by Sable Hunter
Glory licked her lips, savoring the spicy sausage. “We all need to enjoy what we have, when we have it. You never know when your time will run out and it’ll be too late.”
Her stark philosophical outlook took him aback a little. Glory was usually so lackadaisical and free-spirited. “You might be right.”
“I used your computer on the houseboat to look up the number of a locksmith, I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, of course not. Did you get in touch with them?”
“I left an email message, but I’ll call the shop this morning. I’ll also start looking in the Peddler want ads for a used bed.” She named a small area paper.
“No rush, I’m not planning on evicting you the first rattle out of the box,” he muttered, striving to keep his mind on driving. T couldn’t be sure she was doing it on purpose, but Glory kept picking up her hair into a ponytail, then twisting it into a knot. The move did two things that was driving him crazy. One, it revealed the elegant line of her neck, making him want to nibble on the soft skin near her collarbone. And two, when she held her arms up, her breasts were thrust out, showing off her nipples. T stared. Glory had amazing nipples. Big. Hard. Puffy. So, damn suckable.
Bam!
“Hey, you ran off the road, T! Be careful. One tire goes in that swamp out there and we’re screwed.”
“Right.” He tried to focus on keeping his truck between the ditches.
“Hey, T-Rex, can I ask you something?”
T stiffened. “What?”
“Don’t sound so excited.” She waited a few seconds, then pounced. “Someone came in the store the other day, and we got to talking. About you. And this person said you don’t date very many women.”
T tightened his lips. “Is that all they said about me?”
Glory shrugged. “No, but it was the only thing they said that mattered to me.”
“What else did they say?”
Glory, turned to face him. “What does it matter? People gossip. You should hear what they say about me.”
“What did they say?” He gritted his teeth. God, he hated this. He’d give anything if folks could just forget his disastrous life ever happened. When she still hesitated, he raised his voice. “Glory, what did they say?” Looking at her, he grated. “Dammit! Say it out loud!”
Glory wished she’d never brought it up. Staring at him, she could see his pain. Maybe, this was a good thing. His reaction to her question explained so much. “They said you have a bad reputation and I should stay away from you.”
He cut her a hard glance. “Is that all?” Of course, it wasn’t all.
“Yes. Someone else came in about that time and the meddlesome old woman left.” Glory didn’t mention that she’d given the old lady a piece of her mind and told her she didn’t want to hear any gossip about her friend. Yes, she considered T her friend. Meeting his eyes, she could see he was angry. She glanced out the windshield to make sure he wasn’t about to skid off the road again.
“She’s right. I do have a bad reputation. I don’t date for a good reason. And you would be smart if you dropped all of those crazy notions about being with me.” T rolled down the window and spit out of it, like he was trying to rid a bad taste from his mouth. “So now that you know, let’s just drop it.”
With one long breath, she said, “All right. Consider it dropped.” With the next, she said, “What kind of reputation could you have that would prevent you from dating? I think you’re amazing.”
T groaned, “I thought we were dropping it.”
Glory was getting a little bit angry. Talk about being bull-headed. “I just want to understand. After all, we’re almost dating.”
T-Rex threw back his head and bellowed, “You are frustrating the hell out of me, woman!” He didn’t like to discuss his past with anyone, much less a woman he was attracted to. And what made it worse was that she didn’t know the whole story…he hoped. He hoped she didn’t know about his temper. About his drinking. About him almost killing a mother and a child. About the shame of his father’s abuse, his sister’s death, and him killing his own father. “We aren’t dating!” He felt his anger rising – not anger at her but anger at himself, at the situation. “Just stop!”
She didn’t. The fool woman just kept on. “If you want me to stop. Tell me. Just give me a hint.”
“All right.” T cut his hand through the air, as if this was going to be his final word. “I’m gay. That’s why I don’t date…women.”
Glory busted out laughing. “You? Gay? No, you’re not!” Then, she sobered. “Are you?”
Now, T laughed. “No. But if you can tell a whopper, so can I.”
