Touching Scars(15)

My day had been long and arduous and it was only halfway done. When it was time to break for lunch, I was in desperate need of re-hydrating and food. Grabbing my metal pail from one of the saddle bags on my Harley, I took a seat at one of the shaded picnic tables. I reached for a napkin that was being held down by a bottle of ketchup in the middle of the table and used it to wipe the sweat from my forehead. I pulled my already warm ham sandwich from its container and took a large bite. As I sat there eating, Slim came walking out of the trailer with his own lunch pail and sat across from me. When his butt hit the wood, the whole table creaked. He wasn’t a small man. Short, yes, but he was sturdy.

“You look like shit,” he said as he unscrewed the cap to his thermos. .

“Yeah, and you look like you’ve been sitting in too much air conditioning, princess.” My sarcasm made him chuckle.

“Sure is a hot day today, you boys doing okay out here? I heard it’s going to be a record breaker.”

“We’ll be fine. I’ll make sure they have some water near and take frequent breaks.” The heat reaches its peak around three o’clock when we are all tired, and trying to get through the last few hours of the day..

“Sounds good. So, did you have a good time last night?” Slim asked.

I’d been thinking about last night all morning and had decided to pick Slim’s brain about Kat. “Yeah, it was good, pretty typical small town dive,” I smirked. “Tell me more about the help.”

I watched Slim’s brows rise slightly. “Well, you met Beaver, Melanie, and Kat. Ed, the owner, was probably in the back. What’d you want to know?”

I took a deep breath and figured I might as well come out with it. Well, not all of it, but more about my curiosity with Katherine, or Kat as she liked to be called now. “Last night was the girl, Kat’s, birthday, right? How long have you known her?”

Slim shook his head. “Huh-uh. If you’re interested in that one, you’re barking up the wrong tree, Nelson. Roger is very protective of his niece, and that bar owner is even more so. I suggest you pursue someone else. Shit, if you’re lonely, I know plenty of girls that wouldn’t even think twice about being with the likes of you.”

“You calling me good lookin’, Ed?” I teased but I was a bit frustrated by his blatant refusal to give me something. Good thing I don’t give up easily.

“You’re not my type. Those eyes of yours are too pretty,” he answered sarcastically.

Staring at him while he stuffed a handful of BBQ chips in his mouth, I decided to come at it from a different angle. “I’m not after Roger’s niece. She just looks familiar, that’s all.”

He took a big swig of his coke before he answered me. “I don’t really know much about her except that she isn’t from around here. She moved here a couple of years ago to try to get away from her old town. Roger took her in and has taken care of her since. She’s pretty quiet, but Kat’s a good girl. I think she said she’s from Bay City. You ever hear of it?”

I kept my face smooth and devoid of anything that would give away what I’d suspected. He’d just confirmed what I figured out last night. “I’ve heard of it. Never been, though.”

“I suggest you not mention your interest in Kat to Roger. He wouldn’t care if you’re his best worker out there,” he said and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder behind him. “That girl means the world to him and he’d can your ass in a heartbeat for even looking at her wrong.”

“Noted.”

These guys knew nothing about me, and they’d never question my reasons for showing up in their little town. The little that they did know made me okay in their book. I was an Army vet so they accepted me, just like that.

Slim and I finished our lunch in silence. When we were done, I got up and put my pail back in my saddle bag while Slim turned and went back into his air conditioned office. I stood by my bike for a long minute and ran a hand through my sweat slicked hair. It was longer than I’d let it grow in years.

I’d rebelled a bit since getting out. I’d been living my life in a uniform for years. We’d all had the same haircuts, same march, same salute. I was done with the same. The day after I’d gone to my dad’s, I had found a tattoo shop and started work on my sleeve. I needed more meaning. I needed to break away from the conformity. The same day I went and started my tattoos I had also gotten my ears pierced. The markings on my own body brought me back to Katherine. Did she get hers for the same reason? Did she feel the need to break away from the mold and if she did, why?