Chapter Four

What the hell had happened? Lexi flopped back on her bed feeling like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Well. Sort of. She was, after all, staunchly refusing to be a whore. So it wasn’t the same thing at all really.

But the sudden switch to glitz and glamour was certainly similar to the movie. Not that Marina’s house was particularly glitzy. But it was a big step up from the seedy motels she’d been staying in. And about a monster step up from sleeping in the backseat of her car.

Marina had been overjoyed at the idea of a roommate. Well, at least at the idea of somebody to help out with the rent. Lexi hadn’t actually seen her yet but they’d talked on the phone and Marina had left her spare keys under a fake rock in the garden.

Lexi propped herself up on her bed. The room was a little plain, but clean. And it had only taken her about 45 seconds to move all her crap from her car inside. She surveyed her little suitcase that she’d tossed halfway into the closet after unpacking her two drawers-worth of clothes. Her old crappy laptop sat on the desk and a cup of water sat on the nightstand beside her.

And that was it.

In the context of the cute little room, with its light yellow walls and a plush creamy bedspread, her meager belongings looked pitiful. Reaching into her back pocket, Lexi pulled out her wallet. From there she peeled out the picture she kept inside.

Lexi was about eight years old, lanky and skinny, her hair in a messy ponytail. She had her legs kicked out in a can-can pose while her dad laughed down at her, one arm around her shoulders. A ratty baseball cap covered most of his handsome face.

Lexi sighed and carefully leaned the picture up against the wall behind the nightstand. Her handsome father. Always hiding that face of his. He’d put aside his dream to act when Lexi was born, and after her mother died, he’d put the dream away permanently. He’d had to rely on skills he’d learned as a kid to be able to put food on the table. That’s when he and Lexi had joined the rodeo circuit.

It had been a strange place to grow up, for sure. Lots of sun-hardened men with drinking problems, cheating on their wives back home and smoking two packs a day. But Lexi couldn’t help but feel an affection for the circuit. She’d gotten to spend time with her father every day. Gotten to see little stretches of America while traveling with the rodeo. She’d fallen in love with movies in the back of her father’s R.V. He’d plug her into a movie whenever things got too rowdy for a little girl. Maybe not the most classically wholesome life, but it had treated her well. She’d learned how to ride a horse. Hell, Maple had been sold to her cheap on her sixteenth birthday from her father’s best friend.

But after she’d turned eighteen, she’d longed for more. She’d left, set out to find her own path. Little did she know that she’d spend the next seven years doing a circuit of her own. Bouncing from town to town, job to job. Scraping by while she carved out time to write and ride Maple.

A tear slid down Lexi’s cheek. The check the man had written for her horse still burned a hole in her pocket. Lexi hadn’t cashed it even though she desperately needed it. The minute that money ended up in her account, it would become real. All of it. Her horse would be gone and she’d be on her way to L.A.

Suddenly she didn’t feel ready. Suddenly everything was moving so fast. Without giving it a second thought, she reached for her cell phone. Checking the time, she knew her dad would be getting ready for the big show. If he wasn’t riding tonight, he’d be helping some other cowboy get ready. It wasn’t the right time for a call. A quick text wouldn’t hurt though.

-Hey Papa

As always, his reply was immediate.

-Hey pumpkin, what’s shaking?

-Not much, just a little sad about Maple.

And a little confused about the hottest man I’ve ever met fucking me into next Tuesday. But, of course, she didn’t text that part.

-It was a tough decision, kiddo, and you made sure that horse had a good thing going for her. Nothing wrong with that. I love you, kid. But I gotta get on with the show here. I’m next. Wish your old dad good luck and I’ll call you tomorrow.

-Love you too, Papa.

Lexi smiled as she thought of her dad in his chaps and cowboy boots, swinging a leg over a horse. He’d given up bull riding a long time ago, after he’d been tossed and broken some ribs and his wrist. After that, he’d decided he couldn’t risk his daughter seeing him get trampled like a rag doll. He stuck to calf roping now. Some barrel racing on occasion.

