Groaning, she got to her feet, slipped into her moccasins and hurried to the door. She pulled it open. The motion of the door swept cool air against her. It chilled her sweat. It felt wonderful.
"Oh," she heard. At once, she pressed the towel to her groin and crossed an arm over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "I"m sorry," Sharon said. Jody spotted her then. "Should"ve warned you I was here."
Sharon was on the far bed. She hadn"t bothered to move her robe out of the way. One of her feet was on it. Her shoes and socks were on the floor by the door. She still had on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. She was lying on her back, arms resting at her sides, her knees up.
Jody said nothing. She felt strange, as if she were swelling up, as if her head might explode.
"Are you done in there?" Sharon asked. "If you"re not ... I"m not in any big rush. I hear you"re starving, though."
"I"m done," Jody muttered. She could hardly hear her own voice through the roar in her head.
Sharon sat up. She swung her bare legs to the floor, then peeled off her T-shirt. She wore a large, st.u.r.dy bra that looked very white against her skin. "Hotter than blazes out there," she said as she got to her feet. She wadded her T-shirt and wiped her face with it. "Had to get the exercise, though. Especially after our little party last night." She made a slightly nervous smile. "I"ll finish undressing in the john," she said, and hooked her robe off the end of the bed. She held it over to the side, apparently to keep it at a distance from her sweaty body, and walked toward Jody.
Jody still stood motionless just in front of the bathroom door.
Sharon stopped in front of her.
"What"s the matter, honey?"
"Don"t you honey me."
She frowned. "What is it? What"s wrong?"
"I know what you did."
A comer of Sharon"s mouth curled up. It reminded Jody of her father"s smirk. It didn"t show any amus.e.m.e.nt, though. It made Sharon look confused and wary. "What in particular, Jody?" she asked. "I do a lot of things."
"I just bet you do."
Suddenly, Sharon"s mouth went straight. Her eyes narrowed. "Quit playing games and tell me what"s bothering you."
"You know d.a.m.n well."
Sharon threw down the robe. She grabbed Jody by the shoulders. But didn"t squeeze hard. Didn"t shake her. "Okay, Jody. Tell me. Right now."
"You f.u.c.ked him."
Sharon"s fingers tightened their grip. Then she seemed to realize what she was doing, and let go. Her arms fell to her sides. The look in her eyes made Jody want to turn away. It was as if she could see all the way to the back of Jody"s head. "I see. I f.u.c.ked him. There are only two hims around here, so which one was it?"
"You know dam well."
"Tell me."
"Dad."
"Wrong."
"Andy? You ... ! He"s only twelve years old! My G.o.d, what kind of depraved s.e.x pervert are you!"
Sharon shook her head. She didn"t look particularly upset, but she sure looked solemn. "Well, I"m glad to know we don"t have a real problem."
"You don"t call ... !"
"I haven"t f.u.c.ked anyone-as you so delicately put it. Not recently. Not even close to recently. Certainly not your father or Andy. My G.o.d, Jody. I might not be as pure as the driven snow, but I don"t go around jumping in the sack with guys I just met-and I sure don"t go around seducing children. What on earth makes you think I"d do something like that?"
"What I ... I found evidence in the wastebasket."
"Do you always go around looking in the wastebaskets?"
"No! I was throwing out my bandages and ... and I saw it."
"What did you see?"
"The wrapper. The condom wrapper."
Sharon narrowed her eyes. Her lips were a straight, tight line. She shook her head. "I see."
She stepped around Jody and entered the bathroom.
"Come in here, please."
Jody followed her, watched her squat in front of the wastebasket and reach down. After searching for a couple of seconds, Sharon stood up and turned around. She held out the torn foil wrapper toward Jody. "What does that say?"
Jody gazed at it, stunned. "Oh, my G.o.d," she muttered.
"Wrong. It says Alka-Seltzer. The booze and all those chips and things last night didn"t agree with me."
"So ... you didn"t..."
"No, I didn"t. My G.o.d, Jody. Everything else aside, do you actually think your father would leave you and Andy unprotected so that he could sneak into my bed for a quickie?"
