Sam called her “sweetheart” in his lazy cowboy accent. With the towel covering his mouth, he said, “You’re cute as a speckled pup under a red wagon, you know that?”

Sherri smiled. She did know that.

“I understand you’re not supposed to cavort with the clientele,” Sam said, lingering over the word “cavort,” “but I sure would love to see you outside of this place if you’ll do me the honor.”

She was grateful that he was discreet. The male patrons learned through word of mouth that the security team at the resort was as protective as an army of older brothers. She could tell that he was angling to ask her out, and even though he wasn’t exactly Warren Beatty handsome—not by a long shot—she decided she’d say yes if he asked.

Bunny Carmen had told her about a place on the other side of Lake Geneva where Bunnies went to meet guests. Carmen knew the ins and outs of everything.

Sam winked at her. “What do you say?”

Without looking around to see if a room captain was watching, because she knew that would make him suspicious, Sherri surprised herself with her boldness. “There’s a restaurant called the Crow’s Nest,” she said. She knew she had to be careful. “I’ll be there tomorrow at seven. Maybe I’ll see you.” She smiled coyly even though she felt nervous, and dipped the soiled towel into a glass of water. Sam’s blood swirled in the clear liquid.

The next night, Sam showed up in a bolo tie, a Stetson hat, and alligator-skin cowboy boots. Guys from the area like Frank, Danny, and Curtis wore cowboy hats and boots, too, but Sam looked like a cartoon cowboy. Maybe it was just fine to dress like that where Sam was from, but in Wisconsin it seemed like he was in a costume, drawing attention to himself the way her costume was designed to draw attention, only his getup made him seem old, and he was old, maybe forty?

Sherri wanted her first real date with a guest to go well. She’d hoped to find Sam interesting and appealing, but he’d talked about how it felt to hold a cow’s eyeball in his hand, and told her cows don’t have any upper teeth, stuff she could learn from any old farm boy in Wisconsin, and there were plenty of those. But he wasn’t a farm boy from Wisconsin—at least he had that going for him, and he had to have been rich with all his talk of his ranch, so big it could have taken up the whole state of Texas.