Chapter 60
Clackity-clack, clackity-clack, clackity-clack.
Gennie woke to the cantankerous sound of a gas pump chugging away, refueling her car. She looked around her; she appeared to be somewhat closer to civilization again, closer anyway than she was on the drive through the Mojave Desert. She didn’t know where they were, but considering how long she’d slept, she figured they must be close. They had made their stop at a little mom and pop gas station- the kind that has all the snacks and the brand name on the pump, but just isn’t as slick and polished as the big corporate stores, the kind of store more likely to sell Slush Puppies rather than Icees.
Glancing over her shoulder she saw John standing there, staring off into the distance, pumping gas and drumming his fingers on the roof of the car to the beat of some random country song that came over the intercom from inside the store. He seemed happy. She hoped this had more to do with their proximity to home than to the tune he was listening to.
The past few days had been hard ones for her…harder than she’d thought they would be. First, it was tough to say goodbye to her friends at work, and Stacey…but they made a pact to see each other soon, so that made it a bit easier. Then she had so say goodbye to her parents- a task easier said than done. Her mom was understandably worried to have her little girl moving so far away, but she had a new concern that, to Gen, was just about as humorous as it was annoying.
“Genevieve!” her mother hastily pulled her aside while her dad and John talked about the proposed route and travel plans.
“Gee, mom! What’s the problem? I’m gonna have a bruise on that arm now!”
“Gennie, I was talking to your brother about your boyfriend,” Helen Redlin said with a grave look on her face.
Gen rolled her eyes; if her brother was involved, it was bound to mean trouble for her. “What now?”
“Sweetie, he says he sings that song about…” her mother grimaced.
“What, mom?” Gen sighed frustratedly.
Mrs. Redlin moved her eyes from side to side, shiftily making sure that no one overheard her conversation. “That song about the animal…you know!” She nervously fingered the pearls at her neck. “I’ve heard that song before, Genevieve, and it’s not nice at all!”
Gen was completely confused. “What song about an animal? What are you talking about?”
“I know you know it Gennie, I’ve heard it on your radio station!”
“You have? And John sings it?”
“That’s what I’m told. You know I don’t know your music!”
“No, you don’t.”
“Genevieve, it’s about…” she pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose as she glanced fretfully at the floor. “It’s about s-e-x.”
Gen was completely lost now. She stared blankly at her mother, trying to figure out what exactly her brother told her, and, for Pete’s sake, what song her mother was thinking of. After a brief, uncomfortable silence, she finally spoke. “Mom, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Finally her mother whispered through gritted teeth. “Like an animal, Genevieve. That’s the song!”
“Like an animal? What?” Then gradually it began to dawn on her what her mother meant. “You mean Closer? That’s the name of the song.” Gen blushed, but didn’t know whether to laugh or be mad. “Mom that’s Nine Inch Nails, not the Goo Goo Dolls! How on earth could you confuse the two?”
“The Goo Goo Dolls!” Her mother threw up her arms and let loose a massive sigh of relief. “I thought that other name didn’t sound right when your brother told me.”
“Scott told you that Johnny was in Nine Inch Nails?” Her brother was still a pain in her neck, even after all these years. “Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know, Gennie, but he did.”
She groaned and gave her mother an exaggerated eye roll. She felt like a teenager again, trying to defend herself against her brother. “Mom, Scott’s a dork. Don’t listen to him. He’s thinking of Trent Reznor. There’s a big difference!”
“Reznor… and he is…” she gestured toward John.
“Rzeznik, mom, Rzeznik. Close, but no cookie.”
“Well, Genevieve, I, for one, am very relieved to hear it! I really like your young man, there,” she nodded towards John. “I hated to think that he could sing such a tacky song.” She took Gen’s hand and walked back over to where John stood, still deep in conversation. “I think you two make a really good couple.” She eyed Gennie seriously, “Make it work this time, sweetheart. I don’t want to see you get heartbroken again.”
“Mom,” Gen replied with a crooked smile, “I wasn’t heartbroken, I was pissed off at that asshole who called himself my husband. I was glad to be rid of him.”
