When Ruby woke, the fire had died down to low embers, but she did not feel cold, not really, nor tired, either. Through the window, she could see the full moon rising.
She pulled the blanket around her shoulders, more for modesty than for the chill, and tiptoed across the room.
Josh wasn't on his cot. Strange. She hadn't heard him leave. She checked the bathroom, pushing the door open slightly.
"Josh?"
Silence greeted her. She poked her head in and looked around. There wasn't much room to hide in the small cabin, and Josh was definitely not there.
"Josh?"
She spoke softly, not expecting an answer. The low crackling of the embers in the fire was the only sound in the cabin. Well. He must have gone for a late night walk. Her heart swelled with an idea: maybe she would find him.
"Now that's the silliest idea you've had yet this trip," she admonished herself. She was here on business, after all. Images flickered into her mind of taking a walk outside in the fields with Josh. He would take her hand and kiss her, and they would fall down together to the ground under the moonlight. Their bodies would crush young seedling corn, him kissing her neck, moaning passionately. Them tumbling over each other, hands going all over each other's bodies...
"Stop it," Ruby whispered. "You just stop thinking about that."
But she tightened the blanket around her and opened the front door to go outside.
"Josh?"
The planks of the porch creaked slightly under her weight, and she stepped lightly across the porch, the wood rough against her bare feet. Then she was standing on the dirt and looking down to where the edge of the cornfield bordered the cabin. The motorcycle was still parked where Josh had left it, and the Volvo was there too. He must be around here somewhere.
"Josh?"
The moon was rising between the rows, and she walked forward, her hand brushing the stiff leaves of the corn. She walked to the edge of the first cornfield, where it met with a barbed wire fence, and more corn beyond. She paused next to the fence.
Her toes sank slightly into the earth, and the smell all around her was earth and corn and growing. It was a smell that she'd forgotten, living in the city.
She stopped and closed her eyes. One time in a book, she forgot which book, she'd read that you could hear the corn growing at night if you stopped and listened. Now, she let her hands hang at her sides and she heard a soft rustling. Was that the corn growing? Maybe it was the wind. She opened her eyes but the silken tops of the corn stalks were unmoving in the moonlight. Then it must be the growing of the corn. She closed her eyes again to listen to the crackle and murmur of the plants stretching themselves in growth.
Then, a growl.
Ruby spun around, clutching the blanket over her chest as though it would ward off whatever animal had made the noise. She didn't see anything in the corn rows.
Another growl. This time behind her.
"Josh?" The name came out as a whisper.
A wind came sweeping over the field as she looked around her, trying to find where the animal was. The heads of the corn stalks began to sway slightly and rustle against each other. She could feel her heart pounding against her chest and she edged in sideways between the corn rows, crouching down. Maybe whatever it was out there would miss her, go away. She peered out to where the barbed wire fence stretched down the field, and what she saw made her gasp.
Wolves. At first it was just one, leaping over the fence as easily as if it were only a foot high. The creature jumped across to the earth next to the cornfield, its paws making no sound as it landed. It growled, and Ruby felt chills run down her spine as the growl carried on the wind over to where she was crouched. The sound seemed to come from right next to her, but the wolf must have been fifty feet away.
Then another wolf leapt over and into the field, and another. Ruby leaned forward, unable to keep her curiosity from getting the better of her. She could see now the glint of their eyes beyond the fence in the cornfield. There must have been a dozen of them. Some of them yipped and began to play with each other, nipping at their heels. Some tumbled to the ground and arched their backs against the earth like puppies scratching their backs.
Then the first wolf raised its head and howled, and the pack of wolves began to run. Ruby watched as they leapt over each other, heading—thankfully!—in the other direction. She exhaled, realizing for the first time that she had been holding her breath as she watched the wolves. Finally they were gone, no hint of sight or sound remaining.
