Charlie was out-and-out grinning and flipping her phone in her hand as she walked from her car toward The Silver Palace, her current main job.

Grinning.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that.

Mrs. Johnson had called her today. She had three—three!—tutoring jobs for Charlie. The woman was confident that all of them would turn into weekly appointments. Not only that, she was positive that once school started and word spread about Charlie’s abilities, Charlie would have so many appointments she’d have to turn some down. She found that hard to believe, but it was a fabulous thought.

Mrs. Johnson had asked her once again to consider joining the Teton County School System, had sworn she would be a shoo-in for the job.

It was hard to lie to the other woman, but Charlie had already learned her lesson. There was no way she was going to be able to hold down any job where her ex-husband’s family, the very rich and powerful Kempsleys, had any sway.

That would be all of Wyoming and most of the surrounding states.

They hadn’t liked that she’d divorced Brandon after he’d been arrested. They held her responsible for it, and that she’d somehow ruined his good name by not taking the blame for what he’d done. Evidently to the Kempsleys, things like the truth played second fiddle to protecting their grown son.

Brandon hadn’t even gone to prison, despite the quantity of drugs found in his possession. His family had made a deal and he’d gotten off with a fine and community service. But Brandon’s dreams of a political career, or his parents’ dream for him, were effectively over.

And now, even years after the divorce, they were still making her pay. They made sure every job she’d gotten in the education field had been snatched away from her in the most brutal way possible. No school system would touch her, as Mrs. Johnson would find out if she took a permanent job offer for Charlie any further. The moment she was fully in the Teton County system, the Kempsleys would pounce. They’d put pressure on the principal or school board not to hire her. They’d tell outright lies, if they had to. The result was the same: unless Charlie wanted to move to a different part of the country, a full-time career in education wasn’t available. And right now, that move wasn’t possible.

So, she would keep tutoring for the time being. At least it gave her the chance to use her knowledge and skills. So far, the Kempsley family hadn’t stopped that, or maybe they just didn’t care about something so small. Hopefully, that would stay the case.

Because three opportunities this week to work with kids, to use her skills, like Mrs. Johnson was offering? Charlie would take it.

Even if one of them was Ethan Bollinger. Mrs. Johnson had assured her that Finn had given his explicit permission for Charlie to tutor his son.

Charlie didn’t know what had caused Finn’s change of heart. She’d spent the last week not thinking about their kiss in the parking lot. And definitely not lying awake hours at night reliving it. But at least those thoughts had made the long, sometimes frightening hours go by more quickly.

She would show Finn that she really is good at her chosen almost-career. That she has an unexpected talent with kids and loves helping them overcome their difficulties. She would help Ethan Bollinger with every last ounce of her ability, knowledge, and enthusiasm.

Not just to prove to Finn he was wrong, but because she wanted to help his son. The one that maybe in another life would’ve been theirs. She pushed that thought away too. No point dwelling on what would never happen.

She could do it. She just needed a chance. And now she was going to get it.

But first she had to get through this shift at the club. She walked in the back door of The Silver Palace, Reddington City’s premier—a term used loosely and only in advertisements—gentlemen’s club.

No one truly understood chaos until they were in the dressing room backstage of a strip club at ten o’clock on a Saturday night. But Charlie now had a very good understanding of it. Women were running around in various states of undress, talking at every possible volume, tone, and pitch. Some angry, others excited, a few obviously having taken an illegal substance to get them through their shift. Then there were those with eyes so weary and desperate it broke Charlie’s heart.

She’d stopped looking in the mirror, afraid her own eyes might start reflecting that same desperation back at her.

Charlie wasn’t a stripper, not that she thought less of the women who danced. She’d just never been able to bring herself to do it. She didn’t have the temperament, plus she couldn’t dance well anyways. But she bartended here six nights a week.

She may not dance or grind against drunk men for money, but the mesh tank top she was required to wear for her job left very little to the imagination.

She’d been mortified the first night in it, humiliated the second, but on the third, she’d realized that this job was going to provide her the money she needed to survive and make the necessary payments each month. So, she’d left her pride, and her bra, at the door.

