Chapter 7

The day after Christmas, Errol and Jennie got to the diner at the same time to open up. They greeted each other with a relatively cordial 'Good morning' and went about their work. It seemed the hard feelings had softened a bit.

As Errol prepped the griddle and mixed up the pancake and waffle batter, Jennie bustled about setting placemats and flatware, making coffee and placing fresh donuts and pastries in the display case. Several times, she looked as if she was about to say something and didn't. About the time she'd resolved to open a dialogue, Angie arrived along with the first customers. Whatever she had to say would have to wait.

It turned out to be a busy day, and there were no good opportunities for any extended conversations. Angie was relieved that the atmosphere was considerably less charged than it was the last time the three of them worked together.

Carol arrived on time (for a change) to relieve Errol, and Valerie came in early since she was on Christmas break. She and Errol made a point of avoiding any conversation, or even eye contact. He took off as quickly as he could, anxious to finish up room number twelve and get started on number eleven. When he checked with Margie, she said there were only two rooms to clean.

In number twelve, he walked around the room, checking the paint and cleaning up any little spots on the window and the sill. When he was satisfied, he went to the storeroom to bring up the new carpet. Laying it only took about three hours. That done, he hung the new drapes and went back to the storeroom to get the new TV and the furniture items. By eight, the room was made up, vacuumed and ready for occupancy. He went to the office and asked Margie to come and give her approval.

She was thrilled. "Oh, my! Errol, this is so nice! I should have had this done years ago."

"Glad you like it. So this will be the first non-smoking room."

A voice behind them said, "Very nice work, Errol." He and Margie turned to see Jennie standing in the doorway.

"Oh, uh, thanks," he managed through his surprise.

"Jennie!" Margie gushed as she shuffled over to take her hand, "It's so good to see you. How was your holiday?"

Jennie shot a glance at Errol and said, "It was nice, Margie. I drove down to spend a couple of days with my aunt. She had a houseful and it wound up being like a family reunion."

"Oh, that must have been fun. I got to spend the whole day with my sister across town, thanks to this nice young man. He babysat the motel for me. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without him. If I could afford him, I'd steal him away from you and hire him on as a full time manager."

"Yeah? Well, lucky for me you can't afford him. He's done a lot for my business since last summer." This time she looked right at him and smiled.

Errol decided it was time to leave. "Thanks for the praise, ladies, but enough is enough. Margie, I'll start on number eleven tomorrow afternoon, if that's okay with you."

She caught him in a hug before he could escape. "You keep your own schedule, honey. I'm just please you're here to help out an old fat lady."

He kissed her on the forehead. "We're helping each other out. Now, if you'll lock up the room, I think I'll go jump in the shower. Good night."

"Yes, honey, you get your rest." Margie patted him on the back.

Jennie reached out and touched his shoulder as he passed. "Um, could I drop by your room and talk to you about something?"

He had to think about that for a moment. "Yeah, sure. Any time."

Margie easily picked up on the tension between them, but she was wise enough to keep her mouth shut."

Errol was brewing a cup of tea when Jennie knocked on his door. He opened it and invited her in. He lifted his cup and asked, "Care for one?"

"Oh, no thanks."

"Have a seat." He waved his hand at the recliner.

She shed her coat and sat on the edge of the seat, her back straight and her demeanor tense.

He finished making his tea and took a sip as he sat on the bed. "So, what is it, Jennie."

She took a breath and dove right in. "I'm sorry about the things I said before. I had no right to expect that of you."

He took another sip. "Well, I'm sorry I got so angry about it. I need to learn to not be so defensive."

Now that the conversation was started, they both seemed to relax a little bit. Jennie continued, "I guess you had a right to be angry. I mean, it's not like you misled me or anything. You've been up front all along. But I thought about it a lot while I was gone, and it finally dawned on me what I was doing. I guess I was so excited about finally having a good man in my life that I wanted to share. I was hoping to show you off to my aunt and a few cousins. I intended to put you on display, and that was very selfish of me."

"Jennie, my anger wasn't about meeting your aunt or anybody else for that matter. It was because I made a decision a long time ago to not participate in any of the crap surrounding the holidays. It all makes me very uncomfortable, and the best way for me to deal with it is to just stay away from it as much as I can. If that puts me in the Ebenezer Scrooge category, then so be it!"

"I know. You have a right to your feelings and I have no right to try to force you to change them. I wish we could start over, but I don't suppose that's possible now, is it?"

He shook his head. "I don't see how. You're always going to see me as fundamentally flawed, and try as you will not to, you'll always be tempted to try to correct that flaw. You're an awesome woman, Jennie, and an exciting, passionate lover. I so envy the man who's going to gain your trust and make you his lifelong partner. But because of who I am and my situation with the law, there's no possibility that it could be me."

She sighed, "Yeah, I know. It's just that we had something together, didn't we? I know it was foolish of me to believe you were the answer to my dreams. You made the conditions abundantly clear the first time we made love."

He reached over and laid his hand on her shoulder. "But that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy each other's bodies, does it? Until you hook up with Mr. Right, I'd still like to fuck your socks off every once in a while. It would just be with the understanding that the relationship could never be anything other than that. We know I'm going to have to leave sooner or later, so if you can handle that, I sure as hell can."

Her first inclination was to feel insulted that he thought she was that easy, but she stopped short of telling him so. She sat looking at him for a long time, then she stood and began undressing. "You, Errol Hansen, are the most practical man I've even known. If I can't have you as a permanent fixture in my life, I'll take what I can get. Now, did you mention something about a shower?"

And so it went through the winter. By March, Errol had finished all the rooms except his. He asked Jennie to take the photos and design a brochure, since she had an artist's eye. Once received from the printers, they were distributed around town, mostly to the local businesses. There was always of stack of them next to register in the diner.

The diner and the motel had developed a kind of symbiotic relationship. Jennie and the waitresses always recommended the motel to any travelers coming through, and Margie always strongly recommended the diner to all her guests.

Something must have been working, because the occupancy rate at the motel had bumped up dramatically in the past three months. Six of the twelve rooms were designated as non-smoking. The Internet connection was a definite plus, bringing in more sales reps and other business people than Margie had ever experienced. The fifty-inch flat-screen TV didn't hurt, either. And it was all due to Errol. And at his recommendation, she bumped her rates up to forty-nine dollars a night. Nobody complained.

Business at the diner had improved as well, at least partially due to new items added to the menu by the morning short order cook. Besides the Monte Cristo sandwich, he'd added items like spicy wings, smothered burritos, and an awesome corned beef hash served in a small skillet with two eggs poached in the center. Jennie was delighted with the increased business and her waitresses were pleased with the increase in tips.

Errol and Jennie managed to hook up for at least one night a week. He couldn't say how she felt about it, but he was far more comfortable knowing she had no particular agenda and no plans for the rest of his life. In truth, he kind of thought she preferred it that way too.

When word finally came that the Ohio authorities were in fact looking for someone in connection with the death of the perv, it came from an unexpected source. Things moved quickly after that.

In the middle of March when the snow was almost gone from what they hoped was the last snowstorm of the season, Harley stopped in at the diner for a late lunch. He had the smothered beef and bean burrito with extra cheese. He finished up and waited around sipping coffee and chewing on a toothpick until Errol got off shift in the kitchen. As he pulled on his jacket and headed for the front door, the deputy reached out and took his arm, asking, "Could you spare me a few minutes son?"