Sweet Dreams Read online

  This all was intermingled with a discount tobacco store that sold all types of smoker delights for all types of things you could smoke; two discount liquor stores; a drug store; a tailor who seemed to specialize in stitching biker patches into leather (or at least that was what the sign in the window said); two convenience stores, one opposite the hotel, one at the other end of town opposite the mechanic; a busy grocery store about a quarter the size of the mega-grocery stores that every other town in the nation seemed to have and it looked like it’d been there since 1967; a bakery; a hardware store; a flower shop; a gas station and a variety of other Nowheresville places to fill a Nowheresville town.

  There were people on the street and I knew they were friendly because most of them smiled at me.

  After I checked out the Main Street (called Main Street and it was also the only street with businesses, the rest was residential) of my new home, I went back to reception at the hotel. I bought a week’s worth of Wi-Fi from the nice lady who took that opportunity to share with me that her name was Betty. I shared my name too and decided to go ahead and pay a week in advance on my room when I got the Wi-Fi. This decision overjoyed Betty and I knew that because she told me.

  “Sweetie! A week! I’m overjoyed!” she’d shouted.

  She would be. Mine was the only car in the lot and she had a flower and pool habit and those weren’t exactly cheap.

  Nevertheless, she was friendly and open and I decided I liked Betty.

  After telling her I was glad I’d brought her joy, I went back to number thirteen and dragged out my laptop. Then I logged in. Then I ignored all my e-mail and sent a message to my parents and my baby sister that all was well, I was fine and I’d check in with more information later. I saw that they’d sent e-mails to me but I didn’t read them. I didn’t read them because I knew they would freak me out because I knew my Mom and Dad and sister Caroline were freaked out. They weren’t big on me upping stakes and roaming the country looking for nothing special. They were bigger on me moving home and sorting myself out and finding a decent man and starting over (in that order).

  I shut down my computer, sat on the big, soft bed, stared at the wall and thought about the next day when I was supposed to be at Bubba’s at eleven to train to be a waitress and start my new life.

  Then I smiled.

  Then I watched TV until it got dark and the pool beckoned me.

  Now I was standing and looking outside to see the pool looked clean and enticing and it was all lit up. In fact, the parking lot was all lit up. Seeing it, I knew four things about Reception Betty. She was friendly, she liked flowers, she was proud of her below average hotel and small but clean pool and she wanted her guests to feel safe.

  That’s when I saw the car pull in. It was a convertible, an old model something. It looked like a Chrysler, not great condition but also not a junker.

  It parked outside reception, the door opened and a woman folded out.

  I stared at the woman.

  She had thick, long dark hair and long legs most of which I could see coming out the bottom of her very short, frayed-hemmed jeans skirt. She had a tight tank top and more cleavage than Krystal (but as much as me). She wasn’t petite or slim, she was long and very rounded but it was clear she didn’t care. A mini-Buddha belly and a hint of back fat didn’t bother her. Not in the slightest. In fact, she worked it.

  She sashayed into reception and I saw a man was there. He was Betty’s upper-middle-age. He smiled at her like he knew her and she waved and smiled back giving the same impression. I knew this was the truth when he handed her a key without doing any of the usual checking in business. She took the key, put both her hands on the counter, lifted herself up, booty pointed up in the air, feet in high-heeled stiletto sandals on tiptoe. She kicked back one foot and leaned toward him, giving him an across-the-counter air kiss. Then she strutted back out to her convertible, got in and drove through the parking lot to park three spots down from my Lexus. She got out, didn’t grab a suitcase and walked toward a door where I lost sight of her.

  I had a feeling I was going to have to buy some tank tops to fit in in Carnal.

  I dropped the curtain and went to the dresser. Most of my clothes were folded and sitting on top, there wasn’t enough room for them all in the drawers and closet. But at least they’d been released from their suitcase captivity. In the drawers I’d put my underwear, socks and pajamas. I’d also put my bathing suit in there.

