Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Hayley nodded her understanding. She hiked her duffel onto her shoulder and thanked Maria.
Being so late in the afternoon, finding a place within walking distance of Maria’s proved more than a little difficult. The possibilities for rent paid in cash were few and far between, even on the edge of town. Hayley gave up looking for the day and found a cheap-as-dirt no-tell motel six blocks from the bar and settled into a room that smelled like corn chips and sweat. She struggled to drag the dresser in front of the door which was already locked and chained. Stripping off her clothes, she stepped into a hot shower and felt her aching muscles give way to the onslaught.
What she'd seen of Rapid City today, touring the city by bus and by foot, she'd liked. The people were polite, but not overly friendly. The weather was pleasant since she'd skipped winter altogether.
If things worked out with housing and a steady day job, she could easily stay a whole six months here. She washed her hair and carefully arranged a back story for herself repeating details over and over until she emerged from the shower as Hayley Turner, 26, from Denver, Colorado. With a mom at home and a father who worked in engineering, both living in Phoenix. A fair bit of that was true. She was 26, and her mom stayed at home while her father was, in fact, an engineer, though not in Phoenix.
She dried off methodically, carefully positioning her body so she was not facing the mirror. There were times when she did look in the mirror. Hours, days, had been lost with Hayley unable to look away from the straight, raised white lines on her chest and the more purplish-hued jagged ones on her belly. But today was not one of those days.
She had to find a place to live and had a new job to learn and today was not a day for wallowing. Not if she wanted to sleep as much as she could. And she did, want to sleep. That was her last thought after she set her travel alarm clock (another bit of truth there) just in case and drifted into unconsciousness as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Chapter 2
Unsurprisingly, Hayley was awake before her alarm went off. She silenced it preemptively and staggered to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth. Sleep was always an iffy scenario at the best of times and she was pleased that she'd managed to exhaust herself so much that she had only woken a few times to check the dresser blocking the door and that the window was locked.
She dressed slowly, in the same jeans but a different long sleeved shirt. She pulled the dresser away from the door, shouldered her duffel bag that had been carefully re-packed, and headed out to hoof it the six blocks to Maria’s, leaving early enough to stop for a soda and a danish along the way.
The afternoon had passed quickly, with Hayley getting a tour of the bar from Maria and setting to work schlepping orders from the grill to the few patrons who stopped in at random times to eat and grab a quick beer.
Maria had eyed her duffel as she'd entered the bar and took that to mean that Hayley had not found suitable digs in such a short amount of time. "I might be able to set you up with something," Maria had said off-handedly, but Hayley, from experience, had said nothing because sometimes people said things and didn't mean them, or they didn't work out, and there wasn't any point in getting your hopes up until there was a reason to get your hopes up.
Toward the end of her shift, the front door opened letting in the light of another beautiful spring day. Hayley couldn't make out the customer with the glare of the sunlight in her eyes, but plucked her pad out of her apron and took a step forward to come around from behind the bar. She paused, though, when Maria called out, "Hey, Shooter," loudly from where she was stocking the fridge with local craft beers.
He came more fully into the bar, glancing around the area. His eyes passed easily over the patrons, lingered slightly on Hayley, who immediately looked to Maria. The man's eyes came to rest on Maria as an easy smile settled onto his face.
"Maria," he said, purposefully walking up to the bar.
"Here," Maria said, lifting a half full case of Bud and shoving it into his arms. "Help me with this."
He grunted, but it was a slightly amused grunt, and Maria picked up a second case of bottles and headed off toward the back while Hayley grabbed a cloth and began wiping down tables.
*************************
"That her?" Chris 'Shooter' Sullivan asked, setting his burden down in the stockroom next to Maria's crate.