Free Her Wild Oats by Kathi Kamen Goldmark Page A

problem.” His voice was strangely husky.
    It was too late to turn back, and Bobby Lee was too much of a gentleman to kick her off the bus in the middle of nowhere. In a brief, whispered conference with Pete, the decision was made to let the woman stay on the bus until the next scheduled stop, when Pete would make arrangements to get her back home to Gilroy. From the sound of things, this would wipe out the meager profit the band had earned from the gig they’d just done at the Garlic Festival.
    Oats couldn’t wait to call Eddie and tell him he’d actually seen a topless woman giving a guy a blow job from three feet away—he would never believe it! All in all, it had been an extremely educational day.

Southern Exposure
    7
    Stephanie opened her eyes slowly, indulged in a long, luxurious full-body stretch, and reached for the little clock on the bedside table. Six-fifteen…they’d have to get up now if they wanted to make it back to town in time for work. Time had a way of playing tricks during these stolen adventures; yesterday, driving down the coast road, the night had stretched out endlessly before them, offering a lifetime of possibility. Now it would be a mad dash for showers, gas station, breakfast, and goodbyes. She didn’t know how much longer she could stand the sweet torture of the secret world they had created. A part of her wished that Jerry would summon the courage to leave his wife and that she herself could find a way to end things with Jeff, her ambivalent live-in boyfriend. Jerry kept shushing her when she tried to bring this up.
    “This will all happen in its time,” he would say. “This was meant to be. But right now, with all the work pressures at home, I can’t rock the boat. I can’t leave her during post-production!”
    Stephanie knew that there would always be something—pre-production or post-production or production itself—keeping Arizona stressed and busy, but what could she say?
    She wanted to maintain this intensity, this joy they had—but she wasn’t sure how. For now, she had no choice but to trust her instincts and keep both Jerry and Jesus close to her heart.
    Stephanie thought of herself as an honorable and compassionate person. She didn’t go around stealing other women’s husbands, as a general rule. But there was something so compelling about this amazing connection with Jerry—life was too short and real love too hard to find. She had to hope that all her prayer and efforts would lead to some magic shift of the universe where everything came out right.
    Stephanie slid out of bed and walked over to the window, her glorious curves silhouetted against the light, her short blonde hair a tousled mess. Jerry didn’t seem any closer to actually waking up.
    “Hey, babe,” she called softly across the room. “Rise and shine.”
    “Mmmmffff,” Jerry answered as he rolled over and went back to sleep.
    Stephanie climbed back into bed, buried her head under the covers, and proceeded to wake her lover up the best way she knew how.
    *
    Arizona glanced at her watch and was startled to see that it was only 7:00 AM. She could get on the road, kick ass, and be in San Francisco in time for lunch…or get on the road, kick ass, and be settled into a charming wine country inn by late afternoon. So why not just do it? Another question, though, might be why? Why move, when she was so tired? Why expend the energy it would take to open the heavy restaurant door and trudge across the parking lot to her car? The enormous effort needed to remember which side of her car the gas tank opening was on, to slide a credit card into the slot and pump her own gas…climbing Mount Everest would be just as easy. Why not just stay here, soothed by a nonstop blast of air-conditioning and the smell of fried meat, enjoying the funny green ambience and an endless array of fascinating gift shop items? All the sadness of the last few months came crashing down at once, an anvil on her head. Forget driving to