Page 88 of Just Desserts

The small town gossip mill was alive and well here, and I used it to my advantage. Filing and storing away all the details so I knew who I needed to win over, what connections I needed to get closer to a life of luxury and ease.

It was clear the number one bachelor in town was George Carrington, not only because of his looks but the generational wealth he and his family came from. Most of the town was named after them and the townspeople spoke of their oldest son as if he was a god. I knew it was meant to be. He needed a lady of the manor so to speak and I was working on making myself perfect for the part.

I had staged a couple of interactions, during which I played up my reluctance and hesitancy to date. Nothing like a little chase to get a man interested. I made him work for that first date, cancelling twice out of 'fear', acting like an insecure little twit. I had him eating out of the palm of my hand.

He took me to the nicest restaurant in town for our first date. It was light years away from the Michelin star restaurants I was used to, but was still closer to where I needed to be.They had good cuts of steak and George had already ordered an expensive bottle of wine for the table.

I excused myself to use the bathroom, carefully applying more make up and adjusting my rather demure dress so that it revealed some cleavage. I was close, I could taste it and once I had George locked down I no longer would play the part of frumpy simpleton. I would finally be able to exit the shadow world and shine as a person of respect and nobility.

Returning to the table, there was a menu in my spot. George's face was covered as he perused his copy which was fine by me. I had already looked up the menu prior to the date so I knew exactly what I wanted but I played along, figuring I would look at the menu and pick the cheapest items, hoping George would encourage me to indulge.

I had the menu open in front of me for a few minutes before I really processed what was in it. This wasn't the menu I found online. The first page was a copy of my rap sheet, under my legal name with my mug shot. After that were pages and pages of photographs from the stupid SD card I kept from my time with Jonathan. The last page was a note.

"You have no idea what type of woman you're about to eat with. Get out while you still can." I gasped and dropped the menu, looking around to see where it came from. I hoped beyond hope that I was the only one who received it, that this was a threat or someone was trying to extort me for money. George finally lowered his menu and by his face I knew I wasn't in any sort of luck.

My mouth gaped open like a fish, I was having hot flashes and felt like my world was spinning out. I just got here, I just got everything going my way. How did this happen? Who did this? Without a word, George stood up, threw a 100$ bill on the table and left, keeping a copy of my records with him.

Everyone at the restaurant was staring and I could feel my blood boiling. I pocketed the cash and then ripped up the menu in my hand. I had to get out of here tonight, whoever had this information could release my location to the cops.

I was in the process of gathering my purse when a waiter stopped by. He put a cup of coffee down with a napkin. Sprawled on the napkin was the note, "We're always watching."

I dropped it like it was a snake and looked around the room. There in a far corner sat two familiar faces, that bitch with the dark hair and gorgeous skin and the mountain man that fixed my tire that day. I know now that they worked at that stupid hotel, they were close with Myles and Isla. What were they doing here?

Before I could think of anything else the restaurant was swarmed by cops. As I was thrown on the ground and cuffed I looked over at the table one time. The duo looked at me, large smiles on their faces as the woman snapped pictures of me getting hauled out in cuffs. They both raised their cups to me in a silent salute before returning to their meal like nothing had happened.

I had tasted freedom for a grand total of 53 days before I was transported back to prison. This time, there was no option for parole.