The rest of the weekend passed fairly quickly. It was strange how quickly Danny had become used to this place, to the pace of it, to the things that went on. They seemed almost natural by now, the way things were supposed to be. Three weeks before, he could never have dreamed of being in such a place, let alone of what went on here – and it had to be different than anything he could have conceived.

The weekend had passed busily enough that Danny really rather welcomed a slow Monday morning coming again. No matter how much he tried to keep the bar in order, stuff didn’t get done when it got busy over the weekend, and Jeanann could get sloppy in the wee small hours. There was cleaning and organizing to do, restocking, making a list of what needed to be ordered, all sorts of little odds and ends that needed to be done.

He was pawing around in the beer cooler, doing some restocking, when he heard a familiar voice say, "Hey, bartender! What does a lady have to do to get a cup of coffee around here?"

Danny pulled his head out of the beer cooler and looked up at Peppermint Patty. She was wearing a business suit with a knee-length skirt, and looked like she was dressed for business as a legal secretary or something like that, rather than her business here. "Good to see you back, Patty," he smiled and stood up. "How was the break?"

"Dull," she sighed. "I really needed the time off to rest up, but I’d have almost rather been here for the sake of something to do."

"When did you get in?"

"Just now," she said. "I spent the night in Vegas, caught a show, then got my medical check on the way here. I won’t actually go on duty till they fax the results over here, and that’ll be this afternoon sometime, probably."

"Well, it’s good to see your smiling face again," he said, closing the beer cooler. "I’ll be more than happy to get you a cup of coffee. You want breakfast?"

"No, I ate in town," she smiled. "I had something interesting happen last night."

"What was that?" he asked.

"Oh, I was at this show, Rita Rudner. She’s pretty funny. Of course, I was there by myself, and I had this guy try to pick me up. Really nice and friendly. I mean, not as a hooker or anything, just a guy looking for a girl for a regular date, or something, and if she happened to party for free, the more the better. We sat around talking for a bit, and he sort of hit on me to go up to his room."

"Did you?"

"Hell, no," she smiled as she headed for a table, while he went to get her coffee. "I asked him if I looked like I was some kind of prostitute or something, and if he was so damn horny he ought to rent a car and drive out to the Redlite Ranch. He got real apologetic, right now."

Danny shook his head. "Sort of makes you wonder what’d happen if he took you up on your suggestion."

"Yeah," she grinned, "that might be a bit awkward." She let out a sigh. "But it wasn’t like I knew him, or anything. And, as far as that goes, when I’m at home or in Vegas, I don’t think of myself as a prostitute. Here I am, so maybe I was telling the truth, anyway. It’s just a little hard to change gears. I mean, I’m half the week getting to answering to my real name again, and I’ll be a few days before I start answering to ‘Patty’ regularly again."

"I can see how it would be a little hard," he said, serving her coffee and sitting down with a cup himself. "So, what all did you do on break?"

"Not a lot," she said. "I caught about a dozen movies, bought some books, and just sort of hung out. I saw Mom, she’s OK but she’s still not very happy about me working in that casino, and she’d shit bricks if she knew what I was really doing, so I didn’t hang around long. Oh, and I went by the financial aid office and got the usual runaround, so I guess I get to continue being a prostitute for a while yet."

"What’s that all about, anyway?"

She frowned. "It’s a crock, that’s what it’s all about. I guess I told you my Dad is a real asshole and I never see him if I can help it. Well, he won’t sign off on my financial aid request since it involves his income, and he’s not about to let anyone have a look at what he does since it might affect the support payments that he rarely makes. So, I can’t qualify for ninety percent of the financial aid, and I won’t be able to until I’m twenty-five. By then, I won’t need much of it. So it’s back to my fallback position."

Danny shook his head. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard similar stories, fortunately not common, but Patty had taken the bull by the tail and looked the situation in the face a lot more seriously than anyone else he’d ever heard of. "Does the college know what you’re doing to work your way through school?" he asked.

"No," she sighed. "There’s been more than once I’ve been tempted to slap my card down on the desk and tell them, but hell, I know they’re following the rules, and there isn’t much they can do."

"It’s still a damn shame," Danny nodded.