Ruby waited only a few seconds more before standing up and racing back to the cabin. She shut the door behind her as she came in and collapsed on the mat in front of the dying fire, catching her breath. She considered calling the police, but no. What would she say? Everything seemed like a dream already, now that she was inside in the warm, safe cabin.
She meant to wait up for Josh, to make sure he was okay. But tiredness overtook her as she sat there, and she drifted off into dreams of cornfields and wolves and Josh's strong arms around her.
***
Morning came and Ruby woke up to the sun shining in her eyes. She blinked hard, and then she was on her feet.
"Josh?"
"Right behind you."
Ruby started and spun to see Josh standing behind the small stove in the corner. The smell coming from the pan was incredible.
"Lord, you scared me," she said. "What time is it?" The presentation at AgriCorp.
"Enough time for breakfast before you have to go," Josh said. "Bacon and eggs okay?"
"No corn?"
Josh grinned at her.
"Eat up," he said.
She raced through breakfast in a hurry, running through her presentation in her mind. It was only as she was putting on the extra motorcycle helmet that she remembered what had happened last night. Josh revved the motor as he waited for her to snap on the helmet.
"Where did you go last night?" she asked Josh, swinging one leg over the motorcycle and pulling her skirt down to cover the skin that had been bared. God, it was so dangerous to ride on one of these things with a skirt on. She wished that she'd asked him if they could take the station wagon, but from the looks of it the car hadn't been started in months.
"Last night?"
"I woke up and you weren't there," Ruby said.
"Oh, just went out for a midnight walk," Josh said. "Check on the corn. You ready to go?"
Before she could ask him about the wolves, the motorcycle was moving under her. She grabbed Josh's chest tightly and ignored his laughter as he revved the motor and sped off down the dirt road toward the highway.
This time, she felt safer sitting behind him. Still not comfortable—there really wasn't a good way to be comfortable on the back of a bike, she guessed—but at least she wasn't worried about falling off. Turning her head, she saw the cornfields flying by. She rested her chest against Josh's back and imagined what it would be like to be pressed against him naked. The image was more than pleasant, and she let her mind drift off into fantasies. All thoughts of the presentation had evaporated with the wind and the loud howl of the motor underneath her, and her body began to ache, as much from the unsatisfied desires inside of her as from the tension running through her muscles.
As they rode on, she saw black cylindrical towers rise up over the horizon.
"That's Agricorps," Josh yelled back to her over the noise of the wind. She gave him a thumbs-up to show that she had heard. Then they went over a bump and she quickly clutched both hands back to his chest. Okay, so maybe she didn't feel so safe, after all. He pulled up into the field complex, next to a gleaming metal silo. A glass office building stood in front with a sign that said Headquarters.
"That's me," Ruby said. She hopped off of the motorcycle and almost fell over on her heels. Luckily, Josh caught her arm. Before she could even thank him, he was unclasping the helmet from her head and putting it back on the motorcycle. She smoothed down the front of her skirt, checking her blouse for any stains. He handed her the presentation materials from the motorcycle saddlebag.
"So...are you gonna need a ride back to the airport?" Josh asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Maybe," Ruby said. "I mean, don't worry about me. I'll find a ride with someone. It's okay." With him standing in front of her, waiting, she suddenly wanted to do something else, say something before he left for good.
"Can I...I mean, thank you for letting me stay with you. And for the ride." Ruby dug through her purse and came up with a few twenty dollar bills. "I don't have much cash, but here—"
"Hey, no," Josh said, holding up his hands in protest. "No way. I'm not taking your money."
"Come on. You did so much for me. You cooked me dinner! It's been years since any guy has done that for me!" Ruby laughed, pressing the bills toward him insistently.
"That's a shame," he said. "But hey, no. I'm not getting paid for entertaining a beautiful woman for a night. You have to let me show you that famous Nebraskan hospitality."