Lexi’s smile faded when she pictured the last time she’d seen her father. Smiling as always, but aging far too fast. He was getting older, and he should have already retired from the rodeo life. But he couldn’t. Didn’t have any other skills to make a living. And Lexi certainly didn’t have the money to help. Not yet. Soon, however. Soon she’d write that screenplay, fulfilling her dreams and helping her father at the same time. Giving him an easier life, for once.

Or so she hoped.

God, she loved her father. He had given up everything for her, and she didn’t take that for granted. He was her favorite person in the world. Being with him made her smile. As did being with another man…

The image of her father faded away and an image of Eric took his place.

Lord, she couldn’t deny that Eric had pretty much fucked a feeling right into her. Some light, slick bubble that was lodged in her chest and wouldn’t pop no matter what she did. And that was just something she was going to have to ignore. Because she wasn’t looking to settle down. Not now. And not ever with a ranch owner in Montana.

When she finally did settle down, after fulfilling her screenwriting dreams, she’d settle with a world-wise L.A. man, maybe a writer himself. He’d know the right people and take her to hole-in-the-wall restaurants where they served authentic food she’d never even heard of. Maybe her dream guy would surf and play the acoustic guitar in the mornings with his feet up on their kitchen table while she drank a cup of coffee and got started on writing. And her father would live close so she could visit him and treat him to little luxuries now and again.

Good movies. Good food.

Good times.

Yeah. That was the life she wanted. She’d grown up with wrangler men. Worn jeans, a week’s worth of stubble, a can of Skoal in the back pocket. She knew those men. Men who partied hard, dreamed about things they’d never shoot for and who could calm a nervous filly with just a hand across her mane. Those men were appealing, sure. Nothing sexier than a man in a tight T-shirt and worn jeans. But, Lexi reminded herself, they weren’t just made of quicksand, they were stuck in the quicksand themselves.

Something about Eric had seemed different, though, which was why she’d accepted a job from him. Still he wasn’t different enough for her to accept a relationship from him. No sir.

“Lexi?” a woman’s voice called out as the front door slammed shut.

“In here!” Lexi shouted back, swinging her feet off the edge of the bed and sitting up.

Marina appeared in the doorway and Lexi cocked her head to one side as she studied the other woman. In the bar, with her bartender apron on and things balancing in her hands, Marina had looked like somebody’s little sister, filling in for the night. But here, in the light of day, with her thin sweater and perfectly tailored slacks, holding her own fingers delicately in front of her, Marina looked positively transparent. Like a puff of twisting cumulous cloud that might just get blown away in the wind.

Every feature on her was lighter than the next. Her toffee-colored hair just dusted her shoulders, and eyes that Lexi supposed were hazel seemed practically clear in her light fringe of eyelashes. Her nose was small and shapely and her lips, unpainted, were almost the same color as her skin. She was pretty, Lexi realized, but doing her absolute best to be invisible.

“Do you like your room?” Marina asked in a quiet, musical voice.

Lexi nodded her head, bouncing up and down on the mattress for a quick second. “Comfortable, clean, what’s not to like?”

“Good.” Marina glanced down at her fingers and then back up at Lexi. “I’m so sorry about something.”

Crap. She was getting kicked out already. “What’s that?”

Looking like she’d just robbed a bank, Marina twisted her fingers. “I totally forgot to tell you about something and it’s totally fine if it means you don’t want to live here anymore. I’ve been getting by alright on the rent. And of course I’ll give you your deposit right back and—”

“Spit it out, Marina.” Lexi knew her tone of voice was bordering on rude, but this woman was apologizing herself into an early grave and Lexi needed this band aid to be ripped off, like, yesterday.

Marina worried her lip between her teeth. “I forgot to tell you about Tulip.”

Lexi raised an eyebrow. “You have a tulip garden? Why would that make me not want to live here?”

“No.” Marina shook her head, so solemn. “My dog, Tulip.”

She moved to one side and a big pink nose nudged in next to her knee. The next second, the grinning face of a huge pit bull peeked in at Lexi.

