MORNING GLORY

Chapter 14

Yet more than a week passed, and Lou was still a far cry from getting over him. She busied herself with all the tasks at the saloon, whether Boggs assigned them or not. She worked like she never worked in her life that even Boggs could not complain.

"I don't know what the hell happened to you to make you work this hard," Boggs told her one day, "but whatever it is, I hope it happens again."

Lou continued with the laundry, ignoring her father's remark. Since she came back, Boggs treated her the same, cruel and mean. She met his fiancée, Patsy, and she was not really surprised to discover that the woman was as cold-blooded and vile as her father was.

"I want you to get a few things for me," Patsy told her as she shoved a list of things to get in her face. "I expect them here when we get back from the dance."

Lou nodded despite the temper that flared internally. She had been in town quite a few times since her return to hell and had been quite unlucky to see Kid. Every time she saw him in town, her resolution to forget him weakened, and she fell for him all over again. Of course he ignored her and made no sign of seeing her or recognizing her. Maybe he didn't see me, she thought as she began to hang the laundry. Maybe he would have said something if he saw me. After all this time, he couldn't be mad at me still. She gave it more thought. He probably is and forever will. She ran into Buck and Ike the last time she went to town to run some errands. They said she was missed around the station, but there was no mention of Kid, as if anything concerning him was a delicate matter.

Her rag of a dress was still wet from doing the laundry, but she did not even bother to get dressed to go to town to pick up a few supplies. As soon as she walked out of the saloon, she began wishing she fixed her hair that fell carelessly in wisps and curls just above her waist. The young ladies in town looked sharper and prettier than usual, and the lights illuminating the town hall indicated that there was a dance going on tonight.

She smiled sadly at the sense of loss that she once again felt. She should be out in town, dressed up in a pretty dress, not out in the late afternoon to run some errands. She felt like an ugly old maid who had lost the youthfulness that she did not even know was passing by.

"Watch where you're going," a snobby girl snapped at her after she almost bumped into her.

What's wrong with me? I'm just getting supplies, and I can't even think straight. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew the boys would be at the dance, and she wondered who would be the lucky girl that would dance the night away with Kid. She could almost picture him all groomed and well-dressed like a handsome gentleman that he was. The thought made her smile as she took her first look at the list Patsy gave her.

"Makeup case, yellow dress that the dress shop's holding for her, matching bag," she read aloud, thinking how easy it would be to get the things. Her eyes widened as she read the rest of the list. "Three pairs of shoes, and two watermelons!" AHHHH, she cried silently. I don't believe this. Two watermelons? How the hell am I gonna carry all these?

She went to the dress shop and picked up the makeup case, yellow dress and matching bag. She hurried to the shoe repair shop and picked up the shoes. She could barely move with three enormous bags in her hands, but she hurried onward to the store to get two watermelons. Walking on the street on such a busy night with three bags clasped tightly by her hands along with two watermelons on each hand, Lou definitely attracted every unwanted attention.

Please don't roll, she prayed as she tried to balance everything with every step. She could hear some laughter from the ladies and wished her hands were free to give them what they deserved.

"Is that Lou?" Cody asked as they arrived in the town hall. It was beginning to get dark, but he recognized her form from a distant.

Buck peered in the growing darkness. "I can't tell, but whoever she is, she definitely has her hands full."

Cody laughed. "Well, I'm sure she can handle it. If she's stupid enough to not bring a buckboard with her, then she deserves to carry that load." He returned his attention to the ladies that were arriving constantly.

Buck continued to look at the struggling person. "I'll be back."

Cody turned to him. "Buck, don't tell me you're going out there. You think it's Lou?"

"I don't care who it is," Buck said. "But he or she needs help, and I can offer some help."

"Good luck carrying those watermelons," Cody said, laughing.

Darkness was setting in, and Lou could hardly see where she was going. She had to rely on her knowledge of direction and on her hope that people would be kind enough to get the hell out of her way. To add another problem to her predicament, she tripped on her dress and dropped everything on her hand.

"Damn," she muttered under her breath as she watched the watermelons rolled away.

"You stupid girl!" cried a familiar voice. "You almost dropped those on my toes!"

