Alissa clapped. “Brilliant. A masterpiece. Two thumbs up. And to think, you get paid for that.”
“Paid rather well, thank you very much. Are you going somewhere?”
“I’m going to look for a table. You guys want to come with me?”
“Pass,” Jake said.
Brad stretched again and stood up. “I’ll go if you buy me lunch at Market City Caffe first.”
“Oh, well, you didn’t say we were doing food,” Jake said. “I’m in.”
“Give me ten minutes,” Brad said. “I have to take a shower.”
“Well, well,” Jake said, “the Beav discovers personal hygiene is important to his social life. And just think, June,” Jake took on his best Ward Cleaver voice and wrapped his arm around Alissa’s shoulder. “We were there to witness it.”
Brad brushed past him and mumbled, “It’s a good thing I love you, man. Otherwise …” Brad stopped and turned to face Alissa and Jake. He changed his posture into a Jackie Gleason pose, and as if he were in competition with his roommate, Brad spouted with a clenched fist, “One of these days, Alice. POW! To the moon.”
Jake burst out laughing. “That wasn’t bad. Who says I haven’t had a positive influence on you?”
Alissa only vaguely recognized the impersonation. She still thought it was funny to see the way Brad and Jake interacted with each other. And she liked being a part of their friendship, one of the “guys.” That was something she had missed as an only child who never had boys for friends while she was growing up. Once again it seemed to her that God was giving her back the childhood she had forfeited by losing her innocence so fast.
Brad’s shower took more like twenty minutes, but it was worth it when he showed up shaved and smelling like a combination between moss and wood fire. Jake accused him of stealing his aftershave, and Brad ignored him, insisting that he drive his truck.
Alissa was pleasantly surprised to see that Brad had done away with his collection of empty fast food bags on the passenger side of the truck. The scent of stale french fry oil still lingered, though. She fit nicely in the middle between the two friends. Off they went, all starving and ready for some Italian food.
After lunch, the guys willingly meandered through several antique shops with her, but none of the tables struck her fancy. The trio packed itself back into the truck’s cab and meandered home with Alissa in the middle, listening to the endless banter of these two men who seemed just as comfortable around her as she was around them.
And that’s the same spot in Brad’s truck cab that Alissa found herself a week later on Friday night of Labor Day weekend. Only this time, Chloe was on her lap, and Brad was throwing a tarp over their luggage in the back. He hopped into the driver’s seat and noticed the cat.
“You better put her back inside now,” Brad said. “It’s seven o’clock, and we’re ready to go, just like we planned.”
“She’s going with us,” Alissa said.
Brad looked at Jake and then back at Alissa. “I don’t think so,” he said evenly.
“I can’t leave her,” Alissa said. “Genevieve and Steven are gone for a week with the girls, you guys aren’t going to be around. No one is around to feed her for the next few days. She has to come with us.”
Brad looked as if he were trying to be polite, but it was a real stretch for him. Alissa realized it would have been better if she had prepared him ahead of time. Or even if she had asked Cheri or Rosie to take Chloe. But this trip to Oregon had been pulled together so fast she hadn’t thought of Chloe until the last minute.
“She’s been on plenty of cross-country trips with me,” Alissa said, stroking her cat’s soft fur. “You won’t even know she’s here.”
“Let’s make a deal,” Brad said. “If she jumps on me and claws my face while I’m driving, I get to throw her out the window. Okay?”
“Only if she claws your face?” Alissa said, trying to lighten up the situation.
“If she claws any part of my person, she becomes instant road kill. Deal?”
Alissa wouldn’t take his outstretched hand. She calmly stated, “She won’t be any problem at all. Believe me.” Brad looked at Jake again and then at Alissa. “If you say so.” He turned the key in the ignition, and their adventure was underway.
