Welcome to Last Chance

by Cathleen Armstrong

  Lainie just put her head in her hands. It looked like Last Chance was it for her, at least for now.

  3

  Elizabeth says she’d love to meet you.” Fayette sounded triumphant as she hung up the phone. “She just asks for a little time to get dressed and straighten up some. I’ll draw you a map. You can walk anyplace in town in fifteen minutes, so you can have another cup of coffee, if you want one.”

  “No, thanks.” Lainie had the uneasy feeling that custody of her own life was slipping from her grasp. She stood and slung her backpack over her shoulder. “If you can tell me where the gas station is, I’d better go see about my car.”

  “Just give me a minute here and I’ll call over there for you. Maybe he can just meet you at your car. Save you a walk.” Fayette was adding up Russ and Juanita’s ticket.

  Lainie did not want to wait a minute. She did not want Fayette back on the phone arranging her life for her. She really wanted to get in her car and get back on the interstate and head . . . where? El Paso was out. She couldn’t go back to Long Beach. But all that was beside the point. The car was not moving out of the parking lot of the High Lonesome Saloon. And she wasn’t going anywhere without a car. She sighed and sat back down to wait.

  “What are you bringing to the potluck Sunday, Fayette?” Juanita fished her sunglasses out of her purse while Russ carefully scrutinized every item on the ticket Fayette had placed on the table.

  “Oh, I thought maybe a chicken enchilada casserole. Folks seem to like that. Guess I don’t need to ask what you’re bringing.”

  Juanita laughed. “No, I wouldn’t dare show up without my specialty.” She stood up to leave, but her husband was still occupied with his accounting. “For Pete’s sake, Russ, that tab is $10.45 plus tax. It’s $10.45 plus tax every single time we have breakfast here.”

  She rolled her eyes at Fayette and headed for the door. Russ, after carefully counting out bills and change, followed her.

  “There now, I’ll call over to Otero Gas and Oil for you.” Fayette reached for the phone and punched in a number. “Patsy? Hi, it’s Fayette. What are you doing working this close to your time? . . . Well, I don’t care. A half day is still too long for someone about to have a baby any minute. Manny needs to get you your own computer so you can do the books at home. Breathing all those fumes can’t be good for you or the baby, and you can tell Manny I said so. Is he around? . . . Shoot. Know when he’ll be back? . . . Listen, if he calls in, tell him to go on over to Ray’s place. There’s a car broke down in the parking lot . . . Yeah, California plates . . . Okay, sweetie, take care.”

  Lainie put her head down on her folded arms and closed her eyes. None of this seemed real. She didn’t move as she heard Fayette cross the room to her booth and slide in across from her. She felt Fayette’s warm hand on her arm.

  “Honey? There’s nobody in here right now but you and me. Tell me. Are you in trouble?”

  Lainie did not raise her head or open her eyes. After a moment she mumbled into her arms, “Did you hear me when I was on the phone earlier?”

  “Well, I didn’t try to eavesdrop, but this diner isn’t all that big.”

  “Do you remember if I mentioned the name of the town?”

  “No, as I recall, you just said you were in some hole off the interstate.”

  Lainie sighed and sat up. “Well, that’s something, anyway.”

  Fayette wasn’t smiling, but her eyes were kind. When she reached across the table and took both Lainie’s hands in hers, Lainie was surprised that she had no desire to withdraw them.

  “Can you tell me what’s wrong? I’d love to help you if I can.”

  Lainie took a deep breath. “Well, I had a job waiting for me in El Paso. I was supposed to get there yesterday, and I found out this morning that they didn’t hold it for me. Now I don’t have a job. I don’t have a car anymore, so I don’t even have a way to get someplace where I could find a job. And I have just about enough money to get me through the week. Then I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  Fayette didn’t move. “Honey, I wouldn’t wish what you’ve gone through on anybody. It must be awful scary landing in a little flyspeck of a town like this one with a broke-down car and no job. But we can help you with that. The thing I can’t help wondering about is why you’re so glad you didn’t mention the name of the town. Please don’t think I’m one of those small-town busybodies, but that conversation you had this morning was a lot less about what you had waiting in El Paso and a lot more about someone trying to find you. Now tell me, are you in trouble?”