Ruby's breath caught in her throat at the compliment, and she didn't know what to say. It wasn't that men never complimented her. On the contrary, she was bombarded with it whenever she walked out the door. Those men, though, always seemed to have a hidden purpose behind their words. They wanted to take her home. They wanted to sleep with her. Looking at Josh, she didn't feel that same sense of being...hunted.
"Now go," he said, waving her off.
"Okay," she said. "Thank you."
"More than welcome," he said.
He smiled, flipped his helmet visor down, and took off in a cloud of dust before she could say anything else. Something like "please come back for me" or "why don't I stay the night again?" or "show me what you look like under that shirt." Ruby sighed as the sun, rising, began to shine into her eyes. Time to get back to business.
A hand came down on her shoulder and she jumped at the touch.
"Can I help you?" a low voice asked.
***
Ruby turned, blinking hard, and suddenly wished that she had put on mascara before leaving for Agricorp.
The man standing in front of her looked like he'd just stepped out of a limousine after dining with the President. His hair was jet black, styled perfectly, and his shirt was a starch-stiff white button-down that reflected the sun so brightly Ruby had to squint. His tie was Armani, and she guessed that was the least expensive item he was wearing, at least if the gold watch and cuff links were any indication. She didn't know how he was wearing a suit in this weather.
"So this is the brilliant Ms. Thomas I've heard so much about," the man said, shaking her hand. His palm was cool and strong and she had the terrible sense that she was sweating into the handshake.
"Please, Ruby," she managed to squeak out. She caught her presentation materials before they started to slip from under her arm. "Call me Ruby."
"Of course," the man said, smiling. His teeth reflected almost as much sun as his shirt. "I'm Alex."
Her mouth went dry.
"Alex, as in Alexander Oliver?" Ruby blinked again and hoped she wasn't gaping. The head of Agricorp was there to deal with the merger? She'd thought that she would be dealing with the local managers, maybe talking to one of the heads of the district offices. But the CEO?
"I hope my reputation hasn't preceded me," Alex said. He slipped one arm under her elbow and then he was holding her presentation materials in one hand and leading her back to the Agricorp building with the other.
"I...I just wasn't expecting...the CEO..."
"Don't think of me as a CEO," Alex said, holding the door open for her. "Think of me as a friend. We're doing business together, aren't we?"
"Right, right," Ruby murmured.
She walked through the door, feeling acutely vulnerable. She had no makeup on apart from a little concealer—she hadn't wanted it to get messed up under the motorcycle helmet. Her only pair of pantyhose had torn, and she was barelegged under her skirt. Her hair was frizzed from the ride and uncombed. And the way Alex watched her move made her uneasy in a way she couldn't put her finger on.
It didn't matter. What mattered was the acquisition, and fixing all the mistakes that her company had made here.
"Where's the presentation room?" Ruby asked.
They walked across the gleaming tile floor slowly. Nobody else was in the headquarters office.
"I thought we could start with a tour," Alex said. "It's been a while since I've been out here. What do you think?"
He grinned and offered her a hard hat from the hanging rack next to the door.
"Sure," she said, plunking the hard hat over her head. At least she could hide her unruly hair.
She'd thought that one of the general managers of the plant would be taking them on the tour, but Alex intent on showing her around personally. They spent the next two hours walking through the factory. Alex pointed out all of the different manufacturing capabilities of the plant and made sure to mention the growth that was still possible.
He took her up the side stairs of a silo and she tensed as they walked up the grated metal stairs. She hated heights. But at the top, she looked out and saw the countryside for miles around. The view from the highway was pretty accurate, as far as she was concerned. Corn everywhere, stretching as far as the eye could see. She peered into the distance and tried to find Josh's cabin amid the green rows. Too far away.
Alex came to the rail and leaned on it next to her.
"Plenty of space here to grow. Lots of opportunity for petroleum. We're even considering solar retrofitting on these plants to reduce electrical costs."
"You've convinced me," she said. "Though, to be fair, we were already convinced. Now we just have to settle on a price."
