Page 44 of Survive the Night
She finished putting several flakes of hay in one of the feeders before asking, “What did you expect?”
He paused, wanting to get the words right. It wasn’t a bad thing, what he’d expected when he’d first saw her, and he didn’t want his explanation to come out as an insult. “Your family has a lot of money. Money usually means that you can hire people to do things for you. Sometimes, when people don’t have to do the messy jobs, they forget that those things exist. You don’t, though. You know they exist, and you know how to do them. In fact, you seem happy to do them.” Otto watched her carefully for any sign of offense, but she looked thoughtful instead.
“You’re right.” Turning away, she stacked hay in the other feeder. He wished he could watch her expression, since her voice was carefully even. “My father and brother hired people to do everything. Two of those people, Chester and Gloria, pretty much raised me. Chester taught me about horses and cars, and Gloria taught me how to cook and how to defend myself and basically all of the things that normal people know how to do. I was lucky. If I’d been a boy, my father would’ve taught me how to be like him. I’d much, much rather be like Gloria and Chester.”
Her voice shook a little at the end, and Otto couldn’t help himself. He reached out and stroked her back. When she leaned into his touch, he felt a deep satisfaction, more intense than anything he’d ever felt before. It startled him, the hugeness of that feeling, and he withdrew his hand, reminding himself that he needed to be careful. She could leave him in ruins if he wasn’t.
Then Sarah turned her head and gave him a smile that was sweet and whole and knocked his caution right out of the water. It was too late. He was well and truly caught.
Chapter 13
Sarah clutched her falsified résumé in both hands, hating how much she was shaking. She tried to force her feet to walk through the door, but they were not cooperating. She turned to face Otto, who was patiently standing next to her, waiting for her nerves to settle. “How do people do this?”
Otto chuckled, but it sounded more sympathetic than mean. “It’ll get a little easier, once you’ve gotten through a few interviews, but I don’t know anyone who actually enjoys job-hunting. When I applied to the Monroe PD, I was shaking in my boots, and I knew the chief.”
“So, what’s the secret?” She shook out one hand and then the other. Her hold on the résumé had been so tight that her fingers were cramping.
“Confidence?”
“You don’t sound too confident about that.”
He smiled at her, bumping her arm lightly with his fist. “You have to fake it at first.”
“Okay. Fake it.” She thought of all the dinners she’d sat through, all the horrible people she’d been polite to. “I can do that.”
Squaring her shoulders, she marched into the store and up to the register, where an older man with a craggy face and a couple weeks of scruff was playing on his phone. He was wearing overalls. Sarah had never seen anyone over the age of four actually wear overalls before—not in real life, at least. It was a good sign, she decided, that the employees could dress casually.
“Hi. Is the manager here?”
He lifted his eyes from his phone without raising his chin, which was a slightly menacing look. Fake it, Sarah reminded herself, and she held his gaze. “What do you want?” he asked.
“I’d like to apply for a job…um, here.” She gave herself a mental smack. No stuttering. Project confidence! You can do it! Her thoughts were the mental equivalent of inspirational posters.
He slipped his phone into his overall bib pocket. “You’re new in town.”
“Yes.”
“Why’d you move?”
“My friend Jules lives here, and I’ve always wanted to live in Colorado.” The line came out smoothly—as it should, since she’d practiced it over and over.
“Why’d you leave wherever you were from?”
“I graduated from college.” She liked answers that weren’t actually lies, since she was less likely to stumble over them, and there were no twinges of guilt.
“Where you staying?”
Her first instinct was to lie. For the past few weeks, she’d been so focused on hiding that it was hard to answer honestly. Aaron was in jail now, though, and soon he’d be with the FBI. For the moment, she was safe. “With Otto Gunnersen—for now.” As she added the qualifier, she felt a pang, but she quickly pushed it away. It wasn’t the time for moping. She had a job to secure.
“All winter?”
“Will I be staying with Otto all winter?”
“No,” Overall Guy said, leaning back against the wall. “Will you be staying in Monroe all winter?”
“Oh. Yes.” Unless her brother made her run again, but that wasn’t a confidence-building thought, so she pushed it back.