  Seeing my clothes laid out I thought it wasn’t much but it was more home than I’d had in a good long while and it made me feel weirdly settled.

  It had been a warm day but it couldn’t be over sixty-five degrees outside. Still, I loved pools, I loved to be in water and for some reason I really wanted a swim so I figured it would be like any time you got in cold water. Once you were in, you’d get used to it. At least I hoped so. If not, so what? I’d just drag my carcass out and come back to my room.

  I changed into my swimsuit, put on a pair of track pants, a sweatshirt and some flip-flops. Before I could chicken out, I grabbed a towel and my room key and headed to the pool.

  I slipped off my shoes and sweats and decided to dive right in. Better to get it over with all at once. I moved to the side of the pool, braced for impact and dove.

  The pool was heated.

  Heaven.

  I swam five laps of the short pool and had to stop because I couldn’t breathe. This, I told myself, had to do with the fact that I was in the Rocky Mountains, at altitude, and it did not have to do with the fact that I was seriously out of shape.

  I forced out four more laps and had to stop again.

  Then I forced out one more lap and put a hand to the edge to turn back for another lap when I heard the roar of bike pipes.

  Stopped at the edge of the pool, holding on and peering over the side, my eyes followed the black and chrome Harley gleaming in Reception Betty’s parking lot lights as it glided along, pulled in and parked next to the convertible. Then my eyes watched the man shove the stand down with his booted foot and swing his leg off the bike.

  His back was to me so all I could see was that he was tall and he had a great behind. He also had on faded jeans, a black, long-sleeved, thermal t-shirt and he had a head of thick dark hair that also shone in the lights, just like his Harley

  One of the hotel room doors opened and the woman in the mini-jeans-skirt ran out and threw herself at the tall man. Her arms wrapped around his neck and I couldn’t see it but I could tell her lips latched onto his.

  He didn’t even go back on a foot when her body impacted his. He just curved his arms around her and leaned into her kiss.

  That’s something special.

  The thought just popped into my head and I didn’t know why. I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know these two people. All I knew was that it looked special. So special, all I could do was stare.

  They stopped kissing and she tipped her head back and laughed with pure delight, the sound ringing through the air, filling it with music.

  I decided I hated her and I didn’t know why. I didn’t know who she was or what was happening. I just knew she had something special and I didn’t and never would and that sucked. It wasn’t a nice thought which was unusual because I was normally a nice person but it was the one I had.

  She disengaged from him and came to his side, wrapping her arm around his waist and propelling him forward.

  He looked down at her and I saw his profile in Reception Betty’s bright parking lot lights and when I did I held my breath.

  If he was that handsome in profile, so handsome he was breathtaking; he’d be sensational full on.

  That’s when I decided I really hated her.

  They got close to the door and he moved suddenly and quickly. Swinging her up in front of him, she wrapped her legs around his hips, her arms around his shoulders and tipped her head down to look at him. But he seemed to be peering in the room like he expected to see something or someone, something or some
one important, something or someone he was looking forward to seeing. But before he found that something or someone, she fisted a hand in his hair, tilting his back, her mouth went down on his and they entered the room necking.

  He closed the door with his booted foot.

  Yes, sensational. If he could pick her up like that and carry her anywhere, he was beyond sensational.

  “Like the pool?”

  I jumped and pushed off the side with my foot, my head jerking around as I stared at the Reception Guy who checked in Lucky as Hell Girl that I hated. He was standing at the side of the pool and looking down at me. I was so engrossed in Handsome Harley Guy and Lucky as Hell Girl I hadn’t heard him coming.

  “Sorry?” I asked.

  “The pool,” he answered. “Like it?”

  “Um…” I mumbled, staring up at him. “Yes.”

  “It’s heated,” he informed me.

  “Um…” I mumbled again. “I can tell.”

  “Betty ‘n me got it relined last year. One or t’other of us clean it every day. Best pool in the county.”

