Chapter One
As the plane began its descent into McCarron Airport, my heart dropped. I’d sworn I was never coming back to this desert, but after the economy tanked and I lost my job at the architecture firm in Los Angeles, I really had nowhere left to go.
As the plane taxied toward the terminal, I let out a heavy sigh at the thought of living with my mother again, working as a waitress at some casino, flashing my gams in the hopes of an extra five-dollar tip. Sure, it had been good enough when I was working my way through UNLV, but I was an adult now. I had a degree, and I’d had a career. Life wasn’t supposed to bring me back to this tourist trap.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching our gate. Please remain seated until the flight crew gives clearance to vacate your seats. The current temperature in Las Vegas is one hundred and seven degrees with clear skies. We hope you enjoyed your flight, and we thank you for flying with us today.” The crackle of the intercom ended as the pilot turned off his microphone, and I settled back in my seat, glaring at the ceiling of the airplane cabin as if it had done me some personal wrong.
Truth be told, I wasn’t leaving anything good behind. Unemployment had not suited me at all. It was boring yet thoroughly exhausting. There had been no other jobs to fall back on. Even waitressing in a local bar was out as those jobs were resolutely held by struggling actors waiting for the big break anyone could have told them was never going to come. There were few friends and no lovers to miss me so there had been no teary airport goodbyes. The studio apartment I’d rented for six years had come fully-furnished and I’d accumulated so little in the way of possessions that my entire life had fit in two checked bags and a carryon tablet, cell phone and toiletries bag.
I could say I was pissed about having to leave behind my life in California, but when push came to shove, there wasn’t much of a life to leave. Everything had been about my job, and when that was gone…there hadn’t been anything else.
After a twenty-minute wait in the now-sweltering plane, since they’d turned the air off, we were finally released. The whoosh of the doors into the airport proper came with a blast of cold that turned the sweat beading on my skin into gel. All I wanted to do was get to my mom’s and take a shower. I needed to wash away the perspiration and the stench of desperation that seemed to follow me everywhere lately.
Heading toward baggage claim, I tried to tell myself that maybe coming home would be good for me. I didn’t have to look at it as a curse. It could be a chance to start over, to find a new path. Maybe, I could look up some old friends from college, find a job in a local firm and work on designing the next monster casino on the strip. Even as I thought it, I rolled my eyes at the forced optimism. That shit was not going to happen.
Knowing myself as I did, I would go to my mother’s, unpack my things and find a job bussing tables or serving drinks to drunk assholes in a casino somewhere. I would sleep until noon, work until three a.m. and try to just exist in this pit of a city.
I grabbed my bags from the conveyer and headed toward the exit, not looking forward to walking out into the full heat of the day. Everyone always says nonsense about “dry heat” not being so bad, but I’ve never seen any of those people sit with their head in a fucking oven for twelve hours a day.
Stepping out onto the sidewalk was like walking into a solid wall as the oppressive Vegas sun beat down on me. If I missed anything about LA, it would be the balmy eighty degree highs every day.
“Sassy!”
I bit back a groan at the sound of my mother’s voice. She was waving emphatically as she ran toward me. If I hadn’t recognized her voice, I wouldn’t have been able to pick her out of a crowd.
Her hair had been bleached into a beautiful honey blonde that really suited her
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