They afforded her clanging head with a small bit of ease when she put them on.
Her knuckles were white around her phone as she watched the progress of her rideshare on the screen, praying for all she was worth that the car would arrive before Archer decided to come out and torment her some more.
He had the ability to do that simply by breathing the same air as her. It wouldn’t have been so problematic, except that he was perfectly aware of the effect he had.
At least he had been back in the day.
Still, it remained a good reason to avoid him.
The clock on her phone told her it was almost noon. She had no sense of how long she’d slept, except that it hadn’t been long enough.
She lifted her sunglasses enough to rub her eyes, and then consulted her phone app again. The ride was around the corner.
She breathed a little easier now that it was almost here, because she was certain she could feel Archer’s eyes drilling into her through the window. She just hoped he didn’t come out onto the porch. She pushed off the bench, dragging the strap of her purse over her shoulder, and walked barefoot down the shallow brick steps. She crossed the neat patch of summer-green grass and wondered if Archer actually mowed it himself.
And wondering that annoyed her, too.
She marched a little more briskly from the grass to the sidewalk and toward the corner where a little hybrid vehicle had just come into view. She waved her arm, flagging it down, and peered into the window, making certain the driver matched the one on her app. She did, so Nell opened the back door, tossed her purse inside and folded herself in after it.
“Morning.” The driver was a gray-haired woman with a cheerful chirpy voice. She read off Nell’s home address. “That’s where we’re heading, yeah?”
Nell closed her eyes and pressed her head against the seat back. “Yes. Thanks,” she added a little belatedly once the car lurched into motion. It felt odd the way the vehicle moved along so silently without the noise and feel of a typical gas engine. “How does this thing run in the winter?”
The driver gave another chirp of laughter. “Going to have to wait until this winter to see. I just bought her.” She tapped her hand against the steering wheel. “She’s a good girl, though. Hasn’t failed me yet.” She slowed and turned the corner again. “Get a lot of looks from other people, though. Not quite the usual sight yet here in Cheyenne.”
“Or the rest of Wyoming,” Nell surmised.
The driver laughed again. “Of course, ridesharing is still pretty new to most folks around here, too.” Her cheerful tone was soothing. “Even though it really isn’t. I’ve been doing it nearly five years now.”
“Guess you must like it.”
“Sure. I can work as much or as little as I want. And the money’s better than you might think. I earn more doing this than I did even after twenty-five years in mortgage banking. And retirement is too boring for me.” She laughed. “For now, anyway. I like filling my time. What do you do?”
“I’m a lawyer.” Nell rubbed a finger against the throbbing in her forehead.
“Mind if I ask where? Person never knows when they might find themselves in need of one.”
Nell’s lips twisted. “I’m evaluating things at the moment.”
“Ah.” The driver nodded sagely. “Well, if you need a little financial boost during the evaluation period, I can recommend my company. Decisions sometimes come easier when you let your mind focus on something entirely different. Driving is like that.”
“Hmm.” Nell owned a nice enough car. She and the bank, anyway. If she needed to, she could squire people around from one address to another. At least until she got settled again in a new law firm. Cheyenne wasn’t the largest city around, but Pastore Legal wasn’t the only game in town.
She didn’t have any idea how long that might take. She’d been working for Martin since she’d passed the bar. She had plenty of friends from other firms—mostly professional acquaintances if she were strictly honest—and she imagined that she’d be able to use that network to get some meetings sooner rather than later.
She hoped.
She wasn’t a penniless college student anymore. She had savings. But between her student loans, her car and the rent on the condo she shared with Ros, that nest egg would quickly be consumed. “I’ll keep it in mind,” she told the driver. “Thanks.”
The driver let her off shortly after and quickly drove away in her silent car, already on the way to her next fare.
Nell straightened her shoulders, blew out a deep breath and headed up the steps. She unlocked the door and went inside, automatically pushing the door closed firmly to make sure it latched, and listened.
The absolute silence told her that Ros wasn’t there, and Nell’s shoulders relaxed again.
She picked up the mail that was scattered on the floor from where it had been pushed through the mail slot in the door and left it and her purse on the narrow acrylic table behind the couch. The presence of the mail on the floor told her that Ros hadn’t come home the night before, either.
It wasn’t the first time. Unlike Nell, Ros was sleeping with the guy she’d been seeing for the past year. But none of the messages on Nell’s phone was from her roommate, and Ros always let Nell know if she was staying out.
At least she had until their argument the afternoon before.
She scrubbed her hands down her face and carried her phone with her upstairs to her spacious room.
When she and Ros had rented the condo a few years earlier, they’d both been giddy with delight because one of the previous owners had combined two units into one, making for much larger digs. Both bedrooms were set up like master suites, with their own bathrooms. They shared a study that was lined with legal tomes on
