They ate their meals around companionable conversation. They discussed the mine and how Sadler started as an operator before his promotion to assistant foreman. He had worked at Porter Mining for nearly ten years although he was growing tired of the mine’s increasing recklessness. He attributed some of the recent mishaps to management’s push over the last months to increase Porter’s revenues but begrudgingly admitted that many of the accidents were likely simple, bad luck.
Sadler pushed the last bite of his steak around his plate like a mop. “What do you think after your first week on the job?”
Kat thought for a moment as she chewed and swallowed. She had been able to eat only about half of her meal, the decadent and generous pasta dish filling her stomach. “I’m grateful for the work and I like my crew. I was worried that I’d face sexism inside the mines but it hasn’t happened.”
“We have a lot of female workers,” Sadler noted. “In fact, women usually make the best drymen because they’re often smaller and more agile. I’ve watched you scurry under the conveyor sections. You’re a natural.” He popped the last of his food into his mouth. “Are you finished?” he asked around his morsel.
“I think so,” Kat said. “It was delicious but I’m stuffed.” She leaned back in her chair and patted coquettishly at her belly. She realized in a slight panic that their date might be coming to an end.
Sadler signaled for the bill and said, “The show sold out on Wednesday but it’s still relatively early. Do you want to walk the casino?”
“Sure,” she answered eagerly.
The casino floor was a loud collage of flashing lights, clashing colors and pure excitement. Groups gathered around tables, cheering or groaning as cards turned or dice landed. Kat walked with her hand in Sadler’s and stared at the sheer enormity of the strobing, noisy maze. Sadler let her lead, allowing her curiosity to pull them from one game to another. As she absorbed the nearly overwhelming stimuli in the room, she found herself drawn to a long table surrounded by bettors. Clapping and cheering erupted every few seconds from whatever game they were playing.
The couple stopped at one end of the table. The nearest of three dealers standing behind it offered Sadler a curt nod while greeting, “Good evening, Mr. Wess.”
Sadler waved before turning to Kat. “Craps, my favorite game. Do you know how to play?”
She shook her head. The surface of the table was filled with numbers, markings and lines in all different colors. She watched a pair of dice land near her, thrown from the other end. Eleven. Cheers erupted from the table and she had no idea why.
Sadler began to describe the game when a waiter appeared next to him and asked for their drink orders. Both men looked expectantly at Kat.
“Will you order for me?” she asked.
Sadler smiled widely. “I’d love to!” He turned to the waiter and flashed two fingers. “Two Summer Squalls, please.” He leaned close to Kat and explained playfully, “They call them that because they hit you fast but blow over just as fast.”
Kat consumed two of the delicious, fruity cocktails over the next ten minutes as Sadler detailed how to place bets and the general rules of Craps. The game didn’t wait for them. As Sadler taught, the play continued unabated and the enthusiasm and frivolity around the table became contagious.
“Would you like to place a bet?” he asked.
“I’m not sure…” The Summer Squalls mixed with the boisterous crowd and flurry of activity were beginning to rattle her senses.
“Try it!” he encouraged while sweeping his wrist over a scanner near their end of the table. “Fifty,” he stated.
“Changing fifty,” the dealer in the middle echoed to no one in particular while tapping at a touchscreen and pulling five, red casino chips from a long row in front of him. He slid them over to Sadler and said, “Good luck, sir.”
Sadler took the chips and placed them into a depression that ran along the edge of the tabletop. “Like I said, the simplest bet is whether the person throwing the dice will win or lose.” He shot Kat a playful look. “What does your woman’s intuition tell you?”
She cringed slightly before saying, “Win… I guess.”
Sadler waited until a new shooter held the dice and then he placed a ten-credit chip on the table in an area marked “Pass Line.”
The shooter threw the dice four times before a dealer shouted, “Nine! Winner!” and the table exploded into celebration. Kat cheered with them as the closest dealer slid a second red chip next to Sadler’s.
“Is that ours?” she asked in disbelief.
“Yours,” Sadler insisted as he scooped up the chips.
One large! In less than a minute, she thought, astounded. Kat placed her hand on the table’s edge for support. The excitement seemed to be making her dizzy.
“Win or lose?” Sadler asked again with a grin.
Feeling herself sway, she moved her hand boldly around his waist and looked up affectionately. “Lose, I think.” Sadler placed a red chip on “Don’t Pass.”
Three dice rolls later, the table groaned when a dealer called, “Craps!”
Kat dreamily watched the smooth, rapid action of the dealers’ hands collecting chips from the white “Pass Line” while paying out bets on the yellow “Don’t Pass” bar.
“You must be psychic,” Sadler stated while collecting the twin chips.
The table had a pleasant lean to it and the warmth from Sadler’s trim waist only fed Kat’s contented daze. I must be drunk, she thought woozily. Her eyelids began to droop before she spied Daniel Lambert stepping up to the far side of the table with a buxom woman on his arm. His companion’s plunging, shoulderless dress drew immediate attention.
