One with the Wind by Jane Livingston Read Free Book Online Page A

out of the window and blew a kiss to the sign that read: Flight 93 Memorial National Park.
                Nick turned southbound on route 30 toward Indian Lake. The sun was beginning to set and it cast a beautiful orange and red hue. Josie raised her arms and cheered excitedly as she read another sign: You are leaving the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and a few feet away there was another sign that read: Welcome to Maryland.
                Nick pulled into a barbecue restaurant just after they entered Cumberland city limits. He got out of the car, sauntered across the gravel parking lot and opened the door for Josie. “Your ball awaits,” he said, helping her out.
                Inside the restaurant, the air was heavy with stale smells of musty wood and charred meat. Josie wiped her arm as the grease settled on her skin. Nick looked around and saw families having dinner and blue collar men having a brew and some ribs. Everyone looked up from their food and turned their attention to Nick and Josie, who were clearly overdressed.
                “Seems you kids got off on the wrong exit,” teased the hostess.
                Josie put her arm around Nick’s waist. “No, we are right on course.”
                The hostess sat them at a wooden table with a sticky checkered plastic tablecloth. Soon the waitress appeared with her pad. “What can I get you kids?”
                Nick glanced up at Josie and said to the waitress, “I’ll have the chicken breast, a side of potato salad and an iced tea.”
                “And I’ll have the pork ribs, potato salad and a root beer,” said Josie.
                “Pork?” Nick questioned.
                “Listen buddy, I have a confession,” she said. “I like pork. I like pork ribs, I like pork chops. I like sausage¾bratwurst, kielbasa, cocktail wieners. I even like scrapple, deep-fried smothered in syrup.”
                “That’s gross,” Nick said. “Do you know what’s in scrapple?”
                “I like pork!”
                The waitress set down her plate of ribs. “Calm down honey, here you go.”
                Nick laughed as the waitress served his order. He tore into the juicy chicken breast with his teeth and winked at Josie. Josie seductively licked a pork rib, sucked on the tip and nibbled the meat until she noticed several men watching her. Noting her self-consciousness, Nick glanced over his shoulder at the men and roared with laughter.
                “You have gristle in your teeth,” she said.
                Nick felt around his teeth with his tongue and then grinned. “Better?”
                “Yeah.” She picked up another rib and delicately tore the meat from the bone and placed it on her tongue. “How’s that?”
                “Are you trying to make every man in here crazy?”
                “Just you,” she said.
                “You succeeded months ago.”
                “I make you crazy?”
                “Yes, especially with barbecue sauce all over your face and pork bits in your teeth.”
                Josie reached for a napkin and tried to wipe her face. “Clean?”
                He chuckled. “Not even close.” He grabbed a napkin and cleaned her face. “Now you’re good. How you got it on your ear, I’ll never know.”
     
                After their meal they found a motel down the road. The male receptionist eyed them as soon as they walked in the door and toward the desk. Dressed in prom attire, he knew what they wanted. “Can I help you?”
                “We’d like a room please,” said Nick.
                The receptionist looked at Nick and then at Josie. “Are you eighteen? We have a strict policy about renting rooms to