The plan was complicated, and Alissa wasn’t sure she completely understood it. Lauren apparently had packed her furniture in a moving van along with the belongings of a woman she worked with. That woman was moving to Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino mountains, which was about an hour and a half drive from Pasadena. The moving van had arrived at Lake Arrowhead from Nashville last night, and now they were driving up the mountain to retrieve Lauren’s things. They would load her belongings in the bed of Brad’s truck as well as in the rental trailer he had attached to the back.
Then Brad, Jake, and Alissa would take turns driving straight through to some place called Glenbrooke, Oregon, where Lauren had driven earlier that week. It was supposedly cheaper than any other arrangements Lauren had tried to make. Alissa thought it had to be partially Brad’s doing since he seemed like the kind of brother who needed an excuse to be there for his sister and to check out this new boyfriend without being too obvious.
They hit the freeway and found it less congested with the weekend holiday traffic than they had expected. They made it up the mountain and found the home at Lake Arrowhead with no problem. Alissa pitched in and helped load the trailer and truck. She decided she liked Lauren’s furniture, and therefore she would probably like Lauren. The most intriguing piece was a dresser with a blanket wrapped tightly around it. Alissa wanted to see that one once it was unveiled in Oregon; it had to be a honey.
“Is there any fast food around?” Brad asked.
“There’s a McDonald’s at Arrowhead Village. That’s about a mile from here on your way down the mountain,” Roberta, the woman who had moved from Nashville, said.
“I can wait until we get to San Bernardino,” Jake said. “How about you guys?”
“I can wait,” Alissa said, getting back in the truck. She picked up Chloe from the floor of the cab where the cat had been furiously licking the car mat. Alissa guessed it was all the salt and grease embedded in the carpet. Those ingredients could make an interesting hair ball. Putting those thoughts aside, she quietly put Chloe back on her lap and waved goodbye to Roberta.
Brad backed up cautiously on the narrow street. He maneuvered the truck and trailer forward and backward six times before he could clear the neighbor’s front light post. Alissa noticed the perspiration beginning to bead on his forehead, but he calmly wedged them out of the tight spot, and with a friendly wave to Roberta, he steered carefully down the street.
“Beautiful place to live,” he said. “As long as tight parking places aren’t a phobia for you.”
“You did great,” Jake said. “Let me know when you want me to drive.”
“I figure I’ll be okay until about two or three this morning,” Brad said. “So if you want to sleep, this would be the time.”
It was dark outside, and even though Alissa didn’t know what time it was, she liked the idea of taking a nap, too. As they rambled down the winding mountain road, she put her head back and tried to sleep.
Suddenly a disagreeable sensation covered her lap. Chloe, who had timidly remained in the cab of the truck the whole time they were loading up, had decided to relieve herself. The warm cat pee soaked Alissa’s jeans and trickled down her leg.
“Stop the truck!” she screamed.
Brad jerked the wheel a little too fast on the narrow, winding road, then quickly corrected himself. “What?” he shouted.
Just then a pull-out came into view, and Jake, startled from his nap, yelled, “Over there!”
Brad pulled over, and Alissa cried, “Chloe peed on me! Let me out of here.”
Jake opened his door and hopped out. Alissa slid across the seat, Chloe in hand, and took her aggravating animal over to the bushes. “Go, Chloe!” she said. “Ge
t the rest out, if you have any left in there. Oh, look at me! I’m soaked.” Fortunately, her T-shirt was unsoiled, but her jeans reeked.
Brad was beside her now and said, “I’m such a nice guy, I’m not going to tell you I told you so. Do you want to tape that creature to the middle of the road, or should I?”
“That’s not funny!” Alissa yelled. “This cat has been with me through thick and thin for the past seven years. That’s more than I can say for any human being I know! Don’t even joke like that.” Then, in a desperate wail, Alissa added, “She’s the closest thing I have to a relative, so back off!”
Brad lifted his hands in surrender. Jake was standing next to them, watching Chloe. “Is she okay?” he asked. “Look at her.”
