Free Once in a Blue Moon by Diane Darcy

through. Twice.
    Sully’s chair scraped
across the floor as he tried to get a look at her face. “You sure
you don’t want to join us? I could teach you to gamble too.”
    Teach her? Huh. She was
an expert, but had no intention of sharing that information. A
nagging pain started in her temples. Would the guy shut up already?
She supposed he was trying to be a good host, but she just wanted
to be left alone. “No, thank you.” Her voice was singsong
sweet.
    “If you’re worried
because you got no money, then you could use that there bracelet to
wager with.”
    Melissa glanced at the
gold and silver bracelet dangling on her wrist. It wasn’t her Oscar
de la Renta original, but over her dead body would he get his grimy
paws on it. “I’m fine.”
    “Well, would you want
to trade for it?”
    “No.” What did he want
her bracelet for? Did he have a lady friend? The thought made her
shudder.
    “Well, what if--”
    ”No, no, no! I don’t
want to gamble, I don’t want to trade! I just want to stand here
and pretend I’m clean!”
    Sully was silent for a
moment, and Melissa was relieved. Good. He’d finally got the
point.
    “But what if--”
    Melissa clenched her
teeth just as a knock sounded on the door. Richard! She climbed
down the three rungs, but wasn’t fast enough.
    Sully had already
reached the door, opened it, gone outside, and shut the door with a
scrape of wood.
    What was that about?
She tried the door, but it didn’t open. She pounded on the wood.
“Richard? The door is stuck. Can you get it open?”
    No response.
    She pounded again.
    Suddenly, the door
opened so fast that she almost fell.
    Sully stuck his head
inside. “My neighbor is here. You cain’t come outside in your
unmentionables.”
    A large face appeared
in the dirty window, and Melissa jumped back, startled. She quickly
straightened her spine. Maybe the neighbor could help them out of
this horrible situation. Networking was something she understood.
The more people you knew, the more potential for opportunities.
Surely that would be true even in this backward century? She pulled
on the door-latch, but Sully held firm.
    “Open this door!”
    It opened and he stuck
his head in the room again. “Put on the dress and you can come
outside.”
    “ I am not wearing that
dress !”
    “Then you ain’t coming
outside. Do you want to shame yer husband with yer loose ways?”
    He slammed the door
shut again.
    The kids laughed, then
quickly smothered the sounds when Melissa rounded on them with a
glare.
    She
stomped over to the chest, retrieved the orange dress laying on
top, pulled it over her head, buttoned the top button in the back,
and stomped back to the door and knocked. “ I’m decent !”
    The door opened, Sully
looked her over, smiled, and opened the door all the way.
    Melissa stepped
outside, only to have her hopes dashed. The guy was even worse than
Sully.
    A large, bearded,
muscular man in his early forties or so, he had a bush of grey and
brown hair bunched under a beat-up cowboy hat. He wore brown slacks
and a tan shirt with disgusting sweat circles under each arm. He
quickly hid a whisky bottle behind his back, then simply ogled
her.
    Melissa was
disappointed, but unsurprised that Sully had such low friends.
    Sully gestured toward
the behemoth. “Mrs. Kendal, this here is Jed Peterson.”
    Jed quickly took off
his hat, revealing the matted, unwashed state of his hair. “Nice to
meet you ma’am. Missus? You married then?” His disappointment was
obvious.
    “Yes I am.” Never in
her life had she been so relieved by that fact.
    “It’s gambling night.
Jed’s here for the party,” said Sully.
    Melissa stared at him
and dread crawled up her spine. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean we’re gambling,
just like we do every Monday night. Henry’s coming too. You girls
might need to bed down early. We’ll try to keep it quiet.”
    Melissa stared at Sully
in horror. His smelly friends were joining them in the