Michael’s Wife Read Free

answers. What’s your problem anyway?”
    â€œI don’t have any answers. I don’t have … anything. Harley, please tell me about the Devereaux’.”
    â€œI don’t think we’re talking about the same ones. I can’t see a Devereaux making a career of the service, too busy living off other people’s sweat. I should know—my old man ran a ranch for them for thirty years. And anybody getting stationed that close to his family has got to be related to the President. I’ve been in the Navy twice myself.”
    The sprawl of city soon displaced desert and the truck was immersed in heavy traffic. MESA, TACOS, LIQUOR, MESA NEW AND USED CARS, HAMBURGERS, DESERT PEACE MOTEL—the signs and buildings were somehow garish after the flowering desert.
    â€œThat ranch house where you were born was a Devereaux ranch?”
    â€œA Devereaux house on Devereaux land where I lived with two parents, four brothers, and one sister. Between dying and growing up and leaving, the help was gone and my dad was working it alone. It stopped paying and the Devereaux’ closed it down, and it broke my old man so he hung himself in that house he didn’t even own.” His grin tightened to a grimace, his voice muffled by barely parted lips. “The name Devereaux ain’t my favorite topic. I’m nice enough to give you a ride, so leave it alone, will ya?”
    It was no good alienating the only person she knew. She felt a strained, floating security riding with him, as though the panic followed somewhere behind the truck, as if it would catch up with her when they stopped, when he left her alone in Phoenix.
    Her thoughts kept skirting reality and the impossibility of her situation, the growing dread of reaching Phoenix and Michael Devereaux. She knew she was deluding herself, that she would have to face things, and soon.
    â€œWhere are we now?”
    â€œTempe. Next stop, Phoenix. It’s all grown together into one big mess. I have to stop at my brother’s. Then I’ll take you on to Luke. I don’t know why. It’s out of my way, but you don’t look long on cash.”
    â€œI don’t have anything.”
    â€œYou said that. And that’s about all you’ve said.”
    A sign read WELCOME TO PHOENIX AND THE VALLEY OF THE SUN. The street was lined with pickup trucks and trailer home lots, with swanky motels where palms hovered over swimming pools and where lavish restaurants waited for the dressed-up evening trade.
    The truck pulled into the SUNNY REST MOTEL, AIR-CONDITIONED, TV, PHONES, CAFÉ, VACANCY. It squatted in shabby pink stucco between two magnificent glass and brick motels that sported two stories, balconies, pools, and palms. The Sunny Rest sat like an embarrassed poor relation in unaccustomed surroundings.
    â€œDoes your brother live here?”
    â€œHe owns it. Be back in a minute.” Harley got out of the truck and went into the door marked CAFE, OFFICE.
    The Sunny Rest was U-shaped, one story. The café sat at one end of the U, Venetian blinds drawn against the sun and a small handwritten sign, WAITRESS WANTED, stuck in the window. She sat looking at the sign seconds before she really listened to her thoughts. What she needed was a little more time to face her problem before she faced Michael Devereaux. She knew Phoenix was in Arizona, and she was almost sure she was seeing it for the first time. She hadn’t really forced her mind to cope with reality, and given a little time, she might be able to solve her problem herself. She still could remember nothing. Was it because she didn’t want to or really couldn’t?
    Following Harley into the café, she was relieved to find there were no customers, only Harley and the heavy sweating man in a smeared apron behind the counter.
    â€œWhat can I do for you, ma’am?”
    â€œShe’s with me, Ray.” Harley perched on a stool at one end of the