  Lainie couldn’t answer. The lump that suddenly filled her throat warned that if she tried, her voice would come out about three octaves higher than usual, and the tears she was battling would give way in a torrent.

  After waiting another minute or so, Fayette stood up. “All right, then. We’ll just leave it at that for now. You go on and see Elizabeth. If Manny turns up, I’ll give you a call there.”

  About ten minutes later, following the map Fayette drew on a napkin, Lainie found herself standing outside a small tan house protected on one side by a row of tall, skinny trees and surrounded by a short chain-link fence with green vines and wide blue flowers winding though. A garden hose trickled water into a planter with pink and white blossoms spilling over the side.

  As she started up the walk, the warm aroma of something baking met her, and the low drone of earnest voices from the television came through the screen door. She wished herself anyplace but where she was, and only the memory of that deputy sheriff and his vagrancy ordinance kept her putting one foot in front of the other.

  The lady who answered her knock was short with curly white hair, and she looked soft, like pillows. Her smile was friendly and generous.

  “You must be Lainie. Come in here and have a seat.” Elizabeth gestured toward a brown tweed sofa draped with a lavender-and-purple crocheted afghan. “Let me cut that TV off. I just keep it on for the company, and I’ve seen this episode about a hundred times anyway. The lawyer’s ex-wife is the one who killed him.” She turned from the television and smiled at Lainie. “Can I get you some coffee?”

  Lainie shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m good.”

  “Are you sure? I’ve just made a pot, and I’ve got a coffee cake in the oven.”

  “No, really, I’m fine. I just ate.”

  “Well, maybe later.” Elizabeth slid back into her chair and popped up the footrest. “The coffee cake should be done in about twenty minutes. Now, Fayette tells me you’ve had some trouble with your car and need a place to stay till you get it fixed. Well, I do have a room, and I long since promised the Lord I wouldn’t turn away any stranger he sent my way, so you’re welcome if you’d like to stay.”

  Lainie looked around the small living room. An old upright piano stood against one wall with a huge oil painting hanging over it, and a large flat-screen television dominated the wall across from it. Pictures, presumably of family, were everywhere. There was nothing to indicate that Lainie was walking into some kind of a cult, but she had never heard anyone casually talk about conversations with the Lord, and she didn’t much like it.

  “Thanks, but I’m not sure what I’m going to be doing. Manny hasn’t even looked at my car yet, and as far as I know, he could have me back on the road this afternoon.”

  “Really? Fayette said you thought it had broken down for good.” Elizabeth looked disappointed. “Well, even if you can get it fixed, it’s bound to take at least a day or so to get the parts so Manny can fix it for you. You’ll need somewhere to sleep. Here, let me show you the room.” She struggled out of her recliner and led the way down a hall lined with even more framed family photographs.

  The room was small and spotless, like the rest of the house. Elizabeth moved through the room with a proprietary air, smoothing the colorful patchwork quilt that covered the single bed, straightening the crisp white curtains on the window, picking an invisible piece of something off the chair. “I know it’s pr
obably not what you’re used to, but it’s clean, and you’re welcome to it as long as you need it.”

  Elizabeth was right about one thing: the room surely wasn’t what Lainie was used to. What she was used to was playing rent roulette in a series of roach-ridden apartments and residential motels. And unless her luck changed, she’d likely be back in those soon enough. It wouldn’t hurt to stay here for a few days. She’d always dreamed of having a pretty room all to herself.

  “I’m not sure how much I can pay. It took nearly everything I had to get this far.”

  “We can worry about that later. Let’s just say that for the next week or so, you’re my guest. After that, well, we’ll see.” Elizabeth led the way back to the living room, pointing out the bathroom and the kitchen as she went.

  Lainie didn’t bother to look. She had other things on her mind. Clearly, Elizabeth was a soft touch. If she could be talked out of a week’s rent that easily, what else might she come up with if she were handled just right? Lainie smiled a sweet but tragic smile when Elizabeth turned around.

