Pearl overslept the next morning. When she awoke, Lucy had checked everyone out of the motel and was busy cleaning rooms. She dressed in a hurry and rushed out to room four where she and Lucy fell into their normal routine. But the song in her heart that kept playing over and over was that she had a date with Wil that night. A real date with just the two of them and she was giddy just thinking about it.
“What are you thinking about?” Lucy asked.
“Why?”
“You’ve got a smile, but you are blushing.”
“It’s the rushin’ around that got me all flustered,” Pearl said.
“You sure it’s not your head?” Lucy narrowed her eyes.
“I’m sure, Lucy. Positive sure. Other than a bruise on my leg and one on my shoulder, nothing is wrong. Wil asked me out on a real date tonight. We need to talk about how many nights a week you want to work in addition to the cleaning duties.”
“All of them,” Lucy said.
“That’s not right. How about you work Monday and Tuesday, take Wednesday off in case Luke ever calls, and then work Thursday and Friday. And we’ll split the weekend according to whoever has plans. I’d like to have Saturday night this weekend if that’s all right with you, and you can take off on Sunday night.”
“That sounds more than good to me. I love working the desk, Pearl. It makes me feel like I’m somebody,” Lucy said.
Pearl touched Lucy on the shoulder and she didn’t flinch. “You are very important, Lucy Fontaine. Don’t you ever forget it.”
Lucy nodded and pushed the cart to the next room where she’d strip beds, vacuum, and clean the bathroom. Pearl would come in behind her to make the beds and restock towels and toiletries.
Pearl was putting out towels in the room Lucy had just left when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She grabbed it and read the text message: Miss me?
She typed back: Yes.
Lunch in an hour?
Instead of or in addition to bowling?
The phone rang before she could type in another message.
“Hello?”
“Do you really miss me? You sound all sexy. Did I ever tell you that I like the gravel in your voice? It turns me on,” he said.
“Wil!”
“Well, it does. I was teasing about lunch. I’ve got too much to do today to get away. I’ll pick you up this evening.”
“I’ll be ready.”
He chuckled and hung up the phone. He’d never met anyone like her and that scared the devil out of him. The sex was fabulous. She was witty and fun. But what if all she wanted was a good time? That could be a heartache in the making because he wanted so much more.
* * *
Pearl dressed in jeans and a dark-green sweater. She wore her cowboy boots and picked up a bag with her shoes and bowling ball in it. She’d never dated anyone seriously until Vince came into her life that summer. She and Jasmine talked about boys until they came close to fraying the subject at the corners, but neither of them ever found a boy that really took their eye.
Then Vince changed her life when he asked her if she’d like a ride home on his big Harley motorcycle. He’d lived next door to her their entire lives. They’d played together as children, but he’d been too perfect for Pearl with his blond hair and pretty blue eyes. He seldom ever said a word to anyone, and he made perfect grades in school and never, ever got into trouble. Then it all changed. He let his hair grow long, and although he kept up his grades, he was constantly into trouble.
She had crawled on the back of his cycle and that had started it. She was in love. There were lots of heated making-out sessions but they waited until graduation night for the big event. Her folks thought she was at Jasmine’s so she had the night covered. His were waiting up when he got home at dawn. They knew which motel he’d been in and that Pearl had been with him. If he went away to his grandmother’s in Wyoming, they wouldn’t bring the Richlands in on the knowledge.
They took his cycle, his cell phone, and his credit cards. He wrote her two letters, which she still had tied with a ribbon in her keepsake box in the attic. The first told her what had happened and that he’d write every day.
She waited every day for the letters that never came. Until a month later the second one showed up in the mailbox. It was the most difficult letter he’d ever had to write but he had to do it. He’d been acting out, fighting the true calling in his life. The next day he was dedicating his life to God and planned to become a priest. In time, he would go to Africa and do mission work. He was sorry that he’d gotten her tangled up in his rebellion and he’d love her always but his first and true love was God.
And that’s when Pearl Richland’s heart broke into a million pieces. She declared she’d never give her heart to another man to be shattered again. She’d date. She’d have fun. But serious relationships weren’t for her. Then Marlin came along and proved it all over again.
She looked in the mirror.
“And that brings me to today. Have I changed my mind?” she asked.
“Pearl, you alone back here?” Lucy called out.
“Come on in. I’m just getting ready. Is Wil out there yet?”
“He just now drove up.”
Those five words erased every single thought of Vince and her first dates. By the time Wil was in the lobby she couldn’t have remembered a single date during the last twelve years. She only had eyes for Wil.
“Well, look at this, you’ve got your own bag and shoes. I’m impressed.” Wil took the bag from her and slipped the other arm around her shoulders.
“It’s not my first time,” she teased.
“Aha, and I thought I was going to show you up,” he said.
“I don’t think so, cowboy.” She giggled.
“Y’all have a good time and don’t hurry home. I’ll turn out the lights at eleven,” Lucy said.
“Thanks, Lucy,” Pearl said over her shoulder as Wil steered her out to the truck.
Wil opened the door for her, leaned in to give her a scorching-hot kiss, and then whistled “Hello, Darlin’” by Conway Twitty as he rounded the front of the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“You look gorgeous tonight,” he said as he started the engine.
“And you look sexy as hell.” She slid across the bench seat to sit close to him.
After all, it was a date!