Whippoorwill (2 page)

When she sang the last notes of the song, there was a collective hush from everyone in the room before the men erupted in a chorus of whistles and cheers. To kill the painful memories resurrected by the song, the cowboys immediately began buying more drinks, which suited Will the Bartender just fine. He shouted to the drunk at the end of the bar.

“Hey Eulis, go to the storeroom and bring me another crate of whiskey. I’m gettin’ low.”

Eulis Potter pushed himself off from the bar and aimed his feet in the general direction of the back room.

Once he’d been a soldier with General LaMoyne’s army. The fort was long gone, burned to the ground back in forty-two by a Comanche raiding party. After that he’d quit the service and wandered the territories until he’d come to Lizard Flats. He’d gotten drunk in the White Dove that night and had yet to sober up long enough to leave. He now held two jobs—doing janitor work for Will at the White Dove, and digging graves on the hill outside of town. He didn’t particularly care for either one, but they kept him in drinks and a roof over his head.

Letty watched Eulis as he stumbled toward the back room. His clothes were little more than rags that smelled to high heaven and she’d never really seen his face. It was hidden behind a mop of dark, unshorn hair and a thick, greasy beard. But she was a ‘live and let live’ sort of woman and rarely wasted energy on something that didn’t concern her. It was after midnight, which meant she was done. Thankful that the men were otherwise occupied, she slipped off the end of the bar and nodded to Will. It was her signal that she was going to her room.

He hesitated, as if thinking about calling her back, then saw the look on her face and waved her on.

She started up the stairs, her mind on the warm bath waiting for her in her room then heard footsteps behind her. She turned with a ready rejection on her lips only to realize it was the card shark who’d been occupying the back table.

“I’m done for the night,” she said.

The gambler doffed his hat.

“Miss Murphy, my name is James Dupree. May I buy you a drink?”

His voice was cultured. His fingernails were clean. Despite her weariness, it was enough of an oddity to pique Letty’s interest. She hesitated, and then shrugged.

“I guess.” She started back downstairs when he shook his head and cupped her elbow, instead.

“Is there somewhere we could go that is a little more private?”

Letty snorted. It was unladylike, but then his last question had been ungentlemanly, and she wasn’t in the mood to take another man to bed.

“Speak your mind, mister. I’m too tired for games. You can drink by yourself. If you want to take me to bed, it’ll cost you a dollar.”

The gambler heard disappointment in her voice and it shamed him. He lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed it, then fixed her with a dark, secretive gaze.

“I don’t want to drink by myself. Besides, I think you sell yourself too cheaply, Letty. You’re worth far more than a dollar.”

Letty’s mouth dropped.

“Now how about that drink?” he asked.

She shrugged.

Dupree hurried back down the stairs, talked Will the Bartender out of a fairly decent bottle of wine he’d been saving for himself, and grabbed the cleanest two glasses he could find before rejoining Letty.

“After you, Miss Murphy.”

She eyed him curiously then led the way to her room.

James didn’t know what he’d expected, but it was not clean sheets and lace curtains.

“I don’t bring my customers here,” Letty said, and then wondered why she’d said that.

Ah, so that explains it.
“Then I thank you for the courtesy of considering me a friend.”

Letty frowned. “I don’t know what I consider you, mister, but I wouldn’t call you a friend. I don’t have any friends.”

“My friends call me Gentleman Jim, but I would like it if you would call me Jim.” He set the wine and glasses on a nearby table, opened the wine and then looked at Letty. “May I pour?”

“It’s why you came. Suit yourself,” she said, and plopped down into a chair, thankful to be off her feet and not on her back at the same time.

He muffled a sigh as he poured the wine. She was harder than he would have liked. From her viewpoint though, he doubted his life looked any rosier. As he handed her a glass, he realized he had subconsciously been hoping she would behave as the women from his past—simpering and flirting while knowing full well that their lush bodies and sweet lips tricked hungry men into vowing words of love and marriage that they didn’t really want.

“To friends,” he said gently, and lifted his drink.

The distinct clink of glass to glass echoed within the quiet of the room, and he thought as they took their first sip that at least this woman was honest. She didn’t pretend. With her, a man knew where he stood.