  I couldn’t disagree. It was a fantastic pool, clean, heated and everything.

  Therefore I said, “It’s really nice.”

  He rocked back on his heels and took in the pool with his eyes before he looked back at me.

  “Thanks. Ned,” he said.

  “Uh, my name is Lauren,” I said back and he laughed.

  “No, pretty lady, name’s Ned.” He jerked a thumb at himself. “I’m Ned.”

  “Oh,” I replied, feeling like an idiot. “Hey Ned.”

  “Hey back at cha Lauren.” He grinned. “Betty tells me you’re stayin’ awhile.”

  “Yeah,” I told him thinking he seemed friendly enough but not certain how much to share because, well, I didn’t know him and every girl in a pool in the parking lot of a hotel on the edge of Nowheresville should be smart and not tell their story, current or past, to some random man who snuck up on them. In fact, girls like that should get out of the pool, get into their room and lock the danged door.

  “That’s great.” Ned was still grinning. “We don’t get a lot of long timers. Weekenders. Nighters. Yeah. Long timers. No.”

  “Oh,” I replied, my eyes going back to the long block of hotel, specifically to my room where I figured I should be at that present moment.

  “That’s Neeta,” Ned said and I looked back at him.

  “Neeta?” I asked.

  Ned nodded. “Neeta and Jackson,” he shook his head, “bad news.”

  My gaze slid back in the direction of the hotel. He’d misinterpreted where I was looking. He thought I was looking at Harley Guy and Lucky as Hell Girl’s room.

  I didn’t inform him of his mistake. Instead, I asked softly, “Bad news?”

  “Yeah,” Ned answered. “She swings into town and shoo!” My eyes went to him to see he’d put his hands up at his sides and had taken a step back. “We brace.”

  “Brace for what?” I asked.

  He dropped his hands. “Brace for whatever Neeta’s got up her sleeve.”

  “Is that…” I stopped and motioned toward the Harley and the convertible with my head, “Neeta with that man?”

  “Jackson, yeah. He’s great, a good man, smart, solid, salt of the earth. Loses his mind around Neeta, though. Then again, not many men wouldn’t but I’m guessing you know all about that.”

  My eyes had wandered back to the Harley as I treaded water and Ned talked but I looked at Ned when I heard his comment.

  “I do?”

  His grin came back and it was bigger this time, brighter, transforming his whole face making me think he might just be a friendly innkeeper in a biker town in the Rocky Mountains, just like he seemed.

  “Sure you do. Ain’t shittin’ me, pretty lady.”

  He was right. I wasn’t shitting him mostly because I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “Figure, though,” he went on and his eyes moved toward the Harley, “you’d be worth whatever trouble you might cause.”

  “What?” I whispered and he looked back at me.

  “I’m a good judge of people,” he informed me instead of explaining himself.

  “Yes?” I asked because I didn’t know what else to say.

  “Yeah,” he replied quietly, moved closer to the edge of the pool and squatted down. I kept treading water and staring at him. “See,” he continued, still quiet, “any trouble you might cause I’m guessin’ would be trouble you don’t mean to cause.”

  “I’ve never caused any trouble,” I told him.

  This was true. I hadn’t. I was a good girl. I’d always been a good girl. I’d always made the right decisions and done the right things. I might have chosen the wrong husband and the wrong friends but they were the jerks in those scenarios, not me. I was nice. I was thoughtful. I was considerate. I looked out for my neighbors. I got up when old ladies needed a seat in a waiting room. I let people who had two or three items go in front of me at the checkout in grocery stores if I had a full cart of food. I kept secrets. I bit my lip when people I knew did stupid things I knew they would regret and then kept biting my lip when those stupid things bit them in the ass and they came to me and whined about it.

  I didn’t wear mini-skirts, not ones with frayed hems, not any mini-skirts at all. If I did, I wouldn’t wear them with high-heeled sandals. Maybe flip-flops or flats but not high heels. I didn’t air kiss front desk reception guys named Ned even if I knew them. I didn’t drive a convertible. I didn’t rush out a door and throw myself in the arms of a man.