"It wouldn’t be if my father weren’t such an asshole," she shook her head. "Oh, well, like I told you one time, I was getting a little burned out sitting in classrooms, and I needed the break. I think by next fall I’ll be able to face a classroom again. But that’s all outside stuff and I don’t have to think about it for a while. Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Yeah, there were a couple things," he laughed. "Jennlynn flew in out of nowhere a week ago Wednesday, she had this couple with her . . . " he went on, telling the story of Tonia, the "new turnout" and her husband, the first time he had actually told it to anyone. It was clear that if he ever did tell any stories about this place, that was going to be a prime one. Patty laughed at all the funny parts, and giggled that she’d like to have been around to see it herself.

After a while, Danny offered to go out and help Patty with her bags, but she’d already brought in the one bag she’d taken with her – since she was a full-time regular, George and Shirley let her keep her work room set up, so there was not much more to deal with than the changes of clothes. Since there were free washers and dryers, she decided that now was a good time to get caught up on her laundry, so Danny went back up front and went back to restocking the beer cooler, but thinking about Patty a lot.

He could imagine her at that show in Vegas the night before, especially dressed the way she was. She looked normal, sort of like a legal secretary or other professional, maybe even a doctor. There, she’d seem like a perfectly respectable woman, the kind you’d be proud to take home to mother – a little on the young side for him, but there was a greater age differential between his father and his mother, so that didn’t count for much.

But he knew Patty better than that, now. In fact, on reflection, he couldn’t ever remember a woman who was so likeable, yet had him so badly both high balled and low balled at the same time. She was one smart cookie, determined and hardheaded, set on becoming a doctor and knew how to get there – in that sense, a smart and sharp woman who wouldn’t do well to fool around with a part-time bartender and prospective railroad brakeman, a failed quack herbal remedy salesman. She was several cuts above him – and at the same time, she was still a prostitute. A serious and hardworking one, one with goals and drives – but still a prostitute, rather mercenary at that, especially about money. Even if she did achieve her goals it was something that would still be a blot on her past. Yeah, he could just imagine introducing her to his mother, to Jennifer, to Brandy, especially if she did manage to become a doctor – they’d be impressed at how hard she’d worked to achieve what she’d done, but dismayed at what she’d done to accomplish it. And really, it dismayed him, too, even though he admitted to the logic of her reason to do it.

It was bound to twist her life, change the kind of person she was, for better and for worse – but she’d committed to going down that road, and that was that. And, at that, being married to Marsha for so long had twisted his life, affected the kind of person he was, for better or worse. It had committed him to the road he was on, although unlike Patty, he had no clear idea of where he wanted it to lead.

Oh, well. It was her life, and she’d have to live it. High ball or low ball, there was no way she could fit into his life, or he into hers. She’d be a fine friend for the relatively few days he had remaining, like Frenchy had been, but the best she could be was a pleasant memory.

Later that afternoon, he heard the fax machine start up in the office, and Shirley headed out to the back to tell Patty that her paperwork had come through and she was current again. A few minutes later, Patty was back up front, ready for the lineup, wearing that very short, tight black dress he’d seen her wearing for the first time not all that long ago, ready to party. And, before too much longer, the door buzzed, there was a lineup, and he noticed her bringing some guy into the lounge for a drink before they headed out back. Once again she winked at him, and he gave her a smile and a thumbs up. She was doing what she had to do, and she seemed to like it. It could be worse, he thought.

The week rolled along. Danny wouldn’t want to say that he was getting hardened to what happened around him at the Redlite Ranch, but it was safe to say that he was getting used to it, and it was becoming routine. By Thursday, he’d been there most of his waking time for the past two weeks, and had not been any farther away than the Sagebrush, across the highway and up a little bit. About the only diversion he had from work were his sessions with Shirley. They’d continued their after work sessions, twice in that week, and Danny figured he’d be a long time learning everything she had to teach him, especially the nuances. But, it was worth it, if for no more reason than that he’d never have to confront the issue that he’d lost Marsha because he was a lousy lover and ran the risk with a future wife, if there should ever be one.

Still, from the limited view of the Redlite Ranch, it was hard to contemplate such a time coming. It was something he’d have to think about, he thought – but sometime after he’d left here and was back in Spearfish Lake or wherever. He knew this place was skewing his perspectives on a lot of things, and he would need some time and distance to put them back in balance.

If everything went all right, there were three weeks to go, and then he could get started.

*   *   *

Not long after he clocked in a few days later, Patty showed up, looking bright and chipper. "I didn’t think you were on duty," Danny remarked.

