by Vicky Jones
"I will, I promise I will. You take care of yourself, Dorothy."
The two of them climbed into her car, Chloe beeping the horn loudly as Shona waved at the old woman, who returned the favor by brandishing her wooden stick in the air with gusto.
Half a mile up the road, Chloe slammed on the brakes, causing the car to skid to a juddering halt and Shona to fly forward in her seat.
"What the—! What's going on?" Shona yelped in surprise.
"Wait a goddamn minute," Chloe replied, deep in angry thought.
She jumped out of the car and stood beside it, her hands on her hips.
"What are you doing?" Shona laughed, perplexed at Chloe's strange behavior.
She received no answer, other than Chloe staring at the roof of her car. Four clicks later, Chloe gripped the soft material tightly and heaved the convertible roof down. Jumping back into the driver’s seat, she smiled at Shona, who eyes were sparkling with marvel and pride.
"Am I gon' be safe with you drivin' this beast?" Shona said gripping her seat.
"Aww, you scared, honey?" Chloe reached over and ruffled Shona's hair.
"Um, maybe a little!"
"Why? Because I'm more James Dean than Doris Day?" she joked.
"OK, now I'm scared! But, I guess I should be safer in the car than on my horse, right?" Shona grinned.
Chloe rolled her eyes and laughed. It was going to take a while for her to live that one down.
"Alright then! Now step on the gas and fly this damn rocket to California." Shona threw her hands in the air excitedly, inhaling the sweet air deeply as she felt the breeze on her fingertips.
Chloe reached up to her head and slipped off the silk scarf she was wearing, tossing it theatrically onto the back seat. Giggling, she shook out her silky brown hair.
Stepping on the gas pedal, she shrieked with joy as she felt the cool summer evening air blow like a hurricane through each strand.
The Beach House
Part 1: August 1958
Chapter 1
“Is it them?” Shona said. She whipped her neck around to look out of the back window and then back to look at Chloe whose knuckles were now white from her increased grip on the steering wheel.
“I think so,” Chloe replied, her right foot pressing down on the gas pedal. Trying to keep composed, she kept her eyes fixed on the road, glancing up to her rearview mirror every few seconds. “I’d know that truck anywhere.”
The dark green Ford pickup that had been following them for the last five miles on their way to the Mississippi border with Arkansas began to speed up.
“But that’s impossible. They’re murderers. The sheriff can’t have let them out. And even if he had, would they really come all this way from Alabama?” Shona could feel her heart thumping as she wrapped her arms around the back of her seat and stared through the back window.
“We’re the reason they lost their garage,” Chloe replied, shaking her head with frustration. “But those Bullens have done so many favors for folks, I’d be surprised if strings hadn’t been pulled. They’ve been in and out of jail so many times they’re bound to know people.” Chloe rammed the gas pedal in as far as it would go, causing the engine to roar even louder. “Come on, goddamn you!”
Shona looked down at her map. Locating Route 82, she ran her fingertip along the line. “This road goes on for thirty miles before a turnoff. We’ll run out of gas before then if we’re going at this pace. I knew we should have filled up when we last stopped.” She looked back down at her map and frowned. “We’ve got what looks like a really long bridge to get across too. It’s just up ahead. Less than a mile by my reckoning. There’s nowhere to turn off until we get over it.”
“A bridge?” Chloe said and gripped the wheel even tighter. She glanced up into the rearview mirror and licked her lips. “They’re getting closer. Shona, I don’t want to drive over a bridge. What if they try and ram us? We’ll end up in the river.” Her voice was shaking. Shona looked from side to side, through all of the windows, to see if there was any option for them to get off the road quickly, but neither side of the highway had any offshoots. It was featureless, save for a few trees and shrubs. Up ahead, she saw the steel jaws of a long gray cantilever bridge about to consume them.
“I got an idea,” Shona said. “As soon as we hit the bridge, I want you to slow down.”
