It was already past ten on a quiet Tuesday night when the small bell that hung on the back of the office door rang, causing Carolyn Hendricks to look up from the textbook she'd been reading. The short haired brunette's first thought on hearing the sound was that her relief had come in extra early tonight. That notion instantly faded, however, when she saw the tall, caramel-skinned woman coming in from the rain. Carolyn didn't need to wonder long what had brought the unexpected arrival to the ass end of nowhere; the first words out of her mouth were explanation enough.
"Lousy, fucking rental car," the woman said, just loud enough to carry across the room.
The woman, who Carolyn judged to be in her late thirties, pulled back the hood of her bright yellow raincoat, revealing a short afro cut, the length of which couldn't have been more than an eighth of an inch. The stylish suit that became visible once the rest of her raingear came off marked her, in the twenty-three year old's mind, as a businesswoman, which explained the second part of what she was doing way out here.
"Can I help you?" Carolyn asked in her most helpful tone as the woman approached the desk.
"You can if you have a room available," said the woman, who then introduced herself as Theresa Whitfield.
"Oh, I'm sure that we can find something for you," Carolyn said, trying not to smile too hard at her inside joke.
Tonight, as on most weeknights, nineteen of the twenty units at the Shady Rest were empty. The only time the fifty year old motel was ever full was on the weekend when it became a haven for high school students from any of the three towns within an hour's drive. Few stayed the night, though, preferring to take advantage of the hourly short stay rates that had originally been created to cover business meetings. What business most of the teenagers had to conduct usually took less than an hour, sometimes as little as half that. It had once, only half jokingly, been suggested that a plaque should be put up in the office commemorating the fact that more virginities had probably been lost at the Shady Rest than any other motel in the state.
"As you probably heard me say a lot louder than I intended to," Theresa said, "I've had a bit of car trouble tonight. I was on my way to Kingston when that piece of crap the rental agency saddled me with began to give out. As it was, I just about made it here before it totally died. I had to leave it about a quarter mile up the road. If I hadn't noticed your billboard back there, I probably would've been spending the night in it."
"Were you able to call the rental agency?" Carolyn asked as she glanced at the countertop phone, knowing that cellular service in this area was spotty at times, especially in bad weather.
"Oh yes, the nice young man, who was warm and dry in some office somewhere, was ever so helpful," Theresa said with sarcasm in her tone. "He apologized for my predicament and said that they'd be more than happy to get a replacement vehicle right out to me - first thing in the morning."
"Well, at least we can give you a warm, dry place to spend the night," Carolyn offered in sympathy as she glanced back over her shoulder at the row of keys hanging on the wall. "I think room 12 would be best," she said as she lifted that key off the hook, "it has the most comfortable bed in the place. It's the first room at the top of the stairs."
"Thank you; I could use a good night's sleep," Theresa replied as she signed her name to the register that Carolyn had set out in front of her, handing over her credit card as the same time. "Is it too much to hope for that you have cable?" the businesswoman asked as she lifted her pen from the old book, remembering that she hadn't seen any mention of such on the roadside advertisement.
"I'm afraid so," Carolyn apologized. "The satellite dish broke a few years back and the owner never really thought it worth fixing. Few of our guests really spend much time watching TV."
"I get it," Theresa said with a knowing smile as she took back her card. "I guess I wouldn't be wrong in assuming that they aren't big on eating either, would I? I was trying to make up for lost time and never stopped for dinner."
"There are snack and soda machines a few doors down," Carolyn answered, "but they usually only fill those up just before the weekend so I'm not sure how much of a selection they'd have right now."
"This is really turning into my night," Theresa sighed as she accepted the key to her room.
"I know we have some bread and cold cuts in the office fridge," Carolyn said when she saw the look of disappointment on the older woman's face. "I could make up a couple of sandwiches and coffee for you if you like. That is, if you don't mind ham and cheese, because I think that's all that's left."
"Honey, right now I'd even settle for peanut butter and jelly," Theresa laughed.
-=-=-=-=-
Fifteen minutes later, Carolyn knocked on the door to the second floor room she had given Theresa the key to. Aside from the new bed, she'd picked this particular room because it was as far away as you could get from the motel's only other guest, Johnny O'Rourke.
An old friend of the owners, Johnny had become a regular visitor to the Shady Rest these past few years, spending a few nights here every month or so whenever he'd had a fight with Doris, his bride of twenty-two years. Lately, it seemed those fights were coming a bit more often, primarily due to Johnny's propensity to hit on anything in a skirt. Over the last year, Carolyn herself had twice been propositioned by the forty-two year old mechanic before he finally got it into his head that she wasn't interested.
The door to room 12 opened in response to her knock, and as Carolyn stepped inside, carrying a dinner tray with the sandwiches and coffee, she saw that Theresa had wasted no time in getting out of her wet clothes. The business suit, which could be seen hanging on the shower rod, had been replaced by a simple flowered nightshirt. The knee high outfit hugged the contours of the large breasts beneath it, the dark, palm-sized areola of each visible through the thin material.
"Definitely a good idea that I put as much distance as possible between Johnny and those," Carolyn thought as she put the tray down on the small table by the window.
"Can I get you anything else?" Carolyn asked as she turned to leave.
"You are a dear for going to this much trouble already," Theresa said with a grateful smile, "but do you think you might share a cup of coffee with me? I could use a little conversation after having no one to talk to but the car radio these the last few hours."
Carolyn knew she really wasn't supposed to leave the office unattended, but decided that staying just long enough for a cup of coffee couldn't hurt. She had after all, locked the office door behind her, and in the highly unlikely possibility of another guest she would certainly hear the car pull in. Besides, after staring at her textbook for the last few hours, she could use a little conversation as well.
"I guess I could stay a few minutes," Carolyn said with a smile.
"Great," Theresa replied as she stepped over to the table and picked up one of the sandwiches, taking an appreciative bite.
Carolyn, meanwhile, took two Styrofoam cups off the short stack she had brought with her and proceeded to fill both from the carafe. She motioned to the small pitcher of cream and the sugar packets alongside, but Theresa waved her hand to dismiss them, saying she preferred it black. Carolyn handed the first cup to the older woman, and then poured a small measure of cream into her own.
"Oh, this is good," Theresa said after taking a small sip. "You don't how much you appreciate a decent cup of coffee until you spend a few weeks eating at roadside diners."
Carolyn took a sip of her own coffee and thought that it tasted the same to her as it always did, good but nothing special. Then again, she didn't eat at roadside diners much.
"So what is it that you do around here," Theresa asked, "other than rescue weary travelers?"
"A little bit of everything," Carolyn replied. "I'm the night manager five nights a week, plus I take classes at the State University during the day."
"Oh yes, I noticed the textbook on the counter when I came in," Theresa remarked as she took another bite of the sandwich. "What are you studying?"
"Business accounting," Carolyn answered. "Among other things, I'm the unofficial bookkeeper here, not that it takes up too much of my time."
"I did notice a certain lack of activity around the place," Theresa commented.
"Well, you should be here on a weekend," Carolyn replied, "although on second thought, you probably wouldn't want to be."
"Wild teenage parties?" Theresa inquired.
