Free Josie Day Is Coming Home by Lisa Plumley

fingernails showed—and he didn’t think they endeared her to the
rest of the plainly outfitted people in the diner. She was a flamingo among
pigeons, a customized flame-painted Kawasaki V-Star racer among stock
motorcycles. She stood out, whether she wanted to or not.
    Right now, she did not.
    The hell with it. These yokels needed a lesson in how to
treat a lady, Luke decided.
    Before he could do anything, though, Josie surprised him.
    “Luanne, when you get a minute, could I have the
cheeseburger plate, please?” she asked suddenly, her voice carrying.
“And a Diet Coke to go with it?”
    The waitress, clear across the diner and with no obvious
intention of serving her newest customer, didn’t so much as glance up.
“We’re all out.”
    “Out of cheeseburgers?” Josie shot a significant
glance at the tabletops surrounding her. Several of them sported thick white
plates full of the day’s special—cheeseburgers and fries. “You’re out of
cheeseburgers?”
    “Yep.” Luanne studied her pad of guest checks,
then shoved her pen behind one ear. She put both hands on her hips. Her next
glance took in Frank’s rapt clientele. “I expect we’ll be out of
cheeseburgers all week long.”
    All week long hung in the air, as blatantly false as
Josie’s hair color.
    Josie gave Luanne a steady look. “Fine.”
    She slid her menu behind the napkin holder again. She rose,
taking a few seconds to smooth out her track pants and tug down her tank
top—motions that held the retirees mesmerized. Then, chin held high, she headed
for the door.
    Something about the way Josie walked there caught Luke’s
eye. He would have sworn she was sort of going sideways , with a swoosh
and a bump that looked weirdly sexy. He’d seen something like those movements
before, but he couldn’t place where. They were theatrical. Dramatic. And goofy
as all get out, if the truth were told.
    Hell, he thought, getting up to follow her. She really was crazy.
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    By the time Josie made it to her convertible and peeled
rubber back to Blue Moon, she was boiling mad. She clutched her cell phone as
she stomped across the circular drive, barely hearing Parker’s commiseration on
the other end of the line.
    “I wound up doing a showgirl walk to get out of
there,” Josie said. “A showgirl walk! Just to try to hold my head up.
I must be losing my mind.”
    “Nah. I did one into a Fantasy Tan booth last
week,” Parker confided. “The attendant probably thought I was
nuts.”
    “But gorgeously tanned.” Everyone in Vegas was
familiar with Parker’s perma-tan habit.
    “Of course,” Parker agreed, a smile in her voice.
“Anyway, after a while the showgirl walk is second nature. We both know
it. Jacqueline is a showgirl-walk Nazi.”
    Not comforted, Josie fumed. “I’m telling you, it’s a
nightmare here. The house Tallulah gave me is a wreck, the people are
mean—”
    “So come home. You don’t need that crap.”
    “—the stupid lock on the front door won’t work.”
Cradling the cell phone with difficulty between her chin and shoulder, Josie
jiggled the Blue Moon doorknob the way she had this morning. Nothing happened.
“I was crazy to leave Las Vegas. I don’t belong here, Parker. I don’t. I
never did.”
    Parker murmured sympathetically.
    “I tried to get the utilities hooked up at my new
house,” Josie went on, “and the people at the utility company
practically slapped me in cuffs.”
    “Oooh, kinky.”
    Josie rolled her eyes. “Apparently, I left some overdue
bill unpaid when I left here. By now, with penalties and fees tacked on, it’s a
zillion dollars or something.”
    “So come home. Jacqueline is holding your spot for you,
you know.”
    “I know. Thank God, too. It looks as if I’m going to
need it.” Josie glowered at the uncooperative door. She kicked it.
“Even my house doesn’t like me.”
    “It’s not the same without you here. There’s nobody to
tell me cheesy