“To friends,” Letty echoed, and then walked out of her room onto the small balcony, knowing the man would follow, which he did.

“Why, this is a wonderful place,” Jim said, taking note of the night sky as well as being able to look down upon the sprinkling of lamp lights throughout the small town.

“I guess.” She tossed back the wine in the glass as if it was medicine.

“Would you care for more?”

Letty’s expression tightened. “You don’t have to get me drunk to do it. Or maybe it’s you who has to get drunk before you can lower yourself to use a woman like me.”

Jim frowned. “What are you getting at?”

Thankful for the dark that hid the tears in her eyes, Letty handed him the empty glass and then put her hands on her hips in a defiant manner.

“It’s obvious you’re not like the men around here. You’re used to elegant women and nice places. I’m not elegant and the White Dove Saloon isn’t much, either.”

“I’m afraid you misjudge me, Miss Murphy. What I once was is no longer important. I am nothing more than a man who makes his living at cards. I have no home, no family… nothing but a horse and two suits of clothing. I fail to see where that sets me above you in any way.”

Letty’s heart started to pound. What was he up to? “Then what is this all about?”

For a moment he said nothing, and then he exhaled slowly. She could hear it from where she was standing.

“I can tell that I’ve caught you at a bad time,” he said gently. “My mistake. Next time we’ll do this at the beginning of your day, rather than at the end of it.”

He took a step forward, once again lifting Letty’s hand to his lips, but this time he pressed a kiss in the center of her palm.

Letty’s heart skipped a beat.

“You sing like an angel, Miss Murphy. Maybe tomorrow night when you sing, you might look my way. At least I can pretend that you’re singing to me.”

“Uh… I don’t—”

He tipped his hat, lightly vaulted the distance between her balcony and the balcony on the adjoining building, then took the stairs down to the street. She watched as he sauntered toward the hotel and then disappeared inside.

She couldn’t think. She couldn’t move. Something wonderful had just happened but she wasn’t sure what. Not since her father’s death had she been treated so decently. She wanted to laugh and at the same time, felt like crying. In the distance, she heard the sound of horses’ hooves and then a shout of laughter. Confused by what had transpired, she went back into her room and closed the door.

Wearily, she pulled the curtains then took off her clothes and stepped into the tub of bath water Will the Bartender furnished for her each night. As she sank into the depths, relishing the warmth of the water lapping at her thighs, she thought of how many trips Eulis had made up the stairs to fill her bath. If he spent that much time on his own personal hygiene, he wouldn’t be so disgusting, but the moment the thought was born, she realized that judging the town drunk was hardly in her best interests. Even though she hadn’t let demon rum get the best of her, they weren’t so far removed from each other after all.

For three free drinks of liquor each night, Eulis Potter swept the floors of the White Dove Saloon and carried water for Letty’s bath.

For a roof over her head and food in her belly, Letty Murphy let strangers have their way with her body.

Disgusted with the rambling manner of her thoughts, she reached for the wash rag and lye soap and began scrubbing the scent of her customers from her skin. A short while later, she turned back the covers on her bed and crawled between the clean sheets. Her head hit the pillow with a weary thump. Just before she closed her eyes, she remembered the gambler and the way his lips felt on her skin. She wouldn’t let herself believe that he’d meant anything personal. She couldn’t afford to care.

***

Even though she didn’t trust him, the gambler continued to sit at the back table for the next five nights. When he wasn’t playing cards, he was listening to her sing. And each night she found herself watching for his smile of approval when the songs were over. On the sixth night, he wasn’t there, and she learned that he’d picked up his horse from the livery and ridden out around noon. She wouldn’t let herself care that he hadn’t said goodbye or wonder what the brief moments she’d shared with him had really meant. Instead, she immersed herself in the business of her life and told herself it didn’t matter.

A couple of days later, Will the Bartender was in the act of closing up for the night. He was polishing the glasses, and Eulis was sweeping up the floor for his usual three free drinks as Letty started up the stairs.

“Well, Letty, looks like you had a good night,” Will said, as he counted out the coins she’d laid on the bar.

