I parked at the curb and unlocked the door of Bedman’s Hardware, then went back for Leeanne. She hopped out of the car, and climbed onto my back.
“Giddy up,” she said.
I made it to the top of the stairs before my legs gave out. Leeanne jumped over me and raced to the end of the hall. I lay there for a few seconds just catching my breath. I thought back over the past few days. So much had happened, I’d almost stopped missing my old memories. I had so many new ones.
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“Are you coming? I’m going to start without you!” Leeanne said.
As I stood, Mr. Ted caught my eye. He was sitting in a chair in the living room, where I’d dumped him the day before last. I promised myself I’d get to him right after breakfast, but right now, I knew what kind of memories I wanted to make. I ran down the hall and opened the door.
Leeanne stood in front of the mirror on the wardrobe in a sheer negligee. The long, pretty legs I’d noticed on the first day were bare. I stopped and lost my breath a little.
“You like me?” she asked.
I kicked the door closed and tackled her onto the bed.
“Like you? You’re perfect, what’s not to like?” I said.
I turned out the lamp on the bedside table and Leeanne slowly began to undress me in the moonlight filtering through the velum blinds on the tall front windows.
The smell of bacon and coffee is the world’s most effective alarm clock. I sat up, Leeanne lay next to me, it hadn’t been a dream. We showered together and got dressed. We made our way to the little kitchenette.
Five plates sat on the table, along with five glasses of orange juice. Sarah was fitting DJ with a kitchen towel, in place of the bib I didn’t have. Fred was wearing an apron. He stood at the stove, spatula in hand.
Breakfast was perfect. There were mounds of bacon, the lightest, fluffiest scrambled eggs I’d ever eaten, and my four favorite people in the whole world shared the table with me.
As I cut a bite of egg with my fork I remembered. Mr. Ted. I smiled. I turned toward the chair where he’d been the night before. He was gone.
“Did DJ get the bear?” I asked.
“No, didn’t see a bear,” Sarah said.
“Fred, did you see a bear in that club chair when you came up?” I asked.
“No, not that I remember. Was that the one from the picture that the mayor had the other night?” he asked.
“Yes, it was. Vern had it, then she took it. I’m beginning to think the universe doesn’t want me to see what’s in that bear’s head,” I said.
“Well, as soon as we return from our safari, we’ll turn this place upside down and find it,” Leeanne said.
I smiled. It must be somewhere. Probably still in the truck and I’d just imagined it last night.
Fred’s curiosity got the better of him.
“Where are we going? I’m afraid I must insist you tell me,” he said. “The last time I went somewhere without asking questions, it didn’t end well.”
I looked at him, he smiled. So, I laughed.
“No, no it did not,” I said.
“If you can’t laugh about your super villain husband getting cut in half by a giant shard from an alligator tank, while trying to feed you to said gators, you just take life too seriously,” he said.
Then he sighed. It would be a long time before any of us could laugh without remembering what we’d been through. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he was going through.
“Well, past road trips aside, this one is not going to be revealed, until we get there,” she said. “Are you in, or out?”
“Oh, I am most definitely in,” Fred said. “But I hate surprises.”
We went down to the street and Fred locked the store. Leeanne tossed me the keys and Sarah and Fred climbed into the back seat with DJ, while I slid behind the wheel and Leeanne took shotgun.
Fred strapped DJ into the booster seat we’d found at the Skinner’s. The mayor had ordered every imaginable baby thing next day from Amazon as soon as she’d heard. It was coming in handy.
“Okay, you have to follow my directions exactly,” Leeanne said.
“Why? Aren’t we going to the Sisters of the Frozen Rosary?” I asked.
She slapped my arm playfully.
“Ugg, I’m tempted to just get out of the car and not answer you,” she said.
I waited.
“Oh, just drive already!” she said. “Give us some road trip music Sarah!”