Let the men look. As long as she was making the money she needed each month, she no longer gave a shit. Plus, The Silver Palace was in Reddington City, not Oak Creek. Here, she was just Charlie Devereux, bartender in a racy tank top. Not Charlotte Devereux, daughter of Milton Devereux, owner of the town factory and boss of half its residents. That had been her resume in high school.

Nobody from Oak Creek ever came in here. If guys were looking for a strip club, there were at least three closer to town.

Here, she was just another girl hustling to make the money she needed.

“Charlie! You’ve got a phone call, baby,” one of the dancers yelled.

That could only be her mother. Charlie had given her the landline number of the club because her cell phone didn’t get any coverage inside the building. It barely got it anywhere. Such was life with the cheapest prepaid service available.

She dashed over to the tiny supply closet that had been set up for the girls to use the phone, closing the door on the din behind her.

“Mama? Is everything okay? Is Dad all right?”

“Hi sweetie, how are you?”

Charlie closed her eyes and prayed for patience. She really didn’t have time to chat. Of course, Mama didn’t know that.

Mama didn’t know a lot of things.

“I’m fine, just busy. What’s up?”

“I heard all the noise and I can’t believe it gets so loud in a library study room.”

Her mom had no idea she worked in a strip club. The last number Charlie had given her had been for a study room, so Mama assumed this was also. She had no idea where the money she and Dad depended on came from.

“It’s Saturday night so it’s more like gossip central than anything else.” That at least wasn’t a lie. The women here could run their mouths faster than they could shake their hips. “What’s going on?”

The long pause meant something was wrong.

She took a deep breath. “It’s okay, Mama. Just tell me. What is it?”

“Your dad took a fall today.”

Charlie’s heart started pounding. Before she could ask all her questions, Mama continued. “It wasn’t bad. Nothing broken. The staff is just going to move him into a more supervised room for a few days, a week or two at the most, just to make sure he has what he needs.”

“And you’re going to stay with him?” Charlie asked, but she already knew the answer. Of course Mama was. She would every single night if it didn’t cost so much more. Charlie hated that money was what kept her mom in the tiny studio apartment outside of the treatment center, rather than in one of the family suites that would allow them to be together all the time. But there was no way Charlie could come up with the extra money. It was taking every cent she could make just to keep things at the status quo.

Mama’s voice was tentative. “I know that costs extra. But he’s so agitated right now—”

“Mama, just do it. It will be all right. I’ve got the money.” She definitely did not have it.

“Just for two nights, I promise. And you’ll come down to see us tomorrow? Milton always loves having you around, even if he can’t say it.”

Charlie closed her eyes as exhaustion washed over her. If she was going to see her parents tomorrow, she would have to get a room tonight. It was a necessity. She had to shower, fix her hair, put on unwrinkled clothes.

Keep the ruse alive.

And for her parents, she would do it.

“Yeah, of course I’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it. I’ll see you some time before lunch.”

“Okay, sweetie, I’ll see you then. I’ve got to get back to Dad. I love you.”

“Love you too. See you tomorrow.”

She hung up and leaned her forehead against the wall, doing some quick calculations. Dad in the supervised room would be expensive. But it was temporary. It all was. A couple more years at best was all Dad had. She could hang on for that long. Right?

And she could add another night working here, make it seven instead of just six. And talk to her boss, Mack, and see if she could maybe take over cleaning the bar during the day. She could offer a reduced rate as incentive. The crew he had now was unreliable.

She hit her head against the wall softly. It wasn’t what she wanted, but it would get her through this month.

At least Mack would work with her in terms of scheduling. He wouldn’t care when The Silver Palace got cleaned, so long as it was before the five pm opening.

Because she couldn’t bear to think about having to give up the tutoring jobs to get a second full-time job. But she knew it wasn’t far off on the horizon if things continued in this direction and Dad needed more pronounced medical care.

Sitting in this closet certainly wasn’t going to make her any money. She pushed open the door and made her way back out through the dressing room to the bar.