Lou looked up to see Samantha, and the schoolteacher was not alone. Next to her stood Kid, all groomed and well-dressed like she imagined; hell, he even looked better in person than he did in her fantasy. I wish I dropped those melons on your head, Lou thought maliciously as she glared at Samantha. For some reason, she could not stand. Her feet were tangled in the long sections of her dress.

Kid turned to face Samantha. "Honey, why don't you go on to the town hall. I'll follow you shortly."

"She's crazy!" Samantha cried. "She did that on purpose. She wanted to break my toes."

"C'mon, honey," Kid said softly. "I'll take care of this. Just go on to the town hall."

Furious, Samantha turned around and headed to the dance. "If you're not there in five minutes, I'm coming to get you."

Kid chuckled as he watched Samantha walk away. When she was out of his sight, he leaned forward to help Lou. "You okay?"

She nodded, thankful that the darkness hid the blush that colored her cheeks. Of all the times he could have acknowledged my presence, why now? Why didn't he talk to me when I at least looked decent? Why does he have to see me flat in my face with three bags filled with women's items and shoes, and for heaven's sake, two watermelons! Two watermelons! she repeated, embarrassed of what a fool she was.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked her again. He didn't seem to mind the unusual circumstance that surrounded them at the present.

Yeah right, she told herself. He's probably dying of laughter deep inside. "I'm so sorry. Tell your girlfriend I'm sorry," she apologized as she began to put the scattered shoes in their respective boxes.

"Let me help you," he offered as he began picking up the watermelons. "Good thing they didn't crack open."

Patsy'll probably crack my head open when she sees her dusty dress, shoes, and bag. "Thanks, sir. I can manage."

Kid gave her a funny look. Sir? Did she just call me sir?

"Lou, you think I'm gonna let you carry all these things by yourself?"

"Mister," she said politely, "I appreciate the help. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry for taking so much of your time. Just hand the melons over to me, and I'm sure I can manage."

"No way," he protested. "You hand me those bags."

"What?"

"Let me carry these for you. It shouldn't take too long."

"No, no, no. I appreciate your kindness, but your girl's waiting for you, and I wouldn't want her coming back here and seeing you with me."

"Where you headed?" Kid asked, taking the bags from her hands.

"Sir, please, I can manage," she pleaded. She was so embarrassed that she wished that the earth would swallow her completely.

"I'm sure you can," he said as he headed to the direction of the saloon, ignoring her pleas. Despite the tangles in her hair and the dirt and wrinkles in her dress, she was definitely beautiful. Even in the dark, he could make out her lovely curves. He immediately scolded himself for thinking such thoughts about Lou. He had no right to think about her that way, and she had no right to be in his thoughts after what she did to him.

Buck watched the affair in front of the dress shop. He was about to intervene when Lou tripped and fell on her face, but seeing Kid's interest in helping her made him leave the two alone. He watched Samantha passed by him in a very stygian mood a few minutes ago.

I guess they don't need my help, Buck thought in the dark. Perhaps this was the chance for the two to get reacquainted once again.

Kid and Lou walked in silence, and Kid thought that it was probably better that way. He didn't want to speak to her after recollecting her betrayal and lies. Despite the cascading tangles of her rich auburn hair or the wet and dirty spots on her worn out dress, she looked as beautiful as ever. Lou deemed the painful walk that seemed to take as long as forever as if she was on her way to crucifixion. Frankly, she did not know how to talk to him, what to address him, when to talk, and what exactly to say.

Better stay quiet than babble something stupid, she reminded herself. After her shameful incident of tripping and falling on her face, she was determined not to humiliate herself for the rest of the evening. Why did he have to walk by when it happened? she thought irritatingly. Every time I do something stupid, he's right there to see it.

"Planning to go to the dance?" Kid asked as they reached the saloon. He followed her inside with the melons and the bags.

She shook her head as she took the bags and melons from him. The saloon was quite empty, for most men gathered at the dance. Even several of the working girls were invited to attend, and somehow, Lou felt as if she was the lowest of the low, as if she reached the bottom of hell.