  And I’d never laughed so loud I filled the air with music.

  “Betty’s different than me,” Ned broke into my thoughts and I focused on him.

  “She is?” I asked thinking I may have missed something.

  “I’m a good judge of people, she’s got the sight.”

  “The sight?” I repeated stupidly.

  He grinned again while straightening, it was his big grin. He had all his teeth, the eyetooth was wonky but they were all clean and white and the rest were straight. His hair was a little thin, light brown. He wasn’t tall, not short either. Lean and on the thin side. And, I was beginning to believe, a genuinely nice guy, not the creepy night clerk at a hotel in Nowheresville.

  “The sight.” He nodded then looked toward the hotel before he turned to me as I moved my arms through the water to take me back to the side so I could stop treading. I reached out and held onto the edge as he kept going. “She told me she met you and she just knew.”

  “Knew what?”

  “Somethin’ big was gonna happen.”

  I blinked and it wasn’t to get the water out of my eyes.

  “Something big?”

  “Yep.”

  “To me?”

  “To you, through you, because of you, whatever. But whatever it is, it’ll be big and it’ll be good.”

  I didn’t know what to do with this mostly because it was a little crazy.

  “She said that?”

  He nodded and crossed his arms on his chest, rocking back on his heels again.

  “Yep. And she’s never wrong. We been married twenty-five years and she gets these feelin’s and, I’ll repeat, she’s never wrong. My Betty’s always right. Always.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that so I stayed silent.

  “Anyhoots!” he exclaimed loudly. “Best leave you to your swim. You need anythin’ at all, you know where to find me. I hit the hay around midnight but you just gotta ring the buzzer outside the front door and it’ll wake me up. Yeah?”

  I nodded.

  “Anythin’ you need, pretty lady, I mean that,” he said and it sounded like he meant it.

  “Okay,” I replied.

  “Glad to have you with us, Lauren.”

  “Thanks, Ned.”

  He lifted a hand in a wave and wandered back to the reception-slash-house.

  I looked at the Harley and listened to the quiet of Carnal.

  Then I
forced out ten more laps (with three more rest periods), got out of the pool, toweled off, grabbed my stuff and ran to my room.

  Chapter Two

  A Job to Do

  I spent more time wondering what to wear to work than I did training at Bubba’s.

  Since Krystal was in a tank top the day before, I decided that it probably wasn’t work casual, more like anything goes. So I put on a nice pair of jeans, a belt and a peachy-pink colored t-shirt that had a crew neck and three ruffles made up the sleeves. I thought it was bright and cute. My ex, Brad, told me he thought it was a little young for me but I liked it, I thought it suited my coloring. I wore flip-flops because I usually wore flip-flops if I could but also because I figured I’d need comfortable shoes. I put in some earrings that were little dangles of peachy-pink crystals, a half-inch choker which was a net of peachy-pink beads and a bunch of bracelets that were elasticized bands of multi-colored crystal beads, peach, pink, peachy-pink, creamy peach, creamy pink, clear and I threw in a couple of blue ones to go with my jeans.

  I walked from the hotel to Bubba’s thinking that I should have planned ahead last night and maybe stocked some provisions in my room. I left early so I could pop by the bakery to get a donut and a coffee. I hadn’t even thought of dinner the night before and didn’t eat any so I was starving.

  My muscles also ached. It was dull but they were not used to being worked. They’d been cooped up in a car for four and a half months for one but even before that it wasn’t like I was a regular at the gym. I didn’t think this was good considering I’d be on my feet all day.

  Krystal was there when I got there and I knew right off she was in a bad mood. I didn’t know why but I suspected it was because there were some dirty glasses and beer bottles left out “on the floor” as she called it though most of them were on ledges on the walls around the pool tables and not on the floor at all. Also, when we turned the chairs off the tables, most of them hadn’t been wiped down.