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“You sure you want to go in there, hon?” the elderly womanwho’d introduced herself as Gwen asked. She had a helmet of blue-gray hair anda sweet smile.
She also had a lead foot. “I’m not going in to party, MissGwen. Sometimes they let me work a shift. Or at least help clean up. I’m savingto get my car fixed.”
She fished out the seven dollars the ride cost. Yup. Sheneeded her car. Still, she added a couple of bucks because tipping was karma,and she could use some.
What she didn’t tell the nice lady who’d driven her out toThe Barn was that she didn’t want to sit in her musty motel room where she wasfairly certain her “neighbors” were cooking meth and those two creepy guys camearound at least twice a week to ask her if she’d found Jesus. In that motel?No. But as they were ones who called women whores for wearing pants, she waspretty certain neither of them had met the Lord’s son either.
“I’m looking at a mustang,” Gwen said with a big smile thatshowed she was only wearing her top teeth. “I can’t wait to put thoseyoungsters to shame. And forget about what I said. You’re young. You get inthere and have a blast. Find a couple of cowboys and get them to fight, andwhoever wins goes home with you. Oh, I loved those days. Make sure they aren’tarmed. That was the mistake I made. Good-bye, dear. Give me a call if you needa ride home.”
She peeled out, proving that station wagon still had somelife in it.
So did Gwen.
Sometimes Nicole wondered if she did.
There was a whole bar right there with bright lights andloud, rocking music and vibrant people having the time of their lives, and shehoped someone would slip her forty bucks to clean the bathrooms and wipe downthe tables.
And if she couldn’t find a ride back she’d be out anotherten, so she would actually have netted a whole twenty bucks.
How long had it been since she’d danced and enjoyed herself?
Not since the minute she’d married a monster.
With a long sigh, she turned and started for the door andran right into another woman.
“I’m so sorry.” She managed to catch herself.
A gorgeous redhead stood her ground. She was wearingwell-worn jeans and a Western shirt that hugged her every curve, the pearlsnaps undone to show off a bit of impressive cleavage. She recognized thestunning woman from the diner. She was the cowboy’s sister or cousin orwhatever. Shit. Was he here? Of course he was. Where else would he be on aSaturday night?
“I’m not.” Redhead gave her a brilliant smile. “Hey, wehaven’t met. I’m Olivia. You’re new. I saw you at the café earlier tonight.”
Nicole nodded. “Yeah. I started working there a couple ofweeks ago. I’m Nicole.”
She was glad they didn’t seem to be exchanging last names.Sometimes she forgot that one. In her defense, she’d had four over the last twoyears. It could confuse a girl.
Olivia’s eyes widened as she looked at something in theparking lot behind Nicole and then suddenly she was beside her, hooking her armaround Nicole’s and leaning in conspiratorially. “Well, Nicole, why don’t youlet me show you around? Come on in, and the first round’s on me.”
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on drinking. I’m here to ask themanager if I can help clean up after hours.”
“Then you have hours and hours before you need to work,”Olivia said. “Besides, you already worked a whole dinner shift. Let me buy youa Coke if you don’t want something stronger.”
“I was going to hang out upstairs.” Nicole found herselfswept along by her new friend. “They have this room, you see, and it’s prettyquiet.”
“Oh, I know all about that room. I wish I didn’t know aboutthat room, but my parents are open about things they should shove way deepdown,” Olivia said as they entered the lobby. The music was louder here but nottoo bad since the honky-tonk had a dining area, though from here she could seethe neon lights from the dance hall. “You know everyone complains about theirparents being repressed and stuff, but do they ever consider the opposite?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I guess I never thought about it.” Shewasn’t sure what was happening. Maybe she was being kidnapped.
Olivia waved to some friends but hustled Nicole over to aquieter section. There were a couple of bar areas here in the large complexknown as The Barn. The one off the lobby was where people waited for a table.At this time of night, the dining room was only half full, so the forward barwas fairly empty.
“Well, it’s terrible. My mom and dadsgot it into their heads that if they were open about sex, I wouldn’t get acomplex.” Olivia sat down at a table for four, patting the chair beside her.“The complex is real. I’m afraid to walk into any door of my house. I learnedto knock at a young age. How about you? Your parents uptight?”
“Oh, my parents are kind of… I don’t know what they are. Mymom left when I was seven and Dad remarried and started a new family, and I waskind of like the unpaid babysitter. Let’s just say I find Cinderellatriggering.” Why had she said that? She’d learned to say as little as possibleabout herself over the last couple of years. She’d learned to blend into thebackground so as few people as possible noticed her.
Maybe that was way easier in the big cities she’d been in orthe tiny farm towns where no one looked at her at all because she’d beenpicking tomatoes or helping bring in the citrus crop. She’d melted into groupsthat no one wanted to acknowledge existed because they were paid mostly underthe table.
“How many siblings?” Olivia held a hand up, gesturing to thewaitstaff.
How did she get out of this? She’d kind of planned ontalking to Tally and then sneaking up to the room Olivia seemed to think wasterrible so she could take a nap. It could be hard to sleep at the motel.Between the drug deals and the sex workers, nighttime could get loud.
