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The funny thing was, I would have thought being fired from my understudy gig would have been the biggest loss. But I actually missed the classes more. The happiest times I’d had over the past eight years were in those classes. I taught ballet, tap, and contemporary to kids ages two to twelve.
Thankfully, I’d be able to teach again on the cruise. I was in two shows a night and also teaching a jazz class, which I knew would be good for my mental health. It would also be a chance to build up my savings since I wouldn’t have to pay for lodging or food, which were both included. By the time I was back on dry land in September, I would have enough money saved to start over again. Fresh start. That’s what I needed. But first, I had to do my time in purgatory. I mean, Wishing Well.
After taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the bathroom and headed to the counter with a wide smile on my face. “Hi, Mrs. Ferguson.”
Mrs. Ferguson squinted at me. Her brow furrowed as she lifted the thick, black- rimmed glasses that were hanging from her neck. When she slid them on, her eyes widened with recognition. “Ruby Rhodes, is that you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays!”
“It’s been a while,” I agreed. “How have you been?”
“As happy as a hog in mud. I just lost one hundred and eighty pounds of dead weight.”
“Wow! That’s amazing.” I didn’t remember Mrs. Ferguson having any weight issues. She’d always had a slight frame.
“It sure is! I got rid of that no-good, two-timin’, lyin’ husband of mine.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She shook her head. “Denny Ferguson didn’t have the good sense God gave a goose and he wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped him in the face. I tell you what, if that man’s lips were movin’, he was lyin’. I’m better off without him. I had a divorce party to celebrate my independence.”
“Oh, well, congratulations then.” I smiled.
“Thank you, darlin’.”
“Um, I filled up on number four.”
“Oh, right. That’ll be thirty-eight seventy-two.”
I slid my card through the reader as I heard the bell ring over the door, indicating another customer had entered. I didn’t turn around for fear it would be someone I knew.
“So, how long are you—” Mrs. Ferguson’s attention was caught by something on the screen. “Oh, it looks like you’re gonna need to try again, sweet pea. It didn’t go through.”
“It didn’t?” Panic rose in me, and I swiped the card again. I waited with bated breath, then saw decline on the screen.
“Hold on, let me check…” I pulled out my phone and tapped on my bank app. After I logged in, I saw that my account was negative ten dollars. Panic rose in me. I checked the transactions and saw that my gym membership had gone through, which overdrew my account. I’d forgotten to cancel my membership.
Crap.
“Don’t worry darlin’. You can use another card, or cash if ya like.”
“Um, yeah, let me…” My mind was racing a million miles a minute. I didn’t have cash, and both my credit cards were maxed out.
“You can ring it up with mine,” a deep voice sounded behind me.
Goosebumps lifted on my arms, and the hairs on the nape of my neck stood up, but I ignored my body’s response to the baritone vibrato.
“You don’t have to do that.” I was already coming up with a backup plan of calling my mom and begging her to bail me out when I turned and came face to face with a police badge that was attached to a shirt covering a broad, muscular chest. My eyes lifted, and every thought in my head vanished as I looked into the deepest, brownest eyes I’d ever seen in my life. They belonged to the one person I didn’t want to see.
“Kane.”
All these years, I’d imagined this moment; I’d just never thought it would happen at rock bottom. I shouldn’t be surprised with the way my life had been going. This was just another rung on my humiliation ladder.
2
KANE
