Georgetown.
This morning I sat in the saloon drinking coffee and thinking about last night. I was still shocked about how the conversation had gone, and felt like I had been ostracized from the tribe, since now I had to go through a middle-man to interact with them. A man walked into the saloon and I recognized him as my friend Nic from a while ago. “Hey there,” I greeted him.
“Howdy. May I have this seat?”
“Sure,” I smiled. “How are things? Been a while since we talked.”
“You got that right.”
“Last we talked was when we met in Nebraska,” I said, drinking my coffee.
“That’ right. It has been a while.”
“Where you been livin?”
“Just here and there. How’s the printing business treating ya?”
“Not too bad. We released the first issue on Monday.”
“Wow, exciting!”
“Became a deputy this week as well.”
“Congrats!”
“Thanks.”
“Remind me not to talk too much,” he said and I chuckled.
“I’m desperate for stories now. Nothin’s been happenin’ all week.”
“Well not much has been happening on the trails either.”
“Guess that means things are safe so as a Pinkerton I shouldn’t be complainin’.”
“I suppose you’re right. Place seems a little dead. You scare all the folks off?”
“Depends on the day,” I chuckled. “And the time of day.”
“Well I’m relatively new in town. Was wondering if I could be shown around if ya not too busy.”
“Sure, I can do that,” I said and set my cup down.
“Great!”
“Well this is a good place to start... This is the saloon. There’s a live performer ((live dj)) here every Wednesday night. I’m hoping to start playing some piano here soon as well.”
“A talented one, aren’t we?” he smiled.
I showed him around town and told him about the paper and where we had jurisdiction. We decided to skate on the rink and I fell into him as he caught me. We went back to the saloon and started to dance. I felt warmer already by being in his arms.
“Where’d you learn to dance like this, Nic?”
“Well I’m a man of many mysteries.”
“Consider me intrigued then.”
“See, I’m not actually from this here country. I was a sailor but I jumped ship in Boston and have been roaming ever since.”
“Thought that accent sounded familiar. What made ya jump ship?”
“I just needed a change and we had a terrible captain.”
“Oh, that’s awful... A crew is only as good as their leader.”
“I faked an illness. Got left in Boston then when she sailed, I ran.”
“I don’t blame ya.”
He asked about the bandits shooting me so I told him about me and Nile going to Silver Plume and getting shot down by Rebel and how he’d set off dynamite too. I told him it was my first time in a shootout since living in Colorado Springs, but that I did okay in spite of it.
We talked about Nebraska and all that had happened there, and continued to talk about how he wished he had a reason to stay in one place.
I took him back to the house to relax and we sat on the couch, cuddling. I offered him some cider and how much nicer my house was than the one in Nebraska.
Bravo knocked on the door and I went to invite him in. I introduced him to Nic and I looked between them nervously, knowing I had nothing to be embarrassed about since we were all just good friends.
We talked and got to know Nic and it was good to hang out with friends, though it was awkward for reasons I couldn’t understand. Bravo decided to head home and Nic invited me back over to the couch to cuddle.
“You should know... I enjoy the moment. I don’t tie a man down, so to speak. I know ya’ll have lives and jobs and can’t be here at my beck and call all the time...”
“Well that’s good to know.”
“I don’t want to put unrealistic expectations on people.”
“But I think this place is growing on me.”
“And I don’t bring just anybody here, you know. I’ve known Bravo forever... since Amiville. We dated there for a long time.. We went through a lot together when this gang was bullying me..”
“What went wrong?”
“We were too together, if that makes sense. I didn’t have the freedom to do my job on my own and we were feeling smothered. So now we just enjoy the moment and are more casual about things.”
“I see.”
“He dances with other girls, I dance with other men, we aren’t courting or anything official, just close friends who know each other very well.”
“I understand...”
“It sounds complicated, I’m sure,” I sighed and leaned back against his shoulder.
“It does to a foreigner.”
“Thank you for being so understanding,” I smiled up at him.
“I’m not one to judge,” he said and I felt my eyes closing as I fell asleep in his arms on the couch, unable to resist the relaxed feeling.
No comments:
Post a Comment