The few friends that I had in my young twenty-one years I could count on one hand — Uncle Roger, Slim, Ed, Beaver, and Melanie. The last two were only recent developments. Melanie was already a waitress at The Hole before I started. She was in her early thirties and been divorced once. She was one of those people that possessed enough energy to take over an entire room. When she introduced herself to me, she pulled me into a hug, then grabbed my cheeks and said in the most southern accent I’d ever heard, “Well aren’t you a pretty lil’ thing!” From then on, we’d been friends.
Beaver was hired a couple of months after I started working at The Hole. There had been a customer that was frequently coming in during my shifts. One night he got a little too grabby, and Ed had to come at him with a bat. The next night Beaver showed up, and since then he’s been here every night I worked. Fine with me. Beaver was a big boy. Nobody messed with him.
Well, not unless you included Mel. She has had a thing for him since he first stepped foot in the bar. I swear her accent would get thicker and she would bat those blonde lashes when she saw him. She didn’t have to do much — Beaver definitely noticed. The thing I didn’t get, though, was that she didn’t think she could have him. He was closer to my age and Mel thought he wouldn’t want a divorced, ‘used’ woman. I told her she was full of shit and he would be hers if she just said the word. There would be no intervening for a set-up by me, though. I had too many of my own issues to get in the middle of theirs, and I don’t want to get close enough for them to start asking unwanted questions. I told them just enough to know about me and left it at that. For the time being, it seemed to have pacified them.
My life was constant. Sunday through Saturday it never changed. I was content. Not happy, but content.
There was buzz about The Hole having a small celebration for my twenty-first birthday. I didn’t want the unnecessary attention, but if Ed insisted we honor the fact that I was now legally allowed to work for him, then I’d placate him.
I was busy putting away a shipment of beer when Mel came skipping towards me.
“Oh, birthday girl!” she said in a sing song voice. “Your uncle is here and wants to see you.”
I looked over my shoulder from inside the walk-in refrigerator and smiled. “Thanks, tell him I’ll be out in just a minute.”
“Okay.”
She stood there a second longer, her face serious. “You need something else?” I asked.
“Do you think Beaver would give me your birthday spankings if I asked?”
I snorted. “If he tries to give me any sort of spankings, I’ll take Ed’s bat to his head.”
She looked dreamy and sighed. “I bet he has a nice firm palm. Have you seen the size of his hands?”
I could do nothing but stare at her.
“What?” she asked me.
“You need to get laid, girl.” I threw a towel over my shoulder and made my way to the front of the bar.
When I walked out I saw Uncle Roger and Slim standing next to Beaver, and greeted them both with hugs. We spoke for a few minutes, laughing at the things Beaver said, when Slim gestured toward a guy that was standing behind me that I hadn’t noticed before. I turned to acknowledge him and got the shock of a lifetime. All of the synapses in my brain stopped firing as I stood there, blinking rapidly, trying to see if my eyes were playing a trick on me. Surely the man in front of me wasn’t who I thought it was. Timber Nelson. Timber… Timber… Timber… Timber Nelson. What the fuck?
It occurred to me that he was speaking. Why couldn’t I hear him?
I felt like my body had been transported back six years ago. My hand rose to push my glasses up the bridge of my nose before I stopped myself. I don’t wear glasses anymore. Why was he here? I was pretty sure Slim just told me, but I wasn’t listening.
My ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton. My heart was pounding so hard that the only thing I could hear was the sound of my blood whooshing. Needing to get away, I said a quick hello, acted as if I had no idea who he was and raced to the back. Stepping into the fridge, I leaned my back against the cold metal wall and slid down until my butt hit the even colder ground. My knees were drawn up and I put my head between them. Deep breaths, Kat.
Why, why would he be here? Did Adam send him? Did he know what happened to me? He must know. This town was too small for this to have been a coincidence. Nobody just showed up in Port O’Connor without having a purpose. Granted, I wandered into this town without one, but my uncle lived here, so that was my excuse. What’s his?
Deep breaths, Kat.
Wait… he didn’t recognize me. Nothing in his eyes screamed recognition. They were blank. He had held his hand out for me to shake as if he were meeting a complete stranger. I was pretty sure he didn’t know who I was. Had I changed that much? Or maybe I hadn’t made that much of an impression on him six years ago. That last thought made my heart hurt for the briefest of moments.