Welcome to Last Chance by Cathleen Armstrong Read Free Book Online

settle that sometime, but I don’t think I can deal with it today.”
    â€œYou’ve had a day of it, haven’t you? And it’s not even noon. I think you should just go over to Elizabeth’s and take a good long rest. There’s all the time in the world to get everything else taken care of.”
    As Lainie watched, Ray pulled into the parking lot across the street and got out of his truck. He stopped to talk to Manny, and Manny was still laughing when Ray slapped him on the shoulder and went back into his bar. Lainie hoisted her backpack to her shoulder. “Sounds like a plan.”
    Heat pushed against the door of the Dip ’n’ Dine and wrapped around Lainie like a blanket when she walked outside. The white sun had sucked all the color from the sky and the town. Even the single strip of blacktop that ran through was gray.
    Manny, with her car in tow, pulled out onto the road. He rolled down the window and leaned out. “Want to ride with me down to the station and take care of all the paperwork?”
    Lainie shook her head. She knew she should probably get that check before Patsy got wind of the sale, but she just couldn’t. Notright now. “Think we could do it later? Maybe even tomorrow? I’d like to go get settled.”
    â€œSuit yourself.” He waved and drove on. Lainie couldn’t decide if his wide smile was because he wouldn’t have a crazy lady riding in his truck with him after all, or if he was still thinking about the spectacle she had made of herself earlier. Either way, he was far too cheerful.
    An old school bus with “Church of Last Chance” painted on the side rumbled by on its way out of town. A couple of young guys in the back hooted and waved their arms out the window to get her attention.
    Lainie found herself wondering how serious Elizabeth was about making her go to church. She still hadn’t decided if she would go, although she was leaning toward no. After all, what could Elizabeth do? Call the cops? Did Last Chance have church ordinances the way they had vagrancy ordinances? She wouldn’t be surprised. Well, she’d give it till Sunday, then decide. If her luck changed, she might even be hundreds of miles away by then. Shifting her backpack to the other shoulder, she turned down Elizabeth’s street.
    A hot wind had begun to blow by the time she walked up the front steps. The row of trees to the side of the house danced in toward the roof and added a shushing whisper to the sound of the television gunfire pouring from the front door. Elizabeth looked up from the afghan she was crocheting when Lainie came in.
    â€œHere you are! Get everything taken care of?” She started to struggle out of her recliner, but when Lainie waved her back, she returned to her crocheting. “I had Ray put everything back in your room. He sure was in some kind of mood, though. He wanted to dump every blessed thing you had in your car on the floor of your room, trash and all.”
    Lainie headed back to her room. As she passed the sofa, anenormous gray-and-white tabby jumped off with a thud and padded behind her.
    â€œThat’s Sam,” Elizabeth called after her. “He thinks he owns the place. If you don’t want him in there with you, just shove him on out. He’s not the big shot he thinks he is.”
    Sam trotted past Lainie and led the way into her room. He rubbed his whiskers and chin against the two cardboard boxes and the suitcase that held all her belongings before he jumped up on the bed, stretched, and curled up in a patch of sunshine. Lainie could hear the deep rumble of his purr from where she stood in the doorway.
    â€œThis your space? Well, get used to sharing it.”
    It didn’t take her long to unpack. She shook out the clothes in her suitcase and folded them away in the lined dresser drawers. She didn’t have much else, just a few things that she carefully arranged and rearranged on the