Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117443 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
There were dozens of framed pictures on the wall of people, bikes, people on bikes, people standing next to bikes. And a large, flatly secured Harley Davidson flag mounted to the wall behind the desk.
"What's your name?" the blond asked, taking a seat in the more expensive, more well padded chair.
The young woman dropped her bag again and took the other chair. "Hayley," she announced.
"I'm Maria. Where you from, Hayley?"
"Hayley" took approximately 2.5 seconds to size up her mark. This office was no nonsense. Ordered, clean, and neat. The woman before her might like her hair silky and bleached and her nails long and manicured, but she was somewhere around forty or forty five and while she didn't exactly look like the rode-hard-and-put-away-wet-too-many-times type, she definitely wasn't going to be one for sob stories. She just wasn't the motherly type. Or at least not like "Hayley's" mother, at any rate.
"Just got off the bus from Denver," Hayley replied.
"Hmm. What'd you do in Denver?"
"Just recently I was a waitress. In a diner downtown. I can give you the number. They'll give me a good reference. But you'd probably rather have the number of the Bar Kay, also in Denver. I went by Crystal there, though. That's my middle name. Hayley Crystal."
"Hmm," Maria said again.
Hayley squared her shoulders. "I don't have ID," Hayley admitted, better to just get that out of the way. "Left it in Denver."
"Left it in Denver," Maria repeated. "Social security card?"
"Left that, too."
"Well, Hayley," the older woman said, emphasizing that she in no way believed that was the younger woman's Christian name. "What do you have?"
"A good pair of boots for being on my feet all day and a really reliable alarm clock." An alarm clock known as insomnia.
Maria considered this. "Just got off the bus. Means you don't have a vehicle."
"No, Ma'am, but like I said, I've got a good pair of boots. And they were made for walking."
Maria grinned in spite of herself. "And if I gave you a drug test?"
"I could pass it right now. Or any time you feel like giving me one."
Maria lifted an eyebrow. "Mind showing me your arms?"
Hayley faltered. Or at least pretended to. Maria raised that eyebrow even higher. Finally, slowly, Hayley lifted her arms and yanked up her sleeves revealing deep bruises that were clearly a few days old and already fading. "I'm not a charity case," Hayley said indignantly. "I'll work."
"Well, I don't hire slackers," Maria supplied. "Didn't hit you in the face, though," she observed. "Which means you can start tomorrow. I can only put you on days for now," Maria informed Hayley. "Other girls got priority."
Hayley nodded, "That's fine." And truly it was. Walking home in the dark wasn't high on her list of relished activities and she suspected that in Rapid City, like in most smaller towns, the buses stopped working after dark. If she worked nights, she’d have to take a cab home and that would take a chunk out of her nightly earnings.
Hayley had watched her spending for years, carefully monitoring expenses, and choosing only the cheapest places to live that were still considered relatively safe. She had some savings, though not in any bank, of course. But money wouldn't last forever and the only way she could be absolutely assured to stay ahead of disaster was to keep working, even if it was days in a bar which would be slow as hell.
"Days are pretty quiet," Maria told her. "Nights, when you get to 'em, can be rowdy."
Hayley nodded sagely. "I can handle rowdy."
Maria glanced down at the girl's arms. "I bet." She met Hayley's eyes again. "You keep your own bank and cash out at the end of your shift. If your receipts don't match your totals, you pay out of pocket. Happens three times and you're out, whether you paid me or not. If you work out on days, I'll switch you to some nights."
Hayley nodded. Nights sucked, but nights were money, and a diner job might open up soon, anyway. She'd just keep an eye out.
"You're late three times, you're fired."
Another nod. Apparently Maria was big on threes.
"And," she continued, "not that it's any of my business as long as it doesn't affect your job, but I'd refrain from going out with anyone you meet in here."
"I've sworn off men."
"Heard that before."
"Not from me."
The truth was the thought of a man coming with in two feet of her occasionally made bile rise in Hayley's throat. She was grateful that it was only occasionally now, rather than all the time.
Maria eyed Hayley one final time and pushed the folded paper across the desk. "Got a place to stay?"
Hayley shook her head. "That's next on my list."
"Shift starts at 10:00 tomorrow. Don't be late," Maria warned.
"That early?" Hayley asked.
"Got a small grill. Serve sandwiches and burgers for lunch and dinner."