Free Secrets of the Red Box by Vickie Hall Page A

was flat and unemotional.
“Mama, please take me away,” she begged softly. “Please, can’t we just go? Just you and me…”
Jean continued to pick the strawberries. “Bonnie, I’ve no time for this,” she said. “I have to finish this row before
sundown. Now go on and get busy.”
For a moment, she wished her mother lay beside her father in the baking sun, the vultures waiting to devour them
both.
The impatient voice of the waitress jarred Bonnie from her memory. “What about you?” the
woman asked.
Bonnie closed her menu. “Ham sandwich and a cup of coffee.”
The waitress spun and hurried off. Christine leaned toward Bonnie, the noise of the busy lunch
counter echoing through the high ceilings of the store.
“I hope the ham isn’t fatty,” Bonnie said.
Christine picked up her spoon and twirled it between her fingers. “So, how is work going?”
The waitress dropped a strawberry shake and a cup of coffee in front of them as if she were a
dive bomber, swooping in, depositing her payload, and swooping off again.
Bonnie reached for the sugar. “It’s good. I met an interesting man the other night,” she said
swiveling on her stool to better face Christine. “A very handsome man.”
Christine’s hazel eyes glowed with interest. She leaned her elbows on the counter and peered at
Bonnie. “Tell me more. How’d you meet him?”
Bonnie had no idea why she’d brought up the topic. She wasn’t even going to see Dave Miller
again, but she supposed Christine didn’t have to know that. Yet she was committed now, wasn’t
she? The fact that Dave was just a plumber and driving cabs at night didn’t sound all that appealing.
It wasn’t very glamorous, she thought. “I was walking from the lobby of the hotel, not paying
attention because I was searching for something in my purse, when all of a sudden, I walked right
into someone. I dropped my purse and everything scattered. I was so embarrassed and bent down to
pick up my things. He bent down to help me, apologizing for not seeing me. Well, it was just like in
the movies,” she said. “I reached for the lipstick, he reached for the lipstick, and our hands met.”
Christine laughed and churned her hand in a rolling motion. “And?”
“And when I stood up to face him, we both smiled, and something seemed to click.”
Christine gave her a mischievous grin. “Then what happened?”
“He introduced himself and offered to buy me dinner. He said it was entirely his fault we
collided and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Christine sucked in her breath. “And you had dinner with him?”
“At first I wasn’t going to, but there was something about his eyes. Well, next thing I know
we’re dining in the Vineyard Cafe, laughing and talking and drinking wine.”
Laughing, Christine swiveled on the stool and leaned closer to Bonnie. “So what’s he like? What
does he do? Is he single?”
Bonnie paused as the sandwiches were delivered in the same abrupt manner as the drinks had
been. “He’s very funny. His name is Dave and he works for Union Pacific…something to do
with…I don’t know, I can’t remember. Whatever he does, the military granted him a deferment, so
it must be pretty important. Anyway, it turns out he’s from North Dakota and I’m from North
Dakota—”
“Wait,” Christine said, her eyes focused on Bonnie as if trying to read her thoughts. “You said
you were born in Nebraska, and that your family moved to New York. You didn’t say anything
about North Dakota.”
Bonnie didn’t skip a beat. “Well, I didn’t mention that we moved from Omaha to North Dakota
first and then we went to New York.”
Christine waved a hand. “Oh, okay. So, back to Dave.”
Bonnie sighed dreamily and picked at the ham extended over the crusts of bread. “We talked
and talked—we have so much in common. And he’s such a gentleman. He took out two cigarettes
and lit them both, then handed one to me, just like Paul Henried did for Bette Davis in