Chapter 1

"What are you supposed to do, when the whole world is against you? Do you tell the world to go away?"

"No, you take yourself away from the world."

"But you're supposed to change things, so they go your way, shouldn't you?"

"It doesn't seem to be working that way."

"I know."

"So, what are you gonna do about it?"

"I'm going to make a splash, something big, enormous, outstanding, and so stupendously noticeable that the world takes notice. I want them to see what they've done to me, so they won't keep doing it to others."

"And just how do you plan to do that?"

"That's what I'm trying to decide."

As Gail Fisher drove along the scenic highway, she was not giving much attention to the few remaining wildflowers blooming in wide green spaces between the lanes of traffic. Instead, she was having a conversation with herself. Actually, she was arguing, tilting her head from one side to the other as if she were two people, working on a very serious concern, looking for a solution. She'd had some angry thoughts recently, but was just today, finally able to speak about them, and she was saying them out loud, very loud, occasionally almost a scream.

There was no one else in the car to hear her, so she could say anything she liked and no one would care. She could curse, complain, and in general be rather nasty about the things she had been thinking.

"Gail, you're a goddamn coward."

"Yes I am, and it's all her fault."

"Who are we talking about here?"

"Her. You know. Her. The bitch. The all powerful Melissa Fisher is who. She likes to think she is the best thing since sliced bread to the independently owned real estate brokerages in the whole city. I am so sick of hearing that. Independently Owned Real Estate Brokerage, like it's a title granted by the Queen, a Duchess of Something, or General Somebody."

"Ah, so you mean your mother, huh?"

"Of course, I mean my mother. She was never there for me. She had her fancy, schmancy career to take up her time."

"Hey! You benefited from that career. You had good clothes, you had piano lessons, you went to some very, very expensive summer camps and you had lots of vacations, to lots of fun places."

"Good clothes? Well, ex-cu-u-use me. A closet full of the latest styles doesn't substitute for a warm body to listen when a little girl gets home from school and walks into an empty house. Piano lessons, great, yeah. That's really great. She didn't even come to the recitals. Summer camp was just an excuse to get rid of me. Vacations? Don't make me laugh about those vacations. They were sales meetings and Becky went with us to babysit me, so the nymphomaniac would have an excuse to use two hotel rooms."

"Now, wait a minute. Maybe some of what you say is true. Even though Becky is your cousin, and a few years older than you are, you did have fun with her. It was better than staying home, while your mother was out of town. And the house wasn't empty when you got home. Tincha was there."

"Yeah, right, Tincha was there, but goddammit Hortense Ramos wasn't my mother. And why the hell was this woman not my mother? Because MY MOTHER WAS GONE to some after—work something with all those men she thought were more important than me. Or maybe she stopped for a drink with someone from the office. Yeah right, and how many of those men were actually customers, anyway? Or maybe she was going to dinner with some out—of—town client, getting a contract written faster than her competition could. At least that's the excuse she used. Or maybe she was just going shopping for a few minutes before coming home."

"So, what's wrong with that, huh? You're just pissed because you didn't get to go with her. Children do not go to business meetings."

"Yeah right, they were business meetings." The sarcastic tone of voice was unmistakable inside the closed quiet of vehicle. "Give me a break. I'm not stupid. If they were really business meetings why couldn't she do those things in the day time and come home after work, instead of not getting there until I was already in bed, for God's sake?"

Gail Fisher was in her early twenties. She was very unhappy with her life, and had made plans to do something about it. She'd spent hours putting her complaints on paper, very special paper, neon yellow paper, paper so glaringly bright it almost hurt your eyes to look at it. She bought a whole ream and wrote letters, crossed out parts she didn't like, and then rewrote them. Putting each letter into a plain white envelope, she wrote the person's name and address clearly on the front. However, only her name with no other information showed in the space for the return address. She had written letters to every important person in her life, her father, mother, best friend — well, make that her former best friend — a stupid man she was once married to, and the man who had asked her to marry him at least four times in the last few months. She also had letters, on her special yellow paper, to her boss and her lecherous landlord. However, she hadn't mailed any of the letters.

