The Impostor, A Love Story (3 page)

“If you want, when we land I can give you a
ride to find something. My car is parked at the airport,” he
offered. “I know a place that has kitchenettes you all can stay at.
It will save you a lot of money in the long run. You can make some
food in your room.”

I looked at Emily and she nodded. We figured
having Brad drive us was better than trying to find a place on our
own in a strange city. Although he was a stranger, we knew where he
worked. The airlines wouldn’t hire someone dangerous.
They must
do background checks
, I convinced myself.

When we finally landed, Brad helped grab our
luggage. As we were heading to his car, we passed by some pay
phones. I held out my hand. “Can I see your ID please?”

“Wh—what?” He seemed taken back.

“Your driver’s license.”

He took out his identification.

Examining it, I wrote his name and driver’s
license number on my arm and began dialing a friend back home.

“We’re in Alaska and getting in the car with
this guy.” I examined Bradley from head to toe. “Yeah, he’s kinda
cute.” I winked at him. “His name is Brad. He lives in Anchorage.
Do you have a pen?” I proceeded to give her his address, driver’s
license number, and birthday.

“What? Do you think I’m going to kill you or
something?” He lifted his eyebrow.

“This way if you do, they’ll catch you.” I
winked.

Brad just laughed, shaking his head. “You all
must be hungry. Do you want to grab something to eat before I drop
you off?” he asked. We laughed over pancakes and finally said our
goodbyes when we got to the motel.

“Thank you again for everything, Brad,” the
two of us said in unison.

We each gave him a hug goodbye, and he got
back in his truck. We watched as the only person we knew in Alaska
drove away.

“I wish we’d asked for his number for
emergencies,” Emily said once the car had disappeared.

“I was thinking the same thing. Besides, he
was kind of cute,” I admitted.

“I knew you liked him.” We just laughed and
walked in the motel room.

Plummeting on the two double beds, exhausted,
we didn’t even get out of our clothes. I rolled the covers around
me like a taco and fell asleep.

Jet-lagged, we slept all day. It was evening
when we finally left the room and went outside. I stood in
amazement. A fairytale. The sun slowly slipped down the horizon and
illuminated all of the snow-covered mountain peaks with a magenta
glow. It was out of Disney. I just stood there in the cold,
breathless.

“Emily, we are here. We are in paradise.”

Returning inside, I rummaged through my
purse, unfolding the number Raven had given me. I called the club
telling them we were in town.

A cab dropped us off at The Lodge. It
reminded me of a huge West Virginian Chalet. We entered the A-frame
cabin, adorned with log walls and wooden floors covered in saw dust
for a rustic appearance.

“We are here to see the night manager,” I
explained to the tall, muscular guy in his mid-to late twenties who
met us at the door. His light hazel eyes stood out against his dark
skin. The bouncer brought us over to the bar. The bartender’s hair
bounced as he shook the drink. Then all of a sudden, he turned
around.

“Brad?” Emily said in shock.

“Brad?”
The Brad from the plane
?
He
was our boss
?

He came out from behind the bar. “Nicole,
Emily. Hi, what are you all doing here? I didn’t think I told you
where I worked?”

“I thought you worked for the airline,” I
commented.
I really did
.

“The airline? What gave you that idea?”

“Maybe when you said, ‘I’m technically not
working right now.’” I commented.

“Or how you got us on the plane,” Emily
chimed in.

“Or the champagne . . .” I concluded.

“You don’t work for the airlines?” we asked
in unison.

“No, a friend of mine does. I just didn’t
want to sit next to those smelly guys. I saw how tiny the two of
you were, and I figured I’d see if I could change our seats.”

Then he stared me up and down and muttered
sarcastically, “I see you got your shower.” He bit back his grin.
“So really, how did you find me? Are you stalking me? Maybe I
should have written
your
identification info on my arm.”

“So you are the night manager?” Emily asked
to clarify.

“I am.”

“I talked to Butch over the phone, and he
told us to come in to talk to you. We are the new waitresses.” I
was sure he would be thrilled.

“The new waitresses? You gotta be joking,” he
complained sarcastically.

