I startled and turned in her direction. “I guess so and no, I don’t.” I glanced back at him.
She gave me a knowing smirk. “There’s no guessing about that one, honey, he’s certifiably sex on two legs. And he sure seems to have taken a liking to you.” I could hear the humor in her voice.
“You don’t know that.” I spoke too quickly.
“Mmmhmmm. I know a lot more than you think.”
I could feel Timber’s eyes still on me and it made me squirm. “Well, he’s going to have to look elsewhere ‘cause I’m not interested.”
Mel shook her head. “Kat, in the past two years that I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you with a boyfriend. Care to tell me why that is?”
Because men repulsed me when I thought of them in more than a friendly way? I couldn’t tell her that but I did want to tell her to mind her own damn business. I wouldn’t, though. Mel was like family to me and I knew she meant well. So instead, I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Don’t know. I guess nobody’s caught my eye.”
She tapped her long hot pink fingernails on the bar. “Well, the way you were just checking him out, and you were checking him out, I’d say you just got interested.” She reached down for a beer, popped the top off and went back to serving her tables, cutting me off from giving her any retort.
I wasn’t interested. I was just curious… and cautious. I needed to find out why he was here. I spent the next few hours having Mel serve him his Crown and cokes while I endured her comments about me going to speak to him. She had no idea who Timber was, and I wasn’t about to tell her. This guy was someone that could make my entire world that I’d built here come crashing down. I wouldn’t give him the time of day if he ever came back in here.
There, it was decided.
Shortly before my shift ended, Timber’s movement caught my eye. He stood up from his stool on shaky legs and wove his way to the entrance. I’d felt a sudden urge to stop him. I didn’t want him to leave just yet, but I had no idea why. I made a few steps in his direction. Halting my crazy impulse in its tracks, I stopped and watched him make his way out the door and hopefully out of my life.
It wasn’t until I couldn’t see him anymore that I realized just how much I’d been watching him all night long. I caught myself staring at the bar stool that he’d just been occupying. Every muscle in my body began slowly relaxing. It was as if I had been waiting for him to make his move and give me the excuse to run.
Needing to call it a night, I went in the back and told Ed that I was in desperate need of a shower and Mel and Beaver could close up. He agreed and wished me a happy birthday for the millionth time. I made my way up to my little space above the bar and decided a hot shower would soothe my achy body.
Standing under the steaming water that was warming my skin and releasing my tension, I figuredI needed a game plan. It wasn’t until Timber had been standing in front of me that I realized that I didn’t have provisions in place in case an unwanted face came looking for me. That thought was very discerning to me — that I had allowed myself to get so comfortable that I let my guard down. When your guard is down, you’re not prepared. Always be ready for the unexpected. If Adam taught me anything, it’s that you don’t really know people or what they are capable of. I felt the sting of the too hot water scald me while I made a plan to protect myself and never be a victim again.
WAKING UP ON A FRIDAY morning with a clouded head and a massive hangover does wonders to a man’s work ethic. Instead of rolling in my usual three minutes late, I got to the field an hour after starting time. When I walked into the portable building to punch my time card, Slim looked up from his desk through the open door in the far room.
“Bit late, aren’t ya?” I could hear the amusement in his tone. It made my head ache.
“Your fault,” was all I responded with as I slid my card back into its holder and stepped out into the already too hot air. I slid on a pair of aviator sun glasses for some relief from the brightness.
If you’ve never been to Texas during the summer months, you have no idea how scorching it can get outside. Toss in a bit of humidity and it makes for some pretty shitty outside working environments. Fortunately for me, I’m a Texan and have dealt with it my whole life. But I’ve seen plenty of men over the past couple of months come in and out of here on stretchers due to heat exhaustion. They never came back. My guess is that they traveled from neighboring states when they heard about the potential cash income, and thought it was going to be easy work. They had no idea that the job is full of heavy lifting, keeping an eye on the rig wells, maneuvering augers, and crawling in and out of tunnels. Few survived the grueling temperatures that easily reached over one hundred degrees day in and day out. The heat isn’t what tested my resolve, though. It’s the challenge. I never start something I don’t intend to finish. I was part of a team here, and if I walked away, I left the rest of my crew one man short. I knew that was my Army mentality, but it was a quality that I clung to. It’s saved lives. Then again… it’s killed them.