Lambert gulped down the drink in his hand and swept his wrist over a scanner. “How much, darling?” he slurred loudly.
The woman molded herself against him and said, “One thousand, baby?”
“Make it two grand,” Lambert ordered merrily. Moments later, he received ten black and two purple chips. He sloppily stacked all of them on the “Pass Line” and then stumbled slightly, causing the neat pile to tip over. “We’re gonna win!” he proclaimed confidently while reaching for the dice.
After plucking the dice from the table, he held them close to the lips of his date. The woman blew gently and with more than a hint of seduction. “You’re so reckless, Daniel,” she said while running her hand along the line of his belt.
Lambert steadied himself and then let the dice fly. The red cubes bounded off the table wall in front of Kat and settled onto double sixes.
“Craps!” announced the dealer.
The table groaned in sympathy but Lambert was untroubled. “Well, luck never gives, it only lends,” he stated unevenly.
“That was so much money, Daniel,” the woman on his arm said dolefully. She looked up to him with an evocative smile and suggested, “There are much better ways to get lucky with two thousand credits.” Her hand continued to wander over him.
Lambert took an unstable step back and boasted, “Plenty more where those credits came from, my desert flower. Recore’s gonna pay me a fortune.” He pawed at her as he staggered another step backwards and promised, “And I’m gonna spend it all on you.”
“Kat.” Sadler lightly touched her arm. When her eyes opened wide but she didn’t respond, he gently nudged her again.
She shook herself and tried to clear her blurred vision. She was beginning to feel sick.
“Kat, do you want to throw the dice?” Sadler repeated.
She tried to focus on his face. “Can we go for a walk outside?”
Sadler smiled at the dealer and said, “We pass. Good luck, everybody.” He offered the crook of his elbow to Kat.
When they stepped into the cool night air, Kat took several deep breaths to sharpen her senses. The lights from Waytown diminished the star-filled sky but the heavens still stretched around her to infinity. “This is better,” she said. “I think I had one too many drinks.”
“It’ll pass quickly,” Sadler promised as he led her down the sidewalk that circled the building. He had wrapped his arm around her waist somewhere along their way.
Kat leaned into him. “I had a wonderful time.” She smiled quirkily and added, “The best date that I can ever remember.”
“Maybe we can do it again next week?” Sadler asked hopefully.
Kat nodded. “I’d like that but you don’t have to spend so many credits on me. I just like the company.”
“I want to,” he said earnestly. “It makes me feel good and I can afford it. I’ll get tickets to next week’s show, I promise.”
“Then it’s a date,” she agreed.
They were coming upon a gated parking lot. An attendant stood in silent watch.
“I have an aircar,” Sadler mumbled. “Can I take you to your home?”
The question sobered Kat instantly. “Absolutely not,” she answered. Her gaze dropped to the ground. “It would be embarrassing.”
She felt Sadler’s grip tighten on her. He turned and embraced her fully while murmuring, “I’m sorry, Kat.”
She looked up into caring, green eyes that left no doubt in her pounding heart. She brought a hand up to his shoulder and rocked to her toes to press her body and lips against him. Tentative at first, the kiss quickly ignited into desire. After swimming in a heated abyss for what felt like a lifetime, Kat eased herself back.
“Wow,” Sadler said with a wide grin.
“That was nice,” she agreed.
He wiped his brow. “It’s a good thing you don’t have an overnight visa or I might not be able to stop myself from carrying you away to my apartment.”
Instead, Sadler flew Kat to the Eastpoint gate. He had refused to accept “No” for an answer to take her to the border but when he drew near the checkpoint, he didn’t push further about bringing her to whatever amounted to her doorstep. He merely picked an available landing spot on a side street and touched down gently.
Kat thanked him again for the evening and leaned across the vehicle for a final kiss. After the affection ended, she gazed once more into his eyes and then snatched her satchel from the floor before hopping out of the car. She waved goodbye until his aircar was out of sight.
It was approaching midnight but the foot traffic around Eastpoint was still considerable. She ducked into an alley on the Waytown side, retrieved her hessian pants and pulled them up under her dress. After exchanging her shoes, she then slipped the dress over her head and quickly donned her simple, brown shirt. Kat draped the dress over her arm and made her way through the checkpoint. She walked down the bustling road, careful to avoid the ranting preachers accosting every passerby with their creed. She passed every alley cautiously, prepared to run at a moment’s notice. At each corner, she stopped and turned in a slow circle, noting the faces of the people behind her. Twice, she crossed the street just to ensure that a pedestrian behind her was nothing more than coincidentally going her way.
By the time Kat ducked into her alley, she was exhausted. Her day had started early and lasted longer than most. She stared unhappily at her sleeping space and vowed that this would be the last night she would lie so close to the alley’s mouth.