Free One Night In Reno by Rogenna Brewer Page A

desperate.       
    He looked her up and down.  “Nope.”
    She covered her disappointment with a thin smile as he scanned the milk.  It rang up $1.19.  She could have sworn the posted sign read $1.09.  She should make him check.  Even though a dime wasn’t going to make or break her--she was already broken--and holding up the line.
    “Six, twenty-five.”
    Jenny put her money on the counter. 
    “Sorry,” she said as the clerk counted out the change and took four cents from the take a penny, leave a penny tray.  Bumping into the man behind her in an attempt to flee the embarrassment, she apologized again, “Sorry.”
    On her way out the door, she stopped to pick up a nickel from the floor near the slot machines.  She considered taking a chance, but didn’t like her odds.  Instead, she returned to the counter with as much dignity as possible and dropped the nickel into the tray.  She would have left it at that, but she had a penny coming so she took it. 
    For luck.
    #
    Garrett Erickson watched the woman as he set his Mountain Dew down at the check out counter.  She’d picked up a banana several times while shopping and each time put it back in the basket.  She probably couldn’t afford the overpriced fruit.  Who could?  She was too thin to be pretty, didn’t even fill out her loose fitting jeans, but there was something about her... 
    “That gonna do it?” the clerk asked.
    Garrett grabbed a couple apples and a banana, and then added candy to the mix.  Thanks to impulse marketing, he could spend several more dollars within easy reach of the cash register.  Although, he had no idea how he’d get the waif to take the handout.
    Garrett exited the store directly behind her with his bag full of impulse buys.  As he stuffed change into his pocket he let a twenty dollar bill flutter to the ground.
    “Ma’am,” he called after her.  “You dropped this.”
    Just as she turned, he stooped to pick it up.
    She took a hesitant step toward him, saw the amount and backed off.
    “I didn’t--”
    “Somebody did.  You’re the only other person here right now.  Take it.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    Garrett saw the flash of pride in her pale irises as she hesitated.  With her long blonde hair and translucent skin, she might even be pretty with some color in her cheeks, and without those deep purple smudges underneath her eyes.  She looked as worn out as a BUD/S during Hell Week. 
    “Thank you,” she said as she tucked the bill into her pocket. 
    One look at her packed ‘79 Fairlane and he wished he’d thought to drop a hundred.  He’d lose more than that in the casinos tonight.  He’d paid for his new Ford Bronco in cash from his reenlistment bonus and still had money to burn.  “Where you headed?”  Not far, he hoped.  He’d noticed the Colorado plates.   
    “Reno.”  A look of sheer panic flashed in her gray eyes.  She’d just told a virtual stranger her destination.  This was a gal used to watching out for herself, and if he didn’t miss his guess, used to bad luck with men.
    Garrett feigned disinterest, crunched down on a Granny Smith and tossed her the Red Delicious.  She caught the apple and held onto it with two hands.  As hungry as she must have been, he was surprised she didn’t bite into it. 
    “On my way to San Diego with a stop in Reno myself.”  But at the moment that seemed as wasteful as tossing his partially eaten apple to the patch of scrub grass at his side.
    “I have to go,” she started backing away.
    He didn’t want her to leave, not without the rest of the junk he’d purchased for her.  Behind his waif, two heads popped up from the backseat of the car.  A boy and a dog pressed wet noses against the window. 
    “That your kid?”  Now he knew why she hadn’t eaten the apple.  “He like chocolate?  Afraid I won’t fit into my wetsuit if I eat all of these.  He shoved the bag full of candy and fruit at her before she