Free Honeymoon for Three by Alan Cook

laughed it off. Said it was
just a joke and nobody would care in two years.”
    “Except that it’s been two years, and you
obviously still care.”
    “Because of what happened. They got married
in San Diego where the bride’s parents lived. The wedding party was
staying in a hotel. Henry engineered it so that on the day of the
wedding I didn’t have a room to use to change into my wedding
clothes.”
    “How could he do that?” Penny sounded
belligerent.
    “Because he was paying for my room.” Gary
sounded sheepish. Maybe he shouldn’t have started this topic.
“Anyway, he said he needed my room for something else. He said the
only room available was the one the bridesmaids were using. I would
have to share it with them.”
    Penny gasped, and Gary knew he was digging
himself deeper.
    “I figured the girls would veto it, but they
said fine.”
    “So you got dressed in the same room with
the bridesmaids?”
    “Yes.” He wanted to end the discussion right
there.
    “How many girls were there?”
    “Three.”
    “Were they good looking?”
    “Oh, average.”
    “Sure they were.” Penny didn’t try to hide
her sarcasm.
    All right, they were gorgeous. The one thing
he liked about the bride was her girlfriends. Out loud, he gave a
noncommittal grunt.
    “How did it work out for my poor Garykins?”
Penny asked with mock sympathy.
    “We made do. We respected each other.”
    Penny snorted. “Gary, I feel for you, but I
can’t quite reach you.” She started playing an imaginary violin.
“You were the fox in the henhouse.”
    He didn’t tell her that the girls ran around
before the wedding in garter belts, sans bras, because they didn’t
want to get their backless dresses dirty, but she had obviously
figured it out.
    Trying to regain some of his dignity, he
said, “But let me tell you what happened next. At the reception I
danced with the bridesmaids. There was one I kind of liked, and I
tried to make time with her. She just laughed at me.”
    “Aw, the light dawns. My Garykins got
laughed at by a girl. You poor thing.” Penny laughed herself. “But
that’s okay. Aphrodite was watching over you and looking out for my
best interests. You were being saved for me.”
    “I guess so.” He grinned. He would get no
pity from her. He was glad he was out of that conversation.
    “How did the marriage go?”
    “She divorced him a year ago. Got a big
settlement, as I understand it.”
    “So you think he might be envious of you.
From what you’ve said, I believe it. What you need to do is call
him and make sure he’s home.”
    “It’s a long distance call, and we’re in the
middle of nowhere.”
    “I’m sure there are phone booths at Rim
Village. You can call from there. Your peace of mind will make it
worth the cost.”
    “I’ll call him collect. He owes me.”
    ***
    Alfred wheeled into Mt. Mazama Campground as
if he owned the place. He had no intention of staying at another
campground, after his cold night in Lake Tahoe, but if Penny and
Gary were following the route he thought they were following, their
tent should be here.
    Last night, he had watched the movie Moulin Rouge on the television set in his motel room. It was
the tragic story of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, with Jose Ferrer
playing the crippled French painter. Seeing it on the black and
white TV gave it a stark, almost tragic appearance. He identified
with the man who hadn’t been able to find true love because of his
deformity.
    Alfred wasn’t exactly a painter, but he had
some talent at drawing. He could draw a pretty good likeness of a
person. He had made two sketches of Penny. In fact, they were with
a sketchpad in the trunk of his car. After the movie ended he
retrieved the drawings and spread them out on the bed.
    One was of Penny in her cheerleader outfit.
He had copied it from the yearbook picture. It looked just like
her. He had also tried to sketch how she looked when he saw her
through her apartment window. He had never done a