Author Note: A little road trip is in order don't you think?

*

Chapter 11 – Madison

"I think I want to see Donna but not for reasons you think."

"That's great. Are you going to see her for Christmas?"

"Well, not exactly. I was hoping you would go with me."

"You want me to what?"

Jackie looked at him like he had a screw loose. "We're talking about the love of your life. Why in the world would you want to bring a stranger into the equation? It's not like me and Donna parted as best friends or anything."

Eric didn't want to beg but if he had to…."Jackie, that's just it. You guys used to be best friends. I don't want to rekindle a romantic relationship with Donna. I just want her to be my friend again. I know that she has no one in Madison that cares about her the way we all did."

"Eric, maybe she didn't come back for a reason. You mentioned that she had a lot going on with school and study groups and stuff like that. If that's her priority, perhaps she's waiting until she gets her degree to focus on a personal life."

The way Jackie explained it made it seem so logical and damn her for remembering every detail of the conversation! The waitress came back with the cocoa ready to take their order.

"I'd like the chicken sandwich with fries and a dill pickle." Jackie told the waitress. Eric didn't know what he really wanted. "A cheeseburger and some fries. No onion."

Jackie folded her hands around the mug of cocoa. "This is bliss." She smiled. "My hands have been freezing all day. So anyhow, it sounds like you want to check up on her. Are you having trouble letting go of the old relationship?"

Eric frowned. "Are you psychic or something? How do you know stuff like this?"

Jackie grinned. "I'm a good listener. Plus I know how you two were around each other but can I be perfectly frank for a moment?"

Eric spooned off some of his whipped cream. "Aren't you always?"

"Smartass. Yes I am. But seriously, when you went to Africa, Donna didn't sit around knitting sweaters waiting for you to come back. I'm sure you know this."

Eric opened his mouth to reply but Jackie held up her hand. "And I know you sent that crappy break up letter to ease her mind although I think you did it for yourself which is also a good thing, but Donna had already moved on."

"Randy." Eric said simply.

Jackie nodded her head sadly. "But you wanted her to be happy and she was. I remember this conversation she had with your mom about him. He was helping to build a sewing machine in your old bedroom and your mom was really mad at you and Donna said…I'll always care about Eric…..but it's over."

Jackie felt sorry for putting the hangdog look on his face and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings."

Eric looked up at her bright eyes. "You sure are apologizing a lot tonight."

She grinned. "Sorry…again. This has not a great day with this weather. I pulled you out of your warm apartment because I didn't want to eat dinner alone. I'm horrible company and I need a shower and why am I telling you all this? We don't really like each other."

"Sometimes it's easier to talk to a stranger than a close friend. That's me. But how did you know where I live?"

"You're listed in the phone book. You should seriously consider going unlisted. You'll get all kinds of kooks calling you or showing up at your door."

"Like you?" he teased.

She laughed, "Yeah, like me. Exactly like me." Two hot aromatic plates of food arrived and it smelled so much better than macaroni! Eric bit into his juicy burger and almost sighed with pleasure.

Jackie squirted a volcano size portion of ketchup on the side of her plate and dragged a French fry through the red mess. Eric watched her eat the fry with delight as she quickly took another through the red stuff. She saw he was watching her.

"Eric, supposing you did drive to Madison. And supposing she agreed to see you. What do you plan on saying?"

"You know I hadn't got that far. I only thought about actually going – if you would go with me."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Eric, you need a plan! What if you show up and she has a boyfriend you don't know about or what if she's out of town? Where's your contingency plan?" Clearly Eric hadn't grasped all the 'what if's' of the situation!

Eric chewed on his burger. Yeah, what if she had a boyfriend that wasn't me and why don't I feel jealous? He suddenly felt like he lost his momentum. He had been running a race to catch Donna and all along she kept telling him to quit and he just kept running…but there was no finish line. Now he was running in place when he could just stop and catch his breath.

"…so if you just want to drive up and see for yourself, we could make an afternoon trip. I just don't want to get stuck in the snow with you all day."

Eric blinked. Was Jackie talking all this time? He completely missed the first half of the conversation. "It's my turn to apologize. I zoned out while you were talking."

She waved a fry. "That's okay; Fez and Michael do that all the time. I think it's the resonance of my voice. What about my plan?"

"Can you repeat it?" Damn he felt stupid for asking that.

"If you have no love interest and you just want to make sure she's okay, boyfriend or boyfriend-less…we can drive up on an afternoon and come right back. Madison is only a couple hours by car."

Eric smiled. Jackie was willing to go with him. She was like a little bottle of courage he could draw on when he needed a push. "I'd like to do that."

"Well, let me know when and I'll change my work schedule. I work nights on Thursday and Friday."

"Could I get your phone number? I promise not to share it with anyone."

Jackie flashed him a wry smile. "If you wake me up, I'll kill you. Just remember that."

