Lynda Brockhurst, on the other hand, has been married three times. She always says that at her age of 37, three times is enough. Her first husband was her high school sweetheart; they married right after graduation. They were good as high school sweethearts but lousy as married struggling college students. They divorced after only six months of marriage. Husbands number two and three were total jerks -- one was extremely jealous and the other a freak. What she saw in them, who knows? Both Emma and Jillian saw what they truly were, but Lynda wouldn’t listen. After her last divorce she swore off men and she put her total concentration on her career, her home, and the girls’ friendship. She lives around the corner from Jillian and Emma.
Lynda’s a natural blond-haired beauty with a complexion that women spend hours in tanning salons to achieve. She stands about 5’ 5” and is a physical therapist at Yerington General. Her hobbies are the same as Emma’s; maybe that’s why the girls are so close.
The three girls have been best friends for many years. Em, Lynda, and Jillian are closer than best friends; they are each other; one feels and the others also do. The old saying doesn’t apply to them: Two’s company, three’s a crowd. For the past four years the three have been taking weekend trips, and if they can break away, three-day trips.
Jillian found the two girls playing the penny slot machines across from the cashier’s cage. She stopped to look at her two best friends, laughing each time the reels spun. As Jillian watched, Em slapped Lynda on the arm, looked up and noticed Jillian, “Hey look! I just hit 750 pennies!”
“Em, that’s only $7.50.” Jillian laughed.
“I know, but it’s fun. Did you hear that Joanna was down last night and hit one of the penny machines for 25,000 pennies?”
“She called me the night before last, asking if I could come over and help her with her TV. I reprogrammed the remote for her. We had a cup of tea and chatted for a while. Oh, looks like our table is ready.”
Chapter 4
Lynda volunteered to drive to Reno. They decided that nine o’clock would be a good time to leave. Going early to Reno, they could do some shopping at Meadowwood Mall before going over to the hotel.
Lynda pulled the Volvo out of her garage, and she stopped between Emma and Jillian’s houses. Emma came out of her house, carrying her suitcase and three diet sodas, and almost at the same time Jillian came out her back door. The girls put their suitcases into the trunk. Jillian decided to sit in the front, as Lynda and Emma have a tendency to get involved with gossip and lose track of what they’re doing or they argue about which way to travel. Once they were all loaded, and double-checked on their airline tickets, they were off to Reno.
“You know, Mrs. Hollister was in the shop yesterday and she said that she’d seen Harrett Howard in church without Mr. Howard. And that she had seen Gloria in the market. She said that Mr. Howard’s moved away,” Emma said.
“Boy, you’re the gossip queen,” Lynda said in a scolding tone. “Tell me more gossip. You hear it all at the shop.”
“Well, you know.”
“Ladies, let’s not tell tales out of school,” Jillian scolded.
“Funny,” said Lynda.
“Jillian, it’s not a tale. I heard it from the source. Anyway, you’d be telling more, if you weren’t bound by some oath you took. I promise to keep all the gossip I see and hear to thy doctor’s self.” The three girls laugh.
“I saw the sale ads in the paper that the nursery’s going to extend their hours during the start of planting season.” Lynda continued, talking to Emma. “I’ve been thinking about giving you some competition in the best garden contest. Think I’m going to start my mother’s flower garden again. She’d like that.”
“Grow all you want, girl, you’ll never beat me!” Emma exclaimed.
Jillian listened to the girls banter back and forth. She smiled, thinking of how blessed she felt.
The Reno airport’s about 93 miles from Yerington. Usually with any early-morning flight the girls felt it wise to overnight in Reno, as they’d have to leave Yerington at around 3 a.m. Staying at the Silver Legacy Hotel Casino, the evening before travel is always fun.
When they reached Meadowwood Mall, a storm was coming up over the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west, the wind blowing and spitting rain. Lynda asked, “Where should I park? What stores do you want to shop at?”
“I want to park close, as it looks like it’s going to be storming when we come out. I want to go to Macy’s and Penney’s. This is Reno’s biggest shopping mall and it’s still lacking some stores,” Em says, in a complaining voice.
“What are you, sugar, and you can’t get wet, hon?” Lynda scoffed in fun. “What other stores do you want? Anything’s better than what we have at home.”
“I’d also like to go into Waldenbooks,” Jillian said.
Lynda steered the car around to the back of Macy’s, found a parking space not too far from the door. The three girls got out and strolled into the mall’s eastern entrance. After about three hours of shopping and carrying several shopping bags the girls later emerged. They loaded their new purchases into the trunk and started off to the hotel. They turned right onto South Virginia Street, heading north. Lynda said, “Hey, it’s lunchtime. Where do we want to eat?”
“Don’t care,” both of the other girls said at the same time. All laughed.
“How ‘bout the Olive Garden?”
“Sure, we’re right here,” Em said.
“Welcome to the Olive Garden. Are you here for lunch? Three?” a young hostess said opening the door for the three girls. This greeter was sappy-sweet with her greeting. The girls chuckled to themselves.
When the girls were seated and their drink orders taken, Emma said, “Do you ever wish we were old married ladies with tons of children hanging on our apron strings?”
