To her, and, she suspected, to Marilys and Way, it was a joy to work on their home, have a home to work on. If only Mama and Daddy could have had anything half as nice! That regret was the only one to taint Laurie’s delight except for knowing that she’d never share this house—or any other—with Johnny. Could she have been with him, she’d gladly trade for a boom-town tent.
25
She was playing the guitar at the hotel one Friday night in August when Johnny came in, face begrimed, still in stained work clothes. Speaking under the applause, he said hoarsely, “Can you come over to the hospital, Laurie? Jim Halsell’s hurt.”
At the piano, Marilys had heard. Rising, she asked the question Laurie couldn’t choke out. “What’s wrong?”
“Gas forced a nitro charge back up the hole. I yelled that it was coming in time for everyone to run before the derrick blew up, but Jim’s leg got pinned under a length of girder.” Johnny wiped at his sweating forehead. “Jim’ll live, but he may lose the leg.”
“Go on, Laurie.” Marilys gave her a gentle shove. “I’ll play till closing time and then come by.”
“Jim doesn’t want us to call his mother,” Johnny said, as he whipped the truck through alleys and side streets to get to the hospital faster. “Says he’ll talk to her himself when he knows about the leg. He’s one gutsy kid. I wish—” Johnny slapped the wheel as he pulled into the parking lot and stopped.
Laurie jumped out in the same instant. Johnny caught her arm. “Don’t run. It won’t make him feel better for you to rush in like he’s dying.”
“Did—did he ask for me?”
“He won’t ask for anyone or anything. But Pete’s sake, Laurie, anyone with half an eye can see he worships the ground you walk on.”
“That’s because of Daddy.”
Johnny’s long strides were almost noiseless on the tiled hall floor. “Nope.” He steered her around a corner. “It’s because of Laurie.” He paused outside a half-shut door. “Right now you can help him more than anyone.”
As they stepped in, a nurse was removing a hypodermic needle from Jim’s arm. Clear fluid from a bottle suspended from a movable rack trickled through tubing to the inside joint of his arm where it was taped in place. Under the sheet, Jim’s right leg seemed to be propped up on pillows.
“Dr. Mitchell’s going to operate just as soon as he’s through with a car-wreck emergency,” the nurse said. “You can stay with Jim till then but don’t let him talk much.” She disappeared with a swish of starched white skirts.
“Jim?” Not knowing what to say, Laurie took his brown hand, was shocked. How cold it felt, how nerveless! She closed her other hand around it, hoping to warm the lax fingers.
His eyes opened. Dilated pupils almost blotted out the brownish-green of the irises. His hand tightened. “Laurie. Guess I must have tripped—Stupid. All this trouble—”
“You didn’t trip, Jim.” Johnny’s voice was gruff. “The end of that damned girder got you.”
Jim’s pupils contracted slightly as they shifted to Johnny. “Am I going to lose my leg, Mr. Morrigan?”
Muscles tightened between Johnny’s cheekbones and jaws. “Jim, the doc won’t know for sure till he operates. He’ll save it if he can, I promise that.”
Jim’s pale lips went even whiter. “If he can’t, tell him not to worry about the bleeding. I’d sooner die.”
“I never took you for a quitter, Jim.”
“I’m not! But I sure won’t be a burden on other folks the rest of my life.” He groaned. “There’s goin’ to be the hospital bill and the doctor! I’m a month ahead on the money I send Mom and Bernice worked this summer stocking shelves in a grocery store, so maybe they can manage till I get back to work. But if I can’t work—”
“You can work.” Johnny took Jim’s other hand, careful not to disturb the intravenous tube. “Hell’s bells, kid, you’ll have a job as long as I do!”
“Huh! What use would I be with one leg?”
“You can still mix soup. A truck can be fixed so you could drive. There’s wells to check, leases to hunt, all kinds of stuff. You’d earn your check.”
Jim’s face took on a bit of color. “Yeah. Guess I could do a lot of things. But I like working in the field.”
“Most likely you could. I’ve been thinkin’ it’d be fun to unlimber my old spudder and try to make some shallow wells—sort of poor-boy ’em separate from the company, you know. Couple of men can do that, takin’ their time, closin’ down at night.” Johnny wasn’t making this up for Jim’s benefit; he sounded wistful. “There’s not the big rush and rustle there is on a rotary rig. Kind of restful.”