Chloe was scrunched on her haunches, her furry frame rising and falling with a jerking motion.
“It’s just a hair ball,” Alissa said. “Thanks to your car mats.”
“A hair ball?” Jake said, looking a little nauseated at the thought.
“My car mats!” Brad spouted. “It’s your cat!”
“She licked all the salt and grease off your car mats.” Alissa stood with her legs apart, her arms straight at her side, and her fists clenched. The smell and the feel of her wet jeans turning cold in the night breeze was becoming too much for her.
“Could you stop being a jerk for just one minute and get my suitcase? I have to change.” With a sniff to try to control her emotions, she added, “Please, Brad?”
Chapter Nineteen
Without another word, Brad undid the tarp and went to work locating the luggage. He finally pulled out her bag and brought it to her. Jake had gone to the truck’s cab and returned with a flashlight from behind the front seat.
“We’ll be over here behind the truck,” Jake said, offering her the flashlight. “Take your time.”
Alissa sniffed, and carrying her bag, she high-stepped her way through the brush alongside the road, as she tried to find a secluded spot to change her clothes. She kept going until she found a place where the foliage seemed to hide her from the main road. She could see the guys leaning on the tailgate, their backs to her.
Alissa balanced the flashlight on top of some thick, green leaves and fished around in her luggage for the only other thing she had to wear, a pair of shorts. She had packed light: one pair of jeans, one pair of shorts, one skirt, and seven different tops. With her jeans out of commission, there went one-third of her wardrobe.
She easily pulled off her wet, stinking jeans, but her legs were still wet. She had nothing to dry them with except some of the leaves surrounding her. Alissa plucked a handful and tried her best to at least dry the wettest spots. She convinced herself she could do a more thorough job when she had access to a restroom.
Brushing her hair away from her face with the back of her hand, Alissa crouched in the darkness and tried to finish her less-than-happy clothes change. When she made her way back through the forest growth, she held her wadded up jeans in one hand and her bag in the other. The flashlight was in her mouth. Alissa tucked her bag back in the open spot in the truck and found another cubbyhole in which to stuff her jeans. Hopefully Brad’s sister had a washing machine wherever she lived.
“You ready?” Jake asked.
“Yeah. Hey, you guys, I’m sorry. Really. I apologize to both of you. I’m sorry I got so upset.”
“Believe me,” Jake said, “we don’t blame you one bit.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Brad added. “Let’s get going.”
They climbed into the truck and shut the doors. Then Brad asked, “Do you have the cat?”
“Oh!” Alissa spouted. “Where is she?”
Jake opened his door. “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”
“Chloe!” Alissa called. “Come on, Chloe.” The cat was still sitting where they had left her on the gravel, with a gross hair ball at her paws.
“I’d pick her up for you,” Jake offered, “but you know …”
“I’ll get her.” Alissa scooped up the now exhausted old cat and gave her a good scolding before getting back in the truck.
Brad had left the motor running, and they were off in no time. There was only one problem. Because the cat urine scent lingered in the cab, the guys had rolled down both windows. But it was so chilly, Brad had turned on the heater full speed, which only drew out the smell of grease from the car mats. The odor mixture would have made Alissa miserable enough in and of itself. But what pushed her to the edge was that she was freezing in shorts, and with Chloe spread out on Alissa’s bare legs, her skin itched terribly.
“By any chance, do you have a towel or a blanket or something?” Alissa asked Brad.
“You afraid she’s going to go again?”
“No, I’m just a little cold, and she’s making me itch.”
They had arrived at the end of the mountain road. A double-lane highway stretched out in front of them, leading to the freeway a few miles away.
“We might as well stop for something to eat,” Brad said.
“Over there on the right,” Jake said. “Del Taco. What do you think?”
“I think if they have a bathroom, I love them,” Alissa said.
Brad pulled into the drive-through lane.