Kid wondered where her man was, the man he saw in town. Whoever he was, he probably heard of the dance, so why didn't he ask Lou to go? Maybe it's more complicated than that, he thought. Hell, why do I even care? So what if he didn't ask her to the dance? So what if she's not going? He helped her put the melons and the bags where they belonged and finally said, "Well, I should be going. Samantha's waiting."

She nodded in understanding, avoiding his eyes. She could not even watch him go out of fear that she would run to his unwelcoming arms. She was disappointed that the saloon only had a few customers. Usually erupting with life, laughter, and violence, the place now stood silently. She could hear every movement in the room, every clank of ice against the glass, every last drop of alcohol.

"Why do you look so down, honey?" one of the saloon girls asked her.

"I guess I'm not used to this place being so empty."

"You should be glad. It gives you more time to think."

Think, she repeated the dreadful word in her mind. More time to think was perhaps the last thing in the world that she needed. She would appreciate the idea if she actually had some pleasant thoughts to think about. Yet what she had were bitter memories of the past long gone, segmented moments of brief happiness interrupted by longer periods of despondency and emotional distress. Her thoughts circled around and focused on her stay at the station, something that she did not wish to remember. Maybe if she had not known how good, happy, and free life could be, she would not be so tormented upon discovering the hollow life she now lived.

"Turn right, left, right, turn around, turn back, hold hands, one, two, three, one, two, three, turn, turn, swirl, twist, turn, one, two, three, one, two, three-"

"Cody, shut up!" Noah whispered in harsh tones. "What the hell are you doing?"

Annoyed, Cody said, "I'm just watching the dance! Geez, some people sure know how to have fun."

"Well, we don't need a commentator," snapped Noah, "especially one with a big mouth."

Cody glared at him and turned his attention to Jimmy who was dancing with the most beautiful girl on the floor. "You know I'm amazed at how good Jimmy can move. You wouldn't expect someone like Jimmy to be able to dance. I used to think that Jimmy didn't know the difference between his right and left feet, but look at him. He's flawless. He definitely learned those steps from me. This is one of the advantages of living with someone as talented as me."

"Cody, this is a slow dance! You don't need to know any steps to slow dance," Buck told him.

"Yeah, you do," Cody corrected him. "You have to learn how to sway at just the right tempo. Look at that guy dancing with Rachel. He doesn't know his right foot from his other right foot."

"Well, no one is perfect," Buck replied.

"I know no one can be perfect, but all joking aside, I'm so close to perfection, sometimes it scares me," Cody said with a solemn look.

"Hey, guys," Kid greeted as he stood with them at the corner of the hall.

"I don't believe you actually let Samantha dance with that loser!" Cody complained.

"After dancing for almost an hour, I need a break," Kid told him. He scanned the room that was beautifully lighted by candles and decorated with flowers and ribbons. For some reason, he was thinking of Lou. Anything that was beautiful reminded him of her no matter how hard he tried to forget. A young man dancing with another young lady suddenly caught his eyes. "I'll be damned!"

"What?" Buck asked with a confused look that masked his handsome features.

"You see that guy dancing with the lady in red?"

"Geez, Kid, I didn't know you can get this excited over guys," Cody joked.

"That's him, Buck."

"Who? The man in your dreams?" Cody said with a grin.

Noah nudged Cody in the ribs to shut him up. "What about him?"

"He was that guy Lou was kissin'."

"So? You and Lou are not together. She can do whatever she wants just as you do whatever you want with Samantha," Cody told him as a matter of fact.

"Remember that robber who took Katy?"

"Yeah. Who can forget that? You almost went psychotic because of that," Cody said.

Kid ignored Cody's wisecracks. "Well, I saw Lou and that guy in town before the robber incident. They were practically making love in public."

"Did you say making love?" Cody asked with wide eyes that matched his even wider grin.

"You know what I mean," Kid said. "Well, during that time, Lou and I were not really serious, but something was there. Then after I found out she was playing me for a fool, things changed between us."

"Looks like he's playing her for a fool," Noah concluded. "He and his partner have been sneaking out of the hall every now and then, and I'm sure they just didn't go out to talk."

"Like they say, what goes around comes around," Buck said.

