Clay stayed until the end of True’s shift. When she put on her coat he put on his and she looked at him in surprise. “I’ll drive you to the hotel.” He said.
After a brief pause she nodded. True followed him out of the partially empty diner to the parking lot. He opened the passenger door to an older model Buick. True noted that it was clean and looked good both inside and out.
“Do you think those men are going to be waiting for me?” She asked and Clay didn’t like the fear he heard in her voice.
“I don’t think they’re stupid enough for that. Everyone saw what went on here tonight.” But that wasn’t the truth. Stupid was what Sully and his boys were. “Jeb is going to pick you up in the mornings. Let him. It’s on his way in.”
True nodded. She didn’t want to put anybody out but if it was on his way she’d allow it. Especially since she was still scared of those men.
They reached the motel and True wouldn’t let him get out to open her door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said and she looked at him in surprise.
“Okay. Seems like I’m always thanking you. But thanks for what you did tonight.”
“No need for thanks. Any real man would have done the same.”
She silently agreed.
Pt 2
The next day Clay was at the diner during his regular lunch time since it was his day off. True wasn’t exactly surprised to see him although she wasn’t sure how he knew she’d be at work. Sunday was supposed to be her off day but she had asked Tiffany to put her on the schedule. When her shift ended he drove her back to the motel.
Each day it went like that. Clay would show up just when Tiffany was arriving to relieve her of her shift. Clay would have dinner and True would join him and then he’d drive her home. A week into this routine True told him that he didn’t have to drive her home everyday.
“I don’t mind, True.” He said quickly.
She swallowed down her shyness. “You can show me around town, is what I meant.” He nodded and they finished their meal and he took her up to the Fitchburg Furnace, where iron ore had been created back in the 1800s.
“The mountain don’t have many places to visit like a city, but we got a natural spring, old log cabins and beautiful mountains. Cobb Hill is probably one of the prettiest places in Kentucky,” he bragged, clearly proud of his country home.
At the end of the day when he dropped her off at the motel she told him that she agreed with him. Cobb Hill Mountain was beautiful.
“You and Clay an item?” Sue asked True. She didn’t exactly whisper it and several customers turned to listen to the response.
True had been working at the restaurant going on two months and she was getting used to Sue and was comfortable around the customers, who were also comfortable enough with her to call out hello and goodbye now.
True didn’t miss a beat as she carried a tray of dirty dishes to the back. “Clay and I are just friends.”
“Y’all go out every single day. That’s some type of friendship,” she called. Several people began to laugh.
“You got a problem with that, Sue?” Clay said from out of the blue. He had just entered the diner and Sue’s cheeks turned bright red.
“Nah. I’m a progressive kind of person. Don’t make me no never mind.” She said.
“Good. People should mind their business if it don’t make them no never mind.” He took his seat and Sue huffed. True, who had been listening from the kitchen chuckled to herself. Yeah, people were beginning to talk. She considered Clay to be a friend but sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be more than Clay’s friend. He was sexy, protective, loyal…and sexy. She grinned to herself. Oh yeah was he ever sexy.
Jeb looked at her broad smiling face like she was bat-freaking-crazy.
Tiffany came in a few moments later and sat down next to Clay. They talked for a bit while True finished with her last table and then True brought out her and Clay’s lunch. Clay had stepped out of his comfort zone and allowed True to make him some of her own recipes. Today was smothered pork chops, mashed potatoes with fresh green beans. She’d made a big pot of them for the entire restaurant and people raved that they tasted like their grannies green beans. Jeb threatened to make her the official green bean cook but she promised that she had no desire to take over his job behind the grill.
True covered her mouth as she yawned, but her eyes were bright and exited. “Where are you taking me today?”
Clay tried not to frown. He knew that she could read his expressions easily. But he was concerned that True was working too much. She had yet to take a day off. She was working hard to earn enough money for an apartment. But that damned motel was expensive and the town was too small for her to become rich off tips. Still, True never complained.
“We can go back to my place, watch some pay per view, pop some popcorn and put up our feet. How’s that sound?”
She’d been to Clay’s place only once when he showed her where he lived. He gave her a quick tour but they didn’t linger. She liked his house. It was just a little two-bedroom deal but it was comfy, clean and it looked like Clay, like a bear’s den.
She nodded her agreement. “Can we have hot chocolate too?”
“I believe I can make that happen.”
Back at Clay’s house he lit the fireplace. It was Spring but a bit of chill still remained in the air. True was so amazed by it that she stood by the fire warming her hands and admiring the licks of flames.
“Most homes on the mountain have fireplaces. Wood is cheaper than a gas and electric bill.”
While he went off to pop the corn she looked around the room. There was no sign of his ex-wife, no pictures or frilly decorations. This house was all Clay from a sectional couch with a well worn afghan and over sized pillows, to a thick wool rug on the hardwood floor.
She sat down on the sectional and got comfortable against the pillows, even kicking off her shoes so that she could tuck her feet beneath her.
Clay prepared the cocoa the way he had been taught, with vanilla, sugar and a pinch of salt. He put the popcorn and the mugs of cocoa on a tray and carried them out to the living room.
“I make the best cocoa around…” he said.
But True was sound asleep. Quietly, he placed the tray on the table and then gently placed the afghan around her. Poor girl was absolutely exhausted. No one should work as hard as she did. He found himself yawning. He could use a nap as well. He’d been working hard and keeping True entertained for weeks. Not that it was a problem. He enjoyed every minute that he spent with her.
Clay shook his head and smiled. Damn was he stupid. He liked this girl, and more than just a little.
He sat next to her on the couch propping his arm behind his head. Then he turned to watch her sleep. She was beautiful, from her full nose to her heart shaped lips and the golden braids that she kept in intricate designs on her head. Her pretty brown skin also attracted him. He’d never thought one way or the other about being romantically interested in a black woman—mostly because he had never really known any black women. But what would such a pretty girl want with an old fart like him? Only he knew that she did like him. She never smiled so brightly for anyone else. That had to mean something.
His eyes drifted closed and a smile settled on his face. Clay found himself dreaming about a future where True was the woman whose smell covered his pillow and whose arms he fell into at the end of the day.