“No, you are stuck with us.” I beamed.

“How am I going to get anything done around
here? You are as sassy as they come.” He directed the comment to
me.

“Hey, I’m not sassy.”

He walked over to me and pulled up my sleeve.
“Hmm, so the Sharpie didn’t come off, huh? You still got my name
branded on your arm? Does that make you mine?”

I pulled down my sleeve, a little
embarrassed.

“You were worried that I was a killer, and
now you’re here asking for a job?”

“I didn’t know . . . I guess . . .” I knew he
was joking, but he caught me off guard.

“So if I hire you, you know I’ll get to boss
you around. You will have to listen to me.” He had a devious grin.
I nodded.

“This may actually be fun.”

“You know them?” The bouncer had been
listening in on our conversation.

“Yes, Pete. These two lovely ladies will be
working for us, starting tomorrow?” He raised his eyebrow verifying
that we could actually begin tomorrow.

“That would be great,” we replied, eager to
begin.

“Pete, this is Emily. And this,” he turned to
me, “this is Sleeping Beauty. I found them dreaming in the terminal
in Seattle. They almost missed their flight.”

“Yes, Brad here was our Prince Charming. If
it weren’t for him, we’d probably still be sleeping on those metal
seats.”

“So you woke her with a kiss?” Pete
joked.

“No. I guess he didn’t read the fairy tale.
He just nudged me,” I sassed.

“So you would have preferred it if I woke you
with a kiss?” Brad raised his eyebrow.

“Well, maybe
then
, but now you’re my
boss so it would be sexual harassment.”

“See what I mean, Pete? She is trouble. Emily
here is the sweet one.”

“I can see that. So Sleeping Beauty, what is
your real name?” Pete asked.

“It’s Nicole. Nicole Carlisle. And despite
what he tells you, I’m an angel. He’s the one who is trouble.”

“Watch it, young lady, or I’ll have to fire
you before you begin.” Brad smirked, glancing down at me. He turned
to Pete. “Can you take over the bar? I’m going to show these ladies
around and get them ready to work tomorrow before I change my
mind.”

As the weeks passed, we settled into Alaska
nicely, waitressing double shifts most days. We were stunned by the
amount we made in tips.

“In Alaska, a lot of men make good money.
Many work on the fishing boats or on the North Slope—the oil
pipelines. Pretty girls like you will find the guys are really
generous because they haven’t seen a girl in two to four weeks,”
Brad explained as we cashed in our ones for larger bills.

Whenever a live band played, the place was
packed. A new band had come into town, so Brad invited Emily and me
to a party he had planned for Sunday. Brad was one of those guys
you couldn’t help but like. On rare occasions when work was slow,
I’d pass my time at the bar with him. He made light of everything
and was so much fun to be around. Emily teased me about him, but
once I found out he was my boss, I realized he was off limits.

While Jessica was with my parents, I wanted
to work as often as I could. We signed up for the eleven-to-six
shift but worked a “floater” shift from six to three in the
morning, doing double shifts almost every day. The club scheduled
the minimum number of waiters and waitresses they needed for a
shift and allowed the floaters to come in. Being a floater meant
you weren’t on the schedule, but you could drop in and work
whenever you wanted. They were never understaffed. Floaters didn’t
get the hourly pay, but we made enough on tips to make it worth our
while. The hourly pay was less than minimum wage anyway.

Most of my money went to paying my bills back
home and paying off my plane ticket. I sent a bunch of money to my
parents to pay for Jessica’s expenses, and Em and I shared the cost
of the cabs and our motel here in Alaska. I tucked away most of
what was left to get Jessica’s plane ticket and an apartment here
in town. The more money I could make, the more fun I could have
with Jess when she got here. So I worked all the time.

Sunday afternoon, Emily and I went to the
party at Brad’s house. The house was full of band members who were
going to be playing at the club and a bunch of their fans. It was
kind of sickening how attractive everyone was. I felt really
self-conscious.

