Free The Drifter by Alexandra del Lago Page B

and what went wrong, and feeling the sting of being rejected just like that.
    The wind had died down and the stillness in her room was oppressive. She couldn't sleep because of the heat. She could hear Pa snoring, though otherwise the house was still. The cicadas were singing in the trees, and she heard someone on a motorcycle rip through the night before the sound faded into the distance.
    She tip-toed down the hall and took a towel from the closet. As harried as Ma was, she always managed to make sachets of rose petals in glycerin to tuck between the linens. Blue Girl held the towel up to her nose and inhaled. She knew she was going down to the quarry, and she had a feeling that something was going to happen that was important, though she didn't know what that could be. Sweetheart's nose brushed against her leg, and the dog looked up at her with a puzzled expression as if to say, 'Are you going out this late at night?'
    She put her finger up to her lip and Sweetheart followed her down to the kitchen silently. Blue Girl gave her a biscuit to distract her, and cracking open the door, slipped through. The moon lit her way down the white gravel road, and the dark trees hulking in the darkness at the roadside seemed menacing to her. It's nothing, she thought. Quit scaring yourself.
    She reached the quarry, and now the moon was well and truly bright and reflecting over the still water. She had a feeling that it was so deep that if she reached the middle she might sink all the way to the center of the earth. I'll stay in the shallow end, she told herself.
    She stripped down to her underwear and then thought how wonderful and cool the water would feel against her bare flesh. Looking around and seeing no one, she took off everything. The Blue Girl had long blond hair, and now she tied it up in a ponytail high on her head.
    From the hill that abutted the quarry, Travis watched her. He knew she hadn't spotted him when she had cast her gaze around. She was a bright girl, he thought, but lost in her own world and didn't notice many things. He was chewing on stalk of grass and his long legs were spread out in front of him as he propped himself up on an elbow. He smelled of hay and soap, and his jeans and shirt were ironed and starched. He had thick black hair and blue eyes, and once someone had told him he looked like Gary Cooper or maybe a young Clint Eastwood, and he had screwed up his lip the way Clint had done in the movies and snarled a bit.
    Cathy, he thought, remembering her name. He watched her lift up her arms to catch the wind, which had just begun to blow and promised to cool the air. He looked at her body, and the lift of her buttocks below her tapering back caught his eye, as she held out her arms toward the water as if she could embrace it and hold it like a lover. She had long muscular legs and she reminded him of a thoroughbred, though she did not hold herself that way normally because she was shy and did not know she was beautiful. She twisted in the wind, and he saw her high full breasts and felt himself growing hard just watching her.
    She stepped into the water, shivering, and submerging her body, began to swim the breast stroke. She had gone some distance, and turning around, was shocked to see a man standing on the shore. Her heart began beating wildly and she wondered if she shouldn't swim to the other side and run for help, but realizing she was naked, felt conflicted and ashamed.
    'Blue Girl!' he shouted, sensing her fear. He stood and came as close to the water as he could without wading into it and ruining his new boots.
    She calmed down when she realized he was not a stranger and knew in her heart that he wouldn't hurt her.
    'Throw me my clothes,' she yelled.
    Travis laughed, 'I've already seen all of you, so you might as well come out and dry off.'
    Blue Girl's face was burning, but she ordered him to turn around. Travis laughed and did as she asked. She got dressed quickly, and he seemed to know when she was