  “I can’t tell you what it means to me that you’d let me stay here. It’s so beautiful. Everyone here is so kind to me. I’m just not used to it.” Lainie thought about squeezing out a tear but decided that might be overdoing it. She sighed instead.

  Elizabeth eased herself back into her recliner and smiled at Lainie. “I’m glad to do it. I’ve had some wonderful experiences with the folks God sends me.”

  Lainie knew she would feel a lot more comfortable if Elizabeth didn’t keep dragging God into everything, but she smiled anyway and tried to answer in kind. “Well, I hope he doesn’t disappoint you this time.”

  “Disappoint me? Honey, I’ve been disappointed by a lot of things in my time, but never, never, never has it been by anything God has done. Don’t you give that another thought. Now, there are a few things we need to talk about if you’re going to stay here, though. First of all, do you smoke?”

  Lainie shook her head.

  “Good. I can’t abide the smell, and it comes in on your clothes even if you don’t smoke in here. Do you drink?”

  Lainie hesitated.

  “Well, the one thing I ask there is that you don’t come home having had too much. I have my great-grandchildren here from time to time, and that’s just not something I want them exposed to. Not in my house.”

  Lainie nodded her agreement.

  “Let’s see. I have supper ready at 5:30 every night. You don’t have to eat here, but I’d consider it a courtesy if you let me know before I start cooking. I stay up late, but I’d like to have my door locked by 11:00, and there’s nothing around here to keep you out that late anyway. Oh, and my one hard and fast rule is that anyone under my roof on Saturday night goes to church with me on Sunday morning.” She leaned back and smiled at Lainie. “I guess that about covers everything. Anything you’d like to ask me?”

  Lainie had been nodding her agreement with everything, but the nodding stopped when Elizabeth mentioned church.

  “Church? I’m not sure about that. The roof would cave in and God would have a heart attack if I went inside a church.”

  The timer on the oven sounded, and Elizabeth pushed down the footrest and struggled out of her recliner again. As she passed Lainie on her way to the kitchen, she smiled and patted Lainie’s cheek. “Darlin’, believe me, you just aren’t that big a deal.”

  Lainie sat alone in Elizabeth’s living room feeling as if she should be gravely offended and wondering that she was not. Okay, realistically, God probably wouldn’t have a heart attack. She’d never killed anyone or anything. But church! She had a vague memory of going to Vacation Bible School with a neighbor when she was about seven, but never since then had she been anywhere near the doors of a church. But if Elizabeth made it a condition of her hospitality, she guessed she’d have to go. And if the roof came crashing in, it would be on Elizabeth’s head, no pun intended.

  When Elizabeth returned, Lainie was standing in front of the painting over the piano. The enormous landscape seemed somehow out of place in the fussy little room. She recognized the mountains and the desert around Last Chance, but it was the sky that dominated the painting—the sky and clouds that boiled and towered from iron-gray plates close to the ground high into sunlit billows dwarfing even the tallest mountain peaks below.

  “Do you like that? That’s the view from the front porch of the ranch. I must have watched a thousand storms blow up like that. And I’d be fibbing if I said I didn’t miss it to this day, although moving to town was really the best thing for me to do. My grandson painted that. He’s got a real gift, if he’d just use it.” Elizabeth carried two plates, a lightly steaming square of coffee cake on each. “I know you said you weren’t hungry, but this tastes so much better straight from the oven. Here, just take a bite. It’s my mother’s recipe. I’ll go get us a cup of coffee.”

  Twenty minutes later Lainie was sipping her second cup of coffee and steadfastly insisting that she could not possibly eat another piece of coffee cake when Fayette called. Manny had turned up and was waiting for her at the Dip ’n’ Dine.

  Lainie set her cup on the maple coffee table and stood, shouldering her backpack. “I guess I’ll go get this over with. I’ll bring the rest of my stuff over this afternoon, if that’s all right.”

  “Why don’t you just put your knapsack back in your room before you go? There’s not a reason in the world why you have to keep dragging it all over town.”

