Angels Fall

especially it I figure you're not going to go rabbiting off some night and leave me flat. I don't like to depend on anybody. You just get disappointed that way. But I'm going to make use of you, and you'll get your pay on time, and a reasonable rent on this place. You'll get your time off, and if you're still here in another couple months, you'll get another raise."
    "I won't leave you flat. If I need to go, I'll tell you beforehand."
    "Fair enough. Now I'm going to ask you straight out, and I'll know if you're lying. You got the law after you? "
    "No." Reece combed her fingers through her hair and let out a weak laugh. "God, no."
    "Didn't figure you did, but you might as well know some folks around here are speculating on that. People in the Fist like to speculate, passes the time." She waited a beat. "You don't want to say what it is behind you. that's your business, too. But it might help it someone comes looking for you, you tell me whether you want them to find you, or be pointed in another direction."
    "No one's going to come looking for me. There's only my grandmother, and she knows where I am. I'm not running from anyone." Except maybe herself, she thought.
    "All right, then. You've got the key. I got a duplicate in my office. You don't have to worry about me coming up and poking around once you move in. But you're late with the rent. I'll take it out of your pay. No excuses. I've already heard them all."
    "If you can cash my paycheck, I'll give you the first week now.
    "I guess we can work it that way. Another thing, I could use some help with the baking now and again. May tap you for that, have you give me a hand. I use my own kitchen for the baked goods."
    "I can do that."
    "I'll work it into the schedule. Well, let's get back before Beck poisons somebody.
     
    WITH THE REST of her pay and a portion of her tip money, Recce headed to the mercantile. Basics, she reminded herselt. Essentials and no more. This wasn't Newberry Street and she couldn't afford indulgences.
    But God, it was a kick to be going shopping for more than new socks or a pair of jeans. The idea of it lightened her steps until she could actually feel good, healthy color in her cheeks.
    She breezed in with a quick jingle of the bell that hung over the door. There were other shoppers, and some she recognized from the diner. Steak san, extra onions for the man in the plaid jacket in the hardware section. The woman and the little boy browsing in dry goods—fried chicken for him, Cobb salad for her.
    She made a group of four as campers, loading up on supplies they had stacked in one of the rolling grocery carts.
    She lifted a hand at Mac Drubber, and found a comfort in his acknowledging nod. It was nice to recognize and be recognized. All so casual and normal. And here she was looking at packaged sheet sets. She rejected the plain white immediately. Too reminiscent of hospitals. Maybe the pale blue, with its pattern of tiny violets, and the dark blue blanket. And for towels the buttery yellow for some sunshine in the bath.
    She took the first haul to the counter.
    "Got yourselt a place, did you?"
    "Yes. The apartment over Joanie's," she told Mac.
    "That's fine. You want me to start an account for you?"
    In her current mood it was tempting. She could get everything she needed, and a few things she only wanted, and pay for it later. But that would be breaking the hard-and-fast rule she'd lived by for more than eight months.
    "That's all right. It's payday. I just need to get a few things lor the kitchen, and I'm set for now."
    She did the math in her head as she scanned, debated, deleted or selected what was absolutely necessary over what could be done without. A good cast-iron skillet, a decent pot. She couldn't afford the kind of cookware she'd once owned, or good knives, but she could make do.
    Even as she calculated, adjusted her list, she glanced up and over each time the little bell jingled.
    So she saw Brody come in. Same battered leather jacket, she noted, same down-at-the-heels boots. He looked like he might have shaved in the last couple of days. But that look in his eyes, something that said he'd seen it all already and didn't miss it, was still there as his gaze passed over her before he headed to the grocery section.
    Thankfully, she'd already hit that area for what she considered pantry and refrigerator staples.
    She pushed her cart to the counter. "That should do it, Mr. Drubber."
    "I'll ring you up. No charge on the teakettle.