That was then, though. This was now. Thrust into a life where she couldn’t use her name, she’d been forced to lose contact with everybody she’d ever known. She was all alone, and no one knew her here. The American West, people called it.   Before today, the best she could recall about this part of the country was the pretty view of mountains and valleys that spooled outside her window while jetting to and fro above this land. As a child, whenever she’d flown past, she used to idly wonder what went on down below in the plains, mountains, and valleys that spooled below her like a quilt of browns, greens, blues, and gold.

Now she knew. Right now, she was down on the ground not high up flying past this place aboard a jet. No posse rolled with her here, no law firm on speed dial, no “white-gloved” treatment to insulate her from the mess of reality.

She wasn’t special here. Worse, she was unknown, with no home to shelter her and no anchor to hang on to. The reality of this new situation was a cold splash of water that came in the form of this short, balding man she was now arguing with.   He owned the rambling two-story building that she wanted. He couldn’t be reasoned with in the calm manner she was used to. And he stank. He was everything she wasn’t prepared to deal with: odious, sweaty, and, ugh, argumentative. And, the worst thing about this was, he was in her face, spittle flying. No one gets in my face! How impolite is that?! Personal space, please! Does no one here know about personal space? She wanted to shut him up, or, failing that, quit edging into her space.   Each time he opened his mouth it seemed like he was stepping closer and closer.

She walked around to the other side of the hood of the SUV she’d just bought in Billings, Montana to put more space between them.

He slapped the sheave of papers on the hood of her SUV as if to remind her, unnecessarily, she’d better pay closer attention to what he was saying.   “$150 is as low as I’ll go, lady.”

Hmmmm. Does he know what he’s selling? $150,000 for a handsome two-story that wouldn’t look out of place in a romantic western? It had an unexpected bonus of seven acres of verdant, lush grass and leafy trees out back, and unobstructed views of pretty mountains and valleys in the horizon, too. The whole thing was dirt cheap for $200k probably, but she had no way of knowing for sure. And, seriously, no time for his stupid games. If he had time to waste, good for him. She didn’t.