The next day a wagon train came to the fort - a real, honest-by-gosh wagon train! It wasn't completely historically accurate, but a group of volunteers had decided to re-enact an Oregon Trail wagon train, loading up old wagons with food and gear and traveling the route through Fort Laramie. They circled their wagons out near where the old hotel had once stood, built a campfire, and spent the rest of the week camping there. It added to the visitor experience, and Tom was only sorry he hadn't thought of it first. Maybe something could be done to repeat the experience every year, and maybe even a couple of times through the summer. Chayton sure enjoyed them. Tom had never seen the stern senior smile more, or laugh harder.
But by the weekend, Carrie's mood hadn't changed at all. She remained sullen and withdrawn, and any time he tried to ask her what was wrong, she practically tore his head off. He had been about as patient as he was going to be. They didn't work on Sundays. Volunteers came into the fort to host worship services, so the students had the day off. He would drive them into town and let them horse around, go shopping, take in a movie - whatever they had in mind, within reason. He hoped to get Carrie by herself for a heart- to heart conversation, maybe preceded by a hand to bottom conversation, if necessary. She was no longer taking the pain pills, and on Monday the stitches would come out. One more week, and she could even get off the crutches. It was time to stop making special allowances for her.
Sunday morning several of the students asked to go to the Fort to participate in the worship service. Tom was surprised. He hadn't figured that any of them were that spiritual. Julie and Carrie chose to sleep in, so he left them behind with Adrian and the rest of the boys. Vicki came with Henry, as the two hadn't been separated since the second night. They were practically joined at the hip and were even starting to look alike. Tom wasn't their parent or guardian; he was only responsible for their safety. They were adults, after all. He just hoped that one of them didn't get their heart broken. That could put a real kibosh on the rest of the summer.
* * *
Carrie gave out a whoop as soon as Tom's van left. Gees, she didn't think she'd ever get rid of him! He'd been hovering over her ever since the accident. At first it had seemed sweet, but that quickly turned to irritation. She was a big girl, she could take care of herself, but the way he'd been acting it was as though he didn't trust her at all. Like he had to protect her or she'd break. She'd like to break him. Or break something large over his thick head.
"Come on, Julie, wake up. It's time," she whispered, shaking her girlfriend vigorously.
"Go away. It's Sunday."
"Yes, it's Sunday. Remember? We have plans. And who knows when Tom's going to come back. It's now or never."
Julie sat up, looking just as pretty as she did the rest of the day. Her long, silky hair fell smoothly around her shoulders as though she'd brushed it one hundred strokes. Her face, even devoid of makeup, was perfect. Carrie wrinkled her nose, almost hating her best friend. "You suck, you know that, don't you," she snapped.
"I just don't think this is such a good idea," Julie said, lowering her voice to a whisper when Carrie shushed her.
"But we talked about it. We planned it... and now it's time to go through with it."
"Why don't we just ask him?" Julie insisted. "Maybe he'll say yes."
"But what if he doesn't? If he says no, then he'll be watching us, and we won't get away. It's better this way. We'll just take his keys and borrow his van and drive into town ourselves. Let's rent a motel room and sleep in a real bed. I can take a bath - finally - and you can use a real shower, and we'll watch television all day."
"And when Tom finds us, he's going to be so angry," Julie pointed out.
"Maybe he won't find us. It's not like we have smart phones with G.P.S. signal out here. He wouldn't let us bring them."
"You'll give him a heart attack."
Carrie grinned. "I hope so," she said. "Now get dressed!"
They moved quietly about the tent, packing clean clothes and toiletries into a bag that Julie carried. Silently they made their way to Adrian's wild colored, beat-up van, with the keys still in the ignition, where he left them. The van was old enough that no signal beeped when they opened the door - whether the car predated warning signals, or that function was just malfunctioning, the girls didn't know. Stealthily they climbed in, barely closing the door, lest they wake someone up. The van didn't start with the first crank, but the second time it turned over.
"Hey, stop!" Adrian called, his head popping out of his tent.
