Tex (Burnout) (6 page)

She gave him a sharp look. “I prefer the term ‘Vigilantly Organized’. I arrange people’s schedules, including my own, for a living. I have to be organized.”

“Nothing wrong with being organized,” he told her, drying his hands on the towel. Suddenly, her microwave beeped.

He watched her put on an oven glove and pull a metal tray out of the oven. He moved closer for inspection. “What is that?” he asked with distaste as she attempted to peel the steaming hot plastic off a small rectangle of frozen dinner lasagna. “That is not food.”

“Yes, it is,” she told him. “And frankly I consider it a miracle that I’m using the oven. I’ve lived in a hotel my whole life, Tex. Room service? I have no idea how to cook. I’d order take-out, but I’m new in town and I don’t know what’s good here. Plus, I’m trying not to shop in the lumberjack section of department stores. Flannel is not a good look for me. This is a healthy alternative. Says so right on the box.”

“Uh huh,” said Tex. He took the oven mitt from her, scooped up the box, stepped on the pedal of the trash container in the corner and dumped it in.

“Hey! That’s my dinner!” she protested.

“Vegas, that is garbage and that’s where it belongs.” He got out his cell phone and hit a number on speed dial. He ordered a massive amount of chinese food and gave Abby’s address. “Real food will be here in 20 minutes.”

Abby tried to protest when the delivery boy arrived and Tex insisted on paying for the food. He silenced her with a look and told her to go get a towel. She did and came back with it. They spread it on her living room carpet and set out the food.

“I’m sorry I don’t have any furniture. It’s on my list,” she told him while he gathered napkins from her kitchen.

He chuckled. “From what I’ve seen, there’s probably an actual list.”

Abby was chewing a dumpling and pointed to the fridge. He turned to see a shopping list pad stuck to it with a magnet. He moved closer to examine it. “What are Jimmy Choos?” he asked.

Abby swallowed. “Shoes. Like the Harley Davidson of shoes.”

He picked up the utensils and carried them over. “So, you don’t have furniture or a TV, but you’re buying fifteen hundred dollars worth of car parts?” He settled down on the other side of towel, facing her.

“A girl’s gotta have priorities,” Abby insisted. “Besides, I need the stress relief. I was really excited about this job, but so far, it’s been shit. My boss is kind of a dick.”

Tex considered this. “Hmm. Well, my boss was my L.T. so I knew what to expect going in. Why’s your boss a dick?”

She glowered. “Because I’m supposed to be the Assistant Manager. Emphasis on
assistant
. But I’m doing way more than my fair share of the work. Plus, I’m not getting paid extra for it or getting kudos from the owner.”

Tex frowned. He didn’t like the idea of her being used. “You gonna do anything about that?”

Abby shook her head. “No. Not right now. I just got hired. I can’t go around bitching about the job nanoseconds after I started. Something will give. Plus, I don’t want to make waves at the moment. My boss gives off kind of a weirdo vibe and until I know why, I’m just going to fly under the radar.”

Tex’s mouth twitched. “Weirdo vibe?”

She nodded. “I’m from Vegas. My weirdo vibe is finely tuned and something about that guy isn’t kosher. I just don’t know what it is.”

Tex grinned. “I could be a weirdo.”

Abby looked up at him, unconcerned. “My neighbor likes the Price is Right. And Days of our Lives. And the News at Eleven.”

“Ah,” he said with understanding. “Thin walls.”

“Yep. So, if I scream for help...”

“Neighbor will come running,” he finished.

“Well, no. She’s 75 and uses a walker. But I’m sure she’ll hobble right over.”

Tex smiled. “A lot could happen in the time it takes an old lady to hobble over here.”

She surprised him by muttering, “Yeah, but not the fun stuff.”

They ate and talked about Abby’s plan of attack for the Camaro and she came back from the kitchen with a new list of parts. “Have your boss call me and I’ll give him my credit card number,” she said. “And...you don’t have to deliver them next time. I mean...if you’re busy or whatever. I could come in. Save you the trouble.”

Tex smiled. She was being polite, but the look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. He took the list from her and pocketed it. “Told you, Vegas, delivery’s free.”

True to his word her part order came in early at the beginning of the following week and he pulled outside her condo again after work. Her garage door was slightly ajar again. He handed her some boxes and immediately picked up a wrench.

“So what does your mom do?” he asked.

Abby paused for a second. “She’s not around anymore, but she was a showgirl.”

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

“Huh. I can see where you get it from, then.” He, watched, pleased, as she blushed a little but kept her eyes on the electrical line she was disconnecting. He took pity on her and changed the subject. “My dad was on the rodeo circuit for most of his life.”

Abby glanced at him. “Really? Rodeo’s pretty tough.”

Tex nodded. “My mom ran the farm when he was on the road or injured. Which was a lot of the time. She’s retired now. My sisters didn’t want the farm and neither did I, so they sold it, and divided it equally among all of us, plus a little something for them to live on.”

“How many sisters do you have?” she asked.

He grinned. “Four. All of them older.”

She laughed. “I bet they tortured you a lot.”

“Well, thankfully they tended to just take swipes at each other and leave me alone for the most part. But my mama does have a fair number of pictures of me at about three years old wearing a cowboy hat and a hoop skirt.”

Abby laughed so hard she had to a wipe a tear from her eye.