*

Red had a full house and he was pretty sure that his hand was the best on the table. He pushed his little stack of chips into the center of the table. Bear grunted something unintelligible and requested two more cards. The aged veteran to Red's left muttered, "I fold."

Red laid down his cards and Bear tossed his on the table. Red won the hand. Again. Bear shot him a dirty glare. "Using phony deck again?"

Red smirked, "No, this is Phil's deck. I'm sorry to take your money old friend but that's how the game is won." Red stood up, "I'm sorry but I have to go, I told Kitty I was at the hardware store. I need to go pick up a wrench with my winnings."

Phil moaned. "I was so close! Hey, can you get Kitty to give my wife that pie recipe? She's got me on this crazy diet and I need some sugar!"

Bear laughed. "Chippewa women are full of sugar." Red grinned. "Are you visiting with little Susie again?" Bear's face went blank. "None of your business."

"I'll take that as a yes. So gentlemen…until our next game…." Red started for the door but Bear caught up with him.

"Red. Important you know this. Your son Enapay is planning a drive with Miss Jackie this weekend. She is still vulnerable so…."

"Are you talking about Eric? The two of them are going to be in a car together? Wait, what does Enapay mean?"

"Enapay is a native name. It means 'Appears Bravely' and they are traveling together."

"Appears Bravely is a pretty good description for my son. I wouldn't worry too much about Jackie… I'd worry more about Eric. She can handle herself." Red couldn't imagine the Hell those two would create for themselves. That was going to be interesting!

"Just so you know. I watch for Miss Jackie."

Red put a hand on Bear's forearm. "I thank you Bear. She's like my daughter and I appreciate you looking out for her."

"You are welcome Red Forman."

*

Jackie sat in the heated Mustang and honked the horn again. She told him she would be there at ten and wasn't planning on waiting around. If he was late, he could drive his little Honda through the snow all alone. Finally the apartment door opened and Eric was carrying a large duffel bag and waving like a lunatic.

She unlocked the doors and he stuffed the green duffel in the back seat and climbed in the front. "No Jeep today?" he joked.

"No, I can't have you sitting right next to me for the next two hours or I'll go crazy. What is in that bag?"

Eric grinned. "I brought road games." Jackie maneuvered out of the parking lot and into traffic. "Eric we aren't going to be gone long enough to play road games."

He was not to be dissuaded. "You never know when we'll hit traffic or have to wait for a snow plow and your charming personality can't last forever." Oh that heater felt good on his feet!

Jackie laughed. "…my charming personality? You make it sound like I'm a bitch. Good, that's what I was hoping for." She flashed a quick smile Eric's way and his stomach pitched. Yeah, she was charming and beautiful and that aqua colored thermal pullover made her eyes sparkle and why did she have to smell so freaking good while he would be trapped in a car for the next two hours? Not fair!

They were on the interstate within a matter of minutes and Eric was tongue-tied. He didn't want the entire drive to be in silence with only the sound of the tires slapping on the wet pavement to accompany them. So, he sighed…Loudly.

Jackie didn't say anything right away until he sighed again. "Yes Eric?"

"What do you do for a living?"

Wow! A bold and unexpected question! She glanced over, "I'm sort of into…chemistry."

Eric was impressed. He knew Jackie Burkhart was smart but a scientist girl? The inner geek in him was thrilled! He smiled, "What kind of chemistry are you into?"

She bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't laugh. "In layman's terms I have a base alcohol and I add other types of alcohol to create a new product." That actually sounded extraordinary for a bartender job description.

"Wow…where did you go to school?"

"It was a special class I attended in Milwaukee. I aced the course. It seems like I have a natural flair for this kind of chemistry." That should give him something to think about! "Why did you go into the newspaper business?"

"Well, Donna was studying Journalism and I thought that she may eventually get a job back here at home and we could work together."

Ouch! That had to sting a little bit! You get a job and your girlfriend stays on and leaves you behind. Jackie decided to cut him a little slack. "So why did you pick the circulation department? I mean you had experience at Fatso Burger and Price Mart, you could have gone into Sales."

He confessed, "I don't really like working with the public. I mean at Price Mart they are buying something they want, but in Sales, you're trying to sell a newspaper. There's no incentive to achieve."

"But there is in the Accounting Department?"

Eric grinned. "I like money. I like counting it, tracking it….you remember my old bank?"

"The Candyland game? Everybody knew where you kept your money." She laughed. Eric smiled, "That was one of them. Sometimes I played Monopoly as a kid just so I could be the banker."

"Well why didn't you get a job as a Teller?" She looked over at her passenger and remembered. "Oh… that's because Donna wasn't going for a job there - Sorry about that."

"That's okay. I'm good with it. I like my job and we have these incentive programs within the department and I did get a raise."

"Well good for you." She reached over and turned on the radio hoping to get a traffic report now that they were out of the city and in the country. Eric turned to look out his window at the snow covered scenery that passed by his window.

"I have another question."

"Ask away Eric, I'm a captive audience."

"Why don't we like each other?"

*