Gary stood by, wearing a silly grin and nodding his head in agreement to Roxy's explanation.
Cage flashed his notorious grin. "I'm game. Jenny?"
It was after ten o'clock. She couldn't imagine striking out on such a trip in the middle of the night. Between here and El Paso there was nothing but sand, tumbleweeds, and jack-rabbits.
But the idea of such an impetuous trip was exciting and unlike anything she'd ever done before. She had come to like Roxy and Gary tremendously and wanted to be a witness to their marriage.
"It sounds great to me!"
Everyone went into a flurry of motion and decision-making that finally culminated at Roxy's front door twenty minutes later.
"I think we got everything," Roxy cried, waving a bottle of champagne high over her head. She locked her door behind her after having made sure the apartment was secure for a week. Her and Gary's luggage had been stored in the trunk of the car. "The assistant manager, Mrs. Burton, is going to keep an eye on things while I'm gone, Cage," she explained as she climbed in the front seat beside Gary.
"No problem. Jenny and I will be around, so don't worry. You just concentrate on having a fantastic honeymoon."
"I intend to," Roxy said, snuggling next to Gary. She touched him in a place intimate enough to make him jump. The car lurched when he momentarily lost control.
"This is no good," Cage said. "Gary can't drive and neck with Roxy at the same time. Let's stop at my house and get my Lincoln. Then you two can have the backseat all the way to El Paso."
"I like that idea even better!" Roxy agreed enthusiastically. "Honey, is that all right with you?"
Gary bobbed his head.
"Besides," Jenny added dryly, "if Cage is driving, we'll get there in half the time."
"You know, woman, if you don't stop smarting off like that, I'm gonna have to take drastic measures to shut you up." Cage drew her into an unyielding embrace and sealed her mouth in a hot kiss that didn't end until they pulled up to his garage.
"Time!" Roxy called out like a referee in a wrestling match.
Cage cursed softly as Jenny disentangled her limbs from his. "I had to come up for air anyway, Cage," Jenny whispered as she self-consciously straightened her clothes and smoothed down her hair.
Everybody thought that comment was hysterically funny and they were laughing as they transferred the luggage from Gary's car to Cage's. The Lincoln was as vintage as the Corvette, and had been restored to the same mint condition. It seemed half a block long and was as silver and shiny as the Lone Ranger's bullets.
"Make yourselves at home." Cage grinned over his shoulder at the passengers in the backseat.
"We intend to," Roxy answered. She fell back into the corner, dragging an unsuspecting, but certainly willing, Gary with her.
Cage laughed as he steered the car onto the highway. "That's the last we'll hear from them until we get to El Paso." Just then a contented groan rose from the shadows of the backseat. "Well, maybe not," he corrected himself, chuckling.
The Lincoln straddled the center stripe of the two-lane highway as it ate up the miles. Cage had it cranked up to ninety or better, but Jenny felt safe. They could see the headlights of other vehicles for miles before they met them. There was nothing on the landscape to block them from sight.
"Comfy?" Cage asked her after several moments of silence. He had tuned to a soft FM station on the radio. The stereo mood music was interrupted infrequently by a modulated, disembodied voice that kept the listeners apprised of the time and weather conditions.
"Hm, yes," Jenny sighed.
"Sleepy?"
"Not particularly."
"You're awfully quiet."
"Just thinking."
"You know, even though this car is monstrous by modern standards, we're not required to use the entire front seat."
"What does that mean?"
"To put it in the vernacular, haul your buns over here."