“Hmmm. So, you’re trying to distract me away from an important truth.” When he just shrugged, she decided to offer something of herself first. “I know what it’s like for people to talk, T. To gossip.” She could still remember the whispers at Mass. The whispers at the corner grocery store. Her mother hadn’t suffered in silence. Everyone knew their family situation and they also knew when she was abandoned.
“Yea, I just bet you do,” he snapped.
“You want to know what they say about me?” Glory didn’t know why she was pushing this. It was obvious she wasn’t endearing herself to him.
“Not really.” He put on his blinker as they neared the bait shop.
“I was such a burden to my family that they abandoned me.”
Her quiet, matter-of-fact statement caught him off guard. “What do you mean they abandoned you? Is this one of your whoppers?”
Glory shrugged. “No, this is a sad truth. I was a sickly little kid. Spent my childhood in and out of hospitals. They spent everything they had trying to get me well. I guess the emotional cost was even higher. One day I came back from a trip and they were gone. They moved and didn’t leave a forwarding address.”
To say T was stunned was a total understatement. “My God! How old were you? What did you do?”
“Oh, I was old enough I guess. Seventeen.” Barely.
“Why would they do something like that?” T-Rex was shocked. Thoughts of his own issues flew out of his mind.
Glory squirmed in her seat. She’d said enough. “Sometimes people just get enough of something. I was a burden to my folks.” When the bait shop came into view, she felt a sense of relief. “We’re here!”
T wasn’t through with the conversation. “You were seventeen, what did you do? Did they come back?”
As they neared, Glory opened the door before the vehicle came to a full stop, needing to escape from his scrutiny.
“Hey!” T yelled, grabbing her arm. “Careful!”
“I’m okay.” As she climbed down, the soles of her boots found the gravel strewn ground. Glory gave him a sad smile. “I made it fine. I’m here, aren’t I? But no, they didn’t come back, I’ve talked to my mom on the phone once since then, when Uncle Calvin called her, that’s something.”
“I’m sorry, Glory.” His relationship with his mother was badly damaged also, but he hated to imagine a seventeen-year-old Glory completely at the mercy of the world.
“Don’t be, things happen for a reason.” She picked up the wrappers from the food she’d eaten so she could throw them away inside. “Gotta keep your beloved truck clean.” Giving him a genuine smile, Glory backed up before she shut the door. “I have to believe we end up where we’re supposed to be, T, with who we’re supposed to be with. Have a good day, handsome.”
While she was walking away, he called out, “When I get off work this afternoon, let’s plan on driving over to see if I can get Calvin’s old truck started up for you.”
She pushed a lock of hair from her forehead in a nervous gesture. “Okay. Thanks. Take care, T-Rex. See you tonight.” She lifted her hand in farewell before turning to go.
T sat there for a second or two, watching Glory as she made her way up the steps to undo the makeshift lock before she disappeared inside. “I feel like I’m living in the eye of a hurricane, no matter which way I go, I’m mo
ving into a storm,” T mumbled as he put his truck into gear and pulled away.
*
When it was time to lock up, Glory hung out the CLOSED sign. She’d been expecting T for the last hour. As far as she knew, his work finished at five. Most of his time was spent out in the field, so she had no clue when he might show up.
To pass the time, she strolled around outside and picked up limbs and threw them in a pile. Debris from the storm still littered the area.
After an hour and a half, she went to sit on the edge of the dock, wondering if T had forgotten her and went on home. She didn’t think he would, but she’d been left before.
…About a mile away, T was wishing he had Glory’s cell phone number. He was even later than he thought he’d be. The recent storm had played havoc on the small community of the Isle of Jean Paul and he’d gone to a town hall meeting to hear their concerns and try to offer some solutions. Saving the area from rising waters was impossible, it was just a matter of time before their homes were consumed by the sea. What he was working on now was convincing them to move to a safer haven. Like most folks of the Cajun persuasion, they were being stubborn.
