“The little pieces you drop along the way are fine. More than enough.”
Thelma chuckled. “I don’t know why you’re here with me right now. Surely, in a city as big and modern as this one, there’s gotta be another lady who tickles your fancy.”
Gretchen took a moment to respond. “Guess there’s just something special about you. First time I saw you, I thought… damn. She’s pretty.”
“That’s it? I’m pretty?”
“Sorry, I’m not really great with words.”
“No. I hear it in your voice.” Sweet. Delicate. Reverent. When Gretchen called a womanpretty,she meant it.She feels it in her bones.Thelma had been called pretty before, by people who knew it was an easy way to compliment women who looked a certain way.My mother once warned me that a man who has nothing to say but that I’m pretty is no man truly interested in me.Which was why it was so easy to go along with Bill when they were dating. Yes, he called her pretty—he also let her talk for hours about what she studied at school, her friends, and where she wanted to travel.The fact that he could recall facts about me later…“And you’re sweet, Gretch. I mean it in the sincerest way possible that you’re a simple woman, and I like that about you.”
“I think you’re the first person to ever call me ‘simple’ and not mean it derisively.”
“Never! To be honest, I’d much rather be with someone who keeps it simple than someone who is…”
“Thel,” Gretchen reminded her, “it’s only our second date.”
“You’re right.” Thelma inched a little closer, her fingers spreading wide and entwining with Gretchen’s. “Guess I’m just excited that I finally get to spend some time with someone that lets me forget about the other…things…happening in my life…”
Gretchen leaned her face in. It took Thelma two seconds to realize her date wanted a kiss.
“I know you’re a big old flirt.” Thelma put her finger on Gretchen’s puckered lips. “And you said all those lovelysentiments the other day, butnotin front of a house of God. Children are running around.”
Air blew against Thelma’s finger. “Technically, we’re behind the ‘house of God.’”
“A house is a house! He sees all, Gretch.”
“I’m sure he does.”
Thelma tut-tutted. “I didn’t hear a capital H in there.”
“How can you hear capitals in a sentence?”
“I just can.”
“Fine.” Gretchen cleared her throat. “I’m sureHedoes.”
Thelma grinned. “Thank you.”
“Look, am I getting a kiss tonight or not?”
With a snort warming up her face, Thelma squeezed one of Gretchen’s hands while dropping the other. “Of course. But not here. Let’s pack the car up and get out of here.”
“Where are we going?”
Thelma led the way back to the parking lot, their hands still held together. “You’ll see.”
She was proud of her confidence—especially since she didn’t know if the road still existed!
With the help of the GPS on Gretchen’s phone, Thelma braved the freeway and drove them farther north, to a secluded place near Hollywood that had been popular when dating both Sandy and Bill.Every cool kid with someone to smooch came up around here.Thelma did not doubt that “the Overlook,” as it had been called back then, had changed a lot in the modern world, if it even still existed. GPS said it did. But, indeed, there were signs indicating that few people came here for the type of “privacy”that popped into Thelma’s head when she thought of “Lovers’ Lane.”
Still, she parked the Impala in a prime spot and got out with Gretchen close behind. The light pollution was bright enough for her to watch her step as she neared the guardrail separating her from an impressive view of the city.
“Wow. I had no idea this was here.” Gretchen sat with her on the hood of the car, still warm. “And we didn’t have to hike a bunch in a closed park.”
“You make it sound like you know something about trespassing.”
“Even though I grew up in Van Nuys, I spent a lot of summers at my other aunt’s place up near Eureka. Got me out of the city and away from the air, you know? Spend some time near the beach.” Gretchen shifted on the hood of the Impala, making herself more comfortable. “That’s where I made out with a girl for the first time. Out in some damn farmer’s field.”
