Breene, K F - Jessica Brodie Diaries 01 by Back in the Saddle (v5.0)

stands, had obviously worked here for a while. His hands
moved quickly and with purpose, moving people along expertly. And judging by
his longer line of all older women, he was the young hunk of the supermarket.
    Go get ‘em, gals!
    When it was my turn, Ronnie
recognized me right away. “Hi ya. How’re ya doin’?”
    “Great, thanks! I’m just in to pay
my tab from the other night. Last night. Found my wallet.” I held up the previously
lost treasure and chuckled.
    “Oh, well Mr. Davies picked that up
for you.”
    “Mr. Davies? Who’s that?”
    “Oh, Mr. Davies. The guy... I mean,
the man that was standing behind you the other night. He just picked up the tab
seeing as how it wasn’t much ‘n all.”
    Loss for words. “Um. Oh. Uh... Is
there an address where I might drop the money by to him?”
    Ronnie looked at me funny. “No
ma’am. I really shouldn’t give out his address or nuthin’. You’re new here, but
I reckon it’ll take a week or so ‘afore you know where he lives.”
    “O.k...?” I was not quite sure what
that meant. Did he surmise I was a stalker?
    The woman behind me cleared her
throat in an obvious, and not-so-subtle, way of telling me to move along.
    “Well, thanks again Ronnie. I’m
sure I’ll see you around.”
    “Yes ma’am. See you again real
soon. Have a good ‘un.” He flashed a toothy grin. He was really cute for a
young dude, in the puppy-dog sort of way.
    So Apollo was Mr. Davies and known
around town. Well, anyone that gorgeous was bound to stick out. Plus, he was
chivalrous and generous. Paying for my groceries was classy. Dare I hope he
liked me?
    Memories of last night tumbled
through my head. The ending note being the memory of what I looked like.
    No, dare not hope. But his face was
definitely going into the spank bank for sure.
    With a new-found sense of freedom
arising from a new place where nobody knew me, I didn’t want to go straight
home. I wanted to explore. Check out the town and surrounding area. Have a
glance at people, look at the countryside.
    After about an hour I had the
startling realization that checking out your surroundings was only a good idea
if you paid attention. I wanted to get to Austin ,
to the city and more people. Instead, I found myself in flat nothingness filled
with dirt, natural grass, barns and fences. I knew it was a farming area
because it smelt like cow ass. Call me Sherlock.
    I pulled to the side of the road,
mostly in a ditch, to get out a map.
    I rooted around in my car for ages
before I came to the conclusion that I suck, and must have taken the map out
when unpacking the car. Great. I didn’t even know where the nearest gas station
was, and didn’t have much longer before my car was out of gas.
    I put my head on the steering wheel
and moaned. It didn’t help.
    “Okay.” I looked up at the sun and
determined that I was facing east. If I was in L.A. ,
I would be pointed in the opposite direction as the ocean. I would then turn
around and head to the beach for a glorious sunset over the waves.
    And now I was home sick.
    “Okay.” I said again, my voice
sounding strangely loud surrounded by so much nothingness. No car noises, no
people, not even airplanes overhead to drown out my words. “I am pretty sure
that I was heading east, roughly east, to get here. West to get back. Yes, I am
a genius. The roughly part is tricky, though. Wait…I think those directions had
a sorta map…”
    I dove toward my glove compartment
before I noticed the shadow. Something darkened the already murky places inside
my car. Which meant it was something at my window! Looming. Looking in!
    I screamed and jumped at the same
time, hitting my head on the ceiling and my elbow on the “Oh Shit!” handle on
the door. I hastily reached for the lock before I realized that it wasn’t a
face looking in, it was a monster. A brown, fuzzy monster that smelt like ass.
    Through my incredible skill of
detail orientation, I determined that it was a cow.