Rattlesnake by Kim Fielding

Author:Kim Fielding [Fielding, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Disability, Family, Fiction, LGBT, Non-Kobo, Romance
Amazon: B014JT4QV6
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2015-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JIMMY WAS going to leave on Monday, but his morning started early with the arrival of the linen service truck. He helped unload clean sheets and towels and load the bags of dirty ones. Then a whole caravan of other deliveries arrived—liquor, beer, and other bar supplies as well as huge packages of toilet paper and soap and teeny bottles of shampoo. By the time everything was off the trucks and put away, he was hungry and it was time to meet Shane at Mae’s. And then, well, there was the basement organization and inventory project he’d begun on Sunday, plus the realization that if he stuck around until the end of the day, he had an entire week’s pay coming his way.

So he stayed. Just one more day.

That night they had sandwiches for dinner at Shane’s place, and Jimmy spent a couple of hours at the bar, chatting with him between customers. Later, Shane came to his room and they had gentle sex, and it was good even though they were both too tired to make much of an effort.

Tuesday morning he had a thick wallet. He actually got as far as shoving his clothing into his duffel. But then he realized he had nothing to read. He’d finished the Stephen King he’d brought and the Elmore Leonard that Shane had given him. He had two other books—Kurt Vonnegut and Dean Koontz—but he’d already read them both three times. He hated traveling without something to read. Besides, Belinda wanted him to repaint a scuffed wall in the downstairs hallway. He sort of wanted to accomplish that much, at least.

So he spent the morning getting ready to paint: taping off the edges, scrubbing the walls, filling the holes where something heavy had once been bolted. Then he discovered that the paint he’d found in the basement, which was supposed to match the opposite wall, didn’t. Someone had mislabeled it. He took the can to Belinda, who was perched in her usual spot at the front desk, and explained the situation.

“Terry,” she sighed. “He’s a nice boy, but how Trudy puts up with him, I’ll never know.”

“I can dig around in the basement some more. Maybe there’s—”

“Don’t bother. I’m not all that happy with the color anyway.” She tapped her finger thoughtfully and then looked up as a young couple walked in the door. “Maybe Shane can stay here for me while I drive to Sonora to pick out something new. Would you ask him?”

“Sure.”

He walked down the hall and around the corner and knocked on Shane’s door. It took a moment, but when the door swung open, there was Shane with his curls still wet and his white T-shirt stuck to his chest. “It’s you,” he said, frowning.

Evidently the moment had arrived: Jimmy had overstayed his welcome. He looked down at the floor. “Sorry. I just—”

“Why didn’t you just come in? You have the key. Now my clothes are all wet. If I’d known it was you, I wouldn’t have bothered throwing them on before I was dry.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.