Chapter 18

Over the next couple hours they found lots to talk about as the steaks were grilled and eaten, and finally things were put away. Eventually it got late enough that Emily and Vicky had to be going -- both of them were new enough on their bikes that they didn't want to be out with them after dark. It was cooling off now, and it felt good to pull on leathers and get around, as the Heislers and the Tylers stood around the motorcycles in the driveway. "It's been good to see the two of you again," Scott said. "We really ought to get together more often."

"Come on down sometime," Emily said. "It's no farther from here to Bradford than it is from Bradford to here. Kevin and Vicky and Jason and I ought to be able to find a grill or something. We could even take you out to Malvern Hill and see if they're throwing cantaloupes or shooting cannons or something. They are capable of 'or something, ' that's for sure."

"That sounds like it might be fun," Sonja grinned. "Addictive, but fun."

"That's kind of how I see it," Vicky said. "On the other hand, this is just about the right distance for us to go riding, too."

"Well, come on up sometime, bring Kevin and Jason," Scott suggested and added with a grin, "We could even work it out to have the kids sat somewhere, so we could spend some time in the hot tub."

"That might be an idea too," Emily snickered, knowing now how the Tylers and the Heislers dressed in their hot tub when the kids weren't around. "That makes me think, though," she said to change the subject a little, "Are you guys thinking about doing a Halloween party again this year?"

"Hadn't really thought about it one way or the other," Aaron said. "It was fun, and it'd be good to see some of that gang again. On the other hand, if someone else decided they wanted to organize it, maybe down in Bradford, even, it'd be fine, too."

"I hadn't really thought about it like that," Emily nodded. "Oh, well, we've got some time."

"We might have to get together sometime and kick it around," Vicky suggested. "I'll tell you what, though, you guys put on a party that would be hard to top."

"Let's think about it a little," Emily said thoughtfully. "Maybe we can get together in a month or so and work on some details."

"Sounds like a good idea," Scott agreed. "Give us a call or we'll call you or something. You two take care riding back, now."

It took Emily several kicks to get the Sportster going, while the Street Hawk fired up at a touch of the starter. They walked the bikes awkwardly backward down the short driveway to the street, gave some waves and shouted some final goodbyes, and then twisted their throttles and headed down the suburban side street.

While they'd been getting their leathers on they'd worked out a plan for going home to Bradford -- they'd go back the way they came, down side roads to M-99, and then south. But once they got to I-94, they'd agreed to stop at the interchange and see how busy the four-lane looked. If it wasn't too bad, they'd get on it for a few miles. If it proved to be a little scary from the speed and the traffic, they could get off at the next exit and continue the two-lanes back; but if it went all right they could ride down to I-67 and go home that way.

It only took a couple stop signs and a few slow city streets before they were out in the country and up to speed. Vicky was getting a little more used to being at speed on the Street Hawk, and didn't feel like she needed a hundred percent of her concentration every second to ride it, like she had only a few weeks ago just idling around the block.

Despite the Harley running along next to her, it was almost as if she were alone with her bike. There was absolutely no chance to talk to Emily, roaring alongside on the Harley; in fact, she was more aware of the V-twin's steady roar than she was of the purr of the bike between her legs. There was much to see, much to feel and somehow the experience was much more intense out here in the wind, with nothing but visor and leather between her and the elements -- even in the Firebird, she seemed somehow insulated from the real world. To no surprise whatever, she found herself thinking and reflecting about the day.

It had been one of the most pleasant and enjoyable days she could remember in a long time, easily the best day she'd had without Jason around since sometime way the hell before Augie entered her life. While things like the visit to Malvern Hill and the chance to just spend some good casual times with old friends, firming up and expanding friendships, were fine, they seemed secondary to just being on this bike by herself. Though it had really been a pretty simple, easy trip, it seemed as if a door had been opened for her -- taking the trip on the Street Hawk had been a milestone of independence, of courage. When you got down to it, it was no big deal -- but there weren't many women she knew beyond Emily who would have even attempted a simple trip like this on a motorcycle. Both Sonja and Amber had said there was no way; they'd be frightened out of their wits. For that matter, she knew plenty of guys who would have never attempted it, Augie right at the head of the list. Well, it was their loss. But yes, she'd experienced the freedom of the road, the wind in her face -- it was as if this trip had opened a whole new world for her, and she liked what she felt.