“Slow down? Are you crazy?” Chloe replied, her brown eyes wide.
Shona’s voice was eerily calm. “This engine is way more powerful than some pickup, but we’re topped out right now. We need some lift.” Shona nodded to the sign. “Here it is. The Benjamin G. Humphreys bridge. Chloe, do you trust me?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then take your foot off the gas. Then, when I say so, floor it.”
Chloe did as she was told. The Chevrolet began to slow down and, in turn, the green pickup crept closer, eating up the distance between them. Shona kept her eyes glued to the side mirror, waiting for the right moment. With their hearts in their mouths, the car began to cross the bridge, creeping more into the middle of the lane, just in case.
“Shona?” Chloe asked, her foot resting against the gas pedal.
“Now!” Shona ordered. They both recoiled with the force of the accelerating car. Thirty became fifty in moments, and the green pickup had no chance of keeping up. “That’s it. We’re nearly across the bridge. Don’t slow down.”
The tires thudded against every road joint, until they reached the sign welcoming them to Arkansas and thanking them for driving carefully.
“Look, there,” Shona said. “A rest stop. We can pull in there. It’s bound to have people there. They won’t dare try anything then.”
“Thank God,” said Chloe, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw the sloping roof of the rest stop and its giant red and yellow sign. “Is the truck still following?”
“Yeah,” Shona replied. She let a few moments pass by, the writing on the sign now readable. “Almost there. One, two, three. Now.”
Chloe left it until the last possible moment before stomping on the brake and swinging the Chevrolet Deluxe skidding into the parking lot. Gravel and dust was churned up all around them, choking them momentarily. They both looked back up to the highway, waiting to see if the pickup would turn into the rest stop parking lot too. Seconds felt like hours as both Chloe and Shona stared. And waited.
“Please. Please, just drive past,” Shona prayed quietly.
Chloe’s hands, drenched in cold sweat, flexed around the steering wheel. Just as it looked as if the truck was slowing down to exit the highway, the male passenger leaned out of the window and made a lewd gesture towards Chloe. Whooping, he threw a beer can towards the Deluxe as the driver sped off along the road, passed the turnoff and into the distance.
“It wasn’t them,” Chloe said, resting her head heavily against the steering wheel, jumping when Shona lay a hand on the back of her neck. “Just some dumb punks.”
“It’s OK. We did the right thing. If it had been them then…” Shona tailed off, remembering that night she was almost murdered by Earl and Ernest Bullen. “We’re safe, baby, no one is gonna chase us anymore. We got a new life now to look forward to. A new start. You OK?” Shona stroked the black string of Chloe’s pink pebble necklace with her thumb, until after a few seconds she lifted her face from the steering wheel. It was wet with tears, her eyes red from the dust.
“That night, thinking you were dead, was the most terrified I’d ever been in my whole life. Even more scared than when Kyle…” She swallowed hard. “Did what he did to me.”
“I know. But it’s all OK now. Look at us. We’re together. Those bastards are in jail, and Kyle? Well, he’ll never see the light of day again, not with all the stuff the police had been dying to pin on him. They emptied the filing cabinet. We don’t have to worry about anything other than enjoying our life together, Chloe. Just me and you. Forever. I promise. We’re free now.”
Shona leaned in, dying to kiss Chloe and
comfort her further, but the car that pulled up near them made them both spring back into their seats.
“Well, not completely free. But there’s a motel around the back there. Why don’t we stay here tonight?” Shona flashed Chloe a smile that meant only one thing. Returning it, Chloe leaned over and grabbed her purse from the back seat.
“Back in a minute. I’ll check us in.”
“No, let me. You paid the last time, remember?” Shona insisted.
Chloe saw that smile again and blushed. “How could I forget? Our first night together.”
“That’s right. Well, it’s my turn to treat you. I still got some money of my own. I’ll be right back.” Shona hopped out of the car and into the motel reception. Minutes later, she reappeared, jangling the room key.
