(Again, still in the past.)

Slade stared at me over his folded hands. "Repairs are going to cost about five thousand dollars. That piece of rusted metal is only worth a thousand, if you're lucky. And that's not counting all the other repairs that should be made, or will need to be made later."

"And what does that mean?" I asked.

"That means, Jersey, that you don't have a ride." Slade stated simply.

"Damn." I said under my breath and he laughed.

"Yup." He said, and swiveled in his chair a little. He had brought me into his office after our awesome lunch. We were now talking cars, a subject I knew little about.

"Seems you're going to be stuck in town tonight. Springer is just 50 miles from here, a good half hour drive. I can take you tomorrow, if you'd like." Slade explained.

"Double damn." I muttered.

"Could be worse, Jersey. You could actually have somewhere to be." Slade joked. I scowled at him.

"Where's the nearest hotel?" I asked.

"Only one hotel in Grant. To tell you the truth, it's a pretty run down place. Everyone's lost interest in it. If it's a bed and hot shower you want, I have an extra room at my place."

Bells went off. Bad idea. My hormones were out of whack. One man broke his love, another professed his love, and now I was about to shack up with a cowboy.

"If it makes you feel any better, it's a huge house I inherited from my father. You don't even have to see me if you want too." He said.

"It's a great offer, but I really shouldn't." I said.

"Back to those issues?" He asked.

During lunch, he had started asking me questions. What was I doing here? Why did I leave? I just told him I had issues to sort out.

"Back to my issues." I agreed.

"How about I tell you a secret?" He leaned in. "I'm not going to touch you. Not that you're not attractive or anything, but I'm not really in to you." He blushed embarrassed, like there was more to tell.

"You have a crush on someone, don't you?" I said.

He laughed and blushed again. "Geez. You make me sound like I'm a horny teenager. Yes, I have a crush, and it's not you Jersey. Sorry. Feel any better now?"

You could tell by the way he was acting that he was seriously embarrassed to have shared his deepest darkest secret with me. And I believed him. "I guess so."

He smiled, got up and lead me back out to the lobby. "I have a little work to finish, then I'll be ready to go. Why don't you go across the street and look at some of the shops? Could do you some good to meet the locals. You might be here a while."

I walked into a little hobby shop across the way from the auto shop. There were kits for little toy planes, and model cars and quilting supplies. Everything you could imagine, packed into the little shop. I browsed up and down the isles, looking at everything.

You don't have a hobby. You had to lie about playing the Cello! I screamed at myself. This bummed me out even more. I watched a little boy grab a model rocket kit and join his dad, who had several model making supplies in his hand.

Slade came to my rescue, poking his head into the store and telling me to move it or he'd leave me alone.

Slade kept to his word. We entered the house, he showed me where everything was, nuked up a bowl of chicken noodle for each of us, and then took his soup down the hall towards his room. I followed suit, eating my soup as fast as I could so I could hide underneath the sheets.

I turned out the light, and suddenly realized just how much I missed home already. Pull it together, Plum. If you're going to make it out here on your own, you're going to have to live without home! I sternly told myself.

But that didn't stop me from crying myself to sleep.

I promise the Ranger deal is next. I was planning to do it now, but I can't find the right words to make it happen. So I'm going to go talk to myself for a little bit, and the words will come.