Helen scowled at her daughter, “Genevieve! Watch your language!” Then she smiled and turned to John. “Don’t be an asshole and piss her off, Ok?” She could tell her comment shocked him, as well as everyone else.
As Gen stared out the window at him, she knew she didn’t have to worry too much about him being anything like her ‘mistake husband’. Already, they seemed to feel like a team. It was hard to describe, but after the last couple days of being cooped up in the car with him, she could definitely see him for the ordinary guy he was. ‘Johnny RockStar’ was a faraway memory, an image that didn’t even seem to fit him at the moment.
That’s not to say that this trip had been easy. Who wouldn’t have some sort of blowup along the way? Two thousand miles in a small car with two cats would have anyone at their wits end. But she was glad he didn’t dwell on their problems. In fact, he seemed to forget them as quickly as they came up. For instance, they’d had a huge fight yesterday as they drove though the badlands of New Mexico. It was pouring down rain, which made her mad, because last time she checked, this was the desert! Gen was tired, cranky, and sick of driving. John had a headache and a general bad mood. The cats were howling. They all were hungry, and the car was low on fuel. Their fight had seemed like World War III to her at that moment. She vaguely even recalled threatening to turn around and drive back home to Tulsa. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember now what they had been arguing about, but just as she was considering feeling the least bit of remorse for her decision to move, John released the vise-like grip he had on his temples to relieve the headache and turned to her with pleading eyes.
“You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”
“Do what?” she snapped at him before she turned and realized that he wasn’t talking about whatever it was they were fighting about.
“You wouldn’t just leave me like that?” He wore a sad look of concern. “You wouldn’t turn around and go home just because I said something to make you mad or because you had a bad day?”
“I…well…” she stammered, trying to exchange her anger for some new emotion- though she didn’t know which. This was way out in left field and she certainly wasn’t expecting it, so she didn’t know how to react.
“Cause Gen, I really think if this is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. I’m willing to work at it. I won’t just leave you cause I’m pissed off. I’m hoping you won’t either.”
“Well,” she paused thoughtfully, “I’d like to think I have more substance that that.”
“I want this to work, Genevieve.”
“Me too.”
He smiled appreciatively, then moved on to a somewhat guilty chuckle. “Now, this doesn’t mean that I’m gonna always say and do the right things, y’know. You’re gonna be mad at me… a lot. I’m really good at that.”
“Yeah,” she grinned. “But I think I am too.”
“Yeah. So I just want you to remember that I said this, Ok? No matter what I say or what shitty things I do, and regardless of how angry our fights may get at times, I still love you. You got that?”
“I know that,” she nodded, then quickly tore her eyes from the rain slick road to steal a rapid glance his way. “But don’t get any ideas that your disclaimer is gonna absolve you from any guilt.”
Watching him now through the window of the convenience store as he stood with puckered lips mulling over the candy selection for something that would rid him of the munchies, he didn’t strike her as the kind of guy whose demons were any worse than anyone else’s. What would their future fights be about? What was she going to do that made him angry and he, her? It happens to everyone, but she wondered if they would be different. Would they argue about spending time instead of spending money? Vices instead of Visas?
The sound of the car door opening snapped her from her reverie.
He plopped down in the drivers seat with a sigh. “Almost there! Only about an hour more.” He tossed something in a silver wrapper at her. “I got you a ChocoTaco. You like those, don’t you?”
She giggled with delight at the prospect of an unexpected ice cream treat. It made her just as happy now as it did when she was a little girl. “Yes! They’re yummy. Thanks!”
“It’s just a snack. I figure when we get home, you have two choices: we can go out someplace really nice, or we can stay home and eat in,” he winked.
She knew the second option was always a good one; he was an excellent cook. But the idea of getting dressed up and going someplace even somewhat fancy after being stuffed in the car for two days, wearing comfortable, crappy clothes and eating mostly fast food was just too good to resist. Besides, they had all the time in the world to be together now. A quiet evening with him at home was no longer a novelty. She hoped.
“Let’s go out,” she answered, sloppily speaking with her mouth full of ice cream.
“Cool. I was hoping you’d say that!” He kissed her quickly, and they were off down the road- the road home.