Justin, one of the lead singers, walked over
to us, taking off his shirt to show off his incredible muscles. He
had blue eyes and clearly knew how gorgeous he was. “I’d like to
see that body in a bathing suit.” He nudged one of the other guys
in the band, making a comment about my tight sweater. It had shrunk
a little in the wash so my chest seemed wrapped in the knitted
fabric. I blushed. Then he looked over Emily. “Or that.” His friend
agreed checking us out.

Justin’s long bleach-blond hair accented his
tan muscles and drove the girls crazy. Girls swarmed as Justin and
two of the other guys from his band slowly undressed to their
skivvies and piled into the Jacuzzi on Brad’s back deck.

Although Emily and I both found them
good-looking, we knew they were trouble and didn’t want anything to
do with them. Instead, the two of us went into the kitchen to talk
to Bradley. He grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and handed
one to each of us.

“Hey, Brad.” A tall, tan, muscular guy patted
Brad on the back and descended on our conversation. Dylan was the
other lead singer in the band. I had trouble not staring at him,
but somehow I managed to stay in control. I could tell he spent
hours in the gym, and he loved all the attention he got from his
incredibly sexy body. I gently nudged Emily as if to say secretly,
“Damn, he is so hot!” But the last thing I wanted in my life was a
guy to distract me, and he was definitely a distraction.

“You all coming in?” The question was for all
of us, but as he spoke, he examined me like I was some kind of
merchandise. I managed to act like I was indifferent to his beauty.
I
hadn’t kissed a guy in years
, so getting in
a
hot tub with a handful of gorgeous men
was
not a good idea
. And all of the perfect, half-naked women I
would have to compete with sealed the deal.
No way.

“I don’t know how to swim,” I joked
idiotically. It was a Jacuzzi.

“I’ll save you. I know CPR,” he said, putting
his arm around me.

“There are plenty of half-naked girls in
there for you to give mouth-to-mouth to.” I took his arm off my
shoulder, even though I secretly had a mild heart attack when he
touched me.

“But what if I’d rather give mouth-to-mouth
to you? I’ll kick some girls out of the tub if you like.” He
focused on me, waiting for a response.

“I’ll take a rain check.”

“On the Jacuzzi or the mouth-to-mouth?”

“Does that line actually work on anyone?”

“You’d be surprised.” He flashed a cocky
expression. “Okay,” he continued, “but if you change your mind, I’d
be happy to kick some of the girls out of there to make room for
you.”

He took his shirt off.
Shit
, I almost
fell. He had muscles I had never seen live on a man before, and
Ronald had been a quarterback.

“You really should come in.” He winked and
walked out onto the porch. The smell of his aftershave lingered.
Dylan had caught my attention at the club a week before. He was
hot, but he went home with a different girl pretty much every
night.

Brad’s girlfriend, Marisa, was quick to take
off her clothes and jump in with them, in her bra and panties. “I’m
coming in. Wait for me, Dylan.”

“How quickly we are replaced.” Bradley shook
his head. “Dylan seems to have that effect on women. They all
do.”

“She isn’t worth it, Bradley. It’s funny how
stupid women can be.” I took a sip of beer. “Jessica’s dad, my ex,
was a football player, and I was so infatuated by him. I figured
his muscles would protect me and keep me safe.” Mumbling under my
breath, I admitted, “Instead his muscles ended up in the bed of
other women or were used to put me in the hospital.” I breathed in.
“It’s funny how women think that kind of man is what they want.” I
peeked over at Dylan. I think I was trying to convince myself as
well. I took another sip. “What we really need is to fall in love
with our best friend. That is true security. If only we could be so
lucky.”

“You’re one to talk, Nicole. You still
haven’t gotten over that idiot back home,” Emily jumped in. She was
upset that I had considered calling Ronald. I don’t know why I did.
I guess I was lonely.

“He keeps promising he’ll change, and I keep
wanting to believe it’s true.”

“Yeah, how many times have we heard that? How
many times do you have to end up in the hospital?” Emily
snapped.

“I know. I’m an idiot. I don’t know what is
wrong with me.” I was a little embarrassed she was discussing this
in front of Bradley, but I think the beer had started to kick
in.

“He hit you?” Bradley seemed really upset.
“How could a man ever lay a hand on a woman? Especially one
as—”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.”