“Thank you,” Flicka said. “I appreciate that.”
Her cheeks flushed a little,and her smile warmed. “It’s the least I can do for a young couple just starting out.”
No, it wasn’tthe leastshe could do, but Flicka was quite sure that she could talk the woman down to whatever herleastwas.
In the end, Flicka signed the rental agreement for the furnished townhouse for less per month than a one-bedroom, unfurnished apartment, and it included all the utilities except water,plus free run of the rental office’s computers. She looked at the five available units and didn’t pick the marginally larger corner one because one of the units had a child’s bedroom already decorated. She’d only met Alina once, but surely the little girl liked pink.
Even with the reduction of the security deposit, between that and the first and last months’ rent, she had only ten dollars leftof the money Dieter had given her and from pawning the Laurel Tiara.
Just securing a place to live had taken almost everything Flicka had.
And she had to pay rent again in three weeks.
When Dieter got back, she wouldn’t have enough to buy a decent supper for the three of them, and that was if she skipped lunch.
She needed a job,fast.
The rental agent’s name was Indrani, and she was a sweetwoman. Her scarlet fingernails were tipped with gold leaf. A slim, gilded chain led from one of her heavy earrings to her nose stud. “While you’re looking for a job, you can print out your resume on the printer, too. I remember when I was just starting out with my husband. Things are a lot harder now than back then.”
“Are they?” Flicka asked, just making conversation while she used the woman’scomputer to set up the water bill. Because Indrani was staring out the window, Flicka quickly typed in her real name, Friederike von Hannover, thinking that leaving a legal trail with her legal name might be a good idea to establish residency so she could file for divorce.
“Yeah,” said the woman, looking out the window at the beige, desert landscape that ended in mountains made of red boulders.“A lot of young kids come out of college with a lot more debt than when we were young, the equivalent of a mortgage but they ain’t got no house to show for it, and then they have to pay that off. And they can’t get health insurance because they’re working three part-time gigs instead of a real job with benefits and a pension. I’m working weekends at the Silver Horseshoe Casino as a blackjack dealer.”
“As a dealer?” Flicka asked, perking up even more. She knew most of the table games quite well. “Are there many jobs for dealers?”
“Oh, yes. Lots. I went to dealer school for three months, blackjack and specialty games,” she said, “even though most of it was taught in the first couple of weeks. After that, it was practice dealing hands, over and over again, until you never, ever make a mistake.If you make a mistake, the house won’t pay out if someone hits a pot like a Bad Beat or High Hand, and that’s not fair to the players.”
Flicka didn’t know what half of those terms meant. She gambled, of course. Good Lord, she was a Princess of Monaco, where the world-famous Monte Carlo Casino was. Pierre played cards at least once a week, more to keep up the cachet of the casino than becausehe particularly enjoyed it. Gamblers loved to see the heir to the principality walk through the casino and enter the high-roller room. Tourists paid fifty dollars just to walk into the casino and gawk, and they surely felt like they got their money’s worth to see royalty come in to lose money.
They didn’t realize that Pierre and the rest of the royals gambled with state money. When they lost,they were merely returning some of the tax revenue to the casino, not reducing their private fortunes.
Only commoners gambled with and lost their own money.
“I don’t have three months to attend dealer school,” Flicka said. “What other kinds of employment are possible?”
She was hoping that Indrani would suggest that she work in the rental office, trying to lease those four remaining townhouses.A princess could surely lead a tour and extol the virtues of a living space, even if it was a small Nevada townhouse instead of a palace.
Indrani sucked on her teeth. “The casinos are always looking for pretty waitresses. The gamblers like blondes, too. Blondes make good tips.”
“Tips?” She just didn’t think it through.
Indrani raised one sculpted eyebrow at Flicka. “Money, a dollar or two thatthey give you to bring them the drink.”
Oh, the gratuity.Of course.
Immediate money was just what Flicka needed.
But,a waitress.
Flicka paused, considering.
There was nothing wrong with being waitstaff, Flicka mused. She had been terribly grateful to waitresses over the years, especially when they’d brought her a drink when she’d desperately needed one. At Wulfram’s wedding, she’d givenone particular waitress an exorbitant amount for taking such good care of her.
Waitresses served an important function in society and seemed to be kind, caring people.
Flicka could fake that.
She drew a deep breath and smiled at Indrani. “I’ll look into it.”