“Yeah, I think about it, but we wouldn’t be doing this,” Lynda said.
“I sometimes think I’ll never meet anyone that isn’t threatened by my being a doctor. Sometimes I feel really alone. I have my medicine and that’s what I’ve always wanted all my life. But…” Jillian paused, as if trying to formulate her thoughts.
“The few men I’ve been friends with were so intimidated that all they did was talk about themselves…never interested in me or my thoughts,” Jillian said. “Quite a few women docs are either divorced or single, never married. I wonder if I’m destined to be in that category. My mother’s always asking me the loaded question, ‘Jillian Louise, when am I going to be a grandmother?’ I know there’s someone out there, but how to find the special one?”
“Boy, Jillian, I didn’t know you felt that deeply about marriage and kids,” Emma said.
“Yes, you did.”
When the girls’ salad and garlic breadstick lunches arrived, their conversation changed to the upcoming trip.
Between bites of her buttered breadstick, Emma said, “I hear Seattle’s really breath-taking, especially from the Space Needle at night. Let’s plan on going there. We really don’t have anything else planned.” She continued. “I hope you brought your umbrellas. The forecast’s pretty soggy looking.” The other two girls nod.
When lunch was finished, with all girls declining dessert, the bill was paid and they exited. “Thank you. Hope to see you again,” the same sappy-sweet girl opened the door and escorted them out.
“I wonder how often she says that in a day?” Emma asked. “I’ll bet she doesn’t want to talk to anyone when she goes home at night.”
“Some days we’re so busy, the girls in the front office talk about not wanting to talk to anyone at night after work. I’ve heard them say they’re so tired that when their home phone rings, they answer it, ‘Desert Ortho’.”
“Anywhere else?” Lynda asked as she started the car. “I’m ready to get checked in at the hotel.”
“Nope.”
The valet said, “Welcome to the Silver Legacy. Are you checking in? Is this your first time at the Silver Legacy?”
“Yes
we are, and no it’s not,” replies Emma. “And yes, we need a cart.”
The valet asked Lynda her last name and tagged each bag that was placed on the luggage cart. He handed Lynda two slips, one the valet claim check and the bell check. The wind was blowing through the valet area like a monsoon, howling through the portico. The temperature felt like it was below zero, but in actuality was probably just a few degrees below freezing.
Inside the three girls rode the escalator to the main level. To the right was the hotel check-in. After checking in, while unpacking they decided to go down to the restaurant for dinner. They also placed a five a.m. wake-up call for tomorrow morning.
The Chinese food was known to be excellent in the Sweetwater Café. All three girls decide to order and share. They ordered Lemon Chicken, Garlic Chicken, General Chicken, an order of Shrimp Tempera, and a couple of orders of fried Won Ton. They were sitting along the outer side of the restaurant against the walkway that connects the Silver Legacy to the El Dorado Hotel Casino, watching the tourists dropping coins into the slot machines placed along the walkway.
“Hey, after dinner shall we invest a couple of dollars?” Emma asked.
The girls agreed that they’d each start with twenty dollars and see how long it took to “own the casino,” as Lynda said. When their food arrived, all three took a deep breath to inhale the aromas of the foods, then started dishing out the food.
When they finished their dinner, the girls paid the check and made their way into the casino. They decided to play a round of the 25-cent “Wheel of Fortune” machines, with the mega jackpot up to $1.5 million. When they walked up to the bank of machines, the sounds emitted from the machines said, “Wheel of Fortune.” They started playing each hoping for the spin symbols to line up. They laughed, “Hey, forget hitting the Wheel of Fortune. Let’s get the spin!” They’d been playing for about three minutes when Lynda lined up the three spin symbols and the internal sound of clapping began. She hit the spin button. Around and around the wheel spun landing on the 1,000. Lynda started screaming and the “audience” was clapping.
“I just won $250.00!” she announced excitedly.
Chapter 5
The next morning the girls drove to the airport almost in silence. “These early-morning flights are a bear…having to be at the airport so early,” Emma said.
After parking the car, they checked in and began their wait. They didn’t mind the wait as it gave the girls time to chat--as if they don’t chat every day. Emma spotted a newspaper shop across the lobby and decided get something to read. She asked if the other two would like something; both reading other things, they shook their heads no.
By the time Emma returned, they were calling their flight. The girls boarded the plane and got settled in their seats. Both Lynda and Jillian pulled out their reading material and started to read. Emma passed out the three magazines she’d purchased, Great Country Gardens, Country Stars Today, and True Romances. Thinking of Lynda’s comment on starting her mother’s flowerbed, Emma handed her the garden magazine. Lynda looked up at her and smiled. Emma handed Jillian the country magazine, “Here, Jillie, read something that’s lighter.” Jillian put down her medical journal and took the magazine.
“Thanks.”
Jillian looked at the cover picture of Pierce Layton and the feature story, “Who’s Hot in Country?” She whispered, “Who cares.” She paused for a second, staring at the picture. Nice, she thought. She opened the magazine to the featured article and found another picture of Layton with a few smaller pictures of “hot” stars. Jillian put her head against the seatback and began to daydream: What would it be like to be married and have a couple of children? The daydream turned into a dream because she was married to a faceless man and had faceless children; she was no longer a doctor; and she was very unhappy. She wakened with a start, when Emma jabbed her. “Jillie, are you asleep?”