He hoped Glory didn’t think he’d forgotten her. He would more likely forget his own name. When he pulled up, he could see the door was locked. For a minute, he wondered if she’d given up and walked home. “Glory!” T intended to take a good look around before he gave up and left. “Glory!”
“Over here!” she called.
T exhaled in relief, rounding the corner to find her coming toward him from the pier. “Sorry I’m late. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” She was so happy to see him, she had to refrain from running up to him for a hug. “How was your day? Are you tired?”
Her normal questions made him feel funny. Those were the type of questions a wife would ask a husband after a hard day’s work. This was fantasy stuff for T. His home life with his folks sure hadn’t been anywhere approaching normal. “I’m fine. Sorry I’m late. A meeting ran long.”
“It’s okay. I thought maybe you changed your mind.” She came to him, her eyes searching his as if she was trying to ascertain if he were telling the truth.
“No. I wouldn’t have left you here to walk home. In fact, I wish you’d stayed inside and not gone wandering out by yourself.”
“Okay.” Glory took in his appearance. He was dressed in jeans and a short sleeved blue polo that lovingly molded his incredible chest. At six-foot-six, he was a giant redwood of a man. More than anything, she wanted to go up and just lean on him, find sanctuary in his arms. To some, his face might seem too rugged, his jaw too cut, his cheekbones too chiseled. Glory didn’t think so, she saw undeniable strength and character in his face. But what attracted her the most – was the kindness in his eyes, the caring she saw there warmed her heart. “I have a hard time just waiting. Walking comforts me.” When he held his driver’s side door open for her, she wondered at it but crawled in, scooting over to make room for him. “There’ve been times I’ve just walked away, not really with a destination in mind, just went where my feet carried me.”
“Neighborhood walks?” T asked, envisioning a casual hour long stroll.
“No, usually a hundred miles or so over a week or better. I call them my walkabouts.”
She eased over to the point where she could fasten her seat belt, totally missing the look of disbelief he was giving her.
“By yourself? On foot?”
Glory had to laugh. “Walking is usually done on your feet, and I’m by myself, yes. It’s very relaxing and peaceful.”
T started his truck up, put it into gear and started down the road. “I hope you enjoyed the last walkabout you went on; you won’t be taking another one.”
Perplexed, Glory frowned at him. “I don’t plan on going anytime soon. Now, I have the shop to take care of. I usually go when something really crazy is going on and I need to have some distance to think.”
T-Rex just shook his head. “You scare me, Glory Bee. I think you need a keeper.”
Glory started to ask if he was volunteering, but she knew he wasn’t.
“You did bring the truck keys, didn’t you?” he asked.
“Yes.” She patted her pocket. “I’m ready to get my hands dirty.”
“I think I can manage, thanks.” He gave her a wink, which thrilled her heart. “I did bring the towing chain today, so we’re in business either way.”
When they arrived at the camp, the old truck was still sitting where they’d left it, looking as much of a rust bucket as ever. Glory felt important, joining T as he lifted the hood. “Get in there, Glory, and start the engine.”
She did and he finagled around, removing one part and spraying something on another. Glory enjoyed watching the muscles of his forearms flex.
“Why are you looking at me and licking your lips, didn’t you have lunch today?”
His out-of-the-blue question caught her off guard and she blushed, which was unusual for her. “I had a Fruit Roll-up.” She leaned her chin on her propped-up hand. “I just like looking at you, you’re sexy.”
What could T say? He’d walked right into that one.
“T-Rex, have you ever been in love?”
“Nope. Not even close.”
“What was your family like?”
T didn’t answer for a bit. “Dysfunctional.”
“So was mine.” Glory patted him on the back. “We’re a lot alike.”
T-Rex couldn’t hide his smile. “I don’t think so.”
Seeing his good mood, she decided to go for the gold. “Do you like having sex?”
T dropped a wrench and it clattered down through the engine to the ground below. “Dammit!”
“Well, do you?”
