That was so depressingly true, Kit ordered another double.
And wondered when somebody would figure out that the down-timer problem facing every time terminal in the business would have to be solved one of these days. He just hoped Shangri-La Station was still open for business when it happened.
* * *
When Skeeter heard that Charlie Ryan had hired Bergitta to take his place on the station maintenance crew, his first thought was that maybe Ryan had a soul, after all. Then he wondered if maybe Kynan Rhys Gower hadn’t paid him a little visit anyway? Whatever the case, Bergitta finally had a job that would give her enough income to pay for her closet-sized apartment and food and station taxes.
But when she learned that she’d been hired only because he’d been fired, she showed up on his doorstep in tears, vowing to quit.
“No,” he insisted, “don’t even think such a thing. It is not your fault I lost my job.”
“But Skeeter . . .”
“Shh.” He placed a fingertip across her lips. Her face was still bruised where that creep had hit her, but the swelling along her eye had gone down, at least. “No, I won’t hear it. You need the job, Bergitta. I can get work doing anything. I only took the maintenance job because it was the first one they offered me.”
Her stricken expression told Skeeter she knew full well it had been the only job anyone had offered him. What he was going to do to earn enough money to pay rent, buy food, keep the power turned on, and pay his own station taxes, Skeeter had no idea. But that wasn’t important. Taking care of the few friends he had left was. So he locked up his dreary little apartment and placed Bergitta’s hand through his arm. “Let’s go someplace and celebrate your new job!”