"I’m not," she said. "Shirley has a new girl coming in, a new turnout who’s never worked in a house before, and she wants me to sort of be a big sister to her while she gets her feet under her."

"Sounds like something a little different," Danny conceded. "You got time for coffee?"

"Not really," Patty shrugged. "I’d take a cup in the office with me, though."

"No sooner said than served," he grinned, heading for the coffee pot. He went back to work, wondering just a little at how the new turnout would take it. Sometimes the reality bit pretty hard, and even after the orientation, there were some girls who just couldn’t do it. He could understand that.

Back when Shirley and Jennlynn had taken Tonia through her "orientation," it had been pretty much a once-over to give her just enough to know how to play out the fantasy. The actual orientation for a real working girl coming to the Redlite Ranch took several hours, along with the carding process and the medical check. It was especially detailed for a girl who hadn’t worked in a house before, and a lot of the training went on through the whole shift.

So, it was no surprise when Shirley came out of the office along in the morning, walked up to the bar, and said to him, "You up for playing client through the lineup and the drill out back?"

"Yeah, sure," he said. It wasn’t the first time he’d been asked, and with his nudist background he didn’t even mind being a demonstration for how the girl should check out a guy’s privates for disease. "I’m not doing anything useful right now, anyway."

"Good enough," she said, and turned to the on-duty girls, Mallory and Candy, who were playing gin rummy and yawning a lot. "You two up for showing this girl how it’s done?"

"Yeah, sure," Mallory yawned. "I could take standing up for a bit. I’m falling asleep here."

"You ready right now?" Danny asked, taking off his bartender’s apron.

"Oh, give it a couple minutes, so I can get her set a little," Shirley said.

"Good enough," Danny smiled. "I could stand a breath of fresh air, anyway." He grabbed his jacket – he knew it was cold out there – and headed out the front door.

It was a nice day outside, bright under the winter desert sun, although the air was chilly enough to have a bite to it. Two weeks and small change, he thought, and I’ll be heading back home where it gets really cold. Going to have to get some serious winter clothes, anything Mom hasn’t thrown out probably won’t fit any more, anyway.

He gave it a couple minutes, hit the buzzer once, then strolled back up to the lobby, taking his time so the girls could get into a good lineup without hurrying.

Shirley met him at the door, like she usually did. "Good morning and welcome to the Redlite Ranch," she smiled in her usual routine. "Come on in and meet our staff."

"Sure thing," he smiled, and stepped inside. The couple minutes outside had closed down his eyeballs so it was a little hard to see, but there were four girls standing in the lineup – Patty, Candy, Mallory, and the new girl, who was looking at Patty as she explained something.

"Hi there, big guy," the big black woman said in a sexy voice. "I’m Mallory. If you’re here to have a good time, I’m ready to party."

"Hi, I’m Candy, and I’m as sweet as can be," the short brunette said.

The new girl turned to him and said, "Hi, I’m Amelia, and . . . My God, Danny! What are you doing here?"

Danny goggled at the short blonde with the long hair. He knew her name was not Amelia, it was Amy – Amy Austenfelter, and yes, he knew her well. "Bartending while I’m waiting out the divorce," he stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"You two know each other, I take it," Shirley said dryly.

"Uh, yeah," ‘Amelia’ said in a shaky voice. "He’s my brother-in-law."

"For another couple weeks," Danny explained.

"Maybe we’d better take a break," Patty suggested.

"Yeah," Shirley nodded, and added wisely, "Mallory, Candy, Patty, let’s go out back and see what you were talking about wanting to do with the wallpaper."

"What wallpaper?" Candy said, rather slow on the uptake, then realized what Shirley meant. "Oh, yeah, that wallpaper," she added.

"Come on, Amy . . . er, Amelia," Danny stammered. "Let’s have a cup of coffee."

"Uh, yeah," she replied. "Danny, believe me, I never expected to see you here."

"Well, I never expected to be here," he told her, leading her into the lounge and heading for the coffee pot. "They needed a bartender and I needed to have something to do to kill time."

"Danny, really, uh, I can explain . . . " she stammered.

"Don’t try," he sighed, composure coming over him. "I’ve been here long enough to understand."

