Taking a Gamble Read online

  Cass turned to see an older couple walking up to her. Tom and Maggie were good people. They’d befriended her and Danny a couple of years prior when she and Danny had helped them clean out a particularly bad unit. It had been literally full of garbage. Junk mail, old prescription bottles, and clothes that had definitely seen better days. What little furniture there had been was broken and not worth trying to repair.

  “Hey, Tom, it’s good to see you again,” she said as she hugged him briefly before turning to his wife and doing the same. “Maggie, you look as beautiful as ever.”

  “As do you,” Maggie replied with a slight blush to her cheeks.

  “Where’s Danny?” Tom asked. “He usually keeps Rodney in line.”

  “Barb went into labor this morning,” Cass explained. “But if push came to shove, I’m sure I could handle Rodney on my own.”

  “I have no doubt.” Tom laughed as he looked over at the man in question. He shook his head in disgust and turned back to them. “Tell Danny congratulations for us.”

  “Will do.” Cass saw the auctioneer heading for the gate, and the crowd moved forward in anticipation. Cass had hoped the influx of people curious to see how the whole process worked would thin out over time, but it didn’t seem to be happening. For the most part they were only there to observe, but there were always a few intent on driving up the prices.

  Cass hung back as the first unit was opened. She preferred to let everyone else look first so she could hear what comments were being made. You never knew when someone else might see something you didn’t. Rodney was notorious for pointing out things to his business partner other people failed to notice.

  The first three lockers were crap, as far as Cass could tell, and they’d gone for way too much money. The fourth one held a little promise though. There was an antique dining room set she was sure most of the bidders present had no desire to move. But if the people who owned it had money for a set so obviously expensive and well kept, then she was sure they had other things of value in there. Yes, the furniture was big, and most definitely heavy, but there was real potential in this unit.

  She set an amount of seven hundred dollars for the unit, figuring she’d be able to get at least that much only for what she could see. She just hoped she was right about nobody wanting to deal with it. And she trusted Danny would be available to help her clean it all out by the end of the week.

  The auctioneer was looking for a starting bid of five hundred, but nobody was biting. She saw a few people shaking their heads and turning away. When he dropped all the way down to one hundred, Cass gave him a nod. She felt her heartrate speed up when somebody raised their hand for one fifty. She’d never seen this particular guy before, but he obviously had more money than brains based on how much he’d paid for the first unit. Cass nodded again for two hundred.

  “Three hundred!” Rodney yelled just as the bidding was about to close. He gave her a wink and a smile that made her skin crawl.

  “Four hundred,” Cass said calmly. Mr. More-dollars-than-sense shook his head, looking for all the world like she was hurting his feelings by bidding against him. Cass hoped nobody else would jump in and Rodney would think she might drop the unit on him if he tried to raise it much further. She knew there was no way in hell he was going to move all the furniture on his own since his partner wasn’t there either.

  Cass grinned to herself when the bidding ended there, and she went to place a padlock on the door to secure her winnings.

  “Good buy,” the auctioneer said to her.

  “You aren’t going to look through it?” Rodney asked as everyone else dispersed since the auction was done. They only had twenty minutes to get to the next stop on the all day caravan.

  “Nope.” Cass checked to make sure the lock was secured then began walking toward the office so she could pay for the unit. She sped up when she heard him following her. He had to be about four hundred pounds, and she was surprised he was managing to keep up with her. He was breathing heavily and obviously struggling, but damn if he wasn’t right on her tail.

  “So, you’re a dyke?” he said just before she reached the office.

  “I’m a lesbian, yes,” she answered, readying herself for a confrontation.

  “That’s cool,” he said, much to her amazement. “My ex-wife is a dyke too.”

  “What a surprise,” Cass muttered under her breath. Then, before she could stop herself, “Wait, someone actually married you?”

  He laughed, but she could see the pain in his eyes. Great, now she felt bad. She’d hurt his feelings, and he was trying to play it off like it was no big deal.

  “I know, crazy, right?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, and she meant it. No matter how much this guy gave her the willies, there’d been no reason for the insensitive comment.

  “Don’t be,” he told her. “Sometimes I have the same thought.”

  As he walked away, she let her head drop in shame. After a few seconds, she chuckled. Danny was going to get a kick out of it when she told him later.

  *

  Cass bought two more units later in the day. They’d been relatively small, so she was able to clean them out herself. She’d returned home and was in the back of the truck sorting through things and unloading into the garage they used as a warehouse when Danny pulled into the driveway.

  “How’s my nephew?” she called when he got out of the car.

  “Refusing to leave the warmth of his mother’s womb,” Danny answered with an exhausted sigh. “I can’t say I blame him though. I wouldn’t want to be thrust into this frigid weather either.”

  “Damn, she’s still in labor?”

  “They told me it would still be a few hours so I should come home and get some rest.” He climbed into the truck with her and opened a box. “Did you get anything good?”

  “There’s some tools over there, and a flat screen TV I haven’t tested yet. It’s in the garage. Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of crap as far as I can tell.”

  “Was this all you got?”

  “No, there’s a unit with antique furniture. I didn’t get a chance to look at anything in it though. I figured I’d go back tomorrow and see what I can see.”

