Bitter tears pressed at her eyes when she saw that Roux was right.Going the wrong direction, she couldn’t see clearly what was going on, but she knew what she didn’t see.
Her face, her eyes, her boobs…
The advertiser chose that inopportune moment to come on the line.“Hello?”
“Where is my billboard?”Roxie snapped.
“Who is this?”
“Roxie Cannon from The Ruckus.Where is my sign?”
“Oh, Ms.Cannon.”From the sigh in the man’s voice, she could tell he knew exactly who she was.“We didn’t receive payment from you to continue for another three months.Your lease was up.”
Payment.Lease.The words were like daggers.Roxie’s air came in rough, jagged pants as she skimmed the contract, her finger keeping place of where she was.
Expiration date.There.
A knot formed in her throat, making the ache worse.The date had passed.How could she have missed it?
“You didn’t put up anything new,” she snapped back, clutching at straws.
The billboard had been blank—tatters, really, of previous posters.Since when did they rush out and tear things down the moment they came due?Why hadn’t anyone called her?Especially if they didn’t have a backup sponsor?
The man on the other end of the line hemmed and hawed.Finally, he grumbled, “With the hubbub it was causing, we thought it best to take the whole thing down.”
Roxie literally growled.The sound just came out.The truck was now bouncing along the dirt of Fisherman’s Road.Looking up, she saw the remnants of her billboard.They waved in the wind, looking defeated and hopeless.
“Don’t expect repeat business from me,” she hissed, punching the button to end the call.By that point, her throat had nearly closed off.
They were sitting right under the sign now.Her sign.Billy shifted into park and watched her, saying nothing.
Roxie shook her head.Damn it, she couldn’t explain it, but her heart was breaking.
She lurched out of the cab of the truck.The wind lifted her hair and made it lash against her face.Her chin quivered as she looked up at nothing.
It was gone.All gone.
She felt Billy move up behind her, and her spine stiffened.She blinked fast as he blocked the wind, protecting her.When he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him, she lost it.
The sobs just poured out, deep and not pretty.“I wasn’t ready for this,” she protested between the tears.
He bent his head down beside hers.Up on the interstate, cars rushed by.The dull roar of the traffic rumbled in Roxie’s ears, making her headache worse.
“It was good while it lasted,” he told her.“It brought you business.”
She just cried harder.
“And Lexie,” he murmured.
Roxie wrapped her arms around her waist.The pain was just too much.
“It led to Maxie, too,” he said comfortingly.“That’s a lot for one sign to do.”
But she had wanted more.Just one more thing.
His lips moved against her temple.“You thought it would bring the rest of your family to you, didn’t you?”
Roxie turned and crumpled.Her fingers clutched at his jacket as she cried tears against his T-shirt.“Yes!”