Carrie had seen him drinking beers the night before and had hoped he'd sleep through this part. "Go," she yelled. "Hurry up and go! Go!"
Julie shifted into drive and stomped on the gas, spinning out of the campground and spitting gravel at any who attempted to follow.
A mile down the road, they burst into laughter.
"I can't believe we just did that," Julie said. "You are a bad influence on me."
"You're only young once, Julie. You have to live a little. Now, there's actually a town called Fort Laramie, too. We drove past it coming here last week. I think there was a motel on the other side. I remember wishing that we could stay in it back then, especially after seeing the mess that restroom turned out to be in. Who fixed it, by the way? Do you know?"
"Tom told the boys to clean it up while you were at the hospital."
"Really? Why didn't he just make the folks who own the campground do it? Or demand his money back or something? What a wuss."
Julie glared at her friend. "You don't know him at all, do you. He is the nicest guy! And you wouldn't be half this mean to him if you realized that."
"What do you mean? And I'm not mean to him. He's mean to me," Carrie said with a huff.
"An old woman owns the campground. Her husband passed away, her son lives out east, and she had hired a high school boy to keep things clean. The boy took the money and cut the grass, but never did anything else. She's too old to do it herself, and didn't even know the boy was cheating her until Tom showed up. Tom fired the boy, and told her he would take over managing the campground for the rest of the summer, in exchange for a discount. She was so happy, she cried and baked him the pan of brownies we had for dessert last Tuesday."
"What a chump," Carrie said. But inside, she was starting to feel badly. But what was she supposed to think? He'd spanked her! Hard! On a bare bottom! And then, he practically ignored her. Oh, he smothered her, watching over her like she might break, but he didn't talk to her. He didn't hold her. He hadn't asked her out - not again, since he'd asked her out a bunch of times during the fall semester. She was confused. She didn't know if she even liked him... but she wanted to find out if she did. She wanted to know where she stood with him. Was she just a nuisance student who was no more than a burdensome responsibility? Or did he really like her?
She knew she had to do two things. She had to take a bath, since she hadn't really been able to get clean since the accident. She'd taken a couple of sponge baths standing at the sink in the rest room, but she couldn't take her foot into the shower. She wanted to soak in a hot bubble bath, and shave her legs, and shampoo her hair, and wear some perfume and feel like a woman again.
And the second thing was she had to get to the library. She needed to take out a book on spinning, since she didn't have access to a laptop to watch another YouTube video, and she had to learn how to spin before Tom found out about the big lie.
Julie had been just as eager to take the motel room, but she hadn't been as interested in the library, and was ready to call the whole thing off when she realized that they were basically becoming car thieves. She was sure - or at least fairly sure - that Tom wasn't going to press charges. It could ruin his whole internship program. Nevertheless, she was now an experienced car thief. Wouldn't her father be proud?
The motel was a small, mom-and-pop place, so it wasn't as expensive as a major chain would have been. The girls were ecstatic as they plopped on the queen-size beds and clicked on the television. It
didn't matter that it was Sunday morning, and there wasn't really anything to watch except religious programming and home repair shows. It was even fun just to watch the commercials again. Neither one of them could remember ever going a whole week without television before.
Julie got first dibs on the shower. Carrie would use the time to start working on the tangles in her hair. She worked conditioner into the dry knots and painstakingly unraveled them, working the hair free strand by strand. Julie took most of an hour in the shower, but by then, Carrie's hair was tangle-free, even if it did look a bit gross with all that conditioner on it.
Julie filled the bathtub with hot water and bubble bath, then wrapped Carrie's foot with a roll of plastic wrap they'd picked up at the discount store. Then she helped Carrie into the tub, trying to keep her injured foot out of the water. She lit candles, at Carrie's direction, and placed them around the bathroom, and handed her a paperback novel - also from the discount store - to enjoy. "Call me if you start to drown," Julie said.
"Don't you start," Carrie said. "I'll be fine, really. I just need this. I need to feel clean and feminine again."