  “If the baby comes overnight, I’ll come with you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. We have until Monday morning to clean it out,” she said. She stood and rubbed her hands together briskly before putting her gloves back on.

  “Come inside and have something hot to drink,” Danny said as he jumped down to the ground. “I’ll make some soup or something.”

  He didn’t need to ask her twice. She’d only been out there twenty minutes, but she was feeling like an ice cube already. She hated the hot weather almost as much as the cold, but she was certainly looking forward to spring.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Trish,” Erica Jacobs said at the time clock. As soon as it changed to two thirty, she swiped her card. The first few days of her new job in a new town hadn’t been as bad as she’d thought it would be. Of course she knew now why it had seemed so easy to get this position. Nobody from the bigger cities wanted to be working in a small office where a rush was two people waiting on line to mail a package.

  Lucky for her, she’d wanted to get away from Syracuse. Here, she was close enough for her little brother since it was only a two-hour drive, but far enough away she wouldn’t run the risk of seeing her parents in random places at random times. They’d disowned her when she’d finally found the courage to come out to them two years earlier.

  Not having a tough time coming to grips with it, but actually disowned her. As in they refused to speak to her, and they refused to allow her to have any contact with her brother, Kyle. In fact, she was pretty sure they even refused to admit they had a daughter any longer.

  Kyle would be turning sixteen in less than two months, and he’d confided in her about his own sexuality. Erica was pretty sure she’d talked him out of telling their parents until he wa
s at least done with high school, because she couldn’t imagine what might happen to him if they decided to kick him out of the house when he was still so young.

  Kyle had been a surprise baby. Erica was fourteen when he was born and had always been his protector. Of course, back then they’d been one big happy family. She shook her head at the utter lack of fairness in life.

  “Hey, Erica,” Trish called right before she walked out the door.

  “Yeah?”

  “Eddie and I are going for drinks when I’m done here tonight,” Trish said. Eddie was their rural carrier who had a huge crush on the very married Trish. “Please say you’ll come with us. I only agreed to it because Vince is out of town on business. I like Eddie, but he can’t seem to get it through his mind I’m not available. You’d be doing me a huge favor if you could be there to run interference for me.”

  Erica started to say she couldn’t make it, but realized there was really no reason she couldn’t. It wasn’t like she had a lot of options her first weekend in town. Laundry was a lame excuse, and she was sure Trish would see through the lie. She shrugged in defeat.

  “Sure, why not?”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Trish said as she grabbed her forearm and squeezed. The relief was obvious in her eyes. “Seven?”

  Erica agreed and got the details about where they were going and how to get there. If it wasn’t on her short commute from her mobile home to the post office, she had no clue where anything was. She hadn’t even been to a grocery store yet, and she was definitely going to have to remedy that dilemma soon. Surviving on McDonald’s was quickly losing its appeal if it even held any to begin with, which honestly it hadn’t.

  She was patting herself on the back for having the foresight to invest in a GPS before moving out to the sticks. The village of Dallas, New York, where Erica lived and worked, was in Orleans County, and the closest town of any size was Batavia, but even that was a good thirty-minute drive. Trish said they were having drinks somewhere in a town called Elba, which was where Trish lived, but was still quite a drive for Erica. According to the GPS, Elba was only a few minutes closer to her than Batavia.

  The trailer park Erica lived in was nice enough, especially compared to some she’d encountered while searching for a place to live. She just never thought she’d ever be living in a mobile home. Correction, manufactured home. Not that she was a snob or anything, but her limited experience with trailer parks had left a bad taste in her mouth. Nope, she wasn’t going to go there. Those memories were better left tucked away in the far corners of her mind.

  She opened the door to her house and was greeted by Willie, her orange tabby with an attitude the size of Texas. He wove his way through her legs and looked up at her with an insistent meow before sauntering off to the kitchen. Apparently, his inner clock was telling him it was time for dinner. Erica knew better than to ignore him. If she did, he’d plant himself on her lap and stare at her until she finally gave in. It was freaky the way he’d stare sometimes.

  Once he was fed, she sat at her kitchen table and opened her laptop. After a quick look at her email, she sighed. There was another message from Kyle. He’d sent at least one every day since she’d left, all of them begging her to let him come live with her. She knew the only reason he was miserable was because he hated lying to their parents. He’d always talked to them about everything, as she had when she was younger, but telling them he was gay wasn’t something they would handle well. She knew it for a fact, and so did he.

  She fired off a hasty note imploring him once again to wait it out until he graduated. She hated that the only way she was able to communicate with him was through his best friend’s email account, but he’d told her their father was checking his computer daily. They really didn’t want him to have any contact with her.

  Like he could catch being gay.

  Erica chuckled at the thought, because she was certain it was exactly what they would think when he did finally come out to them.

  She made a light lunch and threw a load of clothes in the wash. Huh, she really could have used the need to do laundry as an excuse to not go out with Trish and Eddie. Who knew? She considered watching some television, but if she was having drinks tonight, she’d probably need a nap. Her work schedule had her going to bed no later than eight o’clock and getting up at four in the morning in order to start work at six. She was still getting used to the odd hours, but it wasn’t as bad as she thought it might be.

