“You don’t have to do that, Hugh. It wasn’t your fault. I know that now—even with my Dad,” Jenny begged. “You don’t know my uncle. He won’t accept your forgiveness. He’s gone crazy over this.”
“I still have to try, Jenny. It’s the right thing to do.”
Reluctantly, Jenny gave in. “OK. I think I understand.”
“Hey, Hugh,” Jenny said, changing the subject. “It’s about the time when I take my before-lunch swim. Would you like to join me?”
“I don’t feel like swimming,” Hugh replied. “But, I’ll come along to keep you company.”
“Good, meet me on the deck in ten minutes.”
Hugh went out to the pool. It had been installed after he had already left the ranch for the Marines, so he had never really gotten into the habit of swimming in it. And besides, he was more of a horse camping and hunting kind of guy. Lounging around a pool wasn’t really his sort of thing.
Then he saw something that might just be what could change his mind about that.
As Jenny walked up the stairs to the pool deck she began to shed the large T-shirt that she always wore walking through the house from her bedroom.
Hugh’s first thought was that his peering through the binoculars at Jenny from two miles away did indeed leave out an infinite universe of detail about the beauty that he now saw standing before him.
Hugh just stood there, not knowing what to say.
Becoming slightly uncomfortable with Hugh’s staring silence, Jenny began to blush.
“Is everything OK?” she asked, concerned about Hugh’s expression.
“Jennifer McDonald, you do indeed continue to greatly surprise me,” Hugh exclaimed.
Hugh saw Jenny act startled at that, but he misunderstood the reason why.
“Go ahead, and show me how you swim,” Hugh said.
Jenny dove into the pool, once again leaving barely a ripple in the water as she passed through the surface. She then put on a swimming demonstration like Hugh had seen her do through his binoculars.
Only, there was one big difference between seeing Jenny swim from a two-mile distance, and seeing her in the flesh, up close.
Better be careful, he told himself.
Jenny finished her laps, stepped out of the pool, then lay down on the lounge chair next to Hugh.
“Pretty impressive,” Hugh told Jenny. “Your swimming, I mean.”
“Thank you. I’ve always enjoyed doing that. It was the best part of high school for me.”
They remained silent for awhile. Jenny was just enjoying her new-found experience of getting exercise and soaking up some rays of sun. Hugh’s thoughts turned serious as he pondered what he needed to do over the next few days: About his truck, about Jenny, about her uncle.
Occasionally, Hugh would glance over at Jenny, admiring this sleek young beauty who had turned his life upside down. She lay there with her eyes closed. Or, at least, Hugh thought her eyes were closed.
“I hope you’re getting a good look,” Jenny surprised him by saying.
It reminded Hugh of the same circumstance when he had admired Jenny as she washed his windows at that truck stop. And, he did the same thing this time as he had done back then. He blushed.
“Darn, Jenny. You shouldn’t do that to a guy,” Hugh complained, only half-seriously.
“Sorry,” Jenny replied. But she didn’t look the least bit sorry.
“Jenny, look,” Hugh said. “I’ll just come right out and say it. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever known. Or even ever seen, for that matter. OK? I said it. So, I don’t think there is anything wrong with me admiring you.”
“Nope. Not at all,” Jenny admitted, with a smile on her lips, and a twinkle in her eye.
Geesh! Women! Hugh thought, but kept it to himself.
Back in the house, while Jenny went upstairs to change out of her swimsuit, Hugh checked the battery level on Jenny’s uncle’s cell phone. There was sufficient power to use the phone, so he waited for Jenny to come back down the stairs before making the call to her uncle.
When Jenny came down the stairs, Hugh showed her the phone, and said, “Let’s go someplace quiet and private so I can call your uncle.”
Jenny’s expression told Hugh that she still didn’t like the idea, but she followed him out to the back yard bench where he had seen her sitting down that first day from the ridge.
