As the title indicates, Lux Zakari’s novella takes place mostly on the New Jersey Turnpike, on a driving trip to the “old New Jersey shore.” Heath and Regina are in a relationship which has gone long enough for them to know each other pretty well, at least Regina knows Heath well. He, on the other hand, tends to keep his emotions and everything else pretty closed and sometimes she may have doubts about how much he cares for her. At present, Heath has lost his job and become just another statistic of the unemployed, so Regina suggests a trip to Atlantic City, to cheer him up, to try to revitalize their currently stagnating relationship. Heath doesn’t want to go, of course; he finds a lot of excuses including how dirty the beach and the ocean may be, but at last, he allows himself to be talked into agreeing, and off they go…
We’ve all known someone like Heath…the person who gets stuck in a negative rut and can’t seem to come out of it, even when those around him are killing themselves trying to keep his spirits up. That he loves Regina is obvious, that he won’t let himself respond as she hopes, as he should, is obvious, too. Or maybe they’ve just been together so long, he takes everything for granted. Regina sees the trip as a way to renew their love and she does some pretty overt things to capture Heath’s interest, even making love to him in her mind while titillating the driver of a semi in the next lane. When Heath finally does respond, everything is right between them…for that brief, blissful moment.
It works. In a way. Though Heath’s responses through most of the story are negative, he eventually appears to comprehend what Regina is attempting, sensing her desperation to make things as they once were. In his own way, responds to it but there’s the suggestion that they have a long way to go before—and if—things will be the same again. Or perhaps, as Regina suggests, they shouldn’t be the same but may become better.
I found myself cheering for Regina, hoping she’d break through the barriers her lover had built around himself, hoping her behavior would turn him on and keep him on. Love on the New Jersey Turnpike starts out as a sad little story of one-sided caring, but there’s always a spark of hope…in Regina’s devotion to Heath, in the fact that every once in a while, he allows himself to turn his attention from his own problems to Regina’s needs. I frankly would like to see this as the beginning of a novel exploring more of their relationship and where their trip to Atlantic City leads.
(The copy of this novel was supplied by the author and no remuneration for the review was involved.)
