The Traveling Vampire Show

I would’ve tried to sneak looks at her face, too—it was a terrific face—but I could look at that without being sneaky about it.

The first afternoon out with Lee, I learned how to drive. I didn’t really need any more lessons after that. She knew it and I knew it, but we kept it to ourselves. Two or three times a week, for the rest of the summer, I went over to her house and we took off in the truck.

While I drove us through towns and over back roads, we talked about all sorts of stuff. We shared secrets, complained about my parents, discussed our worries and our favorite movies, laughed. We laughed a lot.

It was almost like being on a fabulous date with the most beautiful girl in town. Almost. What made it different from a date was that I held no hope of ever having any sexual contact with her. I mean, you can’t exactly fool around with your brother’s wife. Also, she was ten years older than me. Also, she was out of my league entirely.

All I could do was look.

Lee knew I was sneaking glances at her while I drove, but it didn’t seem to bother her. Usually, if she noticed, she didn’t mention it. Sometimes, though, she said stuff like, “Watch out, we’re coming up on a curve,” or “Don’t forget about the road entirely.” She was always cheerful when she said such things, but I always blushed like crazy. I’d mutter, “I’m sorry” and she would say, “Don’t worry about it. Just don’t crash.”

Then one day I crashed.

For some reason, Lee wasn’t wearing a bra that day. Maybe they were all in the wash. Maybe she was too hot. Who knows? Whatever the reason, I noticed it the moment she walked out of her house. Nothing showed through her bright red blouse, but her breasts seemed to be moving about more than usual. They were loose underneath the blouse, no doubt about it.

After noticing that, I tried to keep my eyes away from her chest as much as possible.

Maybe ten minutes later, I was driving along a narrow road through the woods, Lee in the passenger seat, when I finally just had to look.

I glanced over at her.

Between two buttons of her blouse, the fabric was pursed like vertical, parted lips. Looking in, I could see the side of her right breast. Her bare breast, smooth and pale in the shadows. Not very much of it actually showed—a crescent maybe half an inch wide, at most.

But much too much.

All of a sudden, I couldn’t hear a word Lee was saying. I kept steering us along the road, smiling and nodding and turning my head to look at her—first at her face to make sure she wasn’t watching me, then at the curve of her exposed breast.

I felt breathless and hard and guilty.

But I couldn’t stop myself.

Suddenly, she yelled, “Watch out!” and flung her hands out to grab the dashboard.

My eyes jerked forward in time to see a deer straight ahead of us. I swerved and the deer bounded out of the way and I missed it just fine. But then I couldn’t come out of the turn fast enough. I took out a speed limit sign.

We weren’t hurt, though.

Next thing I knew, Lee and I were standing side by side in front of the truck, looking at its smashed headlight.

“I’m really sorry,” I said.

“That’s okay, honey,” she said. “These things happen.”

“Danny’s gonna kill me.”

She patted me on the back and said, “No, he won’t. We’ll just keep this between the two of us.”

“But he’ll see the damage.”

“Let’s you and I just forget you had a driving lesson today. Danny’ll think I’m the one who crashed. That’ll suit him just fine, anyway.” She smiled at me. “You know how he loves to whine about ‘women drivers.’ ”

“I can’t let you take the blame,” I protested.

“I insist.”

“But…”

“If he finds out you did it, he’ll tease you to death and he’ll broadcast it to everyone he knows. You don’t need that.” Then, giving my shoulder a friendly squeeze, she added, “Besides, it’s my truck. If I say I was driving it, I was.”

Lee never told on me.

For the next week or so, Danny had a lot of fun at her expense. I was tempted to confess, but then everybody would’ve known Lee had lied. That would’ve made things worse all the way around.

Anyway, that’s the kind of woman Lee was. I could count on her to help me retrieve Slim and Rusty, and she wouldn’t blab about it.

I just hoped she’d be home.

Chapter Nine

I stayed fairly calm most of the way to Lee’s house, but the sight of her pickup truck in the driveway turned me into a nervous wreck.

She’s home!

I felt a lurch of panic.

Even under the best conditions, I sometimes chickened out about visiting Lee. That may seem strange, since we were such great friends. But you’ve got to understand how beautiful and special she was. As much as I liked being with her, I hated the idea of intruding on her. I wanted her never to think of me as a nuisance.

I didn’t much want her to see me shirtless and sweaty and filthy, either.

All of a sudden, I changed my mind about asking for Lee’s help. Instead of heading for her front door, I kept on walking.