“I sure would like that, Mr. Morrigan, even with two good legs!”
“Anyhow, you don’t have to worry about a job, or the hospital and doc, either. I carry insurance on the men who work for me personal, like you do. Even pays your salary while you’re laid up. When you talk to your mother, you can tell her those checks’ll be along same as ever.”
“That’s true? You’re not making it up?”
“You wouldn’t call your boss a liar, would you?” Johnny growled. “And I wish you’d quit callin’ him ‘Mr. Morrigan.’ I’m not all that much older than you!”
Jim’s deep breath was almost a sigh. He smiled faintly. “Never meant it that way, sir.”
“Sir?” exploded Johnny. “Now look here, kid—”
Three nurses came in. “If you and the young lady would step out, Mr. Morrigan,” said the sweet-faced gray-haired one.
Laurie pressed Jim’s hand to her face and kissed it. “We’ll be waiting. We’ll be praying.”
They stood in the hall till Jim was wheeled up the corridor. A ragged breath escaped Johnny. “Let’s get some coffee. There’s a snack place next to the visitors’ lounge.”
Laurie took one look at his haggard face. Always lean, he’d gotten thinner. “You’re going to have something to eat,” Laurie ruled. “Let’s sit where we can watch for Marilys. She’ll be along pretty soon now.” As they went downstairs, Laurie asked, “Do you really have that kind of insurance on Jim?” She couldn’t imagine W. S. Redwine allowing it.
“‘Ask me no questions,’” quoted Johnny with a grin. Stopping by a pay phone outside the coffee shop, he opened the shop door and shooed her inside. “Order whatever sounds good. I’ll be in soon as I call Crystal and wash up a little.”
Marilys passed the window while Johnny was gone. Laurie beckoned her in and explained about Jim. “We’ll just have to hope,” said Marilys, pressing Laurie’s hand. “Matt Sherrod stopped by to walk you home. He said he’d see you tomorrow night.”
“We were going to see Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon,” Laurie said. “I’ll have to phone his landlady and leave word that I can’t go anywhere for a while. When I have time off, I’m coming to visit Jim.”
“Way and I’ll visit him, too,” Marilys said. “Goodness, here comes Johnny. He looks like something the cat would be afraid to drag in!”
“Hi, pretty lady.” Johnny brushed a kiss on Marilys’s forehead before he slid into the booth beside Laurie. He seemed too exhausted to eat at first but after a few sips of the steaming french onion soup Laurie had ordered, he devoured it all along with several rolls, slaw, and peach cobbler. When everything was cleared away except coffee, he settled back and grinned sheepishly. “I shouldn’t feel better—but I do.”
“Any man feels better after fresh peach cobbler,” Marilys bantered.
Johnny glanced at his watch. “Wonder how long it’ll be?”
“I’ll go ask the floor nurse,” Laurie had been too nauseated to eat and the coffee had upset her stomach.
On her third trip, the nurse looked up and smiled. “Your friend’s in the recovery room. He should be back in his room in a half-hour or so.”
“His leg?”
“The doctor will come in later and explain about that.” At Laurie’s anguished cry, the nurse said quickly, “The young man didn’t lose the leg and probably
won’t, but he’s going to have a severe limp. It’s all right if you wait in his room and see him for a few minutes. Then he needs to sleep.”
The breath Laurie gulped went so deep that she realized she must have been breathing from only the top of her lungs. “Thank you,” she managed at last, blinking back relieved tears. “I’ll go tell the others.”
The three of them were waiting when Jim was wheeled in. He smiled at them groggily. “Still got my leg.”
Johnny pressed his shoulder. “You’ve got a job, too. Nothing to worry about except getting well. Does your mother have a telephone?”
“No, but the neighbors do and won’t mind getting her.” Jim grasped Johnny’s wrist. “I’ll call her myself tomorrow.” The hazel eyes traveled to Laurie. “Maybe you could talk to Mom, too, so she’ll believe I’m all right.”
Laurie nodded and touched his cheek. “I’ll come in the morning as soon as visiting hours start. You go to sleep now and start getting well.”
