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“I’ll be fine. I’m really more of a city girl.”
“I make you uncomfortable.”
She made a face. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Veronica jumped when he went for his wallet, and he arched a brow. That eyebrow had a mind and life of its own.
He unfolded the smooth leather and slid an ivory business card across the table. The font was Palatino Linotype—classy, and not at all what she’d expect from a Rancher. She wondered if he’d picked it himself or if someone named Kimberly or Tiffany had suggested it. The ink was in burnt umber. There was a crude image—almost like a stencil—of a G with steer horns coming out of it—also in the brown ink. In the middle of the ivory rectangle were the words:Granger Ranch, Luke Granger, owner.An address and phone number were in the lower left, along with a website.
For the briefest moment, Veronica pretended she’d take his offer and that he wasn’t potentially dangerous. The business card painted a nice, peaceful scene far from the stress of the city.
“The guys convinced me to take a much-needed vacation, so I’ll be here til the end of next week. You can call me if you change your mind. That number is my cell. I always have it on me.”
“I don’t think I will.” She slid the card back in his direction.
He shrugged. “Suit yourself. Keep the card. I got a bulk discount.” He laid some money on the table and walked out of the diner.
The waitress sat two cups of coffee down on the table. “Is he coming back?”
“Probably not,” Veronica said, unsure if she was relieved or disappointed.
“Shame. He’s a fine looking cowboy. He could ride me any day.”
It seemed to be the sentiment of the day.
* * *
Veronica satat the kitchen table with her pile of bills, credit cards, and a bowl of Ramen noodles, keenly aware of how close to nothing she was. Between the bad economy and her colorful job history, her industry as a whole seemed to have decided they were no longer buying what she was selling. Even crappy jobs outside her industry were in short supply these days. Moving to a new city required money she didn’t have, so that was out.
Being confronted with the reality of her finances and job prospects in such short order was bracing to say the least.
Luke’s business card sat to the side. It reminded her of a famous short story: “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank Stockton. The only thing she remembered of the story was that a man was presented with two doors. Behind one of them was a beautiful woman who presumably he would take as his wife. Behind the other was a tiger that would maul him to death.
The Rancher’s offer felt like that kind of choice. She could choose to stay in the city and try to put her life back together. She could end up pulling it together and having a happy ending, or as a prostitute in an alleyway strung out on heroin. Similarly, if she went with Luke, she could end up safe and happy or in a hole in the ground. It was impossible to know which choice would result in her death, but she felt certain one of them would.
Her credit cards were laid out in a row, ready to be put in the appropriate pile: maxed outor usable. Given her current predicament, all maxed cards would have to be cut up, the others she’d have to live on sparingly, along with her last paycheck, until she could work something else out. She stacked her most current credit card statements in the order the cards were in.
“Maxed out, maxed out, maxed out, maxed out, usable, maxed out, maxed out, usable, usable, Victoria’s Secret...” Victoria’s Secret wasn’t maxed, but it had to go in the maxed pile. A card to a lingerie store couldn’t feed her—or actually it could, but she wasn’t about to go down that road. “maxed out, maxed out, maxed out.” The rest were department store cards which suffered the same unfortunate drawback of Victoria’s Secret.
Even with her income, it shouldn’t have been possible for her to acquire so many credit cards. And yet here she was: five Visas, four Mastercards, one Discover card, three American Express cards, and all the rest. Three cards were still usable. One Mastercard and two Visas. Each card had less than two hundred dollars available. She had one paycheck coming in two days and a final check in two weeks. A little under five thousand dollars to her name after taxes, including credit cards. Even if they weren’t maxed, she’d have to get rid of the American Express. The annual fees were too much on top of everything else.
Veronica cut up the bad cards, but rationalized keeping the store cards. After all, if she had no apartment, there was only so much she could carry with her. People needed clothes. She felt like a fugitive. She wouldn’t be able to get an apartment even as nice as the one she was in without proof of current employment. And if she dropped to the next level down, she might as well be the heroin-addicted whore in the alley.
2
Aweek and a half later found her in a deserted park looking like a bag lady. She’d had to be forcibly removed from her apartment. She’d been to all the employment agencies, but the only things available—she was overqualified for. What did that even mean? If you could do more, couldn’t you just as easily do less and take the pay cut?
She’d ended up taking only a couple of bags of personal belongings; paying for storage would only get her in a soup kitchen line sooner. She’d thought about selling her stuff on eBay, but the logistics of running an online store from a cheap hotel room while she was running out of money stopped her. She’d be robbed blind if she brought most of that stuff to where she was currently staying, anyway.
It was only a matter of time before the money ran out, and she didn’t want to think about what would happen then.
“Ronnie?”
Veronica looked up to see Luke standing in front of her, as physically appealing as ever, while she was doing a great impersonation of a homeless person. She knew she looked like a deer in headlights. There was no other way to look. This wasn’t a public place. Technically it was, but the public was out doing other things. She and the cowboy were alone.
He sighed. “It’s only been a few days. What could have gone this far south in that period of time? Surely you have savings, friends, family... ?”
She didn’t want to give him any information but she was sure the expression on her face answered all of his questions. He sat beside her on the bench, and she inched away, trying not to be obvious about it.
