Need You Tonight by Roni Loren Page B

image, the bitter taste burning the back of her throat.
     “Fuck you.”
    He laughed. “I’ll take that as you considering the option. Try it your way first if
     you’d like. I’m sure raising a few hundred grand on your own between those dead-end
     jobs you’re doing will be easy as pie. You know where to find me when that flops.”
    The dial tone buzzed in her ear—harsh and final. Round three thousand and four to
     the snake. It seemed like every time she went to battle with Doug, he ended up with
     the last word and the smile. She hung up the phone and rubbed a hand over her face,
     all the starch draining out of her.
    “Everything okay, Vanessa?”
    She looked up. It was on the tip of her tongue to correct the guy on her name, but
     frankly, she didn’t remember his either. She’d gone on so many assignments for the
     temp agency in the past few months that they were all starting to blend together.
     “I’m fine. What can I help you with?”
    He dropped a small voice recorder on her desk. “I’ve dictated a report that I’d like
     you to type up for me. I’ll need it before I leave today.”
    “Sure. I’ll get right to it,” she said with practiced enthusiasm even though she’d
     never typed from dictation before.
    After a quick nod, he strode off and she tucked the earbuds into her ears without
     hitting Play. The office hummed around her as she sat there at her borrowed desk,
     watching people moving back and forth with their tasks, chatting with co-workers and
     catching up from the weekend. No one had asked her how her weekend had been. No one
     cared. She was a stranger. No one knew that she’d had the best sex of her life on
     Friday night and had passed out from a fire. No one knew that she’d slipped out of
     the hospital before Van could get there because she couldn’t trust herself to turn
     him down. No one knew that her ex-husband had just ripped one final rug out from under
     her. And no one knew that the fate of an entire charity and at least a hundred kids
     was now resting on her very unqualified shoulders.
    She was simply the temp filling in for a beloved co-worker who was on maternity leave.
    Part of her relished the anonymity of it. She’d hated the spotlight she’d been under
     in her marriage as the TV pastor’s wife. But sometimes she couldn’t help feeling the
     loneliness of it now. Besides Sam, she had no one here. No roots. No friends. Not
     even co-workers she could get to know. She’d hoped to find a more permanent job by
     now, but the market was tough for entry-level positions and though she was taking
     night classes, she didn’t have the fancy experience to put on a resume yet.
    Hell, maybe she should’ve just stayed with Doug. They could’ve lived their separate
     lives in the same house and pretended to still be together in public. She’d known
     couples who’d done that. She could’ve put all her effort into charity work and not
     had to worry about if she’d have enough money for the gas bill or if that noise outside
     at night was some criminal in her not-so-desirable neighborhood trying to break in.
    But then she’d have to look at Doug’s smug face every day.
I told you so. I told you that you couldn’t survive on your own.
    Screw that.
She shook her head, disgusted that’d she’d even entertained the thought. Another
     day in that house with Doug and she’d probably be sitting in a jail for attempted
     murder. Her life now may not be posh or flashy, but at least she could wake up every
     day knowing that everything she had was hers and hers alone. No one was paying her
     way. No one owned her.
    She’d figure out some way to help her charity. Even if it meant she’d have to go door-to-door
     to ask for donations. She would not fail those kids. And she’d be damned if she’d
     give her ex-husband the satisfaction of seeing her beg.
    With renewed resolve, she turned toward her computer, hit the Play button on the voice
     recorder, and