"Well ..."
"He would never do a thing like that. Do you want to know what we did? After you two kids zonked out, he came over here with me and gave me a kiss at the door."
"You don"t have to ..."
"We kissed, and it was very nice, but I didn"t ask him in and he didn"t invite himself in. He went back to the other room and planted himself on the balcony in front of the door and that"s where he stayed. He wouldn"t even let me relieve him. Said I needed my beauty sleep."
"Your beauty sleep?"
"Yeah, my beauty sleep. I thought it was a really sweet thing to say."
"I know."
"Your dad"s a sweet guy."
"Yeah. I know. Oh, jeez, Sharon, I"m sorry. I"m so sorry."
Sharon crouched and picked up her robe. "Just don"t jump to conclusions about me, okay?"
"I"m such an idiot."
"You"re fine, Jody. Now, move it or lose it, I"ve got a shower to take." As Jody stepped out of the way, Sharon gave her upper arm a gentle squeeze. "And don"t worry, I won"t say anything to your dad."
"Thanks."
In the bathroom doorway, Sharon turned around. She raised her eyebrows. "We"re friends?"
"You bet."
"Good deal."
Chapter Thirty-three.
Her father was gone from the balcony, but Jody saw him as she walked past the window of room 238. He was at the table, in the chair Sharon had occupied last night, almost out of sight beyond the edge of the curtain.
She knocked on the door. Andy opened it for her. He"d gotten dressed. His hair was even combed, and still looked wet.
"Been waiting long?" she asked him.
"Yeah. What took you so long?" He shut the door after Jody was in.
"Things," she said, and gave him a mysterious smile. She pulled the other chair away from the table and sat down. Andy dropped onto the end of the bed where she"d slept. Near the foot of the other bed was Dad"s Mossberg shotgun. "Where"d that come from?"
"It"s been around," Dad said.
"I thought you left it in the car."
"It wouldn"t do us much good there."
She wondered for a moment what she"d done with her Smith & Wesson, then remembered sliding it under the front seat of the car just as they"d pulled into the Texaco station last night. It must still be there. The magazine and box of ammo, too. Unless Dad or Sharon had gone under there and taken them out.
Ask?
If she asked, she would get a firearms lecture.
So she decided to let it go. The gun was probably right where she"d left it.
It better be. If somebody broke in the car and stole it last night ...
Not likely. The car was just down below in the parking lot, in plain view from the balcony where Dad had stood watch.
I shouldn"t have left it there, anyway, she told herself. Major stupid move.
I"m being major stupid a lot lately.
Maybe it has to do with having people trying to murder you all the time.
"So, what"re we doing now?" she asked.
"Now that you"re here," Dad said, "we"re waiting for Sharon."
"Well, she"s done with her shower. I heard the water go off just before I left and came over here."
"Is your stuff all packed and ready to go?" Dad asked.
"Pretty much. Are we gonna leave, or have breakfast, or what?"
"Checkout time isn"t till noon. That gives us almost an hour and a half. I think we might as well leave everything in the rooms and go have breakfast. We can load up the car after we get back, then make some final pit stops and be on our way."
"On our way where?" Jody asked.
Dad smiled at Andy. "That"s just what we were discussing when you came along."
"We"re not going to Phoenix," Andy told her.
"Thank G.o.d for that."
"I suppose I"ll have to phone Spaulding sooner or later," Dad said.
"Don"t hurry," Andy suggested.
"He"s been notified that you turned up-that"ll do for the time being. I"ll want to check with a few people and find out where we stand before I have it out with him. In the meantime, just consider yourself part of the family."
Andy grinned. "Can I choose which part?"
"Family pet," Jody said.
"Ha ha. Is Sharon like part of the family, too?" he asked.
Dad shrugged. "Guess so."
Narrowing his eyes, Andy rubbed his chin like an old sage stroking his goatee. "Let"s say Sharon"s my wife. You two can be our kids."
"Get outa here," Jody said.
Dad just shook his head. On his crooked mouth was a true smirk.
"How about it?" Andy asked.
At least he"s not miserable and crying, Jody told herself.