Leaving the bigger bags they had in the trunk, they took what they needed for the night and headed to the motel room on the ground floor of the tired old block. Inside, the décor was pretty standard, the faded yellow wallpaper peeling at the corners. The two single beds were both draped in honey-colored comforters, the pillows looking less than plush. Between the two beds was a nightstand on which stood a chipped ceramic lamp complete with stained shade. At the far end of the room was a tiny bathroom, the mold-encrusted shower curtain just about visible through the sliding door. The room wasn’t anywhere near as opulent as the Fortua had been, but this time it didn’t matter.
Within seconds of the door closing behind them, they threw their overnight bags on the floor. Unable to resist any longer, Shona pushed Chloe up against the wall next to the door and began planting hot kisses on her neck, exactly in the spot where she knew it made her groan. Running her hands through Shona’s hair, gripping it tightly, Chloe lifted her head up to meet her lips with her own. The force of her kiss made Shona stagger back, finally landing on one of the beds, with Chloe on top of her still kissing her. In one fluid movement, Shona rolled over so she was now lying on top. Pulling her lips away for a second, she swept her hand over Chloe’s cheek and smiled at her, her blue eyes shining.
“God, you’re so beautiful,” she murmured. “There was so much I wanted to do that night. So much of you I wanted to explore. But I was so nervous, I didn’t really know what I was doing.”
Chloe gazed back at her, her hands still holding the back of her head, fingers stroking her messy blonde hair. “Are you nervous now?”
“No. Not anymore,” Shona whispered back.
“Then what are you waiting for? Make love to me. The way you want to, the way you’ve always wanted to.”
Shona didn’t need to be told twice.
Shona and Chloe checked out of the motel just before dawn. With the sound of the morning birdsong in the air, they packed up the car and set off on the highway towards their next destination. Chloe had unclipped and lowered the roof on the Deluxe, letting the wind blow through their hair as they sped along in the glorious heat of the late summer sun.
“So what are we telling people? About who we are?” Shona asked.
“Well, I did think we could tell people we were sisters.” Chloe paused and glanced over to Shona, taking in her baby blonde hair and bright blue eyes. “But we look nothing like each other.” She smiled.
“That might be our only option, though, in the circumstances.” Shona smiled at Chloe’s confused reaction, her eyes twinkling. “No one will buy the idea that we’re just friends. I can’t keep my hands off you.”
“But you think it’s OK for you to do that if you’re my sister?” Chloe said as she raised an eyebrow.
Shona blushed. “Oh yeah. I guess I didn’t think that one through, did I?”
Chloe laughed. “It’s OK, I knew what you meant. But either way, we’re gonna have to be careful in plain sight. Lucky for us there are a lot of war widows around, so no one will bat an eyelid if they see my sister living with me now. They’ll just think my poor husband is lying in bits somewhere on a battlefield. Never to be seen again.” A smile formed at the corners of Chloe’s mouth, her finally feeling free from Kyle’s vicious clutches. “And we can’t have none of that caper you got going on there,” she joked, nodding down at Shona’s wandering hand which was now brushing the inside of Chloe’s thigh.
“Can you blame me? I got the most gorgeous girl in all the world next to me.” Heeding Chloe’s words, she lifted her hand away and lay back in her seat. “You smell that air? Every mile we drive we’re getting closer to the ocean, I know it.” She stared off into the horizon then breathed in a huge lungful of air, letting it out slowly.
Their journey took them through the plush greenery of Arkansas, the landscape noticeably changing to drier, dustier plains as they drove day and night, weaving their way onwards through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and finally across the border into California, via the bridge over the Colorado river.
“Welcome to California. The Land of Milk and Honey,” Chloe said, a glimmer of excitement in her tired eyes. It was just after seven o’clock that Thursday morning and their long journey was almost at an end. With their final destination ever closer now, she turned onto the highway that led straight to the coast. In the fields on either side of the road were swathes of yellow poppies blowing gently in the light breeze, still going strong in the late summer warmth.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Shona asked, looking at all the road signs they passed along the way.