He laughed, too. “I’m pretty sure it didn’t do any permanent damage.”

When it started getting late they headed inside to wash up and Tex asked if she wanted to order Chinese again.

“Yeah, but I’m paying this time,” she demanded.

“Okay, sounds fair.”

She headed off to the bedroom to change out of her dirty t-shirt and the doorbell rang.

“Could you get it?” she called out from behind the closed door. “My purse is on the counter.”

“No problem,” he called out, picking up her purse. He opened it and reached in, but didn’t come up with her wallet on the first try. Instead he found a snub nose .38. He turned it over and examined it. The doorbell rang again. “Just a second!” he called loudly. He put it back, opened her wallet, and took out some cash.

He paid the boy and set the food and the change on the counter. Abby came back out in a new, slightly better fitting shirt. “What did we get this time?” she asked. “It smells awesome!” She laid out a towel on the floor.

Tex brought over the bags. “What do you need a gun for?”

Abby looked up at him. “You didn’t rob the delivery boy with it, did you? Because I love that place and I’m pretty sure they won’t deliver here anymore if you point a gun at them.”

“Nah. I put it back. But why do you need it?”

“I probably don’t here. But Vegas is Vegas and I’m used to carrying it around.”

“You take a class?”

She gave him a pointed look. “Yes, Dad. And I practice every month at a range. And I keep the safety on. And I don’t talk to strangers even when they have candy or puppies, which are two of my really big weaknesses, I’ll have you know. So if a guy has both, I’m fucked.”

Tex laughed and took a bite of Kung Pao. “There’s a good range off Catron boulevard.”

She nodded. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll check it out over the weekend.”

“Do you have a bed?” he asked her suddenly. Her eyes widened in surprised. “I mean, you don’t have anything else and I don’t know if you sleeping on the floor to feed your classic car addiction is going to be a great idea long term.” Frankly, he did find it a little odd that she’d choose a project car over, well, anything.

“Yeah,” she said, shifting a little uncomfortably. “I’m not that crazy. The bedroom’s actually totally done,” she said, sounding a little defensive. “It’s the room I spend the most time in so I started with that one. I just want to finish one room at a time.”

He nodded remembering she was ‘vigilantly organized.’ “Are you gonna paint?”

“No. It’s just a rental. Only for six months. I wanted to get a feel for the city before I chose a permanent neighborhood.”

“Good thinking,” he told her, and it was. It was exactly what he would do. Choose a short term place and look around.

“I don’t want to go crazy buying a bunch of stuff for this place just to move it all out again. Especially since I don’t know the layout of whatever place I might get in the future. I’m just sticking to the basics, here. I only need a bed, a dresser, a couch, and a garage for my car.”

He grinned. “Girl’s gotta have priorities.”

“Exactly.”

Tex dug into his Kung Pao. Abby seemed a little young sometimes, but she was smart and independent and knew exactly what she wanted and how to go about getting it. And she’d been working her ass off for damn near ten years to make it happen. She had a plan for everything and he wondered if she had an idea about bringing a man into her life. She hadn't mentioned it. He figured she was probably too focused on her career and her hobby.

She was a little too well hidden in her non-descript clothes and he wondered if it was her size that made her self conscious. She wasn’t stick-thin, that was for sure, but she wasn’t fat by any means. She was tall, too, and maybe that intimidated a lot of men. Tex himself was 6’2” so it didn’t bother him. He could tell she had a very decent sized chest and a nice ass, but she never called attention to either of them. He wondered what was underneath all that fabric.

“You should come to Maria’s on Friday night,” he said. “The guys will be there. Slick’ll be there, too, but she’ll be working. You should get out of here once in a while.”

She looked like she was actually considering it. “I might. Thanks.”

“It can get a little rowdy on the weekends,” he told her. “But then again, you’re from Vegas, so somehow I’m pretty confident you can handle it.”

“Yeah,” she said smiling into her House Special Fried Rice. “After the Strip, Friday nights at Maria’s sounds like a day care.”

He smiled. He loved her sense of humor.

CHAPTER FIVE

Friday should have been a work day to look forward to, but Abby was frowning at the check-in screen in front of her. She’d only been at the Custer for a few weeks and she couldn’t possibly have increased its overall performance in such a short amount of time, but neither had she been made aware that the hotel was in such dire straights. Even at off-peak season, this week’s bookings were dismally low. As were last week’s and the week’s before that, according to the reports she’d generated onscreen.

She’d checked the totals for last summer’s peak season and the recorded bookings weren’t nearly as high as a hotel of this caliber should be. She tapped the keyboard and generated a report for books on this same week for the last five years and waited patiently for the printer below the counter to finish.

Back in her office, she spread the sheets across her empty desk and picked up a highlighter. According to the reports, three years ago, the Custer’s bookings for this same week in May began declining and still had not tapered off. She knew that the current owner, Burton Jr., had inherited the hotel from his father upon his death three years ago and it seemed the Custer had been in a steady downfall ever since. At this rate they would only be able to keep the doors open for a few short years.

Abby gathered the troubling reports and stacked them neatly together. She headed out of her office and down the hall toward Kessler’s office. Lord knew if the man would even be at work today. Or if he even knew what work was. As she neared the door, she heard the sound of two men laughing. She barely paused as she knocked sharply on the door and grasped the handle. Grudgingly Kessler acknowledged his visitor.