Jesse, who had been quietly listening to the older lads' talk, burst out laughing. All eyes turned to him and waited for an explanation.

"Someone put too much sugar in his punch," Cody said, giving Jesse an odd look.

After a second to catch his breath, Jesse said, "Are you talking about that man in the gray suit?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Kid, you've got it all wrong," Jesse told him passionately. "He's Chris, Boggs's assistant."

"So that means he and Lou see eachother quite often," Noah said.

"Chris's been after Lou for a while now," Jesse explained. "He has this weird crush on her, and he always harasses her."

"What exactly do you mean by harasses her? Can you give us a little bit of details?" Cody requested. He wanted to hear everything Jesse had to say in a way that he could create the images in his mind.

"Well, for example, if Lou's around, he'll walk to her and try to grope her. Sometimes he kisses her. He never gets away with it. Lou always finds a way to get him back."

"I don't know, Jesse. I mean I saw them in town, and Lou certainly wasn't fighting back or anything."

"Kid, I don't care what you saw, but Lou would never do something like that! She hates his guts! Chris's psychotic," Jesse said firmly. "You should have talked to her about it before giving her the cold shoulder."

Oh my God! What have I done? Kid thought terribly. What if Jesse's right? What if I misinterpreted the whole scene? He began to feel bad and wished he could talk to Lou in order to get to the bottom of this.

"So this is what it's all about?" Cody said in disbelief. "You thought she was cheating on you, Kid? And to add assault to injury, you and Lou were not really together. You owe her an apology."

"I know, I know," Kid muttered more to himself than to anyone else. Restlessness was setting in him, and he knew it would not subside until he talked to Lou, that is, if she still wanted to talk to him after what he put her through. He felt stupid acting the way he did. He and Lou were not really together even though they shared some intimate moments. He had told her he loved her, but she did not return the words although she had admitted that she liked him. There's a big difference between liking and loving, he thought. I love her, I've told her that, and she likes me. He wondered if she felt the same way now. Of course not! How could she go from liking to loving after how I treated her! She can't even look at me, let alone say my name. For God's sake, she called me 'sir'! 'Sir' and 'mister'! he thought in dismay.

Observing Kid's distress, Buck offered some kind words. "I'm sure you'll straighten things out once you talk to her."

After the slow dance, Jimmy walked over to his friends who seemed to be engaged in a pretty serious talk. "What's going on? Did I miss something?" Noah filled him in on what happened. Like Jesse's early reaction, Jimmy burst out laughing.

"Don't tell me you know something we don't know?" Kid told him.

"You know, Kid, I don't wanna tell you this. I'd rather have her talk to you, but I guess she never got the chance."

"Tell me what?"

"About Chris! She told me that she thinks you've seen her and Chris on that night in town. She felt like your mean attitude was due to something else besides temporarily losing Katy. She suspected that you saw her in town with Chris. She told me that she let Chris get comfortable before she gave him a vicious kick in the balls."

"That's my kind of woman," Noah commented, impressed with Lou's character. "She takes no crap from any man, except her father."

The riders agreed. "Jimmy, why did you lie to me?" Kid asked.

"I didn't lie to you. I just didn't tell you the truth."

"Not volunteering the truth is the same as lying," Kid told him.

"Hey, I wanted her to tell you, but I guess you never gave her a chance."

Kid wanted to run to the saloon and speak to Lou, but good manners demanded that he stayed at the dance with his date, Samantha. He promised himself to see Lou first thing in the morning as he took Samantha in his arms for one last dance. She held onto him, clinging to him, as they danced in the soft glow of the candlelight. With each step, in every rhythm and passing tempo, Samantha knew she was losing him. There was an apathetic gaze in his gorgeous blue eyes as he led their dance with cold and careless indifference. She knew he was not completely there, that his mind wandered to someone else, and she had a pretty good idea of who that person was. And she knew that at the final wail of the harmonica, he would be gone, and she had lost him. Perhaps not, for he probably was never hers completely.

After the dance, Kid gave her kiss on the cheek and pulled her into his embrace. Then he told her goodbye, and the simple word carried a heavy weight in her ears. With tears in her eyes, she kissed him goodbye, and they both knew it was the end.

NEXT

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