Someone had been grilling burgers and selling them with potato salad after the worship service, to raise money for continuing the worship service. Tom treated the students to lunch before taking them back to the campground. Maybe he shouldn't have, but he figured they deserved a nice treat for getting up on a Sunday morning. The other students would have to make do with cold cuts sandwiches.
Something didn't feel right, he thought, as he parked at the campsite. He did a quick headcount, stopping when he saw Adrian.
Adrian's face was scarlet, his expression thunderous. "I'm going to wallop some ass," he shouted, shaking a fist at Tom.
What had Carrie done now? And where was she? That's when he realized that he didn't see Adrian's van anywhere. Had she left? Why would she do that? And where had she gone? Had she had enough of the internship and took the van to the airport? Why didn't she talk to him about it?
Maybe because of the contract he'd insisted she sign. He had said he wouldn't let any of them leave, as it could ruin his project and any chance he had of completing his dissertation.
Adrian yanked the passenger front door open and yelled at the student there to get out. Jimmy jumped, vacating the seat so Adrian could get in. The other students stayed in the van, unsure what to do. Tom wasn't sure, either. He had planned to take them all to town - but what about now, with two girls missing? But was it fair to ruin their day off just because Carrie was a spoiled brat!
"Anyone who wants to spend the rest of the day in town, get in now," Tom ordered. "Or you can stay at the campground. Adrian and I need to go find Carrie and Julie."
Two students decided to stay behind - Henry and Vicki. Tom didn't have to worry about them - they wouldn't go anywhere. The rest fastened their seat belts - he had them well trained - and he tore out of the campground. "Which direction?" he asked.
"I haven't the faintest idea," Adrian shouted.
"Calm down. We'll find them. Now, did they take everything they own? Do you think they'd go to the airport? Or did they leave anything behind?"
Patrick spoke up. He hadn't gone to worship services, so presumably he knew what was going on. "I checked out their shit. They left their duffels and sleeping bags behind, but took some stuff. Shampoo stuff. I bet they went to a motel. Julie keeps complaining about the restroom."
"Okay," Tom said, sighing with relief. So they weren't headed to an airport. They could have gone to a truck stop or motel to find a shower. He'd bet on the motel, since truck stops didn't have bathtubs, and Carrie would have problems managing a shower. "We'll check out the town of Fort Laramie first. It's closest, and if we don't find them, then we'll go to the next town.
"I told them to stop," Adrian muttered, raking his fingers through his hair. "The little shits were laughing. They were laughing at me! I am so going to beat their butts!"
"Oh yeah, this I gotta see," Patrick said.
Tom glared at Adrian. "No one is going to beat anyone's butt," he said. "Except maybe me," he added quietly.
Adrian lowered his voice, so only Tom could hear. "You can handle Carrie, but I'm going after Julie. She was the one driving. I'm sure it was Carrie's idea, but she couldn't have managed it without Julie's help."
"Ok," Tom conceded. "You work things out with Julie, then. But be careful, buddy. We don't need a lawsuit."
The girls hadn't tried very hard to hide. They were at the very first motel, Adrian's bold yellow van parked in plain sight. Tom drove right on past, despite Adrian's loud complaints. "I'm going to drop the kids off in town," he explained. "Then we'll return."
"But we want to watch," Patrick piped.
"Too bad. Go watch a movie," Tom said. "It's nearly two. How long do you kids want to hang out here? Should I come back around seven?"
"Make it nine," one student in the back answered. "We'll grab dinner in town tonight."
"Nine it is." That would give him and Adrian plenty of time to get to the bottom of this!
Adrian convinced the clerk to give him a key to the room, by showing her his driver's license and registration, to establish that the van was his. He said that they wanted to surprise their "wives" and take them out tonight. Then he booked another room as well. The clerk gave him a bright smile as she readily handed him the two keys. "Hank's Steaks is a real nice place," she offered. "It's just off of Main Street. And tell him Margie sent you."
