Page 104 of Five Mountain Daddies

There’s only one thing nagging at me. The same thing that’s been nagging since the start of this. Just the baby, growing inside of me, the baby Samuel doesn’t know about, notyet.

20

Samuel

Iwant to stay with her, never leave my damn bed, and that’sdangerous.

Especially right now. I look at Amelia and brush some hair from her face. She smiles at me, the light coming in through thewindow.

“We have to get up, don’t we?” sheasks.

I nod a little. “Guessso.”

“What time is it?” she asks, and then laughs. “Stupid question, Iknow.”

I grin at her and glance to my left. There are at least four clocks, two of them partially taken apart, lying on the dresser there. “It’s a little after seven,” Isay.

She sighs. “I’m going to be late for work.” She pushes herself up, hair spilling down around her, and I want to reach out, pull her back down, but I don’t. I know I can’t, even if that’s all I want. Together we took a break from reality, got lost in each other’s bodies like we’re able to do, and forgot about what’s happening outthere.

But I can’t do that. I have a responsibility to my guys. I roll over and grab my phone, checking my texts. “Back into the real world,” I grumble as she slowly climbs out of bed. She puts on some clothes I gave her, since hers are still in the dryer, forgotten and wrinkled bynow.

She shrugs a little bit, smiling. “We don’t have to, youknow.”

“Of course wedo.”

“We don’t.” She sits at the end of the bed. “We can just run away to Mexico, start new identities. I’m rich, youknow.”

I laugh at that. “Why stop at Mexico? We can travel all overEurope.”

“I’ve always wanted to seeBruges.”

“You can see it, then.” I sit up and move toward her. I kiss her softly. “Some other time,though.”

“Yeah. Some other time.” She smiles sadly and stands up. “I’ll see youlater?”

I shrug. “Probably. Better go see what the damage is first. Don’t you need aride?”

She shakes her head. “I’m calling acab.”

“Guess that’ll work.” I look away fromher.

“Yeah.” She hesitates and sighs. “Bye,Samuel.”

“Bye.” I watch her leave, and I fucking hate myself forit.

I get out of bed, shower off real fast, and get dressed. I call Roy and ask him what’s happening, he says people are at The Shaft and I’d better get my ass over there. He doesn’t sound happy, although he neverdoes.

I drive over, dreading what I’ll find there. I keep thinking about Amelia and the night before, how comfortable that felt, how fucking good. She makes me feel like the world can be an okay place, not at all the way it reallyis.

It’s seductive. I don’t know how she does it. She somehow takes the dark, jagged edges of the world, and smooths them out, makes them seem better than they are. It’s not just her body, not just the fantastic sex we have, although that’s pretty fucking good. It’s more about her smile, the way she cocks her head at me when she’s listening, and the way she seems genuinely interested in mylife.

I never thought I was interesting. I work in a damn mine, lived in this town my whole life, but she seems to give a shit about me anyway. It’s strange, answering questions about myself, even if I don’t want to. But it also feels good to have someone ask foronce.

I pull up outside of The Shaft and climb out. There are a lot of cars in the parking lot, and I’m not surprised to find pretty much the whole union in there, most of the guys already drinking, although it’s barely eight in the morningnow.

Roy finds me right away and steers me back outside. “We gotta talk,” hesays.

“How arethey?”

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