  Unless she happened to find someone she wanted to date. Who in their right mind would want to date a thirty-year-old woman who had an eight o’clock curfew on a work night? It was going to make meeting other lesbians difficult, she was sure. But maybe it would be for the best. She had a habit of falling too quickly for women, and she blamed her parents. She’d been so happy growing up, and she wanted to have a relationship like they had. They were so obviously in love, and totally devoted to each other. It was supposed to be that way, right? But she thought you were always supposed to love and support your children as well.

  She got into bed and pulled the covers up over her head so Willie wouldn’t lick her hair and wake her up. He was such a strange cat, but she loved him. As she drifted off to sleep, she had a fleeting thought. Maybe she needed to take a break from dating. Or at least keep things slow if she met a woman she really liked.

  Yeah, right. Like that was going to happen.

  *

  Erica was seriously considering leaving the bar when she saw it was nine o’clock. Eddie seemed to finally be getting the hint Trish wasn’t interested, and damn it, Erica was tired. And it wasn’t like this was a real happening place. There were three people at the bar, and only two of the dozen tables in the room were occupied, theirs being one of them. Eddie was playing pool with some guy in the far corner of the room.

  Welcome to Friday night in Middle-of-Nowhere, New York.

  “Thanks for coming tonight, Erica,” Trish said as she stood and put her coat on. “I’ve got to be getting home because Vince usually calls around ten. See you Tuesday.”

  Erica didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t it rude to ask someone to go for drinks and just up and leave? She held up her beer bottle and saw it was still more than half full. She took a swig from it and decided she’d only stay until it was gone.

  She looked up when the front door opened and a couple of loud people came in. In fact, every head in the place turned toward them as they entered.

  “Jim!” said the woman as though she were in a New York City dance club and had to yell in order to be heard over the music. “I’m buying a round for the house. My baby brother here just became a daddy.”

  “Congratulations, Danny!” came the cry from everyone present, except for Erica.

  She didn’t know any of these people, and she hoped she could sneak out before anyone noticed. No such luck. She was slipping her coat on when the woman appeared at her table holding two bottles of beer. And damn it, it was the brand she was drinking. The woman placed one of the bottles on the table in front of Erica.

  “You aren’t leaving, are you?” she asked with a lopsided smile Erica was sure made most people melt. Men or women. “The party’s just getting started.”

  Without taking her coat off, Erica slid back into the chair. She couldn’t stop herself. She’d started to think all the women around here were either old or married, or both. Of course, she didn’t know if this one was married or not, but there was no ring, which was a good sign, and she definitely wasn’t old.

  “The name’s Cassidy Holmes, but you can call me Cass,” she said, holding her hand out.

  “Erica,” she managed as she took it. She couldn’t help thinking Cass held her hand a little longer than was necessary, but it felt nice.

  “I haven’t seen you around here before.”

  “How original,” Erica said with a roll of her eyes. She felt a flutter in her chest when a look of amusement flashed in Cass’s light brown eyes. Erica watched in silent fascination
as Cass ran a hand absently through her dark brown hair. She was sexy as hell, and Erica got the impression she was well aware of the fact.

  “It’s not a line,” Cass said, leaning across the table and speaking quietly. “Unless you want it to be?”

  Erica stifled a laugh. Like Cass would want her, an out-of-shape postal worker. Of course, it wasn’t as though there were a lot of lesbians around to choose from. She took a drink of her beer because she was afraid she might say something stupid. Beautiful women didn’t talk to her. It just didn’t happen.

  “All I meant was I really haven’t seen you before,” Cass said, relaxing into her chair. She shrugged and glanced back at the bar where her brother was passing out cigars. “And you know how small towns are. Everybody knows everybody. So, are you just passing through?”

  “Hey, Cass,” said Eddie as he arrived at their table. He pulled his jacket off the back of a chair and slipped it on. “How’s business?”

  “Pretty much nonexistent through the winter, but I went to a few auctions earlier today, and I’m optimistic.”

  “Glad to hear it,” he said before turning to Erica. “I’ll see you at work, yeah?”

  She nodded her response and was surprised to see the smile Cass didn’t even try to hide. Once Eddie was gone, Erica decided to steer the conversation away from where she worked.

  “So, you became an aunt today. First time?”

  “Actually, yeah.” The look on Cass’s face was wistful, almost as though she was realizing it for the first time herself. “I am. I mean, I’ve been referring to him as my nephew ever since they found out the sex, but I don’t think it hit me until you said it just now. I’m an aunt.”

  “Why do I get the feeling the thought of it scares you?”

  “Probably because it does.”

  “Why?”

  Cass began peeling the label off her beer bottle, contemplating the question. She glanced up and met Erica’s eyes. The thought flitting through her mind brought her up short. I could get lost in those eyes. They were such a bright blue, even in the dark bar. Cass had never seen eyes so blue in her life. And the blond hair held back in a ponytail was sexy, but she was sure Erica had no clue. She brought her mind back to the question Erica was waiting on an answer for and blew out a breath.