"The guy you sent out to us earlier—"
"Was a moron. Apparently," Ruby said, flushing. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Alex said. "The team out here called me yesterday morning and said that the deal was going south. That I needed to fly here as soon as I could."
"Sounds familiar," Ruby said. "I'm sorry this merger isn't going smoothly. You could be back at home sipping mojitos right now instead of here in Nowhere, Nebraska."
"What, and miss this view?" Alex said motioning to the corn fields in front of them.
Ruby giggled.
"Don't worry," Alex said. He put his hand on hers and smiled. "I'm sure we can work something out."
***
They walked back to the Agricorp headquarters, where two other men dressed in identical black suits were waiting for them in the downstairs lobby.
"Ruby, these are my associates," he said. "Come to help with the merger deal."
"Pleasure to meet you," she said. She shook their hands, aware that they were looking her up and down.
"Ready to work out the details?" Alex said.
Ruby nodded. Her nerves were getting the better of her. She'd spent so much time putting deals together, but she'd never been in the front room when it happened. And to be negotiating with the head of Agricorp himself...
"Great," he said. "What's the game show phrase? Let's make a deal."
Two hours passed, then three. The men pored through the deal paperwork, picking out details and asking Ruby for explanations about all of the arcana included in the merger. She'd hoped that her predecessor would have worked the kinks out before she arrived, but it seemed like they had made the problems worse. Not that there were too many problems—she didn't want to overstate the issue. The small nitpicks of any deal would frustrated anyone but the most patient of negotiators. Fortunately, Ruby had patience in excess. She enjoyed tearing through the legalese of the paperwork.
Another hour passed, and they broke for a late lunch. When they came back to the table, Ruby was surprised to find the three men agreeing with all of the changes she'd made to the acquisition. It only took another forty minutes to finalize the paperwork, and then they'd come to the end of the merger negotiations.
Alex leaned back in his chair and smiled at her.
"You're taking us for a ride," he said. "Your boss should give you a promotion for making this deal."
"I think it's a fair deal," Ruby said calmly. He hadn't signed the final page yet. "And we gave you a stipulation for the solar once it gets installed."
"Fair enough," Alex said. He leaned forward and signed the merger deal, then stood up from the table and offered his hand. "Congratulations, Ruby."
She shook his hand, dizzy from the hours of negotiations.
She'd done it. By herself, and with no help, and with the freaking CEO of Agricorp himself! She suppressed the urge to grin widely. Instead she gave him a calm smile.
"Scan this up to send to Ms. Thomas," Alex said, handing the papers to one of his associates. Both men left the room.
"When are you flying out?" Alex asked. Ruby looked up to see him standing very close to her. She could smell his cologne, fresh and heady. She hoped she didn't smell too bad herself.
"I didn't even check," Ruby said. "I'll have to call my assistant and see if he can book anything for tonight."
"Good luck with that," Alex said, sarcasm in his voice.
"Why?"
"You're going back to New York, right?"
"Right."
"They don't have any flights until tomorrow morning."
"Argh!"
"I know," Alex said, a commiserating smile spreading over his face. "You sure you don't want to spend another night in the cornfields?"
"Hah! This place."
"Don't I know it." Alex leaned against the table and tapped her hand lightly with his fingers. "Say, you probably don't have a hotel booked for tonight, then?"
"I—" Ruby thought about Josh, and at first she hesitated, some part of her wanting to see him again. Then she thought about Josh's cabin. The single cot, the tub with freezing cold water. "No. I didn't have anything planned."
"Come stay at the Hilton downtown. It's the least rustic of the hotels around here. And there's a sushi place across the street."
"Sushi? In Nebraska?"
"I was surprised, too. In fact, I had my assistants try it for lunch just to test it out, before I risked food poisoning."
"Food tasters for the king?" Ruby raised one eyebrow.
"Turns out I didn't even need them to taste it. The sushi's pretty decent."