To look at, Gail was somewhat pretty, in a plain, wholesome way. She was not overweight, but she wasn't one of those skinny girls who could still wear the same size clothes they did when they were fourteen years old and didn't even have hips yet. Truthfully, some men liked her shape, and they would certainly have liked it better if she stood up straight, but she didn't always do that. She slouched as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Her hair was light brown, which she thought was mousy but she only looked at her hair from the front in a mirror, Gail did not see the natural gloss of healthy hair and the golden highlights others saw. She kept it cut short in front, framing her face, because if she wore it any longer, it fell into her eyes when she worked. At one time, in her mid—teens, she tried to be a blonde, but let it grow out when she got tired of having to retouch the roots. Her hair was so fine and straight a permanent wave usually turned to frizz so she didn't bother to try artificial curls anymore.

About the only thing Gail really liked about herself, were her eyes. They were a soft brown, wide set, with long dark lashes and she was really pissed that she was beginning to need reading glasses, which hid her best feature. When she looked at herself, she did not see her full wide mouth and generous lips, although she often had half her lower lip caught between her teeth. She seldom smiled, so the faint dimple in her right cheek didn't show very often.

Given all the details of Gail's physical appearance, she was not happy. In her opinion, the most unattractive thing about her was her blushes. A twenty—something year old woman, who had been married before, should not blush. It was about as ridiculous as anything she could think of, but she did not know how to prevent the blood from rushing to her face when someone told an off color joke or said something complimentary to her. The first was so common in today's modern office that it was almost ignored by the majority of her co—workers. The latter, was becoming less frequent, because her attitude toward compliments was to turn them into an insult or to depreciate a favorable remark so quickly that few people gave her a second compliment.

Paying less attention than she should to the road in front of her, Gail saw a man walking along the side of the highway. Without thinking through her actions, she slowed her car and came to a full stop on the shoulder of the highway, a short distance ahead of him. She watched him trot the fifteen to twenty yards, and when he was beside her passenger door she already had the car door unlocked and the window down.

"Do you need a ride?"

"Yeah, I do, if you don't mind, if you're sure. You know, it's not safe for women alone to pick up hitchhikers these days, particularly in this area, but I appreciate it."

When he was inside the car, Gail offered her right hand, "I'm Gail Fisher. Where are you going?"

Giving her hand a decent but quick shake, the man said, "Nice to meet you, Gail Fisher. I'm Howard Pleas, like 'please and thank you' with no 'e' on the end. This is a nice car, or do you call it a truck?"

"Actually, it's a gas hog, like most sport utility vehicles, but to me it's a truck," Gail explained as she pulled back onto the highway.

Other than the furniture in her one—bedroom apartment, which was hers to begin with, the truck was the only thing she walked away from the marriage with, and then only because it wasn't paid for and Ricky said he'd let the truck go back if she didn't take it. He had already damaged her credit and she wasn't going to let him completely ruin it. She had made every one of the last thirty—some odd payments and only had three to go before the monster would be paid for.

"I had car trouble," Howard explained. "I'm going to town to get my brother to come bail me out."

"I don't remember seeing a break down on the road. How far have you walked?"

"Oh, I was off the highway, a little more than three miles back and another couple of miles down inside the brush."

"Goodness, that's five miles."

"Yeah, and my feet know it, too. Boots are not good running shoes."

Gail, herself prepared for some time alone and accustomed to fending for herself, told Howard, "Reach over in that cooler behind you. Get a bottle of water."

Doing as she offered, he turned around and pulled a bottle of water out of the cooler and twisted the cap off, taking a long drink of about a fourth of the bottle before saying, "Whew that hits the spot. I guess I didn't have my head with me when I started walking. I was at least a mile from the truck before I realized I didn't bring anything with me, not even my hat."

