Part 16 (1/2)
Ben gave her a nudge toward the dressing rooms. ”You'll have to ask Trapper about that. He's the judge.”
Gina huffed across the store and slammed the dressing room door shut behind her.
He asked the sales clerk to get several pairs of hiking boots in Gina's size as well as a half dozen pair of woolen socks. A pair of pants flew over the door. ”Did they fit?”
”No, they fell off me. I'll try the smaller size.”
A minute later she stepped out and Ben couldn't believe his eyes. He hardly noticed her. Gina blended into the woodwork. As if that wasn't bad enough, she looked ill. ”Are you okay?” All the color had drained out of her face. ”Are you sick?”
Gina rolled her eyes. ”No, I just look as if I've been dead three weeks in this color.”
He couldn't deny it. She looked like h.e.l.l. Not only that, but that hot little body of hers disappeared under all that cloth. She looked as if she was about twelve years old. G.o.d, it made him feel like a dirty old man. ”Okay, you're right.”
”I told you so.”
”We're still taking the pants, but we'll forego the s.h.i.+rts and buy you a couple of jackets to wear over the s.h.i.+rts you brought.”
Gina smiled with relief as she rubbed her hands together. ”Sure, let's. .h.i.t the mall. You do have one of those around here, don't you?”
”Yes, we have a mall with stores and everything, but I was talking about those polar fleece jackets.” He pointed to a round rack beside her. ”They have some blue ones. Is that okay?”
Gone was the smile as she turned and stomped into the dressing room to change. ”As if you really care what I think. Like I said, you can buy whatever you want. That doesn't mean I'm going to wear it.”
She shut the door as he leaned against the wall beside it. ”If you get cold enough you will. Believe me.”
Gina threw the ugly s.h.i.+rt she'd had on over the top of the dressing room door and it landed on his head. ”Ben, in case you haven't noticed, it's almost summer.”
Ben reached over the door, waiting for the hanger. ”Not in the mountains, it's not.”
She placed three of them in his hand. ”It's almost summer everywhere in the northern hemisphere.”
”Yeah, you go ahead and believe that if it makes you feel better.” He hung up a s.h.i.+rt and stuck it under his arm. ”I'm just going to make sure you have the right clothes when reality hits.”
Gina came out of the dressing room looking like herself again. ”Where are you taking me, anyway?”
”To the ranch in Three Wh.o.r.es Bend.” Ben walked back to hang the s.h.i.+rts on the racks.
”Did you just say wh.o.r.es? As in wh.o.r.es on Seventh Avenue?”
He put his hand on her lower back leading her to the boots. ”Yup. There's nothing wrong with your hearing.”
”What kind of name is that?”
”I'm not sure if I should tell you until we get up there. I don't want you to change your mind about coming.” He handed Gina one of the boots he'd chosen for her.
”I have a choice?”
Ben shot her a warning look and caught her teasing grin.
She pa.s.sed the boot between her hands. ”How much do these boots weigh? Wearing them will be like having cinder blocks tied to my feet. The Cosa Nostra could save a lot of time if they threw people in the East River wearing these.”
”They weigh about two pounds, they're hardly cinder blocks. Once you break them in, they're like wearing bedroom slippers. Come on, let's try them on.”
Gina backed away from him. ”I don't see you trying anything on.”
”I have a good pair of hiking boots. You don't.”
”I have several good pairs of boots. Just not ugly ones.”
”Gina, would you please sit down?” He pointed to a chair. ”I'm going to buy you boots so you might as well stop arguing.”
”Only if you tell me about Three Wh.o.r.es Bend.”
”Fine,” he muttered as she sat. He threw her a pair of socks. ”Put these on.”
When she did, he took the chair beside her and tried to figure out what exactly to tell her. She began lacing the boots the wrong way. He took them from her and did it correctly, moving over to the seat across from her.
”Three Wh.o.r.es Bend was on a trail that ran between two mining towns back in the late nineteenth century. The wh.o.r.es would make the trip from the mine in Atlanta, across the pa.s.s to get to the mine in Rocky Bar every payday.”
”Makes sense, you gotta follow the money.”
”Exactly.” He pulled her sock up tight, making sure there was no loose material and helped her step into the boot. He took her booted foot, stuck it between his knees, and finished lacing it. ”So one day in May, the three wh.o.r.es, Dutch Em, Annie, and Ann, headed toward Rocky Bar and a freak spring blizzard hit. Two of them froze to death just outside what is now Three Wh.o.r.es Bend. Annie had her dog with her. The dog kept her warm enough that she only lost her leg.”
Gina's eyes went wide. ”They froze to death? What, they couldn't start a fire?”
”I guess not.” He helped her into the other boot and continued. ”When the men found them, they had to cut Annie's leg off and get Dutch Em and Ann back to Atlanta for burial. They carried Annie down and the others built a toboggan and laid Dutch Em and Ann's bodies on it like logs, tied them to the sled, and headed down the pa.s.s.”
”Those poor women. You know, that doesn't happen in New York.”
Ben rolled his eyes. ”Right. Anyway, the guys were going down the pa.s.s. Sliding the bodies down on the toboggan wasn't such an easy thing to do. The trail follows the river and is really steep. They were slogging through four feet of snow and ice. The story goes that close to where the country club is, at a sharp bend in the river, the trail went right, the toboggan went left, and the wh.o.r.es flew over the cliff and into the river. They never found the bodies. From that day forward, that area was known as Three Wh.o.r.es Bend.” Ben finished tying her boots and set her foot down.
Gina didn't move. ”You're s.h.i.+tting me, right?”
Ben stood and pulled her out of her chair. He'd forgotten how short she was without heels. The boots probably added another couple of inches to her height, but it wasn't the four or five he was used to. ”Nope, that's the G.o.d's honest truth. One of Annie's customers made her a makes.h.i.+ft wooden leg; they called her Peg Leg Annie after that. It's even on her gravestone. A few years ago, I found an old miner's diary. He was one of the men who brought the women down to Atlanta. I can show it to you when we get home.”
”Sheesh, what a story.”
She was acting awfully upset about two women who died over a hundred years before. He took her hand and stepped away from the chair. ”How do the boots feel?”
”What?” She looked down and stared at her feet as if she'd forgotten she even had them on. ”They're fine.”
”I picked out a couple others that would work. If you hate them less, we can try them on. The ones you have on are the best, though.”
”Can we just go? Shopping is no fun when I don't get anything I want.”
”What do you want?”