Miss Julia Hits the Road Read Free Page A

as coleslaw wrestling and wet T-shirt contests and other unsavory things I won’t mention, like beer belly contests. That’s just common, Sam, and you shouldn’t be associated with such a bad element. Like I tell Little Lloyd, you’re judged by the company you keep. I think you ought to turn that thing in and get your money back.”
    Sam laughed again—or maybe he hadn’t stopped. “I’m not planning to go to a rally, Julia. Put your mind at rest. The club I’ll be in rides mostly on weekends in groups of ten or so. We’ll go up on the Parkway or stay on the interstate, not in residential areas. Besides, this is the best time of the year to ride—leaves’re turning, the weather’s fine and just cool enough. I tell you, it’ll be something to see the mountainsides with all the colors, then pull off for some barbeque or a picnic. You’ll enjoy it, I promise you will.”
    “And I can promise I won’t. Because I’m not about to get on that thing.” If he expected me to participate in such an unseemly activity, that just showed how far from normal his mental state was.
    “Why, that’s why I came around, Julia. I want to take you for a ride. Now, wait,” he said, as I reared up in my chair. “We’ll just go around the block and let you get used to it.”
    “Yes, and throw me off when you try to stop it, too. No, Sam, I’m not riding on two wheels, no matter who’s trying to drive it. Besides, there’s nowhere for anybody else to sit, and if you think I’d sit on your lap, you’d better think again.”
    “That’s not a bad idea, but there’s a passenger seat on the back with armrests and everything. It’ll be like sitting in your easy chair, and I’ve got a helmet for you, too.”
    I just looked at him, as visions of me straddling that monster with my shirtwaist dress hiked up and flapping in the breeze, holding onto Sam for dear life, flickered through my mind. “You didn’t need to waste your money on any kind of get-up for me, Sam, because it’ll be a cold day before you get me on that machine.
    “The idea!” I went on, as his assumption that I’d just be thrilled to grab onto all that leather and go flying off who-knew-where on a loud, open-air, souped-up piece of machinery struck me as the height of wrong-headed thinking. “How you could even think I’d be interested in such an undignified activity is beyond me, Sam Murdoch. In fact, it’s beneath me and, if you want to know the truth, it’s beneath you, too. No,” I said, shaking my head, “you can just forget about it. I’m not about to swing my . . . my . . . self on that contraption.”
    “Well, I’m not giving up on you, Julia,” Sam said, getting to his feet with those layers of leather creaking with every movement. “I’ll admit, I need a little more practice on it, but I need a partner on that backseat, too. All the other riders in the club bring their wives and girlfriends with them. You wouldn’t want me to be the only one without a good-looking woman perched on the back with her arms wrapped around my waist, would you?”
    I rolled my eyes, seeing no need to answer such a question. I didn’t care if he never had a woman, regardless of her looks, clinging to him. Well, I’d have to rethink that when I had the time to give it adequate attention.
    “Now,” Sam said, looking toward the kitchen. “I need to speak to Lillian a minute. A legal matter she’s concerned about.”
    “Why, what?” I asked, immediately disturbed that I didn’t know that Lillian had any legal matters. “Is she in trouble? Is it her family? What’s going on, Sam, and why hasn’t she said anything to me?”
    “I don’t know, Julia,” Sam said as he headed out of the room. “But right now, she wants to speak to me in private. Besides,” he said, turning back to give me a sly grin, “maybe she’ll ride with me if you won’t.”
    I started to follow him as he pushed through the door to the kitchen but stopped, brought up short by