His Old Lady - Debra Kayn Page 0,14

the kitchen to set the bottle in the garbage can under the sink.

"Can I ask you a question?" said Tracy behind her.

"Sure." She turned around and leaned against the counter.

"How do you handle being Curley's old lady when you don't have any kind of relationship with him?" Tracy hopped up on the counter. "I know it's none of my business, and we've been out of each other's lives for years, and I probably don't have a right to ask, but I never could figure out the dynamics of your relationship with him. You're the same age as I am, and yet you don't live with Curley. I thought by now, he'd move you into his house."

"He doesn't have plans to share a life with me." She shrugged. "He's got his own life, and he's settled."

"How did you two get together?" whispered Tracy as if it was a secret.

"Doesn't everybody know?"

Tracy shook her head. "When I heard the news, I asked around, but nobody would tell me."

"Hm."

"You know how it is with those bikers. Anything that has to do with one of them, they don't share the info with the ladies." She scrunched her nose. "I even tried to get Rick to find out for me—because it happened before he came into the picture. But he wasn't interested in snooping for me."

"It wasn't that big of a deal." She blew out her breath. "He claimed me because I was young. Maybe because of his age, he felt responsible for me because I'm Uncle Walker's niece. I never asked him to claim me or wanted to tie him down."

"Rick is a lot older than me, and I was young when we got together. Trust me, I wanted him to claim me. I couldn't imagine life without him." Tracy shrugged. "It kills me when he's gone a week on a run."

"I've never had that because we've never been together," she said.

"So, tell me what wasn't a big deal. What made him claim you?"

There was no getting out of not answering Tracy. In her effort to reconnect their friendship, her friend deserved to know the truth. As far as she knew, nobody in Tarkio was aware of what happened. They all assumed she was a bitch who refused to live with Curley.

"Do you remember the night everyone got together at the clubhouse for Banks and Mrs. Banks' anniversary party when we were seventeen years old?" she asked.

Tracy frowned. "That was a long time ago, but I think so."

To her, it seemed like yesterday. She continually played that night in her head, wondering what she could've done differently. In the end, all she could do was blame her lack of judgment on immaturity.

"I had just got my license, and I wanted to go out. It was a Friday night." She wet her lips, remembering exactly how everything had happened. "I lied to Grandma June and told her I was going over to one of my friend's house. Instead, I drove all the way to Missoula because I knew about the party. When I got there, Curley was already toasted. I didn't want him riding home in his condition, and he was hanging on Lynn. Remember her?"

Tracy curled her lip. "Bitch."

"I know, right?" She rubbed the base of her neck. "Anyway, I convinced him to get in the car with me, and I took him home and put him to bed."

"Uh, oh," muttered Tracy.

"It wasn't my intention to sleep with him." Her eyes burned. "I was only going to close my eyes for a little while, and he was...he wanted to cuddle. He was very clear and persistent that I get on the bed with him."

"Cuddle?" Tracy widened her eyes. "Really?"

She nodded. "That's what he said."

Curley had kept touching her and pulling her down beside him on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and spooned her back. It started as only a cuddle.

"Then, you had sex with him?"

She shook her head. "Not until the next morning."

"Okay, I have to ask. Did you want to have sex with him?"

"I..." She swallowed hard. "That morning, yes. I never planned to sleep with him. It just happened. I was a teenager full of hormones, and yeah, I thought about sex all the time. It was the mysterious thing that I knew would happen, and I wanted to do it."

"You always had a crush on Curley. Remember playing M.A.S.H, and if another boy's name came up, you'd still circle Curley's name? " said Tracy.

She nodded. "I'm pretty sure