Angels Fall

makeup. Not so pale today, she decided, not so hollow-eyed.
    After checking her watch, she set up her laptop, opened her daily journal and wrote a quick entry.
     
    Angel's Fist,Wyoming
    April
    I cooked today. I took a job as a cook in a little diner-style restaurant in this pretty valley town with its big, blue lake. I'm popping champagne in my mind, and there are streamers and balloons.
    I feel like I've climbed a mountain, like I've been scaling the tough
    peak's that ring this place. I'm not at the top yet; I'm still on a ledge. But it's sturdy and wide, and I can rest here a little while before I start to climb again.
    I'm working for a woman named Joanie. She's short, sturdy and oddly pretty. She's tough, too, and that's good. I don't want to be coddled. I think I'd smother to death that way, just run out of air the way I feel when I wake up from one of the dreams. I can breathe here, and I can be here until it's time to move on.
    I've got less than ten dollars left, but whose fault is that? It's okay. I've got a room for a week with a view of the lake and the Tetons, a job and a new radiator hose.
    I missed lunch, and that's a step back there. That's okay, too. I was too busy cooking to eat, and I'll make up for it.
    It's a good day, April fifteenth. I'm going to work.
     
    She shut down, then tucked her phone, her keys, driver's license and three dollars of what she had left in her pockets. Grabbing a jacket, she headed for the door.
    Before she opened it, Reece checked the peep, scanned the empty hall. She checked her locks twice, cursed herself and checked a third time before she went back to her kit to tear a piece of Scotch tape off her roll. She pressed it over the door, well below eye level, before she walked to the door for the stairs.
    She jogged down, counting as she went. After a quick debate, she left her car parked. Walking would save her gas money, even though it would be dark when she finished her shift.
    Couple of blocks, that was all. Still, she fingered her key chain, and the panic button on it.
    Maybe she should go back and get the car, just in case. Stupid, she told herself. She was nearly there. Think about now, not about later. When nerves began to bubble, she pictured herself at the grill, food strong kitchen light, music from the jukebox, voices from the tables. Familiar sounds, smells, motion.
    Maybe her palm was clammy when she reached for the door of Joanie's, but she opened it. And she went inside.
    The same waitress she'd spoken to during the lunch shift spotted her, wiggled her fingers in a come-over motion. Reece stopped by the booth where the woman was refilling the condiment caddy.
    "Joanie's back in the storeroom. She said I should give you a quick orientation when you came in. We got a lull, then the early birds will start coming in soon. I'm Linda-gail."
    "Reece."
    "First warning, Joanie doesn't tolerate idle hands. She catches you loitering, she'll jump straight down your back and bite your ass." She grinned when she said it in a way that made her bright blue eyes twinkle, deepened dimples in her cheeks. She had doll-baby blond hair to go with it, worn in smooth French braids.
    She had on jeans, a red shirt with white piping. Silver and turquoise earrings dangled from her ears. She looked, Reece thought, like a western milkmaid.
    "I like to work."
    "You will, believe me. This being Saturday night, we'll be busy. You'll have two other wait staff working—Bebe and Juanita. Matt'll bus, and Pete's the dishwasher. You and Joanie'll be manning the kitchen, and she'll have a hawk eye on you. You need a break, you tell her, and you take it. I here's a place in the back for your coat and purse. No purse?"
    "No, I didn't bring it."
    "God, I can't step a foot outside the house without mine. Come on then, I'll show you around. She's got the forms you need to fill out in the back. I guess you've done this kind of work before, the way you jumped in with both feet today."
    "Yeah, I have."
    "Restrooms. We clean the bathrooms on rotation. You've got a couple of weeks before you have that pleasure."
    "Can't wait."
    Linda-gail grinned. "You got family around here?"
    "No. I'm from back East." Didn't want to talk about that, didn't want to think about that. "Who handles the fountain drinks?"
    "Wait staff. We get crunched, you can fill drink orders. We serve-wine and beer, too. But mostly people want to drink, they do it over at Clancy's. That's about it. Anything else you want to know, just