Page 10 of Just For Her

“Hey, now, I’ve heard people can be all sorts of things! Gay, lesbian, bisexual, pots and pans sexual…”

Chrissy hid her face behind her hands. “See what I deal with?” she asked her friend. “This guy is straight from the Stone Age.”

“Are the ‘60s the Stone Age?” Huey pretended to be dumbfounded when he asked that. “Funny! We were calling the old people backthencavemen!”

All Kayla had gleaned from that exchange was one pivotal thing: Tove Fredriksson was not only available, but she preferred the company of women.I’ve never thought about being with a woman before…In truth, Kayla had only dated men. While LGBT acceptance and visibility had exploded during her lifetime, she had never once thought about switching her dating apps to “Men and Women” or going out on that blind date one of her lesbian friends “jokingly” tried to set her up on. Kayla had never seen a beautiful woman and wondered what it would be like to kiss her.

Yet for millions of dollars? For a future?

Hm. Does this put Tove in the contention pile?Kayla had only been in town for three days, and she already had one man and woman – from the same family, no less – on her list of potential paydays.

They had both given her their cards and told her to call if “something happened.”

Darn. Kayla’s hip may have been hurting after all.

Chapter 4

Shedidn’timmediatelycallTove or Thomas. Not only was that too desperate, but Kayla had to line up other opportunities should this one fall through – or take too long to prosper.

First order of business? Driving around town looking for HELP WANTED signs in the various cafés, restaurants, and bars. Unfortunately, she never finished her bartending training, where the real tips were, but she had good references from her other restaurant jobs. It was enough to get her to the interview stage at a few of the more upscale restaurants and breweries. Out of the five she applied to by the end of the weekend, three asked to talk to her in person. One of them was Brickhouse Brews, the stalwart station right on the Deschutes River, where Thomas Fredriksson almost murdered Kayla in broad daylight.

Still a cute story to tell our kids, right?

Her references were forwarded and her credentials were checked. Brickhouse assured her they would call back with one result or another, which was more than the other two locations said when she interviewed. Only then did she take out the business cards and decide who to call.

“Hi, Thomas?” She was sent straight to his voicemail on Tuesday afternoon. “This is Kayla. The girl you met last week under strange circumstances? You told me to call if something came up, and it may have. Ever since we met, my hip has been giving me problems. Started as a little pain, but now I’m afraid to walk too much without aggravating it. Do you think you could help me at all? I’dgreatlyappreciate it.”

She hung up and released the tension from her face. Across the table, Chrissy clapped and said, “Excellent performance. If that man has one brain cell, he’ll be calling you back.”

“Should I have been more suggestive?”

“In what way?”

“I mean, flirtatiously. Or I could have suggested I might have to get the police involved…”

“Do you have to play so dirty right away? Let’s see how he reacts. Besides, didn’t you say you’d try calling someone else?”

“Sure. There’s his cousin who was at the bar Friday night.”

“Right. Might as well call her, too. Look, maybe Thomas won’t pan out on the romantic front, but it sounds like this family is willing to make a situation ‘go away’ if you play your cards right. Convince them you’ve gotta go to the doctor due to Thomas’s negligence behind the wheel, and boom. Payday?”

“It’s not the long-term plan.”

“It’s better than nothing. Girl, you said yourself – you need money.”

“I also don’t want to burn my bridges with a family that holds a lot of sway around here.”

“The Fredrikssons? Sure, they’re old money with hands in every pocket, but there issomuch new blood in the area now that the rules are changing. In another ten years, nobody will care about what the Freds have to say.”

“They’ll still probably have money, though.” Kayla pointed to the title on Tove’s card. “I don’t care about influence or power. I only need cold, hard cash in a bank account somewhere.”

Chrissy snorted. “You’re more hardcore thanIwas when I came here looking for so-called love.”

“You have a family to fall back on. I don’t.”

To her credit, Chrissy took that to heart. “You’ve got your brother.”

“Who is super stretched thin with two young kids. I can’t put more strain on him again.” Kayla shook her head. “I can’t. What if I get sick when I’m older? Like my mom? Who is gonna take care of me, let alone afford the kind of care I’ll need? My sister-in-law? One of their kids? No. I’ve gotta do this, at least to the best of my ability. Maybe I’m not cut out for this. Or maybe I’ll crash, burn, and be humiliated. You know, leave this town with my tail tucked between my legs. But I’ve gotta try before I move back in with my brother and get another job at a diner that pays zilch at a time when people are stingier with tips than ever! I barely made enough to cover my phone and car back in Portland.”

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