Page 9 of Owning the Prez’s Ol' Lady

Shasta

My eyes were feeling extremely heavy, and the lines in the road were starting to blur. I felt the car veer to the left and heard a horn blare.

“Shit!” I screamed, righting the car before hitting the oncoming semi. The sudden jolt and noise made Ramona stir next to me.

“What happened?” she asked, yawning as she stretched her arms.

“I almost killed us both. I need to pull over soon, otherwise, it’s not going to be pretty.”

Ramona nodded. “Okay. Hey, there’s a twenty-four-hour diner up ahead, maybe we can pull in there? I’m starved anyway.”

Nodding in agreement, we pulled into the tiny parking lot of the diner and parked. “You go get something to eat, Ramona. I’m gonna sit in here and just rest my eyes for a while.”

Ramona smiled. “You do look pretty crappy.”

“Thanks.” I couldn’t mask the sarcasm that invaded my tone.

Giggling, she exited the car, practically skipping up to the diner.

Where are we anyway? I looked at the GPS on my phone and found that we were in South Dakota, some little town called Platte.

The diner’s sign had a few lights out so instead of saying Diner it said Die.

Interesting.

Through the big glass windows, I could see Ramona chatting up a woman behind the bar, and my stomach began to grumble. It was two thirty in the morning, and I was hungry as all hell.

Screw it, I better eat something as well. Reluctantly, I dragged my tired and sore body out of the car, then joined my friend inside.

“Change your mind about wanting food?” Ramona teased as the woman handed her a glass of orange juice.

The woman’s eyes were a bright blue-borderline white that seemed to twinkle in the overhead light. “Hi, welcome to my diner. I’m Josie.”

She was drop dead gorgeous with her long black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail that swayed along her back, and the friendliest smile I’d ever seen on anyone ever. She had pronounced cheekbones, and no makeup whatsoever. She was literally a natural beauty with her flawless olive skin and trim figure.

“You do realize your sign out there saysdieright?”

Josie laughed. “Yeah, I keep telling my brother he needs to get that fixed, but it’s not high on his priority list right now. Where are you two coming from?”

Ramona and I shared a look, then shrugged. “Someplace we never plan on going back to,” I answered for us both.

“Ah, so you’re running from something! Well, don’t worry, Platte is the perfect town to settle your boots in. We accept everyone here, and not a lot of people know about us.” I couldn’t help but notice the way she kept sending flirty eyes Ramona’s way, and how Ramona was giving them right back to her.

Hmm, did Ramona find a potential girlfriend without really trying?

“Are there any hotels or travel stops in town we can stop in for the night?”

“There’s some kind of event going on in town right now. All the hotels are taken, but my brother and I have a guest cottage you can stay in for the night if you would like?”

Ramona’s smile grew even bigger. I could tell the idea of staying anywhere Josie stayed really made her happy.

“Sure, but we don’t want to put you and your brother out.”

“You won’t. I’m about to get off work, and Joe will be coming in for his shift. We have a few cooks, like Raymond back there.” She motioned to an enormous blonde guy with a big scraggily beard. “But we’re super short on help right now. I’m the only waitress, and my brother has been filling in when I need to get off.”

Ramona gave me another smile. I could see her wheels turning. She wanted to stay in Platte, South Dakota. We didn’t really talk about where we wanted to end up, just some place that got a lot of snow.

“Well, if you’re looking for help, we’re looking for work,” I told Josie, shooting Ramona a smirk when her eyes brightened.

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