Kiss Me, Curse Me - By Kate Shay Page 0,21
all the sea upon him. He groaned as every inch of him ached, especially his head, but could feel a supple body next to him in the bed. His one-night woman was sound asleep. If only he could remember her name, he wouldn’t feel so guilty. Returning to the recesses of his lids, Patty attempted to enjoy the sensation of the early morning breeze. If only those damn birds would just shut the hell up.
She moved just as he’d almost fallen back to sleep. Her hand moved up on his chest. He pretended to sleep by slowing his breathing just a little.
“You rascal,” she whispered.
“Oh, come on,” he said. “Lighten up on me here.”
“Breakfast? I’ll have the girls bring us up something.”
“Sure. Something light. My stomach . . .”
She kind of scooted to the end of the bed pulling the sheet with her, leaving him to fend for his privates. A call out the door for their order, and she was back in bed again.
“So tell me, Mister, haven’t see you in here before.” She batted her eyes a bit.
He couldn’t help but grin. She was stunning. “Patty, I’m Patty. I’m sorry, I was so. . .”
“Drunk. Yes, I noticed you were a bit. Your days of bathtub gin are over. I’m Betty. Are you all right?”
Patty racked his brain for an answer better than the truth, but couldn’t muster a thing with the pounding in the front of his skull. “I had a rough day yesterday.”
“We all have those. Tell me something more. I’m good at other things besides what we just shared.” She ran her red nail along his arm.
His face became solemn.
“What? Did I say something wrong?” She stopped with the nail.
“My daughter . . . She’s missing and probably dead. Well, she’s dead.”
Betty’s eyes widened, her stomach shifting into her throat, “Your daughter?”
“My Coreen.”
“Coreen?” Betty shifted awkwardly in the bed.
“Yes.” Patty closed his eyes.
***
Ed joined the crew on the bus headed down to the dam. He engaged in all the rotten conversation that men have in the absence of women, mostly enjoying it till his ears perked overhearing a conversation from a scrawny youngster in the back—an interesting development about a missing girl from town, a lead engineer’s daughter.
Ed yelled over the noise, which soon halted. “A girl you say?”
The youngster stopped his talk, catching the seriousness of Ed’s tone. The bearded man had a reputation of sorts amongst the workers—quite the intimidator—rumors that he had murdered those who crossed him. “Yeah. There’s a girl missing. Saw the search party yesterday.”
“Who?”
“Ah dunno. No one spoke to us about it.”
“Then how do you know, if no one spoke to you about it?”
The youngster’s eyes widened, “I heard it is all.”
“Christ,” said Ed. “What use are you? Twit.”
Going back to his conversation with the man next to him, Ed couldn’t fully engage as he ruminated on the boy who’d attacked him last night. The fight still bothered him. He wasn’t done yet, not by a long shot.
“Let me off the bus,” Ed bellowed at the driver. “Let me off.”
The bus came screeching to a stop and off Ed jumped, the men watching after him as he ran back along the dirt road.
***
A few bites of apple down, some water, and Patty dressed. “I must be going.”
“I’m sorry about your daughter,” said Betty.
“Me too.” He buttoned up his shirt. “I want to thank you for your kindness. I haven’t been with a. . . ”
“No need.” she put a hand up to him. “Maybe she’ll turn up. You know sometimes girls run away.”
“No. Not this time. We found her dress.” He shook his head glancing down.
Betty just listened.
He sat back down on the bed again to look out the window, just staring at the view of the building next door. “I never expected this to happen. I didn’t see it coming. I mean, I said goodbye to her at the fair. She seemed fine there. I mean Hank was with her.”
“Hank?”
“Her boyfriend. He’d asked me for her hand in marriage just the other day.”
Betty lifted an eyebrow.
“Ugh. I can’t talk about this anymore. I’m due down at the station. Need to go.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” Betty moved over to him and rubbed his back a bit. For some reason, she liked Patty, wasn’t often she felt anything for any of them. “Don’t give up on her. She could still turn up. You don’t know for sure.” She wanted to help him. It was his firm voice or