Chapter 11: Crash and Burn

Over the next few days following their date, the demure, reserved Juanita disappeared and was replaced by a far more gregarious model. At work in the restaurant, she was constantly chatting and joking with coworkers and customers alike. She'd never been a shy wallflower exactly, but now it was like she was constantly tipsy, bubbling over. Errol had heard a few off-the-cuff comments about it, and he had some curiosity about what was going on with her. Lulu knew exactly what was in the works.

After a few days of observing the metamorphosis, she came up behind him and squeezed his butt cheek. "Are congratulations in order?"

"Congratulations? For what?"

"You tell me! I get the impression Juanita believes she's got her man hog-tied and ready for the altar. You guys gonna have something to announce sometime soon?"

Errol shrugged his shoulders. "Not that I'm aware of. We've only been on two dates. But she has been acting kinda weird lately, hasn't she?"

She smiled at his naiveté. "If you mean acting like a woman who's ready to go shopping for a wedding dress, then yeah, I'd have to agree with you. Are you telling me you haven't even talked about it?"

"Um, she's talked about it, but I haven't. To be honest with you, Lulu, she's moving a little too fast for my comfort level. I mean, she's a sweet girl and I really like her, but I'm nowhere near ready to think about popping any questions. To be completely honest, the idea scares the hell out of me."

"Well, if that's true, Errol, you better make your feelings known ASAP. If you don't, you're going to find yourself picking out china patterns before you know it."

He thought about what she said as he scooped the Reuben sandwich off the grill, sliced it and arranged it on a platter with fries, half a dill pickle and a sprig of parsley. He turned to Lulu and agreed with her assessment. "You're right, of course. I'll talk to her after work. I wonder what she's been telling her mother."

He considered what he wanted to say as he was driving Juanita home after work, now pretty much an every day event. As they pulled up in front of her house, he just came right out with his concerns.

"Juanita, what's been going on with you lately? Have you been hinting to folks that we're planning to get married? Because that's the impression they're getting."

She looked surprised. "Why no! I've never said that! Who says I did?"

"Well, nobody says you came right out and announced it, but a lot of people seem to be getting that impression from your comments and your behavior. I have to say that it bothers me when I hear things like that. Hell, we've only been on two dates. I'm a long way from thinking about marriage."

"But we've talked about it, haven't we?"

"No, you've brought it up a couple of times, but it's been a one-sided conversation. I haven't made any commitments and I'm not about to, not this soon. You hardly know anything about me, Juanita! And I'm still learning about you. You just can't rush things like this; there's too much at stake to risk getting it wrong!"

For a moment, her face darkened like she was coming to a boil, but just a quickly, she calmed down and smiled. "You're right of course. I'm sorry, Errol, maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part. Of course it's going to take time, and of course we need to know each other a lot better. But to be fair, I've asked you about your past, and you never tell me anything but the bare minimum. It's like you have some deep, dark secret that you're trying to hide."

He couldn't dispute that. He leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath. Shit! He'd gone and painted himself into a corner again. But he'd known all along this day might come. Maybe she'd take "no" for an answer, but her behavior over the past couple of weeks gave him serious doubts about that.

He missed Lulu and the uncomplicated sex.

And that thought told him everything about his thing with Juanita was wrong. It had to stop before it went too far. He turned to her and said, "You know what? You're absolutely right. You need to know a lot more about me. But I'd like to talk to you and your mother at the same time. Is she home?" He was pretty sure Maria Perez would be a voice of reason. He could communicate with an older woman.

"She's always home, Errol. And Ramon won't be home from school for another hour, so now is probably a good time to talk. Come on in."

Mrs. Perez was, as always, delighted to see him. She greeted him with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and said, "Buen día, mi hijo. You like coffee? Maybe una cerveza?"

He and Juanita caught the "my son" comment at the same time and looked at each other. She blushed and looked away. She'd certainly shared her expectation with Mama. "Uh, no thank you, Mrs. Perez. I have some things to explain to you and Juanita, if you have time to sit for a few minutes."

The lady beamed in anticipation of what was to come. Obviously, she and Juanita had been awaiting an official proposal, and she was sure this was it. He was going to ask her for her daughter's hand in marriage.

"You sit, talk. I listen."

The only way to do this was straight on. "Mrs. Perez, have you and Juanita talked about us getting married?"

The lady became very animated, clapping her hands to her face. "Oh, si! She say you wait for right time to ask! You ask now?"

"No, Mrs. Perez, I'm not asking now. We haven't really even talked about it."

Maria looked at her daughter questioningly and asked, "Qué? Es esto cierto?" (Is this true?)"

Juanita looked down in embarrassment and nodded her head. "We haven't made definite plans yet, Mama.

"Look," he went on, "Let me explain to you why getting married is just not in my plans right now." He took his time, carefully explaining his history, why he dropped out of school, the incident that resulted in the death of the child molester, his ultimate exoneration down in New Mexico. He made sure Mrs. Perez understood every word, asking to Juanita to translate into Spanish when her mother looked confused about what he was saying.

"Mrs. Perez, the thing is, I'm no more ready to begin a family now than I was when I left school. My being here in Skylar was purely accidental, and my taking the job at the restaurant was just a matter of bad luck for Marty, the previous cook."

He turned to Juanita and laid it out. "I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea, but I can't allow this thing to continue. It's obvious to me you want a husband and a family. I'm not the right guy. I'm carrying too much baggage. I'm thinking I've already spent too much time in this town, so I'm going to give notice to Lulu tomorrow.

"Look, I'm sorry if I gave you false hopes, but it's better we face up to the realities here and now. I can't stay and you can't go with me."

Mrs. Perez was in tears as she stood and stepped over to Errol to hug his head against her ample bosom. "You very wise for young man. I wish you no have to go, but I know you must. I am very sad for to lose you, mi hijo." She stepped back, kissed him on the forehead and said, "Adios." She turned and went back into her kitchen.

Juanita was in tears as they hugged at the front door.

He drove to Lulu's house to tell her what was happening. She was in the kitchen pouring a glass of beer when he knocked on the back door.

"Errol, what a surprise! And timely, too because there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Yeah, well there's something I need to tell you, too. You first."

"Um, okay. You want a beer?"

"Sure, why not."

As they sat across the table from each other, Lulu said, "Jack Ramey called me into the office after you left today. He told me he was thinking about selling the hotel and asked me if would be interested in buying it. Of course, it floored me for a minute, but then I got to thinking and decided it wasn't such a crazy idea after all. I haven't given Jack an answer yet, but I did stop at the bank on my way home and talk to the VP. He seems to think we could work something out."

Errol was truly happy for her. "Well, congratulations, Lulu! Somehow I think you're gonna do great things for the place."

"Yeah, I think I can make some improvements, but what I wanted to ask you about was a factor in my thinking about whether or not to take Jack up on his offer. If I do buy the hotel, would you consider managing the restaurant?"

Shit! Timing is everything. "Um, Lulu, It's so generous of you to offer me the position, but I stopped by to give you two weeks notice. I'm moving on. I think you should either ask Marty to come back, or start advertising for another cook. Well, cook/manager, now."