Letty frowned. “Depends on what you call good. I made twelve dollars, half of which is yours, and thanks to the last three cowboys I pleasured, I smell like a horse.”

Will frowned. Keeping Letty happy was part of what made his business so good. His other girl, Truly Fine, had been gone for close to a year now and he couldn’t afford to have Letty leaving, too. He’d noticed that she’d been sulking some since that fancy gambler had left town. While he wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything, he didn’t want her to leave.

“Eulis! When you get through sweeping that floor, you take Letty up some hot water for her bath! Do you hear me?”

Eulis braced himself with both feet apart and leaned on the broom before turning a bleary gaze toward Letty.

“Bats? Letty has bats?”

Will cursed and then came out from behind the bar and swatted Eulis on the shoulder.

“No, you old sot, I said, bath! Letty wants her bath.”

Eulis reeled back in shock. “I ain’t givin’ no woman a bath. Not even for a whole bottle of hooch.”

Letty clenched her teeth to keep from screaming.

“Eulis!”

He veered his gaze in her general direction.

“What?”

“Go get the hot water and bring it to my room.”

Light dawned. “Oh! Right! The hot water.”

He dropped the broom where he was standing and headed for the back room.

Letty glared at Will, daring him to argue. When he remained silent, she tossed her head and started up the stairs.

She left the door ajar for Eulis who thumped up the stairs with the two buckets of hot water. He stumbled in, slopping a goodly portion from one bucket into his shoe before getting it into the tub.

“Tarnation!” he yelped, as the hot water soaked through the threadbare sock onto his skin.

In pain, he quickly dumped the water into the small hip bath then dropped to the floor. He was in the act of taking off the wet shoe when Letty came in from the balcony.

She saw him taking off his shoes and thought he was getting undressed.

“Don’t even think about it!” she yelled, and picked up her hairbrush and hit him on the back of the head.

At this time of night, Eulis was always less than steady on his feet and sitting down made little difference to his equilibrium. The blow from the hairbrush sent him face forward between his outstretched legs. He groaned, both from the shock of the blow and from the pull of unused muscles at the backs of his legs.

“What did you go and do that for?” Eulis cried, ducking again in fear of a second swing.

“There’s only one reason a man ever takes his shoes off in a woman’s room and I’m done with that for the night,” Letty said.

Eulis groaned. “No. No. I wasn’t tryin’ for no poke. I swear. I spilt hot water in my shoe. That’s all.”

Letty frowned. “Oh. Well then. I guess I’m sorry for hitting you.”

Eulis shrugged. “It’s all right. It didn’t hurt none. It just startled me.”

He peeled the sock from his foot and eyed the skin.

“What do you think? Reckon it’ll blister?”

Letty snorted. “I reckon it didn’t make it past the first two layers of dirt. That’s what I reckon.”

Now it was Eulis’s turn to frown. “It don’t pay to insult the man what brings you your bath water every night.”

Letty sighed and then sat down on the side of the bed.

“You’re right. I’m sorry, Eulis. No hard feelings, okay?”

Eulis waited until she tossed the hairbrush onto the other side of the bed and then rolled over and dragged himself upright.

“Yeah… well… just see that it don’t happen again,” he muttered, and started out the door when Letty called him back.

“Hey, Eulis, do you ever want more in your life than what you got?”

Eulis’s head was starting to float right off his shoulders, which always meant he had about five minutes, no more, no less, before he passed out. He preferred passing out on his bed in the back of the saloon, but if Letty didn’t stop her yapping, he wasn’t going to make it down the stairs. However, he knew women well enough to know that if he didn’t answer this question, there would be another and another until they got the answer they wanted, so he shrugged.

“I reckon so.”

“Me, too,” Letty said. “What do you want?”

“That’s easy,” Eulis said. “You know that big fancy bottle of Tennessee bourbon that Will has sitting on the back of the bar? The one that he’s never opened?” He grinned. “That’s what I want.”

Letty snorted in an unladylike manner and grabbed for the hairbrush again.

“Get out of my room, you old sot, and take your stinkin’ shoe with you.”