“Thanks for coming—for staying. All of you—”
“Hell of a thing if we didn’t!” Johnny squeezed his hand. “Sleep tight, Jim. See you tomorrow.”
“You’ve got work to do, sir,” protested Jim.
“Don’t you worry about that. Don’t worry about anything. And quit calling me sir!”
Jim’s grin was weakly impish. “Yes, sir, Mr. Morrigan.” His eyelids drooped, fluttered, drooped again, fringing his cheek. The visitors went softly into the hall, where they hugged each other. Even Johnny had tears in his eyes.
Matt was waiting for Laurie when she got off work at eight o’clock the next evening. He startled her as she stepped outside, grinding a cigarette beneath his heel.
“Hi, baby.”
“Hello, Matt. Didn’t Mrs. Rogers give you my message?”
“No problem.” He smiled down at her. “I’ll drive you to the hospital and wait while you see young Halsell. We can still make the second show.”
His tone was pleasant but determined. He slipped his hand beneath Laurie’s elbow, guiding her toward his silver-gray Cadillac, which had obviously just been washed and waxed. Laurie stopped.
“I can’t go to the movie, Matt. Jim doesn’t have any family here. I’m going to stay with him till visiting hours are over.”
“Isn’t that overdoing it, baby doll?” His voice was still easy but in the shadows, light flickered in the depths of his eyes, so vibrantly blue in his tanned face. “It’s not your fault the kid got hurt.”
How to explain the linkage that ran back to Daddy’s friendship with the Halsells and his grave beneath the eucalyptus? Laurie decided not to try. She’d given Matt no reason to believe he had first claim on her time.
“I don’t feel guilty, Matt. I want to stay with Jim, cheer him up if I can.”
Matt’s face darkened. “Sounds to me like more than just friendly interest.”
“It’s not,” flashed Laurie, angered. “But if it were, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”
He froze. She couldn’t see his face now. He was a dark, looming presence, suddenly a stranger. “That’s how you feel, Laurie? We’ve been going out three-four times a week for a couple of months and you think what you do is none of my concern?”
“I know that it’s not up to you to tell me how long I can visit a friend who’s not got many other people around.”
Matt said in a flat tone, “I reckon John Morrigan’s going to be there a lot.”
Laurie knew she was blushing, hoped Matt couldn’t see the telltale color. “Jim works for Johnny. Of course Johnny’ll come to see him as much as he can.”
She started on. Matt strode to the Cadillac, opened the door. “Hop in. I’ll drop you at the hospital.”
It would be rude to refuse. Besides, her feet hurt from a day of waiting tables. Relieved that Matt was being reasonable, she leaned back against the soft cushion. “I didn’t mean to sound so grouchy, Matt.”
“You’re tired, baby. Look, stay with Halsell an hour, that’s long enough. I’ll wait, and drive you home.”
“Oh, I can’t put you out like that! Anyway, I’m staying till the nurse throws me out or Jim goes to sleep.”
“I’ll wait.”
He was there when she came down the steps a little after ten and got out to help her into the car. “So how’s the kid?”
“His leg hurts but he can stand that since it proves he still has it. I read to him till he went to sleep.”
“Was Morrigan there?”
“He came by earlier.”
“Guess he wanted to get home to that well-built wife of his.”
“No, he had to go out to a well.”
“He doesn’t have to do much of anything the way he’s got Dub Redwine eating out of his hand.” Matt slanted her a veiled glance. “Some folks wonder how come they’re so thick.”
Laurie jerked upright. “If you mean—”
Matt raised a disclaiming hand and laughed. “I never took Morrigan for that kind myself.”
A motel light winked blue and red and they passed the road-house at the northern edge of town. “Matt, what are we doing way out here?” She wasn’t really alarmed—Matt had always been a gentleman—but her voice rose a little. “I want to get home!”
“We need to have a talk.”
“I’m tired. I have to go to work early in the morning.”
He grimaced. “No, baby, you don’t. You don’t have to go to work ever again.”
A chill shot down her spine. “Of course I do, Matt. Now please take me home. We can talk tomorrow.”
