Pasture Art by Marlin Barton

Author:Marlin Barton [Barton, Marlin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hub City Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

He went back to the bar, but instead of going in he sat in his truck in a corner of the parking lot, and watched. She might show at some point. There wasn't any reason for her to avoid the place. He couldn't imagine her really caring if she ran into him or not.

After an hour of watching he realized people might see him sitting there and think it strange. He had to make himself give up the comfort and quiet of his truck cab, and the idea that something as simple as opening a truck door had become suddenly difficult made him wonder if all those nights alone, watching for Kaylie, had taken their toll on him in a way he didn't fully understand. Finally he got out, walked through the thick heat and up the stairs, then went inside.

Four nights in a row he sat at the bar and watched the door open and close, his expectation somehow more difficult to handle than each disappointment. When he saw her, it wasn't a surprise. She was thinner but didn't look wasted, as he'd feared. Maybe he'd seen too many movies, their high drama of an addict's life a lie against the low reality.

She sat down at the end of the bar closest to the door. When she looked up and saw him, she waved, slowly, noncommittally. He wasn't sure what to make of it, but he went to her, sat down, and signaled for another beer. She kept studying the mirror behind the bar.

"Your car's ready, you know?" he said.

"Yeah, I figured."

"I mean it's paid for," he said.

She nodded but didn't say another word. Her silence meant embarrassment, he thought, or maybe she'd reached a point where so much bad had happened that she felt an entitlement to anything good that came along.

"If you don't have your car, how'd you get here?" he asked.

"Walked."

"You live close by?"

She looked at him now. "Close enough." A long pause, then she added, "Surprised you hadn't come over for a visit."

He felt as if she had just said to him, I know your secret. He wished for a moment that he had never looked for her. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing." She looked away from him, then back. "Just that I'd be glad to see you anytime."

He knew that he'd heard her correctly, but still the words didn't seem real. One moment she sounded almost angry, the next inviting.

"You live with someone?" he said.

"Yeah, several people."

"Who?"

"Different ones. They come and they go."

"Don't you want out of that?" he said and knew they both understood what that meant.

She shrugged, as if the question couldn't be answered.

"You might come stay with me" he said. "For as long as you want" He surprised himself with the words he spoke, but perhaps knowing what she would say in response took away whatever risk he might have felt. "Or as long as it would take," he added.

Her body seemed to sink farther down onto her barstool, as if the idea of moving anywhere from this one spot was more than she could think about.

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