Welcome to Last Chance by Cathleen Armstrong Read Free Book Online Page B

Ray put in front of her but didn’t drink it or even look up. She looked a lot smaller sitting huddled on that bar stool than she had looked in the parking lot yesterday.
    â€œEverything okay?” Ray poured a bowl of peanuts and set it next to her.
    She didn’t look at him or at the peanuts, and when she spoke, it was more to herself than to him. “I am so stuck here.”
    Ray was good at assessing his patrons’ moods, and usually when they didn’t feel like talking he just left them alone, but something about the way she was hanging on to that soda like it was the only thing keeping her from falling off the stool made him stick his neck out even though he knew better.
    â€œNobody could help you out, huh? Well, there’s worse places you could have wound up. And you’re bound to figure something out eventually.” He knew he had made a mistake as soon as the words left his mouth.
    Lainie shoved her untouched soft drink at him, leaving it rocking in a pool of sloshed fizz. Her feet hit the floor with a thump. “Really? Do you even know what you’re talking about? You may think there’s worse places, but let me tell you, I have actually been out there, and there aren’t. Not anywhere. And I am stuck here. Stuck with a bunch of nosy religious nuts and one bartender with an imaginary family.”
    â€œLook, lady.” Ray had had enough of this drama queen. “Let me help you out of town. Just tell me where you want to go. I’ll drive you to the bus station in San Ramon right now and buy you a ticket. It’ll be money well spent, believe me. Come on, let’s go.” He slammed his bar rag down and snatched his hat off the rack by the door, giving the brim a good jerk over his eyes. He yanked the door open and stood in the shaft of sunlight that poured in. “Well? What are you waiting for? We can get your stuff and still get you to San Ramon in time to catch the 2:30 eastbound. And if you want to go north or west or just about anywhere, they have busses going there too.”
    â€œFine!”
    For a minute Lainie had the same scary look on her face that she had yesterday in the parking lot, but Ray stood his ground by reminding himself that he was a head taller and probably outweighed her by seventy-five pounds. She didn’t come after him this time, though. She just seemed to sort of crumple, and her voice, when it came, was barely audible.
    â€œI don’t know where to go.”
    â€œWhere’s your people? Don’t you have anybody back in California?”
    Lainie shook her head and rubbed the heel of her hand across her cheek. “Nope. I think my mom might be in Wyoming somewhere, but I haven’t seen her in a long time. And she wouldn’t want me turning up, anyway.”
    â€œFriends?”
    â€œYeah, right, friends. I’ve got a boatload of really great friends.”
    Ray shifted his weight and shoved his hands in his back pockets. He had never known anyone who didn’t have more family than they knew what to do with, or friends either, for that matter. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Sometimes it was best to just shut up.
    Lainie climbed back on her stool. She dragged her finger through the spilled soda and made little squiggly designs on the bar. Ray stood watching, but she seemed to have forgotten he was there. He closed the door, hung his hat back on the rack, and went on with his work. He was just about to turn the neon Open sign on when Lainie sighed and slipped off her stool again.
    â€œWell, I guess I’ll go on back to Elizabeth’s. Thanks for letting me use your phone.”
    â€œSure thing.”
    Lainie’s shoulders slumped like she still lugged that backpack of hers. Ray made one more try.
    â€œHey.”
    She stopped at the door and looked at him.
    â€œDon’t bite my head off, but I meant what I said. Religious nuts and delusional bartenders aside,