One Night In Reno (2 page)

“Problem?”  Her Good Samaritan hung up the phone and headed toward her. 

“Can’t get it started.” 

He did something to the catch, and then propped the hood. 

“I just replaced the battery,” she said.  “Plus paid four hundred dollars yesterday to keep it running...”  Once she realized she was babbling she trailed off.

“It’s just a coil,” he said.  Not to worry.  I can fix it.  But I hate to be the bearer of bad news, this isn’t a new battery.  See here…?”  He pointed out the telltale signs of rust and corrosion as he reconnected the coil. 

Jenny liked to think she had enough street smarts not to let people take advantage of her, but in the past seventy-two hours, she’d found out differently.

“Go ahead and start it up,” he said.

“Mom?”  Josh demanded her attention as she climbed behind the wheel and turned the key.

“Just a minute, hon.
”  The engine turned over on the first try.  The hole in the muffler made the roar almost deafening. 

Her Good Samaritan lowered the hood.  Coming around to her side of the car, he shut her door tight and leaned into her window.  “All set.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Not a problem.  Name’s Garrett, by the way.  Garrett Erickson.”

Josh grew impatient in the backseat.  Jenny wasn’t so eager to break the connection to her lifeline.  “Well, thank you...again, Mr. Erickson.”

“Garrett.  You didn’t tell me your name.”

“It’s Jenny--”

“Mom!”  Josh became more insistent.

“What, Josh?”

“Buster ate the toothpaste again.”

She glanced over the headrest at the mess.  “Grab a towel out of the dirty clothes.”

Josh handed her a clean T-shirt, which she used without hes
itation.  Rear end up in the air, she stretched across the seat and put the tooth marked tube back in the over night bag because they had no other option.  As she did, Jenny noticed the open bottle of Motrin.

“Josh were you in Mommy’s medicine?”

“No--”

Even as he said it, Jenny noticed teeth marks on the plastic bottle.  Buster stared up at her with innocent eyes and then retched—right before puking all over the backseat.

“Let’s get her out of the car.”  Garrett Erickson became the voice of reason.  “Son,” he said, “grab the dog’s leash.”  Josh got out, pulling Buster along with him.  “How many pills did she get hold of?”

“I don’t know,” Jenny dug through the bottom of the bag and managed to round up forty tablets.  “Maybe half.  The label says one hundred.  But I have no idea how many I’ve taken.”

“Mom!  Buster’s eating grass.”

“Why don’t I call a vet,” Garrett offered.  “Or you can call and I’ll clean up the mess in back—”

“I’ll clean it up.”  It wasn’t the kind of chore she wanted to dump on a stranger. 

He came back a few minutes later.  “There’s one right up the road.” 

She couldn’t afford to take Buster to a veterinarian.

“Mom, Buster’s shaking.”  Josh sounded as scared as she felt.  They’d held up reasonably well until now. 

What was she going to do?  She couldn’t just let the dog die.  “Oh please, God, no.”  Now she was shaking.

“You don’t have the money for an emergency, do you?”  There wasn’t the least bit of censure in Garrett Erickson’s voice or manner as he studied her face.

“It’s been one emergency after another.”

“Don’t worry about it.  I’ve got this covered.  Let’s get her to the vet.”

“I can’t let you do that--”

“What other option do you have?”

CHAPTER THREE

An hour later, the vet handed Jenny a one hundred and sixty dollar bill.  She stood by red-faced while Garrett Erickson opened his wallet and paid, in cash, without hesitation.

“I will pay you back,
today
.”  She cradled Buster as they stepped outside the veterinary clinic.  “Just as soon as I sell my car.”

“I don’t need to be paid back.”

“But I
need
to pay you.  I was going to have to sell the car eventually.  It’s been more trouble than it’s worth.  I doubt it will even make it to Reno.  And you’ve done more than enough for us already.”

“You’ll get three, maybe four hundred tops.  Then you’ll be stranded here in Fernley.” 

“Fernley, Nevada is as good a place as any.  I could live with that mountain view.  Josh and I come from a town a tenth this size.  Besides, if Greyhound goes through here, we can catch a bus to Reno and still come out ahead.  It’s better than driving there on an empty gas tank and arriving broke.” 

Pride was the only thing Jenny had left to hold on to.  Faced with her stubbornness, he agreed to help her sell the car.  Their first stop was to a car wash.  The exterior wasn’t the problem.  After washing away the road dirt, it was still a rusty heap.  There was, however, that awful smell to contend with.  Even their belongings, now strewn from one end of the backseat to the other, reeked of sick dog.

Jenny gathered up their clothes, clean and dirty and shoved them into the garbage bag.  She wasn’t surprised when Garrett suggested they take them to a laundry mat they’d passed along Main Street.

He got out of his car and met her at the hood of hers.  "There’s a Country Store.  How about I get an air freshener for the car?” he suggested.  “Want to come along?”

“No, thank you, I’ll stay here with the clothes.”  She felt a desperate attachment to the few items they had left.  As tempting as the thought of filling up on samples might be, going into the store would only remind her of the things they wanted and needed and couldn’t afford right now.  “But if you could pick up a job application...”

“Sure.  Josh?”  Garrett held out his hand to her son.  Josh hadn't received much male attention in his young life, but she was surprised by how eager he was to go with a complete stranger.

“Josh!” she called him back and silently reprimanded her son with a shake of her head.

The smile fell from his face.  His disappointment at not being able to go with the SEAL, made Jenny feel guilty.  For that matter Garrett looked disappointed.

But keeping Josh close was the right thing to do.  Even though Garrett was a kind stranger—he was still a stranger they’d picked up at a gas station convenience store.  Great, she’d been reduced to picking up men at convenience stores.

