten to first base with her. Of
course he couldn’t go all the way on the first date. She wasn’t
that kind of a girl, but she was amenable to his advances. She had
hugged him. He had the upper hand. She couldn’t afford to have him
tell Gary about her past. There would be other opportunities for
him. He was sure she had enjoyed it. She was just being coy. He
walked back slowly with a big, if painful, grin on his face.

***

Gary was flipping the hamburgers when Penny
came running up to him, out of breath. He barely had time to put
down the spatula before she ran right into his arms. Her body was
shaking.

“What’s the matter? Is it Alfred?”

She didn’t speak; she just clung to him. As
her breathing slowed, she said, “There he comes. Don’t say
anything. I’m okay. Everything’s fine. I’ll tell you later.”

Alfred came strolling up, grinning. “Is
dinner ready? I’m so hungry I could eat a bear.”

Gary thought his grin looked lopsided. Maybe
Alfred’s face was lopsided, and he just hadn’t noticed before. Gary
had an urge to wipe the grin off his lopsided face, because he was
sure Alfred had done something to Penny. Penny didn’t want him to
act impulsively. He would hear her story later and take appropriate
action. Meanwhile, he would keep his cool and try to be the perfect
host.

Neither Penny nor Alfred talked about what
had happened during dinner. In fact, Alfred acted as though nothing
had happened. Penny was very quiet, unusual for her, and she sat
close to Gary.

He had a hard time not challenging Alfred,
but he honored Penny’s wishes. Tonight was definitely the last time
they would have to put up with him. Tomorrow they would leave him
behind. Gary wouldn’t accept any more reasons for Alfred tagging
along with them.

***

Penny and Gary weren’t alone for any length
of time until they went to their room at the lodge to go to bed.
Penny finally made it her job to extract them from Alfred’s
company, giving excuses to him even though it was fairly early,
telling him that they were tired after a strenuous day.

The three of them had attended a ranger show
and washed clothes together in domestic bliss, with Alfred babbling
about all the sights they had seen. He obviously expected to do
more sightseeing with them tomorrow. That was probably the reason
he didn’t tell his story about her to Gary. He thought he had power
over her, even though she had hit him. That hadn’t fazed him at
all. What a strange person.

Penny tried not to antagonize Alfred
further. She didn’t want him to say anything to Gary that would
inflame the situation. Gary would erupt and probably attack Alfred.
They both might end up hurt and get themselves thrown out of the
lodge. She wasn’t sure what it would do to their marriage. If they
could escape with no blood being shed and the marriage intact, she
would be happy.

Once they were inside their room with the
door closed, Penny had to tell Gary something. She simply said that
Alfred had made a pass at her, and she had rebuffed it. She didn’t
elaborate.

“That son of a bitch. I’m going to go punch
his lights out.” Gary started to open the door.

“Leave him alone.” Penny restrained him.
“You’ll only get us kicked out of this place. Alfred’s not worth
it. We’ll leave before he gets up in the morning. With any luck
we’ll never see him again.”

She hoped that was true. She set their
travel alarm clock for five a.m. before she turned out the
light.

Penny didn’t want Gary to touch her because
she felt dirty and unworthy, although she knew he was hungry for
her. She told him she still had her period. That was unfair to him.
She had other ways of satisfying him. She employed them now. He was
asleep in ten minutes. It would be a different matter for her.

She lay awake thinking about Alfred,
wondering what motivated him. He had always been a little peculiar,
but nothing like this. He had become excited from touching her
navel, instead of, say, her breasts, which is what she would have
expected him to do when his hands started to wander. Peculiar
behavior, indeed. And very scary. She wouldn’t tolerate it,
regardless of the consequences.