Page 29 of Goodbye Paradise
“Morning,” I said quickly, to cover the sounds of Caleb’s fumbling.
“Everybody decent?” he asked.
“Mostly. Caleb, are my trousers down there with you?”
“Think so,” he mumbled, sounding sleepy. “Here.”
I threw my legs over the side and slid into them. “We’re good.”
Washington pulled himself into the cab and shut the door against the chill. “Ain’t the heater on? It’s cold in here again.”
“Not really,” I said quickly.
“Don’t think we needed it last night,” Caleb added.
My neck got hot. We did not, in fact, need the heater. Because we’d spent the night in each other’s arms. I was mortified by the idea. And yet I couldn’t wait to do it again.
Washington held out a card that readMotor Days Motelon it. “You two can have a shower. Room 302. Just make it quick.”
“Thank you sir,” Caleb said.
I followed him out of the truck.
Caleband I each took a quick shower. I entirely avoided looking at his body during that fifteen minute stretch. Because I was still shocked by what we’d done. I had to tuck the idea of going to bed with Caleb away into a corner of my mind, if only to allow the rest of my brain to function properly.
We met Washington on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. “Okay, here’s the plan,” he said. “Josh and I are sittin’ down to breakfast. And you’re going to go into that little store…” he pointed a cocoa finger at a sign readingPat’s Pawn Shop. “They’ll take that gun off your hands. You won’t get a lot of money for it, but you won’t be carrying an unlicensed gun around, either.”
“Okay,” Caleb said sheepishly.
“Whatever price they quote, you name a slightly higher one,” Washington said. “Say, aw come on. This is worth double. You should pay at least twenty five bucks more.”
Caleb grinned. “Good plan. Wish me luck.”
In the diner, Washington and I got a table, and I ordered breakfast for both Caleb and myself.
“You know what he likes, huh?” Washington asked, passing me the half and half for my coffee.
“Um…” I shrugged, my face hot. I felt different today. Marked. As if anyone could look at me and know what had happened between us last night. “There was never quite enough food where we lived, and we never got to choose anything. The two egg breakfast has bacon, anyway, which we don’t usually get. Not at breakfast, that’s for sure.”
Washington shook his head. “You can have two wives, but no bacon for breakfast.”
“The men who are married can have anything they want,” I corrected him. “The bachelors just take whatever the families send along. We did the work they told us to, and ate the food they felt like bringing us.”
“That is a bum deal,” Washington said.
“Yes sir, it is. Itwas.”
He grinned.
Caleb slid onto the bench beside me, also smiling. “Got $250. Maybe he ripped me off, but I’ll never know.”
“They make you sign a bunch of papers?”
“Yeah,” Caleb grunted. “If the gun was used in a crime, they could trace it back to the Compound. But it was only in that toolshed a couple of weeks. I don’t think there’s a risk.”
This time, when the breakfast check came, Caleb did not bother to calculate our share. He just put down money for the whole thing. “Our treat,” he said. “It’s not much of a contribution, but…”
Washington shook his head and deposited a five dollar bill in front of Caleb. “You can’t treat until we get you sorted out. By tonight we’ll be in Albany. So it’s time for you to make a phone call.”
