Free Red Light Wives by Mary Monroe

same bed with Bo that I’d been in with Larry. It didn’t help when Bo served me breakfast in bed one Sunday morning, but I appreciated it.
    â€œBo, you spoilin’ me,” I told him, feeling sad, but forcing myself to sit up and smile. He handed me a tray with grits, bacon, and toast on it. When I was with Larry, I served him breakfast in bed. I would have done it for Bo, too, but serving me pleased him more.
    â€œI’ll spoil you sure enough, if you let me,” he offered, plopping down on the side of my bed, giving me looks of love no man had ever given me. Not even Larry.
    â€œUh, you still thinkin’ about movin’ back to California?” I asked, stirring the overcooked eggs with my finger. It had been a month since I’d given birth. I had made love with Bo a few times. I didn’t know if it was because my mind wasn’t in it, or because what I felt for Bo was more pity than passion. But making love with Bo was even more boring than my job. If he hadn’t made so much noise while he was on top of me, I probably would have slept through it. One thing I had learned after my disaster with Larry was, there was more to a good relationship than good sex. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, that was all I’d really had with Larry. I tried to force myself to be passionate with Bo, but it was no use. He couldn’t turn me on with twenty thousand volts.
    Bo was not rich and he didn’t have much of anything to offer. But he offered me the one thing I needed the most right now: a chance to escape. Oh, I knew that I could have done that on my own eventually. All I had to do was save up the money. But on my salary that could have meant staying in Barberton at least another six months. I had to get out of town before I ran into Larry or his wife. I was angry with them both, and I knew that if I encountered them again in public, I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.
    â€œJust as soon as I get that muffler fixed on my car,” Bo told me, snapping off a piece of bacon and chewing it so hard his cross eyes were straight for a minute.
    I gave him a surprised look. “You drivin’ all the way to California?”
    Bo nodded. “I don’t travel no other way no more. Not after them lunatics of Bin Laden’s started blowin’ up planes and buildin’s that September.”
    I laid my fork down and looked in Bo’s wandering eyes. “If you take me with you, I can help you drive.”
    Bo had never refused anything I asked for and this time was no different. I quit my job, sold my car to one of my half brothers, gave Odessa and Verna all the stuff we couldn’t squeezed into Bo’s Ford station wagon, and just like that Bo and I left Mississippi.
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    With both of us driving, it took three days to get to San Francisco. Our only major stop was Reno, Nevada. That’s where I married Bo, even though he admitted to me when he proposed that he knew I didn’t love him.
    â€œIt takes more than love to make a relationship work, Bo,” I told him. “You’re good for me and I appreciate that.” I don’t know where my mind was. I never thought I’d see the day that I’d marry a man I didn’t love. It had to be because I hadn’t got my mind back together yet. I wanted romance and excitement. I didn’t expect that from a man I pitied more than I loved. “I’ll be a good wife,” I promised.
    One thing I could say about myself was I was loyal to the people who treated me well. I could never forgive myself if I ever hurt a person the way I’d been hurt by Larry. And anyway, Odessa assured me that she would crucify me if I mistreated her brother.
    Bo and I had a little more than three thousand dollars between us, but he was determined to get a job blowing that horn of his with the first band that would take him. I planned to work, too, until I got pregnant again. That was something I