“First time here?” The man in front of Penny turned and gave her a lopsided smile. “I can tell by that starry look in your eyes that you’re new to the area. By the way, name’s Kurt.”
“Oh.” Penny stifled a laugh. “Hi, Kurt. I’m Penny. And I didn’t realize I was that obvious.”
“Where you from?”
“A small town in Iowa. I’m sure you don’t know it.”
“Des Moines?”
She gave a faint smile. “Close enough. What about you? Are you from the area?”
“Nobody’s from LA originally.” Kurt smiled again, though it looked strange. It didn’t reach his eyes. “We’re all a mix from everywhere else. But I’m considered as much of a local as anyone now, been here twenty years. You moving here to be an actress?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You look like an actress.”
“Well, thanks…I guess. But I also like to write. I thought about screenwriting while I’m out here or even producing. One day, I’d love to direct. Actually, back home, I worked for the local paper,” Penny said proudly. She’d graduated summa cum laude with an English degree from Iowa State and had nabbed one of the few writerly jobs available in her town. “In fact, the reason I’m here at all is because of a book.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, it sounds stupid when I say it out loud.”
“Why would it sound stupid?”
“It’s sort of self-helpy,” she said. “Anyhow, the author got me thinking, and I realized that I wanted more. I wanted something big, something huge. And I couldn’t have that in Boone, Iowa.”
“No, you most certainly couldn’t,” Kurt said. “Where will you be living?”
Penny frowned, glanced down at the slip of paper that had grown somewhat sweaty in her palm. “An apartment near…this street?”
She held it up so he could read the address. Kurt’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but Penny couldn’t interpret what the movement meant.
“Do you know it?” she continued. “Is the area safe? I tried to Google it, but it’s so hard to tell online. Not that I had many options. I mean, housing prices are so high out here, and I can’t afford a car just yet.”
“It’s right near me, actually,” Kurt said. “I live a few blocks away, down on Western. Want a lift home? It’s probably a twenty-minute walk from the bus station.”
“Oh, no. That’s fine,” she said. “I like to exercise.”
Kurt glanced out the window. “You’re gonna walk in the dark?”
He had a point; it was darker than Penny had anticipated. Her stomach clutched at the thought of picking her way through the dark streets of Hollywood all alone on her first night. Her stomach clutched tighter at the idea of accepting help from a stranger. She knew better than to get in a car with him, but he seemed harmless enough, and the offer was tempting…
“Well, I’m getting off at this stop,” he said. “I reckon you are, too, if that’s your address. It was nice to meet you. Hope you enjoy your time here.”
Kurt stood, then paraded down the aisle and climbed off the bus. Penny followed behind, clumsily hauling her oversize suitcase and one backpack through the narrow opening, muttering apologies as she rolled over feet and bumped into elbows.
When she reached the stairs, her suitcase went ass over teakettle down the steps and landed in a heap on the ground. Penny glanced at it in dismay, waiting for a moment as if someone might magically appear to help with her supersize load.
“Off you go, lady,” the bus driver barked. “We’ve got a schedule to keep.”
With tears pricking her eyes, Penny hustled down and retrieved her muddied suitcase from the grimy gutter. It took every ounce of her piddly bicep muscles to haul it onto the curb. Her shoulders ached, and her back was drenched with sweat. She’d worn her nicest casual dress for the occasion, along with a set of cute wedge sandals, and both were practically melting after the long bus ride.
“Kurt,” she called on a desperate impulse.
She was just too exhausted to walk another step. But heaven forbid she tell her mother she’d accepted a ride from a stranger. Just this once. It would be a secret she’d haul to her grave.
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be a hassle to give me a ride to my apartment?”
That lopsided smile reappeared. “Sure thing, honey. Hop in. It’s no trouble at all.”
_______________________________
“This is it,” Penny said. “You can stop here.”
As Kurt had promised, the car ride was a short one. Penny glanced over at her driver, whose chatter had slowed once they’d gotten into the car, and waited for his reaction.
She ignored the creeping feeling of discomfort in her stomach. Penny had learned not to take rides from strangers like every good little girl. And like every good little girl, she hated breaking the rules.
Penny had the manners of a Midwesterner—a comfortable, steady politeness ingrained so deeply in her that it had become part of her very marrow. She never caused unnecessary waves. She apologized when things weren’t her fault. She didn’t have an ounce of confrontation in her DNA.
That’s why, when Kurt didn’t pull over immediately, Penny merely cleared her throat, content to give him the benefit of the doubt until the first stoplight. The first stoplight came and went, however, and the piece of paper in Penny’s hands grew soaked with sweat. It tore into shreds, and Penny realized it was very lucky she’d had thirty hours on a bus to memorize the street address. The print had become illegible.
“I think you missed the turn,” she said, struggling to balance firmness and politeness in her tone. “I know it’s nothing to look at from the outside, but the address—”
“I thought you might like to come by my place for a cup of coffee?” Kurt slowed the car, pulling into a dark parking lot a few blocks from her apartment. “I live around here.”
“It’s late.” Penny thumbed apologetically toward the setting sun. Twilight was rapidly becoming night, especially here, where the last fingers of sunlight were blocked by sloped, peeling rooftops. The apartment complexes around the lot rose to cocoon the car in a nest of darkness. “I texted my landlord from the bus that we’d be running late, and he said he’d wait up for me. He’s being really nice letting me check in after hours, and I don’t want to push my luck. Plus, I promised I’d call my mother as soon as I arrived.”
Penny patted herself on the back for the last addition. If he knew that her mother was expecting a call, he’d leave her alone. Isn’t that how it always works in the movies? This was Hollywood, after all. Men and women were supposed to be glamorous and charming and larger than life. Not fat, sweaty, and a little bit creepy.
Kurt threw the car into Park and sat back in his seat. He paused there for a mere second before reaching over to rest a hand lightly on her thigh. “Just one cup of coffee.”
Penny struggled to swallow. How had she ever assumed this man was a Good Samaritan? She’d heard horror stories. They just weren’t supposed to happen to her.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not interested. Like I said, my mother’s waiting for me to call. My boyfriend will be worried if I don’t let him know I made it.”