Wyoming Fierce. Diana Palmer

breathless. Bodie smiled and pretended that everything was all right, but she was very worried. She worked part-time at a convenience store in Billings near the college she attended, but that was a long commute. She couldn’t even afford the gas. She didn’t know how they were going to afford the medicine next month, or pay the increased rent that Will Jones was demanding, or even have enough for Christmas presents. She went into her room, closed the door and cried. She’d never felt so despondent, and she didn’t dare let her grandfather see how worried she really was. It was like the end of the world.

      But she dried her eyes and went into the kitchen to cook, resolved that God was in control of everything, anyway, and would provide somehow. It was faith that kept her going through the worst of times. Often, it seemed that faith was all she had to hold on to.

      She went out into the backyard and cut down a small spruce tree, found an antiquated old tree stand and put the tree in it. They had decorations that her mother had stored, some of which were three generations old. Decorating the tree cheered her up and the tree made the living room look alive with color.

      At least, it cheered her up until Will Jones came to the door and demanded money for cutting down one of his trees.

      “Your trees?” Bodie exclaimed. “My mother planted those trees before she got sick…!”

      “It’s my house, my land and my trees, and you owe me fifty dollars for that tree,” Will Jones said haughtily. “That’s what they charge in those tree lots.”

      Bodie felt the blood drain out of her face. She hadn’t even thought about cutting the tree. They’d done it for years. In fact, her mother had planted them for just this purpose.

      “You can add it in with the rent,” the man said coldly, and he smiled. “How are you managing, anyway? You don’t have a job. I guess all that education makes you too good to get a real job, don’t it?”

      “I’ve applied for jobs all over town,” Bodie said in a quiet tone.

      “I guess all the boss jobs are taken, huh?” he taunted.

      “You’ll get your money,” Bodie said coldly.

      Jones looked around the room, trying to find something to complain about. “Needs dusting,” he muttered when he drew a finger across the dining room table.

      “I haven’t cleaned house today. I was looking for work,” she reminded him.

      “Not many jobs going, I guess. I got one.” He gave her a leering stare. “You get desperate, you just come see me.”

      She could guess what sort of job it was. “I can manage.”

      “My friend Larry really likes you,” he said. “A lot. He’d like to spend some time with you, at my place. You’d be chaperoned, if that’s what worries you.” He laughed as he said it, and Bodie felt sick to her stomach. She could imagine what he was talking about. He’d mentioned in the past how he’d love to film her with his friend Larry.

      “You can pick a woman up on a street corner for that sort of work,” Bodie said coldly.

      He gave her a hard look. “You’re so lily-white, aren’t you?” he scoffed. “Upstanding young woman, never put a foot wrong, won’t play around with any men. You gay?” he asked.

      “No,” she said. “But I wouldn’t be ashamed to admit it, if I was.”

      He made a sound in his throat. “Everybody knows about you college girls,” he said sarcastically. “You’re like them—you just don’t want anybody around here to know it.”

      “I’m not like that,” she said. “I’m a person of faith.”

      “St. Bolinda,” he muttered. “Well, you might get a shock one day. It wouldn’t hurt you to learn a little humility. Looking down on other people, making out like you’re so much better than they are, with your sterling morals. You need taking down a peg.”

      “And you’re just the guy to do it, right?” she asked with a bite in her voice.

      “Maybe I am,” he shot back. “You’re only allowed to stay here if you pay rent and do what I say.” He looked around the house. “Maybe the house needs fixing and you and your old family member will have to leave while it gets done. Maybe it will take a year or so to do it, too.” He was thinking aloud. He smiled with contempt. “Nobody would say you’d been evicted if I did that, and you wouldn’t have a legal leg to stand on.”

      “Anybody could see that the house isn’t in that bad a shape!” she shot back angrily.

      “Middle of the night, something could happen to the roof,” he said, pursing his lips thoughtfully. “Couldn’t prove a thing, either.”

      She felt her blood run cold. She couldn’t afford the rent here, how would she afford it someplace else? The cost of moving alone was out of her reach right now. She had just a few dollars, barely enough for groceries and gas. She felt the terror all the way to the pit of her stomach.

      And he knew it. He smiled even more widely. “Scares you, don’t it?” he mused. “Good. You think about that. You don’t keep me happy, why you could have to move tomorrow. It could be an emergency.”