“Here, let me help you in case you fall down again,” Hugh teased, making like to help Jenny sit on the bench.
Jenny looked at Hugh, then recognition dawned on her. "You’d be able to spot him looking down on us right now," she repeated softly to herself, remembering what Martha had said to her that day.
“What’s that?” Hugh asked.
“Oh, nothing. I just can’t get over how well your mom knows you. You big stinker,” Jenny replied.
Hugh examined the main screen of the smart phone. He was looking for the icon for contacts. When he found that, he tapped it, and then scrolled until he saw the name, Adam. He had remembered Jenny telling him that was her uncle’s name.
“OK. Here we go,” he told Jenny as he tapped the icon for her uncle’s name, and then put the phone in speaker mode.
Someone picked up on the third ring, and answered with a non-committal, “Hello.”
“May I speak to Adam, please,” Hugh said.
“Yeah,” the voice said.
“Is this Adam?” Hugh asked.
“It’s what I said,” the voice answered back.
“Adam, listen. I know you know from your caller ID which phone this is. And I think you can figure who’s calling.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
“Adam, I’d like to say something to you, and ask you something,” Hugh said.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you, you son of a bitch,” Adam replied.
Hugh looked at Jenny, as if to say, “This isn’t going well.”
Jenny shrugged back at Hugh, as if to say, “I told you.”
Hugh continued quickly, hoping that Adam wouldn’t hang up on him. “Adam, I’d like to say how sorry I am for injuring you and your friends. And, I’d like to ask for your forgiveness.”
“I ain’t forgivin’ nothin’,” Adam said. “You killed three of my best friends. Turned my motorcycle buddies against me. Kidnapped, and did who knows what, to my niece. No, pal. Your ass is mine, and I intend to collect. Got that?”
“I really am sorry,” Hugh said, with as much sincerity as he could project over the phone.
“Oh, I do want to say one thing,” Adam said, with a sneer in his voice. “Thanks for calling me. Now I know where you are, you dumb shit.”
“Wha …?”
“You think you’re so smart. Keep looking over your shoulder, dumb ass, ’cause, one day soon I’ll be there. Another thing. I don’t have a niece anymore. Whatever happens to you, happens to her.”
With that horrific announcement, Adam hung up.
Hugh looked at Jenny, perplexed.
“What did he mean? ‘Now I know where you are?’”
Jenny just shrugged.
Hugh and Jenny went inside the house, and Jenny followed Hugh directly up to Mary’s bedroom, where she was studying.
He handed her the phone, and asked her if there was anything about this particular phone that would give someone a clue as to its location.
Mary tapped around a bit, searching through the apps. Then, she looked up at Hugh, and showed him the phone’s screen.
“Here,” she said, pointing at an app whose icon had a map symbol and a little tower on it. “This app is running right now. It is sending a signal onto the Internet. And anybody who knows the right website, and who has the right login, can see on a map where this phone is.”
Hugh considered her answer, then asked, “How accurate is it?”
Mary looked at the screen, and tapped.
“Right now, it’s showing which room of the house we are in,” Mary said. “Does that answer your question?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Hugh turned off the phone. But he knew it was too late. He was certain that the uncle already had a fix on their location.
“That definitely explains a lot,” Hugh repeated to Jenny. “Did you know about this?” he asked, accusingly, shaking the phone at her.
“No, Hugh. I didn’t,” she answered him with an angry tone. “Can we talk … privately?”
They left Mary’s room, and went next door into Jenny’s room. Jenny left the door slightly ajar.
“Listen, Hugh Mann. I want to get one thing straight. From now on. And for good,” she said, with her voice rising in anger.
Hugh nodded for her to go on.
“I am completely over the thing with my Dad, and definitely, absolutely, completely don’t want to have anything to do with my uncle. Ever. Ever again. Got that?” she added at the end, with a lot of the former Jenny heat.
