then immediately dropped her book and climbed on back. They were an
“item” for two months, planning their lives together, vowing their
undying love for each other, even though they never exchanged so much
as a peck on the lips. Then her mother died, and Faith’s father moved
them away. She briefly wondered if Lee and he could be one and the
same. She had banished the memory so completely from her subconscious
that she couldn’t even remember the boy’s name. It could be Lee,
couldn’t it? She thought this because the only other time in her
entire life when her knees had gone weak was on that playground. The
boy had said what Lee had just said, and the sun had hit those eyes
just as it had smacked Lee’s, and her heart felt as though it would
explode if she didn’t do exactly as he said. Just how it felt right
now.
“Are you okay?” Lee asked.
Faith gripped one of the handlebars to steady herself, and said as
calmly as she could, “And they’re just going to let you drive off with
it?”
“My brother runs the place. It’s a demo. We’re officially taking it
for an extended test drive.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Just like fifth grade, there was no
way she could not get on that bike.
“Consider the alternative, and then the idea of your butt on this Honda
starts looking beautiful.” He slid his shades on and flipped his
helmet’s shield down as though putting an exclamation point on this
statement.
Faith slipped on the suit, and with Lee’s help managed to get the
helmet on snugly. He loaded their bags into the Honda’s spacious trunk
and saddle pouches, and Faith climbed on behind him. He started the
engine, gunned it for a moment or so and then hit the gas. When he
released the clutch, the power of the Honda threw Faith back against
the padded bar and she found herself clamping her arms and legs around
Lee and the eight-hundred-pound motorcycle, respectively, as they
rocketed onto Jeff Davis heading south.
She almost jumped off the bike when she heard the voice in her ear.
“Okay, calm down, it’s a Chatterbox helmet-to-helmet audio link,” Lee’s
voice said. He’d obviously felt her shock. “You ever driven down to
your beach house?”
“No, I always flew.”
“That’s okay. I’ve got a map. We’ll take 95 down and pick up
Interstate 64 near Richmond. That’ll get us to Norfolk. We’ll figure
out the best way from there. We’ll grab something to eat on the way.
We should make it before it gets too dark. Okay?”
She found herself nodding and then remembered to say, “Okay.”
“Now, just sit back and relax. You’re in good hands.”
Instead, she leaned into him, circled her arms around his waist and
held tightly. She was suddenly immersed in the recollection of those
divine two months in fifth grade. This had to be an omen. Maybe they
could drive off and never come back. Start at the Outer Banks, hire a
boat and end up on a patch of soil somewhere in the Caribbean no one
had ever been before, a place no one would ever see except for them.
She could learn to keep a hut, cook with coconut milk or whatever they
had there, be a good little homemaker while Lee was off catching fish.
They could make love every night under the moonlight. She leaned
farther into him. None of that sounded bad. Or too far-fetched, under
the circumstances. None of it.
“Oh, and Faith?” Lee said into her ear.
She touched her helmet to his, felt the solid breadth of his torso
against her breasts. She was twenty again, the wind was delicious, the
warmth of the sun inspiring, her greatest worry a midterm exam. A
sudden vision of them lying naked under the sky, skin brown, hair wet,
limbs intertwined, made her wish they weren’t in body suits with thick
zippers, going sixty miles an hour over hard pavement.
“Yes?”
“If you even think about trying to pull another stunt on me like at the
airport, I’ll use those good hands to wring your neck. Understand?”