Page 57 of Nomad

“Come on. Brant said to show you around so that’s what we must do. The king has spoken.”

“Do you live here, too?”

Garland laughed. “No. We have a place close to downtown, overlooking the river. We’ll have you over one of these days.”

“That would be nice.”

Garland reached over and put Bud’s hair behind her shoulder. It didn’t need to be done. It was an affectionate gesture that had Bud wondering what it would have been like if her mom had lived. Perhaps Garland was also wondering what it would have been like to have a daughter.

Everyone turned to look when Garland and Bud came through the door. Brant and Brash had already disappeared into Brant’s office.

“Brenda, this is Bud. Your replacement. You do a good job of showing her the ropes and there’ll be a nice farewell bonus in it for you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Brenda smiled at Garland and at Bud. She was a sweet-looking woman in her late twenties with a round face, strawberry-blonde hair, rosy cheeks, and a full figure. But the important thing was that her welcome seemed sincere. “First thing tomorrow?”

“Sure,” said Bud. “Good.”

“Let me show you which room is yours,” Garland said as she walked toward a long hall with doors on either side, hotel style. She stopped two doors before the end, where there were two large double doors.

Bud glanced at the number next to the door. Nine.

“This is you,” Garland said as she opened the door. The room was large, made to feel even more so by the fact that there was little furniture. “Don’t worry about the lack of style. You can do what you want with the place.” She looked at the inside of the door, pulled a key from the deadbolt lock, and handed it to Bud. “This is the only key. If you lose it, we’ll get a locksmith, but we want you to feel safe. Now sometimes the men who live here get a little rowdy. Sometimes they bring women back here. Just ignore it. They absolutely will not bother you. On pain of death.”

Bud barked out a laugh at that. “Pain of death?”

Garland gave her most serious look and said, “Definitely.”

“Good to know.” She looked around. “This is so nice of you.”

Garland shook that off. “Now about tonight. Here are your choices. You can stay in here and get settled. You can eat in the kitchen with whoever is here and start getting to know them. You could bring food back here if you want. The laundry is on the other side of the kitchen if you need it, but Brenda will give you a tour in the morning.”

Bud could see that Garland was waiting for an answer. “I guess I’ll, um, get settled and eat in the kitchen. No point in hiding in here. But…”

“What? Don’t be afraid to say what’s on your mind around here. Believe me. Everybody else does.”

“Will somebody tell me what’s going on with Johns? I don’t know what to expect. Can he have phone calls or visitors or…? I don’t know.”

Garland’s face softened. “Brant will let you know the second he knows anything. Now I’ll be here tomorrow at eleven fifteen to pick you up for the doctor. We’ll go shopping after that.”

“Thank you.”

“If you think you’re okay, I’m going home. Is there anything else I can do for you first? You want me to introduce you to everyone?”

“They all know who I am. Right?”

“Yes. They do. They’re all going to think you hung the moon because of what you said about Cann. So don’t worry about being accepted. You already are. Now that you live here, think of the kitchen as yours. You can go down there any time of the day or night and get anything you want.”

Bud nodded. “Thank you,” she said again.

“It’s not a gift. Just a statement of the way the place works.” Garland patted her on the forearm. “See you tomorrow.”

When she left, Bud found herself alone for the first time since Cann had told her to come out from behind the vending machines and state her business. She sat down on the bed and looked around the room. She hadn’t just been saying she was grateful that she’d landed on her feet. She was grateful all the way down to her toenails. But she was also eaten alive with guilt that Cannon Johns was in jail while she was sitting in a nice safe, dry room.

She thought about crying for a few seconds, but decided it would be a waste of time. It wouldn’t change a thing, wouldn’t help Cann in any way, and being overly emotional might be bad for the baby.

So she got up, used the toilet and unpacked her few things from the fabulous Brahmin bag she’d essentially swiped from a rich woman who had, by all appearances, settled for money instead of love. As Bud ran her fingers over the beautiful bag she tried to imagine why someone would make that choice because, certainly, nothing in the world could be better than being loved.

Bud changed into the skinny jeans, the tunic top, and the low-heeled sandals, thinking that might be more appropriate. She opened the door and walked down the hall, but everything was quiet. There was nobody in the bar or in the lounge area, but she heard laughter coming from further back in the building.

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