Hugh could only look at her. Darn, she’s pretty when she’s being spunky, he thought, remembering back to their first tussle when he’d had to pin her against the seat in his truck after she had fallen out of his upper bunk as a stow-away. How many years ago was that?
Misunderstanding Hugh’s non-response, Jenny ratcheted up her umbrage a notch. “If you can’t accept that, and if you don’t realize that nothing is the same as it was in the beginning, then you can just drop me off at the nearest bus station, and say good-bye!”
Hugh just continued to look at her.
“I’m telling you, I will never, ever do …”
Hugh then swept her into his arms, tilted her chin up to his face, and kissed her gently, but firmly on her lips.
“… anything … to … hurt … you …,” Jenny tried to say, but her words got smothered by Hugh’s lips, and then finally got forgotten completely as she reached up to put her hands behind Hugh’s neck, and respond passionately to his kiss.
“Come to lunch!” Martha shouted up the stairs.
“Great timing. Let’s go,” Hugh said, gently breaking off their embrace.
The threshold has definitely been crossed. In fact, it’s been completely obliterated.
Martha and Mary saw Hugh and Jenny walking down the stairs together.
Ever perceptive about he son, Martha whispered to Mary, “Me thinks they are more than just friends, now.”
“Yeah, look at them, will ya. They almost glow,” Mary replied, with a big smile on her face.
Hugh looked at his mother and Mary, who were standing their grinning like conspirators.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Martha responded in a lilting, sing-song voice.
Just then, Hugh, Sr., and Roly came clomping in through the door.
They both did a double-take upon seeing Hugh and Jenny. Hugh’s dad looked inquiringly at his wife, who merely shrugged a look that said, “I’ll tell you later.”
As they were eating lunch, Hugh asked his mom and dad about a good restaurant in town.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve taken a date to a nice restaurant here …”
“Yeah, like, never,” Roly cut in. Mary elbowed him in the ribs.
“You hush now,” she warned him in a stage whisper.
“What kind of meal are you looking for?” Martha asked.
Hugh looked at Jenny.
“I don’t know, let me ask my date. Seafood? Steak?” he asked her.
Surprised by this turn of events, although she shouldn’t have been, after what had just happened upstairs, Jenny nodded, then said, “Sounds good.”
“OK. Sounds like you are thinking about Trilogy. It’s right on the lake. Great view, good service, excellent menu,” Hugh’s dad said.
“Sounds good to me,” Hugh said. Then he turned to Jenny and asked, “May I have the pleasure of your company to dine at Trilogy restaurant tonight, Miss McDonald?”
“Yes, indeed, you may. I’d be honored, Mister Mann,” she replied, in a like manner.
They all got a big laugh at that.
After lunch, they all broke up to go their separate ways. Hugh told Jenny as she stood up to begin helping Martha clear the dishes that he needed to put away his camping gear, and clean his rifle.
“Give me a buzz when you are ready to swim this afternoon, and I’ll meet you at the pool again,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze.
She nodded, and Hugh went up to his room.
Hugh really did have to put away his gear and clean his rifle. But, he actually needed time alone to think, too.
First, however, he needed to make a call. He picked up the phone extension in his room, and dialed his dispatcher’s number.
“Hey, Hugh, how’s it going?” the dispatcher asked, sounding genuinely pleased to hear from him.
Hugh was puzzled, until he realized that the caller ID on the phone was registered to a Hugh Mann, his father’s name, of course.
“Going good, Yvonne,” Hugh replied. “I’m wondering if you can get me a load out of Boise no earlier than 1600 tomorrow. Later would be OK, but not earlier, because I’m about eight hours away from there.”
“OK. It’ll take me a little time because you’ve been off the board for awhile.”
Hugh said that was OK, but added on second thought, “Actually, Spokane would work too. I’m actually closer to Spokane than I am to Boise. I’m only a couple hours away from there, and could pick up a load mid-morning.”