"I’m glad you do," she said shakily. "Especially since I don’t exactly understand it myself. Danny, I’ve, uh, sort of been doing this for a while. Not like this, but the kids are getting big enough that it’s getting hard to cover up, and I need the money. What I’m making as a teacher’s aide and Sean’s child support isn’t covering the difference, so while he’s got them for the holidays I thought I’d give this a try for a couple weeks."

"Like I said, you don’t need to explain," he told her. "I’ve been here long enough that I’ve heard a lot of stories."

"Danny, uh . . . please. You’re not going to tell my folks are you? Or, worse, Marsha?"

He let out a sigh. "Look at it this way," he said. "I’d really rather my folks didn’t know where I’ve been tending bar, and definitely not Marsha, either, especially not for the next few weeks. Amy, we’ve got each other by the short hairs. I won’t tell if you won’t."

"All right," she said uncertainly. "I guess neither of us have much choice in the matter."

"No, we don’t," he told her. "And really, it’d be hard for either of us to tell without blowing our own cover."

"Yeah, that’s true," she sighed. "But, God, Danny, I’m just so, well, uh . . . "

"Believe me, I do understand quite a bit," he smiled. "I’ve learned a lot here in the last few weeks. To my surprise, one of the biggest things I’ve learned is a great amount of respect for the women who work here. They, and you, are doing something I don’t think I could do if I was a woman, but most of the ladies here enjoy what they’re doing, and are even a little proud of it. There’s some good people here, Amy. A lot better than I expected." He changed the subject, to something a little less volatile, although not much – and it was something they would have to confront: "So, what’s happening with Marsha?"

"She was really, really pissed with you," she said. "It was part of the reason I decided to take off for the holidays, so I wouldn’t have to be around and listen to her bitch and screech."

"I can understand," he nodded. "I did that, too. But then, I was really, really pissed with her."

"Why, Danny?" Amy frowned. "She said she was pissed with you for leaving, especially the way you did and what you did to her, but why’d you leave?"

Danny shook his head. It was hard to say if Amy knew what really had been going on, or what. Oh, well, it wouldn’t matter. "You know this friend of hers? This black girl by the name of Sheena?"

"Yeah," Amy nodded. "They’re going to move in together, and share the house."

"Figures," Danny snorted. "Amy, that’s nothing new. I walked in on them and found them sharing a bed."

Amy gave a sharp intake of breath. "You’re kidding!"

"No, I’m not," he said, realizing that Marsha had to have been lying to her sister, too. Well, that was par for the course. "They were sharing it rather enthusiastically, in fact. In the term I’ve learned to use here, they were having quite a party." He let out a sigh. "I’ve since come to realize they’ve been doing it for quite a while. Maybe even when we were clear back at Athens, but I’m not sure."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I guess under the circumstances, it would piss me off, too. It sure explains a lot about her."

"It does to me, too," he nodded. "I’m still coming to grips with all of it, and it may take me a while." He shook his head and went on. "But Amy, while I’m pretty pissed with her and I suspect I always will be, I don’t have much to be pissed with you about, so let’s at least try to be friendly while we’re here, OK?"

"Yeah, I guess," she nodded. "I mean, again it’s not like we have a hell of a lot of choice. But I guess it will be nice to have one familiar face."

"Probably," he said, realizing that there were issues that he was going to have to think about – again – but not right now. "I’m told it can be a little tough on the first turnout. You listen to Shirley and Patty; they’ll teach you what you need to know. They’re good people. And if you need to talk to me, I’m out behind the bar the majority of the time."

"Uh, OK," she said. "But Danny, it was just such a shock to see you here, and now you’re so cool about it."

"So, I’ve been here a while, I’ve had the time to learn," he smiled. "Shirley’s a busy lady, and maybe we shouldn’t keep her waiting. We can talk later, if you need to."

"I guess," she said, getting up as he did. "My heart isn’t trying to pound its way through my chest any more, anyway."

"I can understand," he said, leading her toward the lobby. "I do have one comment to make, though," he laughed.

"What’s that?"

He opened the door to the lobby, where Shirley was waiting with the other three women. Obviously they’d been there listening all the way through, in case mayhem or murder broke out in the bar. "You really need to work on your lineup introduction."

"Danny, is everything cool now?" Shirley asked.

"I think so," he said. "You want me to go outside and buzz in again?"

"Oh, just go out the door and come back in," Shirley said. "I think everybody knows what a buzzer sounds like by now."