The noise assaulted her immediately, but she ignored it.

“You look a little pale. Are you okay?” Heather yelled as she made a rum and Coke and slid it toward a man watching the dancer onstage.

“Yeah. My mom called. Family stuff, you know how it is.”

The other bartender did. Not Charlie’s specific circumstances, but everybody here knew what it was like to have family responsibilities. They might put their bodies on view to make more money, but they did it for a reason. Bills, a mortgage, tuition payments.

Charlie had started working here a little over fourteen months ago, after she’d been fired from yet another educational system position thanks to the Kempsley family. Her first night had been one of the lowest points in her life. Realizing that she would be completely on display for every hour she worked. . .she’d vomited at the end of her shift. But that hadn’t stopped her from coming back for her next shift. She made more at The Silver Palace in one night than she had at past bartending jobs in an entire week.

Ironically, she’d gotten through those first difficult months of men leering at her basically naked breasts by thinking about Finn. She and Finn may have had sex in every possible position and location in Oak Creek, but he’d never looked at her with anything but respect.

Even when he’d hated her.

“Everything okay back here?”

Heather shot her a grin. “No worries. Although Rocco was looking for you. He—”

“There’s my hottie!”

Charlie barely contained her grimace. Rocco was everything that epitomized the negative side of working here. Wandering hands. Suggestive comments. Eyes that rarely left her chest.

She disliked everything about the man. Except for the tips he left her.

“When you going to start dancing, girl?” Rocco continued. “Maybe in the back room, just you, me, and a few of my friends.” The more excited he got, the more pronounced his Eastern European accent became. He licked his lips and bile pooled in her stomach. But at this point, dancing in the back wasn’t something she could discount. An hour with Rocco there could make her hundreds.

But the back rooms were for complete nakedness. Complete. Sex wasn’t allowed, but anything else was pretty much fair game. Charlie would have to expose herself to Rocco in ways she knew she’d never recover from. She didn’t judge the women who chose to do it. Some of them found empowerment in it.

Once again, Finn came to her mind. Dancing for Finn in the back room, exposing herself that way? That she could do. She would find a great deal of pleasure in it.

But for Rocco and his friends? That would destroy something in her she could never rebuild. She just couldn’t do it.

But she smiled at Rocco anyway. “You just keep thinking about that, honey,” she yelled over the music.

Rocco’s smile was slimy as he motioned for her to come closer. She barely kept her smile in place as she did. “I’m going to bring some of my friends here. We’ve been looking for a place for business and I think The Silver Palace will do nicely. Your boss should be very happy he has such good employees like you to help drum up business.” He ran his finger up and down her bicep. Nothing she could complain about.

Except that he never looked away from her chest. But then again, why would he?

Charlie couldn’t let it matter. Pride was a luxury for people not doing everything they could to survive. She just nodded at Rocco.

She spent the rest of the night smiling, pouring drinks, and stopping some argument between a couple guys from turning into a fight that would disrupt the place. Hustling and making as much money as possible.

As they were closing, she talked to Mack about adding as many shifts as she could, to which he gladly agreed, since Charlie was one of his best and most responsible employees. When she mentioned the cleaning, he was a little more skeptical but relented when she argued the financial advantage. He agreed to try it for a month. He’d even let her start tomorrow.

She left, knowing she had to return in just a couple hours to get it done so she could visit her parents in Denver. There was no point in getting a hotel room after all. She’d just catch a couple hours sleep in the parking lot before coming back in. She’d wash and fix her hair in the sink the best she could. Mama would probably be too distracted to notice. And it had been years since her precious dad had truly been lucid enough to care.

So yeah, she was going to be tired. The thought of more hours on her feet cleaning the club made her exhausted and she hadn’t even done it yet. This wasn’t going to be easy.

She had to focus on the positive. Working seven nights a week here plus doing the cleaning would enable her to keep her tutoring jobs. Working in the field she loved would be enough to keep her soul from being crushed under the weight of everything else.

Three days till she got to do what she loved. She would focus on that.