I'm counting the hours until I see you tonight.

Joe

I wondered again how I got so lucky. I had a smile on my face when Betty walked in.

“How’re ya doin’?” She asked, sitting down in chair next to me.

“Pretty good.”

“Ya look like your doin’ really well after all ya been through. I didn’t expect ya to be in today.”

In the middle of taking a bite of my apple, I nearly froze. Was she talking about Momma or the weekend?

“Ya know, if ya need more time off, you can take it without pay. I know it’s against the rules, but considerin’ all ya been through…” She patted my hand, giving me a look of motherly compassion.

My heart raced. “So Betty, you must be excited about your retirement. Do you have any big trips planned?”

“Nope, not unless ya count movin’ as a trip. We're movin’ to Dallas, to be close to my kids and grandbabies.”

I suddenly remembered Betty had a son who moved to Dallas before I started at the DMV. He had been arrested for drug possession and trafficking right about the time I started, five years ago. It wasn’t any secret he’d been involved in a gang. I racked my brain, trying to remember his name. Bobby Joe.

“I bet you’re excited about spending more time with those grandbabies,” I said, taking a nibble of my sandwich, trying to choke it down along with my anxiety.

Betty’s face lit up. “Oh, they’re getting so big without me. I’m movin’ down the street from ‘em. I’ll get to see ‘em every day.”

My heart in my throat, I asked. “How’s Bobby Joe? He still at Hutchins Prison?”

Betty’s mouth and eyes froze in her smile but the sparkle vanished. She looked like a wax replica of the smiling Betty who was there a moment ago.

“He’s doin’ just fine. Why’d ya ask, Rose?” She still appeared friendly, but her left eyelid began to twitch.

A tight smile hardened on my face. “I dunno, I was just thinkin’ about him.”

She continued watching me with her plastered-on smile and I lost my appetite. “Well, I need to get back to work,” I said, getting up and throwing my bag in the trash. I had forgoten Joe’s note on the table and reached over to pick it up.

“Is that from your new boyfriend?” she asked, her words like imitation maple syrup. They sounded sweet, but left an artificial aftertaste. “Ya waited so long for him. It’d be a shame if ya lost him so soon.”

I turned around and hurried to my desk, scared witless. What did she mean by that? I reached into my drawer, to get my cell phone out of my purse and send Joe a text message, but as soon as I opened the drawer I remembered I didn't have my cell phone. For all I knew, it was still at The Trading Post, stuffed under a counter. I couldn’t call him on the DMV phone. For one thing, personal calls were strictly forbidden. For another, if I got on the phone, Betty would surely come over and investigate.

I just had to wait for Joe to pick me up at five o’clock. It was two-thirty now; I could surely last a few more hours.

We were slammed with customers at the end. It was a good thing because it kept me busy, but I couldn’t concentrate. Suzanne gave me weird looks and Betty looked at me with a knowing expression that looked more and more grim the closer it got to five.

When the last customer left, Betty locked the front doors and she walked over to my counter. “Rose, could ya stay a little late so we can discuss your vacation situation?”

It was such a reasonable request, how could I refuse? “Um,” my tongue stumbled, searching for words, “Joe’s pickin’ me up. I don’t wanna keep him waitin’.”

Betty smiled, the corners of her mouth lifting up, but her eyes cold and hard. No one but me seemed to notice. “That’s okay, honey. It won't take but a minute.”

Everyone packed up their belongings and headed for the back door. I started out the door, too.

“Rose,” Betty called. “It’s only gonna take a minute.” Her words were thick and sweet like honey off a comb, yet I heard the threat that hid beneath.

I was already out the door, my heart beating frantically while I searched the parking lot for Joe’s car. “I was just lookin’ for Joe. I wanted to tell him I’d be another minute.”

“Come on, darlin.’” Her grip told me she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Before she pulled me in, I dropped my purse to the ground, propping the door open.

“Now, let’s just go to my office, shall we? I have some paperwork ya need to fill out.”

“But Joe…”

“Didn’t I tell ya? Joe called and said he was gonna be a few minutes late. But I told him that I needed to keep you for a bit and I’d bring you home.”

My heart fell into a pit of fear in my stomach. I pulled harder, knowing full well I’d look like an idiot if I was wrong about Betty. Who would believe it? This was Betty, everybody’s mother, yet self-preservation overrode idiocy as I struggled against her grasp. In the end, it was pointless to struggle. Betty was taller than me and outweighed me by a good seventy pounds.

“Rose, if ya just cooperate, this’ll all be done in a minute and ya’ll be free to go.”

She dragged me into her office and shoved me into her chair. A piece of paper and a pen sat on the desk. I looked up confused.

“I need ya to write me a note. Then you’re free to go. That sounds okay, right?”