KOW part 6

Things were not settled. Our conversation had turned into grunts and nods. A day ago I was in the throes of the best love making of my life. Now I was with the girl responsible for that great event not talking to me. I was sweating the wheel as my mind out paced the tires. "Baby, talk to me. This is killing me. We were having so much fun and now I am driving blindly down the road." You replied with, "You know where you want to go. Just keep going." Shit! I could barely see. I turned the wheel, hit the brake, and made my way off the road into the sand. We came to a dusty halt. I turned the Jeep off. " Talk to me Kate." You put your pretty feet back on my dash and chewed your bottom lip while twirling a finger through your hair. The silence was killing me. I looked past you at a Western sky that I was not used to. The beauty of it was nullified by your silence." Babe, please..." "Don't call me babe!" You jerked a smoke from your bag but could not find a lighter. The Jeep lighter doesn't work when she is turned off. I tried to hand you my lighter but you were having none of that. You found my matches in the glove box and finally lit it. After you had a few puffs you seemed to calm down. I went to put my hand on your leg and quickly realized how misguided I was. You jerked your leg away from me and put a glare on me. Now my steam was starting to rise. Okay, I thought, fuck it. I got out and walked around to your door and opened it. You looked at me like I was a stranger. I reached out and grabbed your arm and pulled you out of the Jeep. " What the fuck are you doing?' "Shut up and let's settle this." I turned and started leading you away from the Jeep. You took a couple of steps and then balled up and punched me in the back of my neck. The shock shot down my spine. I stopped. I reached into my pocket, found my keys, and threw them at you. They bounced of your shoulder and fell into the sand. " There you go you angry bitch. Take em and drive off. I'm gonna keep walking and try to clear my head." I turned and headed out. Two hundred yards later you started yelling. "Where are you going?!?" I turned but kept walking backwards. "I read that there is an old pony express stop about a mile from here and I want to see it." I turned my toes back in the direction I was heading and had great hope you would follow. I looked over my shoulder occasionally and watched you become a speck. I could not even see the road when I found it. Earthen embankments and holes that were windows was all that was left. I could see why it was unmolested, it was out of the way and a damn long walk considering the 100 degree temperature. I regretted not having more water but enjoyed running my hands across the adobe walls. I could smell the history. I looked 0ver the back wall and took in the distant mountains. It was beautiful but I couldn't really take it in fully. I was worried about you even though I should have been worried about myself. I barely had any water, was a mile from the road, and had no idea if someone would pick up a hitcher out here. I found a book that people who had made the hike had signed and dated. It was in a plastic box. More Europeans had signed it than Americans. Yeah, America. We can drive by so we will. I signed my name and yours. I gave a brief description of what got us here. All the sudden you were there. You handed me the gallon of water you carried and said, "Drink you god damn fool." I took it from you and was grateful to follow directions for the first time in my life. As I struggled to put the lid back on I realized how much the heat had affected me. You just stood there looking at me. I started to come back to my senses and started talking about what I had read and started pointing my finger towards the old trail, the range, where the natives were, why the pony express lasted just a year, etc..... You put your arms around my neck and silenced me when you bit down on my tongue. I came back to my senses and was glad we were okay. I wrapped you up and we fell into the sand. I knew I was in the embrace of the kind of woman I had only imagined. It wasn't true I thought. As the sun was peeling the skin off my back and your ass was raw from the sand, we decided that we could find a better place to carry on. You entwined your fingers in my left hand and we started the long hot walk back. When we got back to the Jeep you asked me how much gas we had. "More than enough to get us through." As I reached for your door you opened the back door and climbed in. "What are you doing? You want to ride back there?" You looked at me with fiery eyes. "Yeah, this is where I want to ride. Start the fucking Jeep, turn the A/C on, lock the doors, and finish what you started."