They were out where the only lights were the ones that gleamed from the oil field. Matt swung the Cadillac off the highway onto a dirt road. “Matt—”
“Don’t get excited, doll baby. I just want a quiet place to have our talk.”
In spite of knowing Matt, the back of her neck prickled. Should she yank open the door and jump out? They weren’t going very fast, couldn’t, on this rutted track. But his legs were a lot longer than hers. He could easily run her down. Anyhow, she was being silly. Just because he wanted to talk where they wouldn’t be interrupted—
He pulled off the road. The headlights shone on scrub willow and several big cottonwoods. They must be out by the creek that angled north of town. He switched off the lights, then the ignition. It was instantly so dark that his voice seemed disembodied as it came from the heavy August night.
“I was going to wait a while, sweetness, but hell, I’ve made up my mind and I’m sick of watching you wear yourself to a nub. You don’t have to answer me tonight. You’re young and you may want to talk it over with your folks.” His hands found her shoulders, even in the blackness, brought her against him. His mouth closed on hers, hard, deliberate, bruising.
This was like no other kiss Laurie had experienced, the fleeting brush of Johnny’s lips on her cheek, the smooth, clumsy, questioning or ardent ones claimed on the way home from a date, usually outside her door, or even those recent lingering good-nights of Matt Sherrod’s.
He had never hurt her. He did now, holding her so tight against him that she felt crushed, unable to breathe. She couldn’t escape his kiss but when she pushed at his chest, his lips gentled, moved warmly, coaxingly on hers, and though he still held her, his arms relaxed till they didn’t feel like constricting steel bands.
Lifting his head just a little, he laughed shakily. “Good Lord, baby, you take my breath away! I thought no woman could do that anymore!” His fingers traced from temple to chin, paused on her throat. Laurie felt the pulse surge, beat weightedly, and though he was being nice, she felt as if a great cat rested its sheathed claws across her jugular.
“Matt—”
He kissed her lightly. Even in the dark she knew he was smiling. “I want to marry you, sweetness. I want to take care of you.”
“Oh, Matt, no!” The cry was wrung from her in a passion of shock and regret. In her need to ease the pain of realizing that Johnny could never be hers, it hadn’t occurred to her to scrup
le about whether she might hurt the men she dated, cause any of them to suffer as she did. Least of all had she expected Matt Sherrod to really care about her. She welcomed the bite of his fingers, a punishment she deserved.
“I—I’m sorry, Matt.” What could she say to spare his pride? “You need a gorgeous lady who’ll know how to do you proud, someone a whole lot smarter and nicer than I am.”
His silence frightened her more than his first roughness. She tried to move away. His grip tautened. “If this is such a big surprise to you, Laurie, I can see you need time to think it over.” His tone was barely louder than a whisper. “We could be engaged—six months, maybe a year. And if—well, if you’re nervous about being with a man that way, I’ll bet I can make even the first time good for you.”
Confidence entered his voice. His arms went back around her. What was that Johnny had said? Matt preferred virgins? Johnny wouldn’t lie. That braced Laurie. She hadn’t ever hinted that she loved Matt, hadn’t encouraged him beyond agreeing to go out with him. That had been a mistake but there was no use making it worse.
“I’m sorry, Matt. I can’t marry you.”
“Why the hell not?”
“I don’t love you.”
He sucked in his breath. “You could learn. Listen, baby—”
“I’m not a baby!” Anger warmed Laurie. She twisted from his hands. “I love somebody else. I’m sorry that I’ve hurt you, really sorry, but now I want you to take me home.”
He didn’t respond for a moment. “And not see you anymore?” His manner was so reasonable that relief washed through her. It was embarrassing, she was sorry, but after all, he was a tall, handsome driller who made good money. It wouldn’t take him long to find consolation.
“It doesn’t make sense to go on dating, Matt.”
Again, he was silent. “Matt?”
He stirred as if rousing from a dream. “Since this is our last night, do me a favor. Come sit by the creek a while.”
She wanted desperately to go home but since he was being decent, granting his wish seemed a small thing. He got his jacket out of the backseat. Their feet ground the thin crust of sand, sank ankle-deep. He didn’t steady her, didn’t touch her, till he tossed his jacket down.
The Longest Road Page 37