The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,82

of another.

“I’d be glad to,” he said. “Only I ain’t so sure I can stand.”

Will the Bartender slid his broom across the floor. It came to a halt a couple of inches from Eulis’s face.

“You’ll figure somethin’ out,” Will said.

So Eulis did.

Upstairs, the one-eyed man suddenly let out a whoop.

Eulis paused in mid-sweep.

Will the Bartender nodded his head and reached for another glass to dry, thankful that while Letty now refused to sing, she was still willing to give the men a poke.

“That Letty… she sure knows her business.”

Eulis thought about it some. “Yeah, I reckon she does,” he agreed and stirred up a little more dust.

A short while later the one-eyed man came downstairs. He was grinning from ear to ear and there was a swagger to his step that hadn’t been there before.

“Drinks all around,” the man said.

Will the Bartender glared. “Ain’t no one here but me and Eulis,” he muttered.

But Eulis was already bellied up to the bar and waiting for his drink to be poured. His hands were shaking as he reached for the glass. He toasted the one-eyed man and then downed it neat. It burned all the way and brought tears to his eyes. At that point, he remembered he’d been meaning to talk to old Will about the quality of his drink.

“Have another!” the one-eyed man said.

Eulis shoved his glass forward. And he would talk to old Will for sure. As soon as he finished this one last swig.

“Right kind of you, mister,” Eulis said.

The one-eyed man nodded magnanimously, finished off his own drink then sauntered out of the saloon. Eulis’s gaze was locked on the bottle in the bartender’s hands.

“Gonna cork ’er up?” he asked.

Will frowned and poured Eulis one last drink. “This is all for tonight, you hear me?”

Eulis nodded and drained the shot glass in one gulp.

“I better not come back here tomorrow and find out you been into my stuff,” Will warned.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” Eulis said. “I ain’t no thief.”

Before Will could respond, footsteps sounded on the stairs behind them. Both men looked up. It was Letty, coming back to join the ranks.

She’d overheard the last bit of Eulis’s remark and was wearing a smirk on her face. She was pissed because the one-eyed man had insisted on having his poke with his boots still on. Letty accepted her lot in life, but she had her rules. To her, there was something crude about a man who got his pleasures without taking off his shoes. And because she was pissed, she took her anger out on Eulis, instead of herself.

“That’s right, Eulis Potter. You’re no thief. But you’re damn sure the biggest drunk I ever seen.”

Owl-eyed by the liquor fogging his brain, Eulis managed to frown.

“I ain’t never denied my lot in life, Miss Letty. It might behoove you to do the same.”

Both Will the Bartender and Letty stared at Eulis as if he’d just grown horns.

Will whooped. “Behoove? Where did you come up with a big word like that?”

Eulis swayed, then gripped the broom handle harder to steady himself. The room was beginning to tilt. Letty’s face was starting to melt in the middle, like it did about this time every night.

“There’s things about me you don’t know,” he muttered. “Now if you will ’scuse me. I think I am goin’ to sleep.”

The broom clattered to the floor. Eulis staggered toward the back room, leaving the pair alone.

“You hurt his feelings,” Will said.

Letty shrugged. “He ain’t got any feelings, and if he does, I warrant they’re as numb as his lips.”

And then, because she felt guilty for taking her frustrations out on an innocent man, she poured herself a drink and downed it like medicine.

“I’m goin’ to bed,” she said. “I heard tell that preacher man is due in tomorrow. I want to be lookin’ my best when he comes.”

Will snorted. “That preacher ain’t goin’ to be messin’ with the likes of you.” Then he added. “No offense, Letty. Just facts.”

She shrugged. “None taken. But you still never know.”

She sauntered back up the stairs, her skirt tail swishing and her bosom bouncing with every step that she took.

Will tossed his towel aside and hung his apron on a nail. At the door, he stopped and turned, giving the room one last look. Eulis still hadn’t finished sweeping and there was a table in the back that had yet to be wiped down. But tomorrow was another day. And like Eulis, he was ready for sleep.

He closed