His Old Lady - Debra Kayn Page 0,41

and give the poor waitress a break on rushing to get the food made while I wait. But it's okay, I'll just drive over there." She tapped her foot with the music, happy to be helpful.

"I have a satellite phone in my bag you can use."

"No, the minutes are too expensive. I can run over there and wait. No biggy." She turned as Frank approached them.

"Twenty-two and Rick and Wyatt are heading this way." Frank tossed a hammer to a member Faye hadn't seen before.

"So, twenty-four. Want me to double the order?" She looked to Curley, who nodded. "Okay, I'll be back in a bit."

She got three steps away, and Curley said, "Faye?"

She turned. "Yes?"

"Drive safe." His gaze intensified. "There's no hurry."

Her stomach fluttered, and she licked her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. She nodded and walked to the door, feeling the heat of him watching her back.

Leaving the warehouse, she got in her car and rolled down the windows. It was only seventy degrees, and she was on the verge of breaking out in a sweat.

It wasn't the sun.

It was Curley.

Ever since she agreed to take the job and try to manage the bar, along with her friends working for Curley, she found herself overwhelmed. She had no idea what she was doing.

Sure, she had the general idea, and she'd watched Cal and Celia run the lounge. If the bar started out small, she had confidence, she could grow with the customer base.

But the real question was if she could handle being around Curley.

Especially if he was nice to her like today.

At night when she had time to think, she struggled with how quickly she'd agreed to work with him. When if she'd turned him down, Curley would've had to let her leave their relationship. Secretly, she knew the reason why she'd accepted the job offer.

She only hoped she wouldn't grow to regret it.

She gripped the steering wheel and turned. It would be like him to act polite to her and then flip his attitude when she got back with burgers for everyone. It killed her to have to listen to him when he got in one of his moods, and she was around Tarkio members.

Knowing what the other men, and even the women, would think if she stood up and went against whatever Curley wanted, she always ended up more hurt than anything.

When she got hurt, she got mad.

When she got mad, she couldn't control her mouth. And somehow, when she popped off, Curley got horny. Then, she got turned on. It made them both miserable.

Flipping on her blinker, she turned into Dairy Queen and found a parking spot close to the walk-up windows at the front of the building. Too excited to have an appetite, she ordered enough that each man would have two burgers, and knowing she had to eat something, got a strawberry milkshake she could sip on while she waited.

The young teenage girls working the counter scurried to get started. Luckily, no other customers were waiting, only an older man sitting at one of the outdoor tables, enjoying a banana split.

Instead of waiting in her car, she walked to the sidewalk with her drink and peered up and down the street. Missoula was much larger than Superior. People were walking everywhere.

Others around her age, probably going to the college on the other end of town or out to eat. Though she'd spent her first eight years of her life living in Missoula with Uncle Walker, everything was new to her as an adult.

The people. The businesses. The atmosphere.

She walked to the stop sign at the end of the block, enjoying the warmth of the day as she sipped the cold ice cream.

A car horn blasted behind her. She jerked her head and looked. Two guys inside whistled in her direction. She shook her head in amusement. Their clean-shaven faces and overgrown mullet haircuts amused her. They were probably on summer break from high school and out joyriding.

Wandering back to the restaurant, she set her milkshake in the car before waiting out front for her order to be called. The girl at the window placed another sack on the counter and disappeared into the back of the building.

Five minutes later, she had her car loaded with half a dozen sacks and headed back to the warehouse. More determined and hopeful to get through the rest of the day without any conflict, she hurried inside.

Total chaos met her. Bodies flew around the room. Pieces of lumber