Garrett accepted her decision with a slight nod and left them alone.  Josh occupied himself by checking every coin return in the place.  A few minutes later, he presented her with his find.

“Here, Mom.”  He opened his grubby fist to reveal a nickel and a dime.

Jenny pulled her son close and hugged him.  “You keep it,” she whispered against his overlong hair.  “And you know what?”  She pulled back to look into his eyes.  “Take this and get yourself a pop from the machine.”  She handed him a dollar in change from the laundry money Garrett had given her.  She’d double up the loads in the oversized driers, and if that left some of their clothes damp, well, the look on her son’s face was worth it.

“Thanks.”  He accepted the change almost shyly, and then hurried across the tile to the vending machine.

Garrett returned a short while later with more than a pine scented, tree shaped car refresher from the look of it.  “Anyone up for a picnic?”  He set out a loaf of bread, peanut butter and grape jelly on the folding table.  Chips, cookies and soda pop--all a little boy’s favorites.

Jenny shot him a disproving glare.  She owed him so much already, but as with the quarters he supplied to clean the car and the clothes she kept a close count, and managed a half hearted, “You shouldn’t have.”

He shrugged.  “It’s past lunch time.  We’re going to be here awhile.  And I’m starving.  How about you, Son.  Hungry?”

That was the second time he’d used that endearment.  The first had been lost in the earlier commotion.  Jenny knew it was a cultural thing, some older men called younger men and boys, son, even when they weren’t related.  Garrett wasn’t that old and she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about him calling her son--
son
. 

Josh rummaged through the grocery bags with wide-eyed enthusiasm.  “Look, Mom…  He even bought Buster a treat.”

“To tempt her away from sugarcoated pain relievers.”  The man looked almost embarrassed.  The warm glow softened his features.  If she had to guess, she’d say Garrett Erickson was in his thirties.  It was hard to tell.  He could have been younger, and simply a graduate from the school of hard knocks.  Like she was.   

Her own embarrassment only served to make her feel more indebted.  “I’ll pay you back, every dime--”

“No hurry,” he said, letting her keep what little pride she had left as he handed over the job application she’d requested. 

They finished their picnic by the time the clothes were dry and ready to be folded.  Josh played with Buster just outside the door Garrett had propped open because of the heat and lack of a working air conditioner. 
                           

“Do you have family in Reno?”  He folded, and then placed one of Josh’s T-shirts on top of the stack with military precision.

“No.”

“Why Reno?” he persisted.

She shrugged.  “Why not Reno?”

“What is it you’re running from, Jenny?”  There was no judgment in words, only the warmth he generated by using her name.

“I’m not running from anything.”  She looked away, unable to meet the sincerity in his gaze.

“Husband?”

“Never been married.”

“Josh’s father?”

“Left a long time ago.”  She didn’t owe him an explanation, but she gave him one anyway--enough to stop the more probing questions--she hoped.  “He didn’t want anything to do with me or the baby.  He dropped out of high school and joined the Marines.  Last I heard he was killed in Iraq.”

“You know Josh might be entitled to survivors benefits—“

“Yeah, well, I don’t have any proof of paternity.  It was one night of underage drinking at a party I’d just as soon forget.”  She turned her back on Garrett and loaded the folded laundry into an empty basket.

“What about you?  Did you ever finish high school?”

“Got my GED.”  Even to her own ears, she sounded defensive.  The man was just being kind.  But kindness often hid a darker motive.  Though she didn’t want to believe that of him, she didn’t want to be in his debt either.  She couldn’t afford another mistake like the one that had cost her everything.  She’d thought her manager was just being kind, too.  He owned properties.  He could afford to rent her a trailer home cheap.  “Look, I appreciate your concern, but we’ll be fine.  I have a good friend in Reno.  I’m sure she’ll give us a place to stay until I find work.” 

It wasn’t a lie.  It just wasn’t the whole truth.

They loaded up Garrett’s Bronco, and then she and Josh followed him in the Fairlane to the first used car lot off Main Street.  He haggled with the dealer on her behalf, getting her four hundred dollars for the car.  Without his help, she would have walked away from the shrewd salesman with a lot less cash.

The dealer handed her the money.

Jenny counted out enough to pay Garrett back for the vet bill.  Then peeled off another twenty to cover the car wash, laundry and groceries—even though it probably wasn’t enough—and then another twenty for the one he dropped.  Which she still had tucked away in her pocket.

“Thank you, again, for your help today, Mr. Erickson.”

“Garrett,” he corrected, taking the two hundred dollars she forced on him with obvious reluctance.  “What’s next for you and the boy?”

CHAPTER FOUR

Jenny hesitated, wishing she knew what was next.  “Josh and I will catch a bus into Reno and in the morning I’ll start looking for work.”

“You could hitch ride with me.  I’d planned on spending the night in Reno--do a little gambling.  It’s no trouble.“

Still she hesitated.  “I don’t know--”

“It’s up to you.”  

His casual dismissal put her at ease.  A ride would save them bus fare.  “Guess I could call my friend when I got there--”

“I have reservations at the Travelodge.  You’re welcome to wait there for your friend.  Or I could even book you a room--”

“I wouldn’t want to put you to the extra expense.”  She looked at her son’s eager face, thought about the pup and all the things they’d have to lug.  Or wouldn’t be able to carry.  Did they even allow dogs on the bus?

“You can trust me, Jenny,” Garrett said.  “You really don’t have all that many options.  You’re going to have to trust someone.”

“Why are you doing this?”             

“I don’t have an ulterior motive.  I know that thought must have crossed your mind.  I simply wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I walked away from you and the boy.”