Gail nodded, understanding, "That sounds like something I would do. I'm well known for not thinking ahead."

Twisting around to take a good look behind the front seat, Howard observed, "It doesn't look that way to me. Looks like you're pretty well prepared. Are you going camping, or something? You have a box of food, sleeping bag, and ice chest. I think that's one of those small camping stoves and that's a tent back there, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Gail looked at him for just a moment. "It's a dome tent. How'd you know?"

Howard smiled, "I use one just like it, on those few occasions when I can go to the bay for a little fishing. Plus, I noticed your ice chest doesn't have ice in it, so it's one of those 12 volt coolers. Are you meeting someone, Gail? Or are you just out on your own?"

"It's just me." Gail shrugged her shoulders, "When my world starts crumbling around me, I take off."

Howard grinned and jokingly asked, "Now how can a pretty woman like you have a crumbling world?"

"Ha, little you know, Howard." As her tears began forming she stopped talking, clamping her teeth together to prevent herself from saying something stupid.

Howard saw the faint dimple in Gail's cheek and watched her face as the corners of her mouth turned down. He wondered if the same things that got to him, bothered her. Howard Pleas was not particularly happy with his world right now either.

Howard was an ordinary looking man, until you saw his eyes. There was pain there, and it had been there for a long time. Maybe Gail noticed, or maybe she was so wrapped up in her own world she didn't notice the look of pain. Despite his ordinariness, Howard was a dark man. He wore his hair unfashionably short, but longer than a buzz. He had dark thick brows, and despite a morning shave, his dark beard could easily be seen beneath the surface of his tan skin. Only in very good light could you tell his eyes were dark brown; usually they appeared black. His skin tone was dark, not fair. It was not the dark skin of a man who was tanned from working outdoors, nor was it the darker skin of a Latino man, and he did not have Latino features. He was just darker than most. If someone were to become familiar with his lineage, they would have considered him Mediterranean.

However, despite the pain in his eyes, they were his most arresting feature. His eyes were gentle. He could look at a woman or a child and say, without words, "Give me your hand. As long as your hand is in mine, you are safe. I will protect you."

Trapped in a job he disliked, working for a likable person but a poor businessman, Howard was thirty—two years old and felt he had done absolutely nothing with his whole life. He drove an old truck that sat outside the garage at least as much time as it did getting him around town. He lived in an almost bare room above his brother's garage because it was cheaper than renting an apartment, even if he could have found one in the booming town. He gave his sister—in—law money to help pay for the groceries because they, too, were barely making it. Every dollar he could scrape together he put toward his bank loan or bought another cow to add to those he already had — and promised himself, just one more year.

Not tall and gangly like his brother, Howard was compact and muscular. Many people would be surprised to learn how much he weighed, and they would also be surprised to see the weight he could lift, or how fast he could run. His mother used to say that Frank was a giraffe, but Howard was a bear. She said Frank ran away from trouble and Howard looked for it. That just about summed up Howard's current problem: he had stood up on his hind legs, raised his paws, and swatted at someone who was annoying him, and now he was about to pay the price for his loss of self—control.

"Okay," Howard said. "We have at least half an hour before we get to town. You tell me about your world crumbling and I'll tell you about mine."

Gail laughed a not particularly happy sound and said, "Yeah, right. You're a man. You don't want some broad crying on your shoulder about her lousy job, despicable ex—husband, stupid boyfriend, and lecherous landlord, and that's not all the people I'm pissed at. It's just the beginning of the list."

"Hey, I wouldn't ask if I wasn't willing to listen, but I'll go first, if you want. Hell, I ain't proud. But for your information, I don't call women 'broads' either. They are girls, ladies or women. Anything else is disrespectful."

Gail looked at him for a moment, then returned her attention to the road ahead, "You can't be serious?"

"Yes ma'am, I am. My mother was a good woman and if she was to hear me say such a thing, I'd be standing at the kitchen sink having my mouth washed out with soap and I'd be lucky to walk away still able to sit down."