"I—" Ruby's resolve was weakening. Why not go back with him? Why was she being so reluctant? She looked up to see Alex smiling confidently at her.
"Sure," she said, setting her face in what she hoped was a pleasantly professional tone. "As long as they don't serve corn."
He opened the door for her to leave, and she felt a thrill of anticipation as he touched her on the back to lead her to his car, a black Lexus. The air conditioning was deliciously cool and the seats were leather. She settled back into the plush seats and almost fell asleep at once. Raising her hand, she stifled a yawn.
"Long night preparing for the merger?" Alex asked. He revved the engine and pulled out of the Agricorp parking lot.
"Something like that," Ruby said. In her mind, she could see the wolves jumping over the fence. How on earth would she ever explain that to anyone? A pack of wolves, running through the moonlight...she was beginning to think that it was a all a dream herself. Or a nightmare.
"You did a great job in there," Alex said.
"Thanks," Ruby said. In an instant, all of her thoughts of wolves and cornfields were erased. She was sitting next to the CEO of Agricorp, for heaven's sakes! "Why don't you tell me more about your business?"
"Oh, it would bore you to tears. All I deal with all day are businessmen and politicians who don't know their heads from their asses. This is the most interesting thing that has happened to me in a long while."
"This? Cornfields?" Ruby asked, with not a small degree of skepticism.
"That too," Alex said, giving her a warm smile. "But I was mostly talking about meeting you."
A warmth flushed Ruby's skin, even with the air conditioner on full blast.
At the hotel, Alex insisted on paying for an upgrade for her room to the executive suite.
"Celebrate a little," he said when she protested. "Drink out of the minibar."
"I never drink out of the minibar," she said, aghast. "Do you know how much they charge for a bottle of apple juice?"
"Those bottles of apple juice make the best appletinis."
"I don't believe you," Ruby said, laughing.
"Why don't you come have a drink with me and let me prove it." His voice wasn't asking, it was telling.
A lump in Ruby's throat prevented her from answering right away. She knew what he was asking her, and it both thrilled and scared her. To go back to the hotel room of a successful CEO...that wasn't just an invitation to a drink. At least, she didn't think it was. She shook her head and settled her shoulders. She could always say no later. And the idea of picking the brain of the head of AgriCorp piqued her curiosity like crazy. Why not?
"Come on," he said. "Just to wind down. And celebrate your biggest successful account merger."
"How do you know this is the biggest account I've managed?" Ruby asked.
"I don't," Alex said, slipping his arm around her waist and turning her to the hotel elevator. "I'm just used to being the biggest a woman's ever seen."
Ruby rolled her eyes, but she let him lead her back to his room, making small talk all the way.
He fixed her a drink from the minibar—true to his word, with apple juice—and watched as she took a sip.
"It's good," she said. She stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as he poured a brandy for himself. "So how did you get started with Agricorp?"
"Oh, it was a long time ago," Alex said, waving his hand absentmindedly. "I started out in the tech development department in the agriculture sector. Trying to build better farms."
"How cute," Ruby said.
"What? Developing tech?"
"Yeah. It has something to it. Building a better farm." Ruby sipped her drink, feeling the cold liquid hit the back of her throat and turn warm on its way to her stomach. "How's that for a new ad campaign line?"
"Genius. We need something to get us out of the oil leakage shadow."
"Oil leakage?" Ruby turned her hip out, shifting her weight back against the counter.
"Do that again," Alex said. "No, wait."
"Do what?" Ruby asked.
"Just like that," Alex said, pulling out his phone. He held it up quickly and she realized too late that he was taking a picture of her. Her fingers flew to her hair to smooth it down, but he was already putting the phone away.
"That's a great picture to use for you in my contact list," Alex said, smirking. "Although it might distract me too much if you're always calling about work."
"Work," Ruby said, trying to regain the direction of the conversation. She didn't want things to get any more out of hand. "You were saying how you started out in tech development."
"Building better farms."