  Elizabeth was right, of course. If Lainie was never without her backpack, people would start to notice and wonder. But she wasn’t quite ready to let it out of her sight. “I’ll just take it with me. I don’t know what I might need when I take care of the car.”

  Manny must have seen her coming. He was standing outside the Dip ’n’ Dine with his hands in his pockets, smiling as she walked across the parking lot.

  “Manny Otero?”

  “Manny Baca. Frank Otero is my father-in-law.”

  Lainie really didn’t care.

  “Had yourself a little trouble, huh?” He was a bit younger than she and not quite as tall, but he had the air of easy nonchalance that mechanics always seem to assume right before they tell you the worst.

  “What was your first clue?” The walk from Elizabeth’s had not been long, but the day was already getting hot and the backpack weighed more with every step. Lainie didn’t even try to hide her irritation.

  “Why don’t we take a look?” Manny’s smile faded and he headed back across the road to her car. Lainie followed, wishing she had been a little nicer. The only thing she knew about cars was how to drive them. If she had to depend on whatever Manny told her, it would be good to have him on her side.

  Manny raised the hood and peered under it. He poked at things, lifted other things, and occasionally said, “Hmm.” Lainie just stood next to him feeling useless. She could see Ray through the window of the bar, though the sign still read Closed. When he smiled and waved, she just looked away. What did he have to be so happy about, anyway?

  Manny slammed the hood down and wiped his hands on a rag. “How long have you had this car?”

  “Maybe a week. Why?”

  “Because whoever let a car like this get in this condition shouldn’t be allowed to drive.”

  “Well, it wasn’t me. Can you fix it?”

  Manny shook his head. “Not for what you’d want to pay me.”

  The diagnosis was what Lainie had been expecting, but that didn’t make hearing it any easier. She leaned against the door and looked at the sky. “Now what?”

  Manny didn’t seem to hear her. He was walking all around the car, running his hands over the dents and rust spots, getting down on his hands and knees to peer at the undercarriage. Finally he stopped in front of Lainie. “I’ll buy it from you for three hundred dollars.”

  Lainie just looked at him. “Why? I mean, sure.”

  Manny’s attention had returned to the car. He opened the front door and slid behind t
he wheel. “I’ve always wanted a classic Mustang to fix up, but the right one just never came along. Wait’ll you see what I can do with her.”

  “Then it’s yours.” Lainie held out her hand to seal the deal. The last thing she wanted was for Manny to start having second thoughts about the junk heap he had just offered to buy.

  “Manny!” Fayette stuck her head out the door of the Dip ’n’ Dine and hollered across the road. “Patsy wonders when you’re coming back.”

  “Ah, Patsy.” Manny winced. “She’s going to kill me when she finds out.”

  Lainie held her breath while she watched Manny struggle with his conscience. Finally, he patted the hood of the Mustang and hollered back. “She okay?”

  “She’s fine. Her mom just needs her to come get the girls.”

  “Tell her half an hour.” He turned back to Lainie and grinned. “She’ll come around. Once the baby gets here, she’ll forget all about it.”

  “Oh, yeah. I gathered from Fayette that you guys are going to have a baby. Your first?”

  “Third. We already got twin girls. But this one’s a boy.”

  “Three kids, wow. You’re not much more than a kid yourself.”

  “I’m twenty-five. Not that young.”

  “I think twenty-five’s young. How many kids does Ray have?”

  “Ray? None that I’ve ever heard him admit to. He’s not even married.” He laughed. “Although, now that I think about it, I have heard him pull a family out of the air late at night when some drunk and ugly woman starts getting a little too cozy.”

  His laughter died away at the look on Lainie’s face. She held up an index finger.

  “Just one minute. I’ll be right back.”

  Ray looked up and smiled when she came through the door. “How’s it going? Get everything taken care of?”

  “Everything is fine, Ray. And how’s the family? Are they fine?”

  Ray stopped smiling and looked over Lainie’s shoulder. In the mirror, she could see that Manny had followed her inside and was standing behind her. His face could barely contain his grin.