It’d been so long; it was a wonder he could remember. “Yes, sure.” Of course, now he spent part of his nights rubbing one out to thoughts of Glory. “Doesn’t everybody?” When she didn’t say anything in return, he cut his eyes over toward her, only to find her looking down. “Don’t you?”
Glory shuffled from one foot to the other. “Of course, I love it.” Or she was sure she would if she ever got a chance to try it.
Her admission slammed into T like a freight train. “I can’t fix this bucket of bolts here; I don’t have the right tools. Let’s tow it back.”
As she stepped back while he shut the hood and hooked up the chain, affixing it to the rear bumper of his own truck, Glory couldn’t tell if T was flushing from the heat or blushing from their conversation.
Once she was behind the wheel, he gave her some quick and dirty instructions on how to steer it and how to stay a safe distance behind him. “Just take it easy and we’ll be fine. Okay?”
“Okay.” Glory rode the brake as she steered, so afraid she’d bump his nice truck with Calvin’s. The trip seemed to take forever, but when they finally pulled into T’s drive, Glory jumped out to thank him. “What would I do without you?” She ran to give him a hug. “You’re my best friend, T-Rex Beaumont.”
T raised his hands to hug her, but let them drop. Driving home, he’d been glad his truck knew the way, because his brain was still stuck on the fact that Glory said she liked sex.
“Don’t mention it,” he mumbled.
Glory started to, but she decided not to push it. Moving back, she gave him what he’d consider a bit of good news. “Since tomorrow’s Sunday, if I had a way, I could go pick up a bunk bed I found for sale in the Peddler. The sooner I get it, the sooner I can go back to the bait shop.”
“A bunk bed?” he chuckled. “Are you planning on having company?”
She lifted her chin. “Maybe. The room’s not big enough for a double.”
His mind couldn’t help but zero in on a few things he could do to her on a bunk bed. “Sorry, Glory. I won’t have the truck ready tomorrow and I have plans. You’ll have the place to yourself.”
At least he wasn’t overly anxious for her to leave. “You’re going to be gone?”
“Yea, I’ve
got some personal business to attend to.”
“Okay,” she nodded, “I understand. I’ll find something to do to make myself useful around here.”
“You don’t have to do anything for me. Why don’t you read or fish? There’s plenty of books and gear on the boat.”
“I’ll be fine.” She wanted to ask to go with him, but he didn’t give her an opening to ask. “I’m going to go in and fix a tuna sandwich. Want one?”
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
“All right. What time do you think you’ll be back?”
“I’m not sure, late probably.”
“Okay. Goodnight.” Glory slowly backed away, wishing he would make some move to stop her. “Sleep well.”
“I will. Lock up. Sleep tight.” After greeting Buford, he waited while the dog loped down to stay with Glory on the houseboat. “Traitor,” he mumbled. Having heard him, the dog stopped and T waved him on. “Go on, I don’t blame you.”
Once Glory was locked safely in for the night, he retired to get ready for tomorrow. He knew his little houseguest was curious about what he was doing, but he didn’t know how to tell her he spent his Sundays doing volunteer work at Lauren Middleton’s favorite charity, the women’s shelter in New Iberia. His current task was putting a new roof on the aging structure, and he planned on getting there bright and early to get as much done as he could before the sun rose too high in the sky. When he finished there, he had one more stop to make. The cemetery. Tomorrow was Alice’s birthday.
*
The next day after lunch…
“Come on, Buford, let’s catch some rays. We’re all alone and this is my chance to work on an all-over tan.” Glory spread a towel out on the front deck of the houseboat to lay on. “A flat surface, I like it. Your daddy’s bed in the houseboat is so high, I have to take a running start to get up in it.” Glory stripped down to her birthday suit and eased down on her knees. “We deserve this after all we’ve done today. Don’t you think?” She’d kept busy, that was for sure. Raking leaves in T’s back yard, filling his wood bin on the front porch with kindling, and giving Buford a bath. Heck, she’d even swabbed the deck of the houseboat – if that’s what they called mopping.