Anna tried to dress as casual as possible the next day but it was hard. She wore a simple pink summer dress and the white sandals she had worn the first day. She didn’t have many shoes with her and they were all dressy. She put her hair up and secured it with a hair clip. She tried to tell herself last night meant nothing but two consenting adults having sex, but her heart beat just a little faster at the thought of seeing Blake again this morning.
Victor picked her up at eight on the dot. He told Anna he was working on a car that had been in a wreck today. She had already made herself a pot of coffee in her room since she usually had fruit or yogurt for breakfast. If she was going to be stuck here for a few more days, she needed to find a grocery store. She asked Victor when they got in the car.
“Is there a grocery store in town?”
“Yeah, about six blocks from the motel. Why?” he asked, driving out toward the road that led to the garage.
“I need some fruit and yogurt, stuff that I can eat instead of fattening food like the diner serves. Don’t get me wrong. It is tasty food but I haven’t been able to work out lately and I don’t want to gain weight,” she explained.
“You look fine to me, doll,” he said, tapping his fingers on the wheel to the beat of the music. “But I’ll take you after work if you want.”
Anna actually felt excited at being able to shop for herself again. Victor had a maid service that cleaned and bought groceries. “I’d appreciate that.”
They arrived at the garage and she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous on how to act. She wanted to appear blasé about the whole thing. They had agreed to one night and it had been amazing. She had never had a one-night stand before. She had only been with Santiago so she wasn’t sure what the etiquette was.
She got out of the car and followed Victor slowly into the garage, walking behind him. Blake had his head under the hood of her truck but he had heard their footsteps. He had his dark blue overalls on and he looked at her outfit, arching his eyebrow in question. “Well at least you don’t have heels on but sandals are dangerous here, honey.”
“Sorry, I forgot my work boots at home,” she said sarcastically. “Are you going to dock my pay, boss man?”
She heard laughter behind her and turned to see another man dressed like Blake walking in. His hair was short and brown and he was as tall as Blake but leaner. His eyes were also green like Blake’s and he resembled both Blake and Victor. He must be the middle brother Sam.
“Sam, this brat is the owner of the piece-of-shit truck I’m slaving over,” Blake introduced the man to Anna. “Anna, this is my brother, Sam.”
“Hey,” she protested. “That truck cost me five hundred dollars.”
“Then someone cheated you badly, miss,” Sam stated honestly and she couldn’t argue with that. But at the time she had been desperate to disappear. She couldn’t exactly tell them that, though, not without giving them the whole sorry tale.
“She is cleaning the office for me,” Blake explained to Sam. Victor gave her a sympathetic pat on the back and went off to work on his car.
“My girlfriend Melody took one look at the office and ran off in horror,” Sam told her with a smile. He seemed friendly and didn’t flirt with her so she relaxed some. Blake was back to being annoying so she found it easy to step back into friendship mode.
Anna laughed. “It is scary but I love organizing things. I have been itching to get my hands on it since the first day I saw it.”
“Well, good luck and nice to meet you, Anna, in case you don’t make it out of there.” Sam laughed and walked away to a blue station wagon with the hood open.
Blake walked her to the back office and turned on the light for her. He looked at his messy desk and shook his head. “I swear it looked cleaner yesterday. There is water in the fridge. Yell out if you have any questions.”
Anna nodded, feeling kind of relieved he wasn’t treating her any different than he had before and kind of hurt that he meant it when he said one night. Emotions were messy and confusing but cleaning this office would her clear her mind so she got started.
* * * *
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed but at least she had the paperwork in neat piles according to dates. Next she would find folders and put them in the empty file cabinets against the wall. Why buy file cabinets and folders then leave them empty and unused? Men, she mused.
“Oh my God. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” a petite redheaded woman exclaimed from the doorway. She was wearing a green sundress with spaghetti straps and white cowboy boots. “You are brave, girlfriend.”
Anna laughed. “So I have heard. Are you the one who ran screaming from the room?”
She nodded with a giggle and sat in the chair across the desk. “I’m Melody, Sam’s girlfriend. This is amazing progress for just a few hours.”
Anna sat in Blake’s chair and looked at the clock on the wall. She couldn’t believe it was past noon. She had been so involved in her work she hadn’t noticed the time.
Sam came in and his mouth opened but no words came out. Melody smiled at Sam’s shocked expression. Finally he turned to Anna and said seriously. “There is a desk under there, who knew?”
He gave Anna a worried look. “It looks nice, Anna, but how will we find stuff?”
“It will be painless and easy I promise,” she replied, crossing a finger over her heart solemnly.
“Can we bring you something back, Anna?” Melody asked. Before Anna could say no, Blake walked in behind them and answered for her. He pulled some money out of his wallet and gave it to Sam