Play It Safe

“Shee-it, seein’ you from afar was enough, up close, I’m in love.”

Yes, that was his opening line delivered while doing a head-to-toe and back five times.

Then came, “Also hear you’re the shit at pool. Got a guy at The Alibi that needs a lesson. When you’re off tonight, get Gray to bring you in. I’ll set ‘im up then you get your cue. See you at nine.”

Then he left before I could say word one.

Needless to say, when Gray came in that night with the intention of having a beer in the final half hour of my shift then taking me upstairs to cuddle, fool around and then make love, he was not super delighted with the change in plans as decreed by his uncle.

I knew this when he stared at me after I gave him his open bottle of beer, his lips to the mouth of the bottle but not taking a tug, his eyes aimed around the bottle at me, his body unmoving. Then, when I got done telling him his uncle’s plans for that night, the bottle hit the bar, Gray’s boots hit the floor and then he was gone.

About an hour later, when I was in my room reading a library book I’d legally borrowed (yes, I had an address so I also had a library card!), Gray showed up. Then he stalked to me, plucked me out of the couch, planted us in it with me on my back and him on me and declared, “Your decision is you’re through hustlin’ pool, you’re through hustlin’ pool. You got an offer you wanna accept, up to you. But no one tells you to hustle pool and no one and that means no one uses you to hustle pool or for any f**kin’ reason. You with me?”

His face, his tone, the look in his eyes and the way he held his body even while lying on top of me made me answer what I’d answer anyway, “Yes.”

At my answer, Gray dispensed with the cuddling and got right into the fooling around then making love.

And I decided, if that was my reward (even though I liked cuddling, definitely), I’d agree to just about anything Grayson Cody decreed.

* * * * *

Every once in awhile, after my shifts but definitely on my days off (when I wasn’t at cooking lessons with Macy), Gray took me to his house. After our bathroom drama, Grandma Miriam’s attitude toward me changed. That was to say, she now tentatively liked me which meant I was open for her to boss me like it seemed she bossed everybody.

This included such comments as, “You have such a pretty figure, Ivey, and you’re always in jeans and cowboy boots. You need some pretty skirts and heels.” And, “Every time I see you, you’re wearing different perfume. A girl has to have a signature scent. You need to settle on one and stay there.” And, “You really need more than a jeans jacket in Colorado. You need to get yourself down to Hayes for a winter coat. A nice one. Long. Wool. I think for your coloring, camel. Good timing since they’re having their winter clearance sale.” And, “You have such lovely hair, child, but there’s so much of it. You should get yourself an appointment at Stacy’s and get it cut, probably to your shoulders.”

This last was unfortunately timed to come while we were at the dinner table eating the spaghetti I made (I was really getting the hang of ground beef) and Gray was sitting there.

Mostly, since he did it himself, he ignored Grandma Miriam bossing me.

This, he didn’t ignore.

“She’s not cuttin’ her hair. Ever,” Gray declared and Grandma Miriam looked to him and even though she’d known him since birth, she clearly misjudged his tone and the look in his eyes because she kept right on talking.

“She has a beautiful head of hair, Gray, but you’re a man. You don’t know anything about these things. A shorter style will become the shape of her face.”

“She’s not cuttin’ her hair. Ever,” Gray repeated and there was even more steel in it this time.

“Gray!” Grandma Miriam snapped. “It’s not for you to say. It isn’t your hair.”

“Yeah, it is. You know how it is and even if you wanted to pretend you didn’t, you don’t want me to explain how it is. What I will explain is that it’s…not… yours,” Gray returned.

Grandma Miriam snapped her mouth shut and her cheeks got pink even as her blue eyes flashed and I quickly excused myself, rushed from the table and ran to the bathroom where I burst out laughing.

I think they heard me.

I didn’t care.

What could I say? They were funny.

Later, after Gray and I made out in his truck before I went to my room, I promised him I’d only ever cut my hair to get a trim.

This got me another hard kiss then, against my lips, a soft, sweet, gentle, “Thanks, dollface.”

And I made my promise honestly but at Gray’s soft, sweet, gentle gratitude, it became a vow.

* * * * *

Being a waitress in a bar in a small town I quickly discovered that we had regulars and if they sensed you were turning local, they sucked you in. They did this by sharing their lives with you, showing you pictures of their kids, telling you what movie they recently saw and that you had to see it. They also did it by advising you about the restaurant a town over that had an unfortunate result to a recent health inspection and writing down a recipe that took four different napkins that you had to try.

Stuff like that.

Stuff I liked.

Though it had to be said that I might have been getting the hang of hamburger meat, a recipe that took four napkins was currently beyond my capabilities. Still, I kept it.

I also met Gray’s two best friends. Shim, a tall, gangly, sandy-haired man who was a hand on Jeb Sharp’s ranch and was engaged to Chastity, a seriously petite and curvy blonde who looked cute with him regardless of the fact he was eight inches taller than her. And Ronan, called Roan, who was about two inches taller than me, worked with Janie’s man Danny at some local place that processed gravel (who ever heard of such a thing, processing gravel? Still, from the way they explained it, that was what they did). Roan seemed dedicated to the task of expanding his beer gut, had no girlfriend and had a fondness for telling long-winded jokes that were hilarious. And he had a million of them.

They started to become regulars at The Rambler and I liked it because they obviously liked me and I obviously liked that.

Unfortunately, working at one of the town’s two bars meant that Buddy Sharp, his sidekicks Jim, Ted and Pete and Gray’s exes, specifically Cecily, came in every once in awhile. Just as Shim, Chastity and Roan made it clear they liked me, Buddy, Jim, Ted, Pete and Cecily made it clear they did not.

I didn’t let this bother me because, fortunately, even though they didn’t like me and didn’t mind me knowing it, that didn’t mean they didn’t tip.