AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We arrive at the hotel with Oana shuffling behind me. I notice how she lowers her gaze submissively when we approach the front desk, where I ask for a room with two beds and a decent view.
“I’m not interested in looking at the parking lot,” I tell the clerk, who’s busy frowning at Oana’s getup.
“I’ll see what I can find.”
I hold the lady’s gaze for too long. Just a silent threat to stop being a bitch.
Rockwell people can be self-important, thinking they’re the better town because they have a few chain restaurants, stores, and hotels. Travelers stop here out of convenience, not because the town is a fucking tourist site. Anyone in Rockwell assuming they’re special is delusional.
Up on the top floor, Oana and I settle into our room with a view of Rockwell’s downtown. Despite it only being an Applebee’s and a few small businesses, the view will be kinda cool at night with the traffic and lights.
Studying Oana in her heavy fabrics, I notice how overheated she seems even in the air-conditioned room.
“If we plan to bunk here for a while, we should get clothes and supplies.”
When Oana turns her gaze to me, I can see her working out costs.
“I know you don’t have money,” I say and walk over to her at the window. “You left your home with nothing. Let’s go shopping at the nearby Walmart and pick up stuff. It’ll be a fun way to get to know each other.”
“What if we don’t like what we learn?” she asks, frowning up at me.
“Do you not want to marry me?” I mumble in my little-boy’s “ma needs to fix my problems” tone. “Is this just a way to escape your suffocating family?”
Oana reveals nothing in her gaze. She reminds me of my sister, who hides behind a pissy glare most days.
“If you hadn’t wanted to marry me, I planned to live in the woods like your hermit grandpa.”
“Peepaw,” I explain softly. “That’s what we call our grandfathers.”
“Why?”
“It’s more annoying.”
A smile dances around her lovely lips. “I’m afraid what I felt in the woods isn’t real.”
“No, it has to be,” I explain, scratching at my jaw. “I’m not crazy. No way did I spend all this time longing over a mistake. That doesn’t fit with how I was born lucky.”
“You believe in that superstition stuff?”
“Sure. I was once standing in the woods on our homestead. I must have been around nine. I was just dicking around with one of the family dogs. A crack echoed in the woods. I went still thinking someone was firing guns or throwing firecrackers. But it was a tree giving out. The damn thing fell over and nearly crushed me. That’s lucky.”
Oana doesn’t seem convinced, so I whip out another story. “One time, I was riding my hog and didn’t see how a huge pothole had opened up in the road after a storm. My wheel hit it dead on, flipping the bike and throwing me off. I could have landed on the asphalt and gotten wrecked. Instead, I toppled into a thick, soft bush. Didn’t have a scratch on me.”
“Thatdoessound lucky.”
“Yes, so I have to believe I wouldn’t fall for a woman who wasn’t meant to be mine. That’d be terrible luck.”
“But what if my bad luck overrides your good luck?”
“Well, then, let’s imagine we spend tonight together and realize we have no heat,” I suggest, despite knowing Oana is the woman I’ll grow old loving. “If we’re no more than cool people who get along, I’ll still marry you. We can pal around on the homestead. You’ll start over without your family’s meddling. Then, when we find our real dream guy and girl, we’ll split up and be happy.”
“Why would you do that for me?”
“Because that night was special for me. I remember how you sounded trapped. Even if I was wrong about you being my dream girl, I still need to help free my ghost.”
“So, I’m like a charity case?” Oana grumbles, wrapping her heart in hurt feelings.
“Sure,” I reply and gesture for the door. “Or I’m seducing you right now, and this is my attempt to lower your guard.”
