Gone.  Everything.  All of it.  Simply gone.  She had no money, no laptop, no home.  Even her damn clothes were scattered around the neighborhood.  Probably hanging in some asshole's tree.  Her beautiful La Perla lingerie...her favorite pair of Manolo Blahnik pumps...the ones with the kitten heels... the Versace jacket...all gone in one giant fire ball.

          Cassie McKreedy twisted her self out of the hospital bed sheets, and realizing the gown was fully open in back, turned and flopped into bed.  How in the hell had this all happened?  Right about now, she should have been on her way to the airport, with a boarding pass for an 11 AM flight to Tampa, and $80,000 worth of back-up cash in her makeup case.  Instead, she was trapped in some damn hospital room, without a cent to her name, and not even a stitch of clothing covering her bare ass.  She unconsiously reached for her  iphone, and remembered that even that was gone.  Poof!  Not here anymore.  Bye bye. This totally sucked.

      While everyone was out of the room, she needed to get ahold of Dr. Patterson and explain what had happened.  No way did she want the doc coming here, spilling the beans about her intended flight "home" to see her "brother, especially with Teddy stuck to her like glue.  She had to admit, he was being such a sweetie.  And from what the nurses had told her, she had him to thank for saving her life.  He and that goofy priest.  If they hadn't both been there, and smelled the gas when they had, pieces of her would be hanging in those trees right next to her fancy underwear.   Shuddering at the thought, she pulled the covers tightly around herself to ward off the chill of her nearly close encounter with the Grim Reaper.

       Freak accident?  She wasn't sure.  Teddy seemed to think so, but he did say that the Fire Marshall would be investigating.  She didn't know much about those kind of things, furnaces, and gas leaks and the like.  But if that crazy old bitch  hadn't been locked up in the looney bin, she would have been more worried that someone was looking to take her out.  The truth was, other than Tessa Peppers, she could not think of a single person who would want her dead.  In fact, most people thought her simply charming.

        She went through the list of old marks in her head.  There was that incident in New Orleans, but that was over two years ago.  If someone had been looking for her or Lizzie, they would have found them before now.  It was doubtful the explosion had anything to do with that whole mess, but she'd check up on things when she got out of this land of sick people.  She expected Teddy back shortly, hopefully with the list of clothes and necessities she had begged for.  She pictured him in the drugstore looking for the  Revlon lipstick shade Pouty Pink, and giggled.  He really was terribly hung up on her.  Poor guy.  Completely and utterly smitten.

       And it was because of that fact she could still pull herself out of this shitty mess.  Without a dime to her name, and even the password codes in the suitcase gone, she was left using the only thing she still had left.  Teddy.  She was sure he'd jump at the idea of her moving in with him.  Of taking their relationship a step further, and making it a bit more permanent.  He did have that lovely old house, she thought, and as the town's only Sheriff, he probably did make a tidy income.  The fact that he was hot, and "played" the same way she did, was a wonderful added bonus.

      All was not lost.  There was still that half million dollars.  She just needed to find the stupid bitch.  And in the meantime, life with the Teddy might not be a bad way to wait it out.

Copyright 2012 Victoria Rocus