Chapter 5
Eden’s jaw fell open in surprise. Then, with the voice of someone on the verge of a panic attack, she asked, “Why? What happened?”
“Calm down, Eden. Nothing has happened. I merely changed my mind. Taking you with me as far as Memphis makes more sense,” he said.
“Why do you think that?”
“If I left you here, you would be alone and without any money.”
“But it won’t be any different when we reach Memphis, Drew. I will still be alone and penniless.”
He didn’t say anything, and she wished she knew what he was thinking.
The last thing she wanted was for him to feel responsible for her.
She was twenty-one, for Pete’s sake. She shouldn’t be dependent on anyone.
“If it makes you feel less concerned for my welfare, I have a wig. A blond one. I also have a pair of cosmetic brown eye contacts in my makeup case.”
“You do?”
“Yes, it’s part of my modeling wardrobe. However, I can’t wear them for more than twelve hours a day, and I can’t sleep in them. It’s hard for me to put them in by myself. Usually, I need some help since I can’t seem to stop blinking long enough to do it.”
“Thanks for telling me that, but I’d still worry about you.
” He paused a moment and then added, “I think those guys looking for you believed that story I concocted about you and that older couple. However, if they realize that I lied and deliberately sent them on a wild goose chase in the wrong direction, they will figure the right direction is probably California and track you to there. One good thing is that they have no idea I own a rig since it was parked in the back. More than likely they’ll think I’m driving a car or a pickup truck. ”
He allowed time for her to digest what he said so far before saying, “So here’s the plan.
When I delivered the bikes to Fred’s sister, Delores, I asked if she could swing by here and take you to her place for a couple of hours.
She said she’d be here after she dropped the bikes off at a friend’s house.
She wants to keep them hidden somewhere so that her boys won’t find them until Christmas. ”
Eden lifted a brow. “I didn’t know you had delivered those bikes to anyone.”
“You were sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake you. I’ve known Delores and Fred for a long time. In fact, ever since I began driving rigs. They are good people. Before she got married and moved here, Delores used to help Fred at the truck stop.”
She nodded. “How long have you been driving trucks?”
“Close to twelve years. I started at eighteen.”
“Oh.”
“Anyway, Delores will come get you, and I will finish making this delivery,” Drew said. “When the truck is reloaded with the shipment for Dollywood, Delores will bring you back here to meet back up with me. I prefer no one see you in public.”
“Okay. Thanks, Drew.”
When a pickup truck pulled up beside them, he said, “That’s Delores. Her husband died in the first part of the year from a heart attack at thirty-eight, leaving her with their two young sons. Let me introduce you.”
As soon as introductions were made, Eden knew she liked Delores, whose features reminded her a lot of a younger Janet Jackson’s. Something about her friendly smile and warm disposition had Eden lowering the guard she often kept in place with others. It was a relief.
During the two hours she was with Delores, she had used the woman’s telephone to call her best friend, Sophie. Over the years, the friendship between her and Sophie had been a best-kept secret. Although their families ran in the same circles, their parents assumed they were only acquaintances.
Back when she, Sophie, Mark, and another friend name Renard, were in high school, and they’d discovered that their parents were planning their futures without them, they worked together to keep tabs on what the parents were up to, then they’d share that information between them.
And the best part? Their parents didn’t have a clue they were working together.
When Sophie finished college at Yale, she’d begun working for her father’s land development company, a corporation that she would eventually run one day. Eden, on the other hand, had no interest in taking over her parents’ multi-million-dollar chain of hardware stores.
As she called her friend, she knew that, thanks to the three-hour time difference between California and Boston, Sophie should be home by now. “Hello?”
“Sophie, this is Eden.”
“Eden! Girl, you are the talk of Boston, being on the cover of Vogue. You looked absolutely beautiful. Everyone thinks so, even my parents. And I understand your mom doesn’t have a problem with it, either. But from what I’ve heard, your dad is fit to be tied.”
“I got that impression, especially since, after I told him I would not be coming home, he sent his men for me.”
“You’re eluding them, I hope.”
“So far, so good.”