Staring straight ahead, Chloe nodded, the tiniest smile at the corner of her mouth. “Yes. I know exactly the place,” she replied.
Passing through Greenfield, then Salinas, the scent in the air seemed to change hour by hour as Shona lifted her nose and sniffed. The ocean was close; she could sense it. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back as the car ate up the miles.
“I wanted to surprise you with something. It’s not far now,” Chloe said, looking sideways at Shona, who was staring out of the window for her first longed-for glimpse of the ocean she’d craved to be near for so long.
Twenty minutes later, Chloe took a turnoff that began to lead down to a sandy path and there, at the end of it perfectly nestled next to the ocean, was a sight that made Shona gasp.
“What have you done?” she said, her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide.
“I made a few enquiries before we left Mississippi. I, well… I wanted you to have something special to come to after everything you’ve been through. I know this was your dream so…”
Chloe stopped the car and Shona, her legs feeling like jelly, climbed out of the car.
“All I need to do is go and see the realtor before they close at five and pay the deposit.” Chloe reached out for Shona’s hand. “It’s ours, Shona. It’s our new home.”
Shona was in shock and put both hands up to her mouth. The beach house was an exact replica of the one where she’d spent a week back in 1956 with Dorothy down in Gulfport. It was almost identical to the postcard she’d bought as a memento of that week. Save for a lick of blue paint on the window frames and a touch-up of the white weatherboarding, it was just perfect.
Shona turned to Chloe, tears in her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing. “How did you know?”
Chloe reached into her purse and took out the postcard of the beach house that had originally belonged to Shona, with numerous pinholes in each corner.
“When I saw Dorothy that first time, when I wanted to find out more about you, she let me stay the night in your old room. I saw the postcard pinned above your bed that you’d left. Dorothy explained what happened with that Lucy girl, that she gave you her copy of the postcard to take with you. I somehow just knew it was important to you. When I left the next morning, I asked Dorothy if I could keep your postcard and she said ‘yes’, if I promised that one day I would make your dream a reality. So here we are.”
Shona walked towards the beach house in a daze.
Chloe walked up behind her and whispered in her ear, “It’s still early enough to go get the keys. You wanna stay in your new home tonight?”
&nb
sp; “Our new home,” Shona corrected. “Chloe, I don’t know what to say. How can I ever show you just what this means to me?”
“Just make every day count. That’s all I want, Shona. Just you and me, for always. In our forever home. Now, let’s go get those keys.”
Chapter 2
Sunnybrook was the name of the town only a mile up the road from the beach house. Just after they passed the welcome sign, they drove around the first corner of the town square, which was flanked on each side by small local businesses and the usual array of stores. After the town’s garage came the local family butcher’s, the drugstore and a small boutique hair salon. There was also a shoe repair shop, a candy store and a little bakery. At the end of that row was one of the roads leading out of town. Chloe continued to explore the town’s amenities, pulling around the corner to the next side of the square where a smart-looking bar was situated.
“Looks like a nice place. Friendly. Named after the owner, it would seem. Bertie’s,” Shona said, reading the sign above the door of the bar.
The seating area underneath two blue and white striped awnings was populated by a small group of women laughing and fooling around. The deck area was immaculately scrubbed and presented, and there were small shrubs in planters at each edge of the front and umbrellas fixed to each bench seat. At the corner of that side of the square was the post office and next to that was a gorgeous little flower shop.
Nice, Chloe thought, remembering how much Shona loved pink roses.
Next door to the flower shop was the diner, then the grocery store. On the third corner of the square was the police station with only one patrol car parked outside, and the town’s gas station adjacent to it. As Chloe did a second loop of the square, Shona pointed at the one place that had piqued her interest more than the others, the garage.
“Hey, you reckon there might be the chance of a job there?” Shona asked, her eyes keen.