“You’ll be bobtailing in, right?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Hugh answered.
“OK. I’ll try for Spokane, and I’ll leave a pre-plan on your Qualcomm by early tomorrow morning.”
“Perfect. Thanks.”
With that done, Hugh began cleaning his rifle, which gave him the opportunity to think and plan.
One thing he was dead certain of, was that Jenny was not going to be with him when he left the ranch in his truck. He knew his parents would be happy to keep her here with them, especially after Hugh explained to them the new development with her uncle.
He was also equally dead certain that Jenny would not like that idea at all, and she’d fight him tooth and nail if she knew that’s what he was planning.
So I won’t tell her, Hugh mused. That almost worked one time, he grinned at the memory of when it didn't.
Finished with cleaning his gun, Hugh lay back in his bed with his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. The quiet and solitude caught up with him, and he slipped into a peaceful sleep.
He was awakened by a knock at the door.
“Come in,” he answered.
It was Mary.
“Jenny said to tell you that she’ll meet you at the pool in five minutes,” Mary told him.
On his way out the door, Mary caught his elbow to stop him. “Go slow, real slow, big guy,” she said.
“You’re the third person who’s told me that today,” he told her.
“Then believe it. OK?” Mary replied.
Hugh and Jenny arrived at the pool at the same time. Jenny removed her T-shirt top, more shyly this time than last time. Hugh realized there was more at stake in their relationship, now that the threshold had finally been crossed.
“OK, Jen. Do your thing,” Hugh said.
“Got it,” Jenny replied, and made her signature dive into the pool.
Hugh unabashedly watched this beautiful person perform her swimming magic. Jenny caught him gazing at her as she swam past him on her first lap, then she gave him a wink as she made her first flip turn.
She really is something. Can I actually be so stupid as to let her go? he asked himself. And, in answer, he said to himself, Yes, to protect her, I’ll have to.
Her laps finished, Jenny climbed gracefully out of the pool and headed to her lounge next to Hugh.
Hugh decided to hazard talking to Jenny about some of the events of the past week, and asked her if it would be OK.
&n
bsp; “Sure, now is as good a time as any,” she said. “But first, I want to ask you something.”
“Go ahead,” Hugh replied.
“Why do you keep calling me McDonald?”
Puzzled, Hugh replied, “That’s your name, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but how do you know that? I never told you. And, I know for a fact that I kept my last name on my driver’s license covered when I showed it to you.”
Hugh realized that now was the time to pay the piper for that little snooping session he had done shortly after he had first met Jenny.
“Jenny, I had to know more about you. So, when you were in the truck stop shower that first night, in Wells, I looked through your things, and found your driver’s license.”
“What else did you do that I don’t know about?” she then asked.
“I tried doing a search for you on the Internet—you know, Google, Facebook, and such. But, I didn’t find anything that I could identify as you.”
“That’s because I never have gone in for all that social networking stuff,” she said. “I’m pretty low-tech that way.”
“In retrospect,” Hugh offered by way of trying to defuse the issue, “there was no harm done. Was there?”
“Yes, there was.” Jenny said. “The first time I heard you say, ‘Miss McDonald,’ was at that wild horse truck stop, remember?”
Hugh nodded, remembering regretting his mistake at the time.
“That was a trust thing,” she explained. “You were keeping something from me.”
Hugh nodded again.
“Then, it all came to a head when I overheard you talking to James on your cell phone at that Bakersfield truck stop. You had destroyed any shred of trust there could ever be between us. I hated you, and only wanted to get away from you.”
Hugh appreciated her honesty, and was glad they were finally talking about it. But, her words hurt him deeply.
“Yet, you are here now. You kissed me,” Hugh reminded her.
“Wrong, big boy. You kissed me,” Jenny replied.
“But, you enjoyed it,” Hugh insisted.
“Right you are, and I’d enjoy doing it again,” she said, blushing slightly.
Crimson Highway Page 21