Chapter 9

Fred, very tentative with the big RV, maneuvered it into the Wal-Mart lot only a few miles from the dealer.

Carla, sitting in the passenger seat, pointed to the other side of the lot. "There are two RVs parked over there."

"Okay, thanks," Fred said as he waited for a car in front of them to move. The lot was busy, at least closer to the front of the store, but once he managed to get past it and to the other side, there was nothing to hinder him.

"If I had realized, I could have come in the entrance that was on that side without having to negotiate all that traffic," he said, trying to make light of his tentative driving.

A couple of minutes later, Fred brought them to a halt where the other RVs were parked.

"Heck, I thought you did fine," Jessica said as she came up and leaned over his shoulder to kiss him on the cheek.

"Me, too," Carla said. "You looked like you had been driving one of these all your life."

"Yeah, right," Fred laughed. "And all that sweat on my forehead is because I'm suddenly going through menopause?"

"Oh, bull. There isn't any sweat on you and you know it."

"There should be," Fred said as he shut down the rig. "Starting out with this thing in all that traffic wasn't the way I had envisioned it."

"Well," Carla said, "Jessica and I grinned at each other shortly after we pulled out of the dealer's lot. We were both positive that you had done this before."

"Brenda and I rented an RV several years ago, but it wasn't half the size of this one. Now, if my two very beautiful women are through making this old man's head swell from all the praise, just remember that most of the people that you see driving these rigs are old folks — sometimes, really old folks. Can't be that hard. And actually, it drives better than my Cruiser. It's just big," he laughed.

"That's the right attitude," Jessica said. "Your two women. You need to keep that firmly in mind," she laughed.

Jessica reached past Fred and pressed the button for the blackout screen. Then as the screens came down the windows, "Now, no one can see in, even if we have a light on inside," she said as she turned the lights on in the front and sat down in Fred's lap. "You're going to have to kiss both of your women before we go inside."

Laughing, Fred then did just that. A couple of minutes later, Carla replaced Jessica in his lap and he repeated the process.

"We need to make a list," Fred said after he managed to get his breath back and Junior adjusted in his pants.

"You mean this list?" Carla said taking a piece of paper out of her purse and handing it to Fred.

As he read the list, Carla continued, "Jess and I made that while you were taking a nap on the flight. We are bound to have missed some things, but with the cabinets, freezer and refrigerator all empty, there are a lot of things to buy."

"This is going to take a while," Fred said. "Want to take the car and go get something to eat first? It's already getting past supper time."

The two women looked at each other, then turned to him. "No way. We're going to feed our man in our new home tonight. We'll get some nice steaks — well, as good as Wal-Mart has, anyway, and start out with a good dinner," Carla said.

Fred was worried about the women already being tired after a long day of traveling, but he knew better than to argue with a done deal.

"What did the manager say when you talked to him?" Carla asked as she and Jessica were stocking the cabinets an hour and a half later.

Fred, who had just taken a shower and walked back into the galley, replied, "I had heard that Wal-Mart would let you stay overnight in their lot, but I've been told that they didn't want you to level the rig or put out the slides. But those other two RVs have, so I asked him just to be courteous. He told me that he didn't care as long as it was just overnight. If we had some type of problem and needed to stay longer, to come talk to him. He even laughed and welcomed us to the 'Wal-Mart Campground, '" he finished as he rubbed a towel vigorously through his hair.

Jessica, who had just finished setting up the table, turned to Fred, "Hungry?" she asked.

"Heck, no. I'm starved," he laughed as he headed back for the bathroom to get rid of the towel and comb his hair.

"Want to try some wine?" Carla said. "It did come from Wal-Mart, but it wasn't cheap. Jessica and I know practically nothing about wine, but we thought we should celebrate your new home."

"Somebody is going to get spanked if you keep on with the 'your.' I was dead serious about this thing belonging to all three of us."

"And we are dead serious about you being our man," Carla answered right back. "Now pour the wine; the steaks are ready."

A few minutes later, they were all seated at the table. As they joined hands for a short prayer of thanks, Carla cleared her throat. "This should have been you and Brenda. We know that. We wish that could have been — more than you could ever realize."

Fred blinked away the mist in his eyes and started to reply when: "Tell them that I said thank you. Tell them."

Fred hesitated; all of them still holding hands. "Uh..."

"Brenda said something, didn't she?" Carla asked.

"We could see the look pass over your face," Jessica added.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Fred looked first at Carla, then Jessica. "Yeah, she said to tell you thank you," he said.

"Good," Carla said. Then matter-of-factly, "We wish you could eat with us, Brenda. But knowing that you're here for our first meal in the RV is nice, anyway."

"Yeah," Jessica said. "We can somehow tell when you are talking to Fred. We wish you could be here in person."

Fred felt a feeling of love wash over him, knowing it came from Brenda.