He went out and came back in, and the four girls went through the lineup drill. Since it was a training session for her, he picked out Amy – well Amelia, and he was going to have to get used to that – and let her lead him out back to what had been assigned as her work room, while Shirley and Patty trailed along behind. It took ten or fifteen minutes to go through the routine and a little of Shirley’s lecture – much of it with him standing in front of the three women with his pants off, but it wasn’t the first time he’d been that way in front of Amelia/Amy, or even the thousand and first, stretching all the way back to babyhood. Still, it did seem a little unnatural, and he was just as happy to head back up front with his clothes on.

By the time he made it to the bar, he didn’t need to try and be professional, and the shock was starting to catch up with him. Although he wasn’t much of a drinker, he grabbed a likely looking bottle and a glass, poured a pretty good shot, added a splash of water and tossed it down. Burn . . . Good God! He glanced at the bottle . . . crappy even for bourbon, but man, right at that second, he needed it.

"Marsha’s sister, right?" Mallory grinned, her white teeth flashing against her black face.

"Yeah," Danny shook his head. "God, ever since I’ve been working here I’ve wondered what it would be like to find someone I know here, on either side of the lineup." He snorted. "Guess I don’t have to wonder anymore."

"We were listening," Mallory admitted. "I think you were godawful cool, under the circumstances."

"Yeah, well, thanks," he said, grabbing the tap and running himself a shot of 7-Up for a chaser, then tossed it down. Yeah, that shit was foul, all right . . . "Like I told her, I’ve been here a while, long enough to get used to it a little. And, I guess when you get down to it, it doesn’t really surprise me." He let out a big breath, and drew another shot of 7-Up. "I mean, Marsha and I knew that she was sleeping around quite a bit, but I never knew till just now that she’d been doing it, uh, professionally. Makes sense, though."

"Sometimes it’s a little hard to draw the line, what’s professional and what isn’t," Candy commented as Danny went over to the coffee pot, poured himself a cup, and went over to join the girls. "That’s how I got started. You know, a guy buys me a nice dress or piece of jewelry or something, and I went to bed with him to thank him. After a while it turned to straight cash, and I quit caring quite as much about whether I liked the guy."

"Not knowing anything about it," he said as he sat down at the table, "I’d suspect that was how it happened with her." He stopped, shook his head, and went on. "I mean, I’ve known her all my life, almost, since we were way little. My best friend was going with her when I started going with Marsha, and we ran around together a lot. They were getting it on in the back seat way before Marsha and I did, and I’m pretty sure they started each other out." Well not way before, but a couple months, at least, although remembering back, it could have been a year before, it was hard to say and it didn’t matter, now. "Damn," he said, shaking his head. "What would Josh think if he knew? And, I don’t dare ever tell him, either."

"You like her, huh?" Candy smiled.

"No, not really," Danny protested. "I mean, I know her. I can look at it now and see that in some ways she’s more my type than Marsha was, but that was how we got to going together and it just stayed that way. But I don’t think she’d be any easier to live with than Marsha was, at least not for me in the long run. Different issues, of course. Hell, they both catted around pretty good, Marsha was just better at covering it up and lying about it."

Candy shook her head. "Still, it’s got to be a shock. I was working up north a couple years ago, we were in the lineup, this guy comes in and discovers his sister is standing next to me."

"What happened?" Mallory smiled. "Who killed who?"

"Neither one," Candy said. "I mean, it was like just now. They went and sat down and talked it over a bit, and they decided that they had to keep it between the two of them, since him coming in to buy it was about as bad as her being there selling it. I was wondering if they were going to party with each other, but they didn’t."

"That had to have been worse," Danny said. "Amy . . . hell, I guess I’m going to have to get used to calling her Amelia, we really weren’t that close, and under the circumstances it wasn’t that big a shock."

"You’re not tempted to say, ‘Amy, this is your last chance, let me take you away from this?’" Mallory grinned.

"Jeez, no," Danny shook his head. "My God, what a can of worms that would open! Especially with Marsha. I’m better getting away from both of them, but as long as she’s here I can be friendly with her. It’s just that I know Amy, er, Amelia."

"The deal with Marsha is still eating at you, isn’t it?" Mallory said gently.

"Of course it is," Danny told her. "It’ll be a long time healing over. And now, with this happening, I don’t know that it’s going to be any quicker."

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