"Will do," Adrian said, giving her a wink. Just outside the girls' room, he turned to Tom. "I'll take Julie and go to the new room. You and Carrie can stay here. If you feel up to it, we'll meet at Hank's Steaks at eight. Okay?"
"Good plan," Tom said gravely. They shook hands. Then Tom inserted his key into the door and opened it.
Julie was in a cute little baby-doll pajama outfit on the bed, painting her toe nails a shell pink. She gasped when she saw them, nearly spilling the polish. She capped the jar and put it on the end table, slowly getting to her feet. "Now just relax," she said cautiously. "I can explain."
"You can explain stealing my car?" Adrian growled. "This I gotta hear."
"We didn't steal it. We just borrowed it. And we weren't doing anything wrong."
"Then why didn't you ask me? I would have let you take it."
"I wanted to ask you, but Carrie said that if you said no, then it would be harder to get away. She said it was easier to say you're sorry than to ask permission."
"That's bull and you know it," Adrian yelled. "Enough. You and I are going over to room 8. Tom wants some privacy when he talks to Carrie."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Julie said hotly. "You're mad. And - and dangerous. I think I'd better stay here with Carrie. She needs me!"
Adrian tossed Julie over his shoulders and left, ignoring her screams and kicks. If anyone in the motel heard or saw them, they didn't say a thing.
"Julie," Carrie called from the bathroom. "Who are you talking to?"
Tom opened the door and stood just inside with his fists on his hips.
"Oh, shit," Carrie said.
"Get out now," Tom bellowed.
"You get out! Get out of this room! You can't see me like this - it isn't right! Shut your eyes and get out!"
"Carrie, you are in a heap of trouble already. And don't bother to scream. Adrian told the clerk we were your husbands and we planned to surprise you. If anyone hears you scream, they'll assume it's from pure joy."
"You're insane!"
"Now that's the pot calling the kettle black. What on earth were you thinking, stealing Adrian's van like that! Why didn't you just ask?"
"What would you have said," Carrie whispered.
"I might have said yes. I don't know. Now we'll never know, because you didn't even give me a chance."
Carrie blinked, her eyes looking watery all of a sudden, but Tom was too angry to care. She could cry all she wanted. He expected her to cry, in fact, buckets of tears before he was finished
with her.
"Please get out. Let me dry off and get dressed, so we can talk this through," Carrie begged.
Tom was almost moved, but he grinned instead. "I think we can talk just fine like this."
"No! Get out!"
"I have you at a disadvantage, Carrie. You see, you really can't go anywhere, so we're going to stay just where we are and talk until there isn't anything more to be said. And then I'm going to beat your ass within an inch of your life."
She gulped, biting down on her lower lip. She did look contrite at the moment, and she was adorable. Tom felt his anger dissipate, which was a good thing. He shouldn't spank her when he was angry. He needed to be calm and rational, if she were to learn anything from the experience. A woman was spanked because she had it coming, and not because her man was just mad at her.
"Well, Julie doesn't really like camping," Carrie began.
"I know. She doesn't make that much of a secret. We can all hear her complain about the restroom, although it's a hundred times better than when we arrived. The boys swept it out, and repainted it. I replaced the broken sinks and toilets. We even plugged in an air freshener. I mean, golly, Carrie, what more do you expect!" Tom was a little annoyed again.
"I don't mind the restroom, Tom. And I should have thanked you. I'm sorry, I thought maybe the owners fixed all that stuff. Whenever did you find the time to do it?"
"Don't change the subject."
"Well," she began. "As I said, Julie doesn't like camping. So we planned months ago that we would take a motel room on weekends and get our "girly fix."
"It would have been nice to know this," Tom said pointedly.
"You aren't exactly easy to talk too!"
"Neither are you!"
"Argh!"
"If you're done using words, young lady, we can move on to the next step."
"No!" Carrie folded her arms over her chest as the bubbles were popping and covering less of her. Tom wasn't sure how long he could keep up his end of the conversation. Seeing the woman he loved in the buff, in a bath full of bubbles, was stirring some incredible fantasies he didn't dare ponder.
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