Once again she sent a silent, grateful thanks to Jason, wherever he was, presumably on the highway somewhere heading back from Maine. She remembered last winter, pouting and jealous of Emily for having someone to give her a beautiful motorcycle, and even more for the willingness and the love to give her the freedom to ride it and not just hang onto his back. Never had she expected Jason would give her the Street Hawk; even riding a motorcycle herself hadn't been something she thought she could do. But he thought she could do it, in fact, needed to do it -- and today he was being proved right. Just this simple ride was proving once again that he thought she was more than she thought she could be.

How many times over the years had Jason taken her by the hand, showed her the way, pushed her just a little to be something more than she was? Countless times, clear back to the tricycle. When you got down to it, there had been no man in her life except for her father who had been more of a positive influence on her life than Jason had been, and this was just another example of it.

It was just a little bit strange. She resolved that she wasn't going to get morose about it, but that didn't mean she couldn't examine the poignancy of the fact that she'd married Augie within a month or so of the time Aaron and Amber had married, and Scott and Sonja had married. Well, two out of three ain't bad, she thought. Both the Heislers and the Tylers obviously had very happy and successful marriages, had some nice kids, had good careers, and had some fun in their lives. The members of both couples had complained over breakfast back the day after the reunion that their lives were dull and ordinary, but just who took their spring vacation at a topless beach in Israel? There were further travels together on the vague drawing board; Europe and Japan and the Caribbean had been briefly mentioned over the course of the afternoon as possibilities for the next few years. For a pair of couples who didn't even know where each other lived a year ago, they'd become close friends.

It would be possible to envy them that -- but pointless, for in the last few months things had changed for her, too. For many years, clear back into grade school, Emily had been her best friend, but after Emily married the relationship changed as it had to. It had made Vicky feel like she was the outsider -- which she was -- and that maybe her friendship was in a position to get between Emily and Kevin, which she didn't want it to. Then she married Augie, and there was a time there she just hadn't seen much of Emily at all. Oh, they'd talked on the phone now and then, got together a little when she could drag Augie down to Bradford for a day, which wasn't often, but the conversations were shallow, a ghost of their former days when it seemed like they could tell each other everything.

When she left Augie and then came back to Bradford after her stay in Las Vegas, things had changed again. By now, Emily and Kevin had young kids, roughly in the age bracket the Tyler and Heisler kids were now, and she'd felt even more the outsider. Emily was helpful, supportive, but it wasn't the same. In the last few months, Jason had started to add a fourth wheel to the structure, making it stable again. They could get together, two or three or all four of them and have fun as friends. It hadn't gone as far as an overseas vacation at a topless beach, but there was talk of doing shows together, taking trips together, and they'd spent a lot of time together. Except for the fact that Jason was only her boyfriend by courtesy -- she wouldn't use that term about him, although others would -- it seemed like the door was open to a new plateau there, too.

Would things have worked out anything like as well if her plans for Scott had come together? As well? Hard to say, but differently, for sure. Sonja was part of that, of course; pleasant and placid as she was, her odd heritage had been the spark plug for a number of things, the trip to Israel at the head of that list, of course. Any relationship Vicky had with Scott would have been far different, and might not have worked out as well.

Her plan that summer never even made it to the starting gate. Several times over she had hinted to Scott, sometimes rather blatantly, that she'd been available for a date, but the hints seemed to roll off him like water off a duck's back. Shelly was going to State and had reported Scott was seeing this black chick, but it didn't seem too serious to her, so Vicky kept on trying with no success. Emily had been aware of her efforts and tried to help. While the weenie roast was at least partly to get together with some old friends who were in the Bradford area, permanently or for the summer, the genesis of it had come with the possibility in mind of putting her together with Scott. But then, he'd unexpectedly showed up with Sonja, and the looks in their eyes were all that was needed to tell she didn't stand a chance, and thus it proved.

Really, in the despair following Melissa's death, it was one of the reasons she'd turned to Augie -- he may not have been much but at least he had been someone, which is more than she had. That he wasn't worth the effort had more or less been obvious at the time but it had seemed like he was better than nothing, which was what she got. Well, she'd been wrong, and she'd paid for that mistake ever since. While she bore Sonja no jealousy whatsoever, if it hadn't been for her, things might have worked out a lot differently. It was something she'd probably never know, of course. It might have been fun once upon a time, but it was water under the bridge, now.

While getting somewhere with Scott might have been fun, or with Aaron, for that matter, it hadn't happened. That was then, and this was now. Back in the fall she'd toyed with the idea of trying to get closer to Jason, romantically closer, not just-friends closer, and they'd moved that way quite a little over the last few months. They'd been together enough that the people they knew were starting to consider them a couple, a little -- maybe even more than a little. But it seemed like there had to be a limit to their friendship and it lay well to this side of romance.