"Right. And...well, that's interesting," Ruby said. "What did you work on?"
"On the contrary. It was unbelievably boring. Hey, come on. No more work talk. Time to relax," he said, guiding her by the elbow to the bed. She sat a few inches away from him, cupping her drink with both hands.
He sipped his brandy. "Tell me more about about yourself. All I know about you is that you're a kickass negotiator. What do you do for fun?"
Ruby paused in the middle of taking a drink, the rim of her glass pressing lightly into her bottom lip.
"I...you know, I don't know what I do for fun!" She laughed and took another sip of her cocktail. The apple juice was so sweet she couldn't even taste the alcohol. "I work way too much."
"Sounds like a successful person talking," Alex said.
"Sometimes I just want to run away to the middle of nowhere. You know?" Ruby took another sip, and then her cocktail was gone and Alex was making her another.
"You mean out in the middle of, like, Nebraska?" Alex laughed. "You've arrived!"
"I guess so," Ruby said. "Do you like it here at all?"
"Do I like the cornfields? Is that what you're asking?"
They both chuckled. He handed her the second martini. This one was stronger.
"I don't mind being out in the middle of nowhere," Alex said. "Especially when there's a pretty lady out there with me. But I need my creature comforts. If I didn't have my minibar..." He shrugged.
"It would give me more time to read," Ruby said, sipping thoughtfully. "I'd like that."
"Ha! I don't remember the last time I cracked a book that didn't have P&L embossed on the front page," Alex said.
"Or whatever you do to relax," Ruby said. She swallowed the rest of her drink hurriedly, the alcohol hitting her harder than she'd thought it would. The back of her throat burned.
She stood up, trying not to let the room spin around her. He obviously wasn't in a chatting mood, and she was starting to think she shouldn't have come up to the room with him. Why hadn't she insisted that they drink at the hotel bar downstairs? She set her glass down on the top of the minibar counter.
"You know what I do to relax?" Alex asked. Coming up behind her, he slipped one hand along the small of her back. His other hand wrapped around her shoulder and began to massage her there. She tensed.
"I don't...I don't think..."
"That's good." Alex smiled at her—she could see his reflection in the mirror. "Thinking never helps me relax. You have to...feel..." His hand moved over her hip, to her stomach. She tried to step back, but his leg was behind hers, pinning her to the counter. She swallowed hard.
"How do you want it?" he whispered in her ear. "Do you want to play rough?"
"No!" Ruby shoved herself backwards and spun away. Her arm knocked her glass over and it tumbled silently to the carpet. She bent to pick it up. "No. Look, I'm sorry. I misunderstood."
"I don't think you misunderstood," Alex said. As she stood with the glass, he grabbed her wrist and stood close to her. She could smell the acrid fumes of the brandy on his breath. "A smart girl like you? You understood just fine."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ruby said, yanking her arm out of his grasp. "I should go."
"We're not done here," he said, stepping forward.
"I am done here," Ruby said firmly. Although she'd gotten hints of Alex's overconfidence, she never expected him to be so brazen. She turned on her heel and strode to the door. As she pulled the door open, Alex's hand reached over to stop it from opening.
"Deal's off," he said.
"Excuse me?" Ruby whipped around, her heart pounding. "What deal?"
"Your precious merger," Alex said. He stepped back and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms casually. His eyes, though, burned a fierce black.
Ruby's heart skipped a beat.
"You can't...you signed the deal."
"Really?"
"Of course! We agreed—" Ruby stopped mid-sentence. The associate had taken the paperwork. Alex had claimed he would scan it in to send to her, but now a sunken feeling dropped into her stomach.
"Don't try and tell me you came here—alone—without having this all planned out."
"I didn't!" Ruby cried.
"Arriving at a business meeting with no pantyhose, smelling like sex—"
"Stop!" Ruby's legs were trembling. "I didn't—"
"I'm sure you did," Alex said. His face turned calm, sympathetic, but his words still stung. "Look, let's talk it over. We can figure it out."
