Dirty Laundry: A Tucker Springs Novel #3

him as they got into the truck.
    “I’m sorry.” It was about the thirtieth time he’d said that.
    “Not a big deal. I’ve never cared for the idea that men’s bathrooms have to be such cesspits. We’ll find another one.”
    He couldn’t, though, not with any kind of ease. The only other option seemed to be a gas station whose bathroom wasn’t any better. This set off another round of apologies and, for reasons Denver could not understand, made Adam begin to shiver, as if Denver would beat him or something for daring to ask for a clean bathroom.
    Little pieces began to fall into place inside Denver’s thoughts, and he became quietly furious. Someone had bullied Adam, badly. Someone had made him feel that everything he did, everything he wanted, was wrong, that any request for special treatment was unreasonable and should be punished. Whether or not it was Brad the idiot couldn’t be determined. It could have been a parent. In fact, as he watched Adam melt further and further down, he began to think whatever it was that haunted Adam was at the very least complex.
    It made Denver coldly, deeply angry.
    He shoved that anger far, far off to the side, though, and focused on calming Adam. At this point, he knew only the gleaming surface of God’s own toilet would do, or the comfort of Adam’s own home john.
    “We’ll find something. Ouray doesn’t have the only toilets in the world.”
    “I’m so sorry. I don’t have to go that badly.” This was a bald lie. When Adam wasn’t cowering into himself and looking torn between abject misery and stark panic, he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
    There wasn’t anywhere else immediately apparent, which didn’t help matters. Certainly there wasn’t any five-star hotel with a butler-serviced men’s room, but there wasn’t so much as an outhouse by the side of the road. Denver checked the Garmin, looking for the little icon that would alert him to a bathroom, but nothing showed, and he began to be annoyed with the universe. All he needed was one goddamned clean men’s toilet. Was this too much to ask?
    When they began to weave into the mountains themselves, they were officially past any hope of anything unless Denver drove them to Telluride. Which he could do, but he had the feeling there’d be a greater cost to Adam than a burst bladder if they went that long.
    A small side road appeared up ahead, something nice and isolated. All at once Denver had an idea.
    “Adam, are we talking just draining the lizard here?” When Adam looked at him blankly, he added, “You just have to piss?”
    Humiliation stained Adam’s cheeks, and he pushed his glasses higher up his nose. “Yes. I’m sorr—”
    “No worries,” Denver cut him off, and drove onto the side road.
    He took them deep into the woods and partway up the side slope of the mountain. It appeared to be an abandoned lane to some house or cabin, as soon the pavement ended and Denver’s Nissan bumped and bounced along a rutted dirt road.
    “Where are we going?” Adam asked, panic rising.
    “Just trying to find a level-ish spot—there.” The road opened out to a turnaround, and Denver stopped in the center of the space, put the car in park, and killed the engine.
    “Denver?” Adam’s voice was almost a squeak.
    Denver put a hand on Adam’s shoulder and massaged, trying to soothe him with body and voice both. “Okay. This isn’t ideal, I know, and if it’s too weird, we can go back. But give it a try, maybe. This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to get out of the truck. I’m going to go stand by the back bumper, and you’re going to water the front tires. Or whatever it is you decide to pee on.”
    Adam’s eyes seemed to fill his head. “You want me to pee outside ?”
    “Hell of a lot cleaner than those bathrooms. I got some wet wipes in the glove box if you want to wash your hands after.” Adam relaxed a little, but he seemed to be waiting for some other shoe to drop. Denver tried to convince him he was barefoot. “There’s no rush. It’s a pretty spot. Bearless too, as much as I can gather, and anyway, I’m right here. I’d stay nearer the front, but I had a feeling you’d rather piss in peace. If you want, though, I’ll hold it for you.” He winked.
    Adam bit his lip before his next words all but burst out of him, like he’d tried to hold them back. “Why are you doing this?”
    Denver half-considered lying and saying something glib like, Because I thought you