“Well, just so you know, I heard Dad tell Mom that Mr. Tyson is hiring more men to add to the search. I spoke with Mark last night, and he thought it would be a good idea to create a few “Eden sightings” in different parts of the country. However, we want to make sure you’re nowhere near those locations. ”
“I appreciate you and Mark doing that for me.” It was crazy that despite her parents’ wishes for Eden and Mark to marry, it was Sophie that Mark loved, and she loved him back.
She and Sophie talked a bit longer before ending the call. Knowing her father was increasing the manpower to find her was disturbing, but it only strengthened her resolve not to be found.
**
“I like Delores,” Eden said, when Drew picked her up two hours later.
“Why?”
“She’s friendly and down to earth. I could tell she loved her husband very much. Him, and those boys of hers, were all she could talk about.”
“Yes, they were really good together. I attended their wedding.”
“And she has the cutest boys. They are going to love those bikes.”
“I’m sure they will. Before hitting the interstate, I’m going to stop at Joe’s Truck Stop to grab us something to eat. Mama Dee runs Joe’s restaurant, and she’s a good cook. Best place to get soul food in the west.”
“I can’t eat anything.”
He glanced over at her as if he had misunderstood what she’d said. “What did you say?”
“I said that I can’t eat anything.”
“Why? Did Delores feed you? She’s a great cook.”
“She offered, but I declined. The last thing I need is to gain weight over the holidays.”
He had noticed her eating a granola bar earlier and drinking water. That couldn’t be all she intended to eat. “Everybody gains a pound or two over the holidays, Eden. It’s expected.”
“Not by me.”
He frowned. “Says who?”
“My agent. At least, my former agent. Ida dumped me as a client once Dad’s men visited her and made threats.”
He was glad they had stopped at a traffic light. He stared at her. “You’re joking, right?”
“No.”
The more he heard about her father, the less he liked the man. “So, you don’t have an agent now?”
“Not exactly. Right after Ida dumped me, I called Amélie Dubois. She had been my first choice, but she’d been out of the country when I was looking. By the time Amélie returned to New York, I had already hired Ida.”
“Well, it sounds like things worked out, since you ended up with the woman who was your first choice,” he said, moving the truck forward.
“Yes, and Amélie isn’t afraid of my father. She says her father sometimes acts the same way.”
“Now, getting back to your eating habits,” he said. “It sounds to me like you have an eating disorder. The last thing I need is for you to pass out on me while we’re on the road. A trip to the emergency room might ruin all your plans to leave the country for Paris in a few days.”
“I don’t have an eating disorder, Drew. I ate with Beth and the girls on the road from Trenton to Phoenix. Quite a bit, in fact. I probably gained at least five pounds, and I don’t want to gain anymore.”
She was worried about gaining five pounds? Really? “Well, I happen to think those additional five pounds look good on you, and feel five more won’t hurt. I’m going to order a mega plate that usually feeds two people.”
“You will be wasting your money.”
“You need to eat something. What you don’t eat, I will, so I won’t be wasting anything.”
She looked at him. “Do you normally eat a lot?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes.” Chuckling, he amended, “Most of the time.”
“You aren’t a real big man, so where is your food going?”
There was no need to confess that he really was a big man.
More than one woman─quite a few, actually─swore that his food went past his stomach and settled in his groin area.
That had to be the reason his shaft was so huge.
Instead, he said, “I jog in the morning when I can. It helps after sitting behind the wheel of a rig for so many hours.”
“If I weren’t so keyed up about modeling, I could see myself doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Being a truck driver.”
He had to laugh at that ─he definitely couldn’t see it. “You’re too small. Typically, when we arrive at our destination with a load, there are people assigned to unload our cargo. However, that isn’t always the case, and we often have to do it ourselves.”
“Oh. Then I’d just ride shotgun. Are there many female drivers?”
“There are some.” He wouldn’t tell her, but he had two very reliable female drivers working for him.
He pulled into Joe’s Truck Stop. There were other tractor-trailers scattered about in the parking lot, so he parked his rig far from the others for privacy.
“Usually, when a trucker parks away from the others, other truckers assume he’s doing it for a reason.
They respect his privacy, and won’t venture close. ”
She lifted a brow. “Oh, what privacy would a trucker need?”
