Part 4 (1/2)

I nodded.

”All of them?”

”Yup. What's your name?” I asked.

”Jofranka.” She looked away, seeming embarra.s.sed at being asked. ”Just Jo is fine.”

”I'm Amber.” I started to put my hand out and then looked at it. Maybe not. But the dirt didn't put her off; she took my hand and shook it hesitantly.

”Is it all right if I ask questions? 'Cos they say I ask too many.”

I bit my tongue to stop myself asking where the h.e.l.l they had gotten that idea from. I kept my face serious as I slid the old alternator out. ”I can't promise to answer all of them.”

The floodgates opened.

In the coc.o.o.n of Ops 4-10, you got on and did what you had to and forgot how some people were outside. Gender wasn't an excuse you could use, nor was it a reason that they'd expect less of you. Jo hadn't had that. She was bright and cheerful, once she stopped being shy, but she just seemed to have picked up a can't-do-that att.i.tude about herself and women in general.

She was Rom's niece, and his house or shop was where she had to spend most of her days when she wasn't at school. I didn't know what her own home life was like, but I got a sense of why Rom wanted her to talk to me and have her see me doing things for myself. I hoped I did some good. I nearly made her miss her bus. She checked when I was going to come back and flew out the door as I was finis.h.i.+ng up.

I'd had my head up my backside, worrying about the colonel and what was happening to me. None of that was useful. Jofranka had pulled me out of it and made me feel good about myself. Even Top would have smiled. I hoped she'd be around when I came back to work on the fuel pump.

I put the tools back and dropped the hood.

Rom slid back out from his hiding place under the Honda. He'd been laughing so hard, there were tears on his cheeks.

”Oh, man, you done good! I owe you,” he gasped, wiping his face with his forearms.

”Oh, no. We agreed.” I handed over the money despite his protests. But a seed of an idea had sprouted earlier. I was missing something for the event at the club tonight; that something was an arrival. I needed to make an impression to be sure I got in.

”Okay,” I said, ”I'll trade a favor, if you're free later.”

”Yeah, can do. What's up?”

”I need to get into a club tonight. It's real difficult, even with the right looks. What I need is to arrive with some drama.”

Rom looked over at his pickup, puzzled, but I shook my head and explained what I wanted him to do.

”You sure?” he said.

”Yup. I'll need you to pick me up a block away from the club and drop me off at the door. I'll make my own way back.”

”Okay.” He laughed again. ”Crazy. Deal.”

Chapter 5.

Being down in Aurora worked out well. Mom lived just a few minutes away, and I was running out of time.

”Mom, hi, can't stop.”

”Amber! What a lovely surprise. Are you sure you can't stay for coffee?” I gave her a hug, and she pulled me inside.

”No, I'm sorry, I have-”

”Are you feeling all right? You did hear me say coffee, didn't you?”

”Yes, Mom, but I have to get to the mall before they close.”

”And shopping too? There's definitely something wrong. Do you have a fever? Or did you just run out of fruit?”

”Mom!” I'm twenty-nine, and I've lived away from home for eleven years, but mothers have some secret magic that turns the clock way back.

”You know, dear, you haven't used that tone with me since you were a teenager. I miss it so.” She herded me into the living room and took pity on me. ”All right, what is it?”

”You know that pillbox hat and veil you have? Can I borrow it, please?”

”Oh goodness, dressing up, as well? You sit there and I'll call the hospital right now.” She smiled at my expression and relented. ”I'll go get it.”

She returned with the hat, still in its presentation box. It was a sweet little thing with a black net veil hanging halfway down the face. Actually, I wanted to wear it like I wanted to nail it to my head, but it looked the part.

”Off you go, but you're coming for lunch on Sunday. Bring it back then.”

”Yes, Mom.”

”Good. Then you can tell me all about it. Who was there and so on.”

Big emphasis on the 'who.' I was going to have a tough time on Sunday refusing to talk about it. But she'd probably get palpitations if I told her where I'd been, and, of course, I couldn't say why I'd gone there. I'd had ten years of not being able to talk to her about what I did in the army, and she'd almost accepted that. Then, I'd left under circ.u.mstances I couldn't tell her about and still, half my life now was secret. And among all the other things, the army wouldn't allow me to get intimate with anyone, in case I was contagious. So, there was no 'who' for me to tell my mother about.

She knew I was holding back, of course.

I watched helplessly as the tension grew, day by day. We were due for an argument. Maybe on Sunday.

I left at a run, and had the pleasure of my mother watching me pull away with the car lurching erratically until the fuel pump picked up.

I barely made it to the Cherry Creek mall in time. The Neumann store had a promotion going on in the cosmetics department. 'Challenge us,' the sign said. 'Give us your face and thirty minutes and we'll give you a new you.'

I intended to take them up on that, if I got there before the cutoff. I could do makeup, of course, I have the double X chromosome. But when I wanted it done right, I got an expert.

”Challenge you,” I said, rapping my knuckles on the counter.

The a.s.sistant looked at me and then meaningfully at the clock on the wall. By my reckoning, there were thirty minutes and about ten seconds left before closing.

”I'm sorry, ma'am,” she said, which meant she wasn't sorry at all, but if she could keep me talking for ten seconds, she could turn me away. Either she wanted to get off work early or she liked the feeling of power she got from refusing me.