“Nope, just resting my eyes,” she mumbled, trying not to show that she indeed was asleep.
“Would you please trade magazines with me?” Em asked.
“Sure.” She handed Em the country magazine but declined the gardening magazine.
Jillian placed her forehead on the cool window and looked at the clouds floating past. Trying to shake off the dream, she imagined what it’d be like not to be a doctor, which was something she’d wanted all her life. Well, she’d wanted to be a rodeo clown when she was five, but then the medical seed was planted when her grandmother fell off a horse and broke her hip. Jillian and her parents were at her side in the infirmary, and Jillian was fascinated with the fast-paced hospital. People would say, “Oh, you want to be a nurse.” And she’d say, “No, a doctor.” They would react strangely as if she was asking to be the Man in the Moon. She’d given up on romance to concentrate on her career. She’d gone to school with girls who were married during school or had gotten married after medical school. She wondered how many of them were still married. Jillian thought, it’s possible to be married, once your practice is secure, then you can set regular hours. But she always said, “I just haven’t found Mr. Right yet.”
The pilot announced their final descent into Seattle.
“Boy, that was a quick flight,” Emma said. “Lynda, did you learn everything from the magazine on flowerbeds, so you can whip my pants?” She laughed.
“Lynda, don’t let her fool you. She must be concerned that you’ll beat her or she wouldn’t be constantly bringing it up,” Jillian said.
“The proof’ll be in the pudding,” Emma sternly said. The three girls laughed, gathered their belongings, and prepared to land.
Their hotel was located down by the marina, a lovely location. The girls checked their bags with the bellman and found their way to the front desk.
“Good afternoon, may I help you?” the desk clerk asked.
“We’re checking in,” all three girls said at once, then laughed.
“We have reservations for three rooms.” The girls always got separate but adjoining rooms. After the end of a day of being tourists, each girl had her own bathroom and could relax in the bath as long as she wanted. When they opened the connecting doors, they’re together but still apart. They got their keys and while waiting for the elevator, compared room numbers.
“Hey, Lynda, you’re on the right of me and Jillian you’re on the left of me, and I’m in the middle,” Emma said.
“Let’s get our bags, unpack, and get something to eat. Then we can decide what we want to do,” Lynda suggested.
Jillian said, “Let’s meet in 15 minutes in the coffee shop.” The two other girls agreed.
Lynda was the last to arrive at the table. Carrying an orange flyer, she plopped down and said, “Here’s what I think we should do tomorrow night.”
The orange flyer was an advertisement, which read: Memorial Auditorium’s Country Fest, Seattle Celebrates the Grand Old Opry. Appearing are Willie Nelson, Linda Scroggins, Robert John Montgomery, and Pierce Layton.
“Look who’s appearing…Willie, Pierce Layton, and Robert John Montgomery all on the same stage! WOW!”
Jillian looked at the flyer. “This might be fun.”
Lynda nodded. “Jillie, didn’t you say a couple months ago that Pierce Layton could eat crackers in your bed anytime?”
“I said nothing of the sort.”
“Yeah, I remember you said he was a hunk, when we were watching the Country Music Awards,” Emma said.
“And so, if I did?”
After lunch the girls talked to the concierge who made their reservations for the next evening’s concert. They found out what there was to do and see within walking distance of the hotel and they found a trolley system would take them almost anywhere they wanted to go. Armed with a trolley schedule and maps, they started for an afternoon of shopping.
The girls are shoppers, as are most women. Lynda’s always on the lookout for purses, any shape, any size. Emma’s a shoe horse, at last count with 30 pairs of shoes. Jillian usually shops for causal clothes.
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br /> They consulted a map and found that if they caught the trolley down the block, they could go over to a major shopping mall. Once settled on the trolley, Emma nudged Lynda and motioned upwards to an advertisement on the ceiling: Seattle’s Memorial Auditorium’s Country Fest, Seattle Celebrates the Grand Old Opry. They smiled at one another. Emma looked over to show Jillian, but noticed her friend was already looking at the pictures of the performers scheduled to appear.
“Hey, Jillie, Pierce Layton’s riding on this same trolley and he’s looking at you,” teases Emma. She and Lynda laughed.
“You both think you’re so funny.”
Shopping at the mall made for a pleasant afternoon. The girls split up at the shoe store and Jillian headed for a dress shop called, Career Casuals, located just around the corner. Jillian instantly found a princess A-line black and gray tweed dress, with three-quarter sleeves. She asked to try it on. The dress was a perfect fit. She came out of the dressing room and handed the dress to the sales clerk, “I’ll take this. Will you hold it for me?” The girl nodded. When Jillian had finished, she’d purchased four dresses, three pairs of slacks, and three matching casual blouses. At the register Jillian found a pair of square earrings to match the dress. The clerk left the clothing on hangers and placed a large plastic dress bag over them all. The girls were just about to enter as Jillian was coming out. She justified her purchases, by claiming she was replacing older work clothes.
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