He could lie and come up with a pretty good, plausible reason, but she was twenty-one, so he had no problem educating her about certain aspects of a trucker’s life. “You recall when I found you as a stowaway in my trailer and asked if you were a lot-lizard?”
She nodded. “You never did tell me what a lot-lizard was.”
“At the time, I wasn’t sure of your age and didn’t want to say anything that might be too crude for your delicate ears. Now that I know you’re an adult, I have no problem telling you.”
He could tell that she was hanging on to his every word. “And, what is it?” she asked.
He met her gaze. “A lot-lizard is a woman or a man who hangs around truck stops for the truckers’ pleasure.”
“The truckers’ pleasure?”
“They offer sexual favors. It gets lonely on the road. A lot-lizard uses that loneliness to make a buck. Whatever a trucker needs ─fondling, intercourse, oral sex ─a lot-lizard will offer it.”
She nodded quickly. “I see.”
He smiled and could clearly see the blush spreading across her features. “I’ll be back in a minute with our food.”
“Thank you, Drew. But I won’t be eating anything.”
**
Eden ignored Drew’s grin when she ate the last piece of her chicken.
In deference to her, he had gotten it baked instead of fried.
Lord knew, she’d tried to ignore the food, but when he returned, the aroma alone had made her mouth water, and when he had opened the container, she’d been a goner.
Baked chicken, perlo rice with bits of andouille sausage, lima beans, mac and cheese, and potato salad.
And the best-tasting corn bread she had ever eaten.
He had brought an extra plate, and at first, she had spooned just enough off his to sample the taste.
That had been a mistake. Everything was way too delicious.
Her parents’ cook, Fanny, was good at catering to Eden’s parents’ taste, which leaned more toward the uppity Bostonian palate.
Every dinner meal was served with Boston baked beans, regardless of whether the main course was seafood, chicken, beef, or pork.
Dinner would always include a vegetable and a dessert.
That was it. She truly enjoyed Fanny’s lobster rolls and shrimp scampi and thought Fanny could have made more of them.
But her parents preferred beef. They couldn’t get enough steak.
Drew hadn’t lied when he’d insinuated there would be no leftovers.
There weren’t. How he managed to put away so much food was beyond her.
Although she had eaten some, she had in no way consumed nearly as much food as he had.
And he wasn’t done yet. She watched as he opened a box containing banana pudding.
He offered her some, but she declined. She would probably gain a good five pounds just staring at it too long. It looked that rich.
“How far will you drive tonight?” she asked him.
“Due to federal regulations, I can only drive an additional five hours. That’s all I need to make it to Flagstaff. We’ll bypass Phoenix and once we get to Flagstaff, we’ll get to I-40, which will take us to Tennessee.”
He hadn’t said anything about sleeping arrangements once they got to Flagstaff, but she was certain they would have separate rooms. Still, she would understand if he didn’t want to fork out additional money for her to have a separate room, and if that was the case, she could certainly sleep out in the truck.
“I will be back after disposing of the trash, and then we will be on our way,” he said, gathering up everything to take over to a dumpster.
When he returned, he said, “There’s a rest stop about twenty minutes from here where we can use the restrooms. Joe’s facilities are clean, but they’re crowded, and you might draw attention. ”
Less than an hour later, they were finally on the road, heading toward Flagstaff.
It had gotten dark, but because she had taken a nap earlier, she wasn’t tired or sleepy.
She watched him driving for a while, seeing how easily he maneuvered the big truck in and out of traffic as they moved out of the city.
“I meant to ask you something earlier, but it slipped my mind,” she said when she thought the inside of the cab had gotten way too quiet.
“What is it?”
“It’s about something I overheard Fred say. Is it true that you can’t visit your family in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the holidays?”
He glanced over at her, and she knew he had every right to tell her that she had no business eavesdropping on their conversation.
Only, she hadn’t been eavesdropping…not really.
There was no way she couldn’t hear what they had said when they had been standing by the truck’s wide open back door. She had been a captive audience.
“It’s true,” he finally said.
Maybe she didn’t have the right to ask, but decided to do so anyway. “Why?”