Lexi let out a little yelp of delight and instantly plopped down onto the ground, making kissing noises and holding her hand out for the dog. Tulip’s nails tick-tick-ticked across the floor as she skittered over to plop onto her haunches at Lexi’s side. Her pink tongue lolled to one side out of her bony skull as she sat patiently.

Lexi let the dog smell her and then traced her hands over her head and down her bony body. “Well, aren’t you a beautiful girl,” she cooed scratching at the gingery gold patch of fur over Tulip’s right eye.

“Boy,” Marina corrected. “Tulip’s a boy.”

Lexi let out an appreciative laugh. “Oops. I guess a dog doesn’t much care what his name is, huh?”

“Can I come in?” Marina asked.

Lexi looked up, confused. “‘Course.”

Marina took some careful steps through the door and laid her hand on Tulip’s head. Tulip instantly leaned his tremendous weight on Marina’s leg.

“I renamed him Tulip when I rescued him,” Marina said. “Because I know how scared people can be of pit bulls. I thought if he had a sweet name…”

“Who could be scared of this guy?” Lexi asked as she found Tulip’s magic spot, the one that made his leg kick-kick-kick.

“My thoughts exactly.” Marina took a deep breath. “He’s a comfort dog. For me.”

“Oh,” Lexi snapped her hands back. “So that means I’m not supposed to touch him, right?”

“It’s okay. He’s not a service dog,” Marina said. “I just, I struggle with anxiety and…” Another deep breath. “PTSD. And a doctor recommended that I find an animal who can help me with those feelings.”

Of course, Lexi immediately wanted to ask Marina why she suffered PTSD, but she stifled the urge. She needed to earn the right to ask. Maybe they’d become friends and she could ask someday. Maybe she could even help Marina somehow. But then she reminded herself: Quicksand.

She wouldn’t be here long enough to do any of that. And though that made her sad, she needed to accept it.

“Um, does Tulip leave the house with you?” she asked.

“Most of the time. He stays in the back room at the bar. Snoozing and sneaking treats from the line cooks.”

Lexi grinned. “Ok, cool. Well, I don’t want to step on your toes, but if you ever need somebody to let him out or walk him or something, I’m your girl. I love dogs.”

“That’s nice. Thank you,” Marina said.

Lexi rose and realized just how much taller she was than Marina now that they were standing next to one another.

“So, uh,” Lexi cleared her throat. “Thanks for letting me crash here.”

“I’m grateful for the company, honestly. And for the help with the rent. This place was my father’s house, before he had to go to a nursing home over in Jacksonville. And I have trouble with the mortgage some months. You hungry? I just picked up some groceries. I was going to make something before I head over to the bar.”

“Sure.” Lexi looked at the time on her phone. Wow. It was already almost five o’clock. The day had slipped away from her. “That sounds great.”

Lexi helped Marina unpack the groceries while Tulip was belly up on the kitchen floor. Lexi couldn’t help but smile every time she had to step over him. The two of them ate their sandwiches in relative silence at the breakfast bar. Lexi looking around, trying to get a feel for the house.

Marina ate slowly and methodically, then immediately stood to wash and dry her plate. “Well, I need to change and head out to the bar now,” Marina said. “If you want to come by, you can have some free drinks. To celebrate your move?”

Lexi could tell the invitation, like most of what she did, made Marina nervous. She was like a pile of leaves and the world was a leaf blower. “How about tomorrow night? I want to be fresh for my first day of work tomorrow.”

“Oh, right. I forgot Eric said you were working at the hardware store now.”

Lexi stood, cleared her own plate and washed it. “How long have you known Eric?” she asked, trying to be casual.

“Since we were four or five. He’s spent every summer here with his grandparents since around then.”

“And then he’d go back to California?”

“Yup,” Marina’s eyes warmed. “I remember the Thanksgiving break that the boys visited him in L.A. Jake, his brother, Dean, and, um, Dylan.” Her cheeks pinked at Dylan’s name. “They came back with shell necklaces and sunburns and thought they could suddenly pull off words like ‘gnarly’ and ‘radical’.”

Lexi grinned. “How’d that go over in Montana?”

Marina grinned back. “Let’s just say it didn’t last long.”