“I need to use the restroom,” Alissa said, irritated that he hadn’t parked the truck.
“Go ahead. We’ll meet you around on the other side.”
Alissa gave Jake a look that said, “Sorry, but I have to bother you again.”
Jake read her face. He got out. She got out. Chloe settled onto the floor. Then Alissa changed her mind before Jake climbed back in, and she grabbed Chloe to take her along. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Jake or Brad, it was just safer this way.
The bathroom only had a hand blower and no paper towels. Alissa did the best she could washing and drying the affected area. By the time she was finished, her legs were red.
She met the guys at the front of the building. They already had the bags of food and looked just a little impatient with her. With Chloe in tow, Alissa climbed in. Brad handed her an old, smelly army blanket. “I keep this behind the seat for emergencies. I don’t know if this is what you had in mind.”
“That’s fine. Thanks.”
They hit the road, Brad driving like a man on a mission. All the little holdups didn’t seem to be to his liking. Alissa determined it was time to lighten up. The worst was over.
“So what did you get me?”
Brad and Jake looked at each other and at the bag where Jake was pulling out the food. Neither of them said anything.
“What?” Alissa asked. She noticed then that Brad had a drink and Jake had a drink, but there didn’t seem to be a third beverage. “Did they forget to give you my drink?”
“Go back,” Jake said to Brad.
“I’m not going back.”
“Here,” Jake said, “you can have my drink.”
“That’s okay,” Alissa said. “I’m not really thirsty. Just kind of hungry. What did you get me?”
Again, silence.
Alissa gave a little laugh. “What? You didn’t think to buy me anything?”
The guys flashed guilty looks at each other.
Brad was pulling onto the freeway, carefully studying the side mirrors, trying to gauge his distance with the trailer on the back. Suddenly they felt a jerk inside the truck followed by a bump-bump-bump.
“Oh, man!” Brad said, slamming the steering wheel with his open palm. “The trailer has a flat.” He pulled to the side of the freeway with an uneven motion and let the truck roll to a stop.
“Do we have a spare?” Alissa asked.
“I don’t know.” Brad looked bummed. “Did you bring your cell phone, Jake?”
“Yes.”
“The 800-number for the trailer rental company is in the glove box. Could you call them and tell them to get somebody over here immediately to fix this thing? I’m going to check it out and put down some flares.”
“Be careful,” Alis
sa said as Brad edged his way out of the driver’s door against the oncoming traffic. She took the bag of food from Jake as he rummaged through the glove compartment and then dialed the number.
It took more than an hour for a repair person to show up. The constant swooshing sound of the cars racing by became nerve wracking, not just because of the safety factor since the trailer stuck out a bit, but also because each car seemed to remind Brad that those people were all going somewhere, and he wasn’t.
The three of them divided the fast food. It had become evident to Alissa that they had forgotten to order anything for her. True, it had been a hectic past few hours, and it was the middle of the night, but she had to work hard not to feel hurt.
The woolen army blanket had been too hot while they were sitting still, so Alissa had dropped it to the floor and let Chloe roll up in a ball on top of it. She was such an old cat. It had been a terrible idea to bring her along, and Alissa admitted it. But there was nothing to do but make the best of it.
By the time the trailer was ready to go again, Alissa was more than ready for some sleep. She was uncomfortable, even with the blanket all the way over her. The guys liked the windows open, and she felt prickly all over from the night chill and the scratchy blanket.
As they rolled into Los Angeles, all still wide awake but not talking much, Brad noted, “Well, this is about where we were.” He checked his watch. “A mere nine and a half hours ago. Does anyone else feel as if we’ve been on the road for days?”
When they hit the Grapevine, a steep pass over the hills into California’s central valley, the sun was up, filling the sky with a sweltering summer blaze. “After we make it over this pass,” Brad said, watching his side mirror for the semi-truck that was passing him as he chugged along in the slow lane, “one of you can drive, because I’m ready to crash.”