He leaned forward to close the door, but Ruby pulled it wide open to leave.
"No," she said. She was not staying to talk. She wasn't staying a moment longer. To her surprise, Alex grabbed her with a strong arm and slammed her against the wall. He leaned into her face, his breath hot and strong with alcohol.
"Listen here, you little bitch—"
That was it. Ruby brought her knee up into Alex's crotch with one sure shot.
"Oof!"
Without hesitating for another second, Ruby shoved Alex away and ran. She was halfway down the hall before she looked back, but Alex wasn't following her. Tipsy and shaken, she made her way down the stairwell to the hotel lobby.
"Miss, can I help you with something?" the hotel concierge asked. "A dinner reservation, maybe?"
She looked at him, her eyes wild with fear. How strange, that he was acting normal. She felt as though the whole world should be shaking, broken, after what had happened. Her mind was whirling with different thoughts.
"A taxi?" she said.
"Of course," the concierge said. "I'll call one up and it should be here in twenty minutes or so."
"Twenty minutes?" Ruby's pulse was still beating hard in her ears. She couldn't wait twenty minutes to get out of here.
"I'm sorry," the hotel concierge said. "There's only one taxi company nearby, and they're a bit of a drive. If it's an emergency, you could borrow the hotel car."
"It's not," Ruby said. "I mean, I can't drive. I'm in no condition to drive. See?" She waved at herself, then wished she hadn't.
The concierge took the opportunity to look her over. She saw his eyes pause on her red-streaked cheeks, then move down her bare neck to her hips. She coughed, and he shrugged, looking away towards the back of the hotel.
"There's the hotel bar if you want to wait..."
"No," she said, too abruptly. "No, no thank you. I just...I just need to step outside for a while."
The concierge looked at her as though she was crazy, and maybe she was. Walking away from him, she felt his oily gaze slide down the backs of her thighs, down her bare skin.
She wished she could drive, but the world still spun around her. A pressure jolting through her head made her stumble. Her hand pressed against her temple, and she felt herself begin to cry. She bit her hand, bit back the aching sob that threatened, just now, at her throat, to betray her.
Taking out her cell phone, she was not surprised to see the battery empty, the screen blank.
The contract. He would never send it to her now. How stupid of her, to let them take the only copy. Tears stung her lips. She pressed her lips together, to block out the sadness. If she could not taste it, it wasn't real. Maybe he would pity her, and send them anyway...
"Stop it!" she hissed to herself. How low had she come, that she would even think about begging for another man's pity? She would never do such a thing again. And anyway, Alex had a picture of her holding a cocktail, leaning against what was obviously a hotel minibar. She furrowed her brow and shook the image out of her thoughts. No...no more of this. Please. I can't take any more.
"I can't take it," she said. She bit her lip and walked on.
Turning her head to check that Alex was not coming after her, she lost her balance and had to pause. The hotel shone brightly against the rapidly darkening sky.
She turned and let the hotel disappear from her sight and from her thoughts. She stood up as tall as she could. She began to walk.
Finding herself at the exit of the hotel's parking lot, Ruby looked out down the highway. The road stretched out into the dark blue night, the old white paint on the black asphalt shining still brightly with moonlight. Reflections of a reflection.
Rows of corn lined her path, and she stayed to the right-hand side of the road. In the direction of the airport, the only other piece of civilization she knew in this strange not-wilderness, she walked.
It might have been minutes later or an hour, she did not know. At the end of the road in the middle of the darkness, a pinpoint of light emerged. The taxi?
As the light grew bigger, she hesitated, pulling herself closer to the cornfield at her side.. Only one light. A motorcycle? Josh? Or someone else?
She was too far from the hotel to go back. If it was Josh, she would be fine. But if it was anyone else...
What had he said? Mean creatures?
The light was almost on top of her, closer, brighter, and she did not know what she would do until—