***
It wasn’t until much later that Johnny remembered the gun in the back of the rusty grey jalopy. He waited until closing time, when it was time to sweep out the garage and put the place to bed. Gene was up front, running numbers and closing up the office. Johnny popped the trunk and felt around for the gun. It was gone. He pulled the blanket free and patted his hands all around the floor of the trunk. The spare had been changed out. He heaved it up and out. Still no gun. Maybe Gene had seen it and removed it until the owner could come back and claim his car. That was probably it. After all, you never knew who could get a crazy idea -- a crazy idea like stealing it. Johnny shook his head ruefully and silently thanked God for granting the tender mercy of a couple of hours and a cooler head. He would use his fists, thank you Lord. He didn’t need a gun to speak for him. Slamming the trunk, he finished up and headed out for the night.
~20~
A Time to Love
2011
A few nights later when Johnny dropped her off, Maggie asked if he would come inside, just for a minute. She had something she wanted to show him.
“Won’t...Irene...uh, your aunt mind if I’m in your room?”
“It’s just for a second. Don’t worry.”
Johnny looked unconvinced but followed behind her as she climbed the stairs to her room. She walked straight to her closet and pulled the red prom dress from its hanger and held it in front of her.
“Recognize this?” she said shyly.
Johnny reached out and fingered the tulle of the skirt. “Yeah.”
“And here’s your sports coat.” Maggie reached for the white sports coat and handed it to a stunned Johnny. “I didn’t mean to steal it. Hmm, I seem to be saying that a lot lately.”
Johnny shrugged the jacket on and looked at himself in the mirror. “Momma was so mad at me when I told her I’d lost this. She’d rented it for me, and we ended up having to pay for it. She asked me how I could lose a sports coat. I couldn’t really explain.” His eyes met Maggie’s in the mirror. Maggie realized this was the first time she’d ever seen Johnny’s reflection.
“I couldn’t tell her a pretty car thief had disappeared with it.” Johnny shrugged out of the jacket and seemed uncertain what to do with it.
“Johnny? I know girls don’t usually ask guys...but Saturday night is the Prom. My prom. I would really like to go with you. I already have a dress.” She held up the fluffy red confection. “And you now have a sports coat.” She winked. “I’ll be driving a Cadillac this time.”
Johnny’s response was interrupted by Irene calling up the stairs.
“Maggie? Are you home dear?”
Johnny looked at the door, and Maggie opened it wide and called down to her aunt.
“I’m here, Aunt Irene. Johnny’s here with me. We’ll be down in a second.”
The silence that answered her was telling, and Maggie wondered how Irene and Johnny would ever be comfortable in each other’s presence.
Maggie shut the door and turned back to Johnny. He stood with his hands shoved in his back pockets, his head tipped to the side. He looked quite delicious standing in her room, and she had to swallow her heart once, then twice, as it threatened to tumble from her chest. He was here. And she was here. Finally together - no Purgatory, no anger, and at this moment, no regrets. Once he had told her that every moment with her had made the fifty years in Purgatory worth it. Now she had reason to hope that he would feel that way again. The intense gratitude that suddenly consumed her rose up and spilled onto her cheeks.
“Hey? Are you okay?” Johnny asked softly, taking a slow step toward her, his head tilted to one side.
“I’m better than okay,” Maggie whispered, and her chin wobbled the slightest bit. She yanked off her glasses and cleaned them on the bottom of her T-shirt to create a diversion from the sudden weight of her emotions.
“Maggie?” He took her glasses from her hand and set them on her nightstand.
“Hmmm?”
“Look at me, Maggie.”
Maggie felt him close the final steps, but she didn’t dare look up. “Don’t cry, baby. I’ll go to the prom with you,” he teased quietly.
Maggie giggled, but the giggle broke into a sob and she stepped into him, holding onto his shirt and rubbing her face across the familiar planes of his chest, breathing him in and letting him comfort her like he had many times before.
“Shhhh,” Johnny soothed, sliding his hands up and down her back, nuzzling her hair. “Car thieves don’t cry, baby. You gotta toughen up if you’re gonna have a future with good old Clyde here.”
“I like it when you do that.”
“What?”
“Call me baby,” Maggie whispered.
“You liked it when I called you Bonnie too,” he replied with a smile in his voice. “Why?”
“You used to call me baby all the time. It makes me believe you can love me again.”
Johnny wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and lifted her to him, kissing her tear-streaked cheeks before he touched his lips to hers.
“I’m already there Maggie. I fell in love when you begged me to help you escape the cops. I fell in love when we danced to Nat King Cole singing ‘Stardust’ on a moonlit beach. Hell, I fell in love when you told me how blondes spell farm.”
“E-I-E-I-O,” Maggie quipped wetly.
Johnny laughed and held her tightly.
“There’s something I want to give you,” Johnny whispered into her hair. “It used to be the thing to do--though I never did, ‘cause I didn’t ever have anyone I cared about in that way.”
Maggie pulled back so she could look into Johnny’s face.