Smiling, he squeezed the hands he held and thanked God for the meal and their safe flight.

Fred had gotten into bed first, wearing his shorts as usual, the women following after their shower. But they didn't tease him, or give him a show, just turned out the lights and crawled into bed beside him. Jessica on his right and Carla on his left.

First Carla kissed him, then Jessica, their firm breasts pressing against his side and chest.

"We're all tired tonight, and none of us wants to remember our first time as being in Wal-Mart's parking lot," Carla sniggered.

"But you can believe that we won't wait forever. We know that Brenda has given her permission..." Jessica started.

"Look, Ladies. We all know that I'm fucked up. I hear her all the time. And I know that you two love me, and I love you, but..."

"We're not just being condescending," Carla interrupted. "We believe you can actually hear her. Now don't get started about this. We've discussed it before. We're well aware that it's only been a few weeks since she died, but she has given her permission, and well, to tell the truth, we've ... uh, started to feel her when she talks to you. So we believe; really believe. We love you. Just be prepared. We're not going to wait forever for our man to take us."

"It already feels like forever," Jessica grumped as she tried to sneak her hand toward his groin, but Fred grabbed it.

"Kiss our man goodnight," Carla said. "We're all too tired to argue about it — tonight," she quietly added while squeezing her daughter's hand.

Jill had napped several times during the afternoon; consequently, it was well after ten before she got to Winter Park. There had been a couple of feet of snow near the top of the mountain on US 40, but the road itself was clear. With dread, she parked in front of the first motel she came to and went inside. Then the expected hit.

"Cash will be fine, Ma'am, but I'll still have to have your credit card and a picture ID."

When Jill told him she didn't have either with her, the clerk replied that they had many young people that rented the rooms when they went skiing. When she pressed him, he told her that they sometimes got to drinking and broke things in the rooms. Management had long since required a credit card and a valid ID matching the name on the card before renting the room.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but all the chain hotels and motels will have the same policy."

They had always used a credit card when renting a room or suite when she, Bill and Kathy went somewhere on vacation. An acquaintance had griped that some hotels wouldn't take cash at all. Now she had come face to face with it.

Thanking the clerk, she left and drove through town to a motel on the outskirts, hoping to change her luck. Although the quality was obviously not equal to the first place, the conversation at the front desk was.

Frustrated, she drove back into town, picked one of the larger hotels, and parked between to out-of-state SUVs in their outside lot. Totally exhausted, she leaned her seat back, covered up with the coat, and was out.

Three times during the night, she awoke cold. Each time, she ran the car long enough to get warm, then turned the motor off and went back to sleep, not wanting to leave the motor running while she was sleeping.

Sunlight and a full bladder woke Jill the next morning. After brushing her hair, she took out the Handy Wipes that Megan had provided and wiped her face and hands, then found a convenience store and used their bathroom. Afterward, she got a cup of coffee and stopped at the counter to pay. "I'm looking for someone. He's supposed to be living at a convention center on top of a mountain around here somewhere. It is owned by Wainwright, Inc. — or was. I think the place has been sold lately. Would you happen to have heard of it?" she asked the clerk, realizing how lame she sounded.

The clerk, an older woman, smiled at her. "Sweetheart, everything is built on top of a mountain around here," she laughed. "But seriously, the area is full of ski resorts..."

"I think this one is just for conferences. I don't think they had anything to do with skiing. I think they had meetings there and maybe had some of the employees up from time to time as a reward, or something like that."

The clerk stood looking at her for a moment. "I've never heard of it, but I know how to find out," she finished, turning away to pick up the phone and dialing.

A moment later, she hung up and turned back to Jill. "I've just asked the police department to send someone by. They'll know if anyone does."

The clerk would never know how hard it was for Jill to stay, and not run out the door. Her mind filled with Ingles' taunts about him calling the police if she ever got away from him. Somehow, she forced reason to prevail. Shakily, she thanked the clerk and walked to the door where she stood sipping her coffee and staring outside.

A few minutes later, a patrol car stopped out front and a uniformed officer walked in. "Hey, Collene. What do you have?" a young female officer asked as she entered the store.

"This lady needs directions. I've never heard of the place she's looking for," the clerk answered.

A few minutes later, it became obvious that the officer didn't know where it was, either. "You say that you think it may be a ways out of Winter Park?"

"That's my impression," Jill answered.

The cop, used to hundreds of requests for directions, never even bothered to ask Jill why she needed to go there, but instead, "I can guarantee it isn't inside the city limits. Hang on. Let me see if Jesse is working this morning. I'm pretty sure he works on Sunday. If it's in the county, he'll know where it is."

The cop went back outside and used her lapel mike to talk to someone, then a few moments later, her cell phone rang.

Walking back inside after the call, she casually glanced at Jill. "I've got a county deputy on the way. I think he knows where this place is. Just hang around. He said it would take him about fifteen minutes to get here."