Graveyard Games by Sheri Leigh Page A

her eyes narrowing.
    "Gruh-Grady," Sam said, looking puzzled.
    "Oh, yeah," Dusty said, her face relaxing.
"Sure, I will."
    "Thuh-thanks," Sam said with a grateful
smile.
    "Can you get me another keg of Bud out here,
Sam?" Lee called. Sam nodded, his motion slightly palsied and
spastic, heading toward the back room with his leg dragging behind
him.
    "He likes you," Lee said when Sam had
disappeared through the door next to the women’s’ bathroom.
    "What?" Dusty looked at Lee, who was wiping
glasses with one of the towels he always had within reach.
    "He likes you," Lee repeated. Dusty
shrugged. “I’m just saying…I’m glad you’re nice to him.”
    She frowned. “You mean, unlike Mr. Brushcut
over there?”
    “ Guys like him are a dime
a dozen.” Lee sighed. “Like some kid who talks funny is a threat to
their manhood? I don’t get it.”
    “ I don’t either.” Dusty
sighed, still looking towards the door.
    “ He’s had it rough,” Lee
said, following her gaze. “Especially since Roy died.”
    "Who?" she asked.
    "Sam,” Lee said, filling two glasses of beer
for someone out of the nozzle. “His father, Roy—he up and died last
month. Sam’s been pretty lost without him.”
    “ It wasn’t the bobcat, was
it?” Dusty’s spine straightened at the thought.
    “ No.” Lee shook his head.
“Heart attack, most likely. He was my age. We were in the army
together.”
    Dusty raised her eyebrows. “You were in the
army?”
    “ Yes, ma’am.” He winked at
her. “Roy and I met when we were stationed in Haiti
together.”
    “ Haiti?” she frowned. “We
have troops in Haiti?”
    “ Troops all over the
world, darlin’.” He smiled. “This was back when Papa Doc was some
sorta threat.”
    Dusty looked him over. “Bet you looked good
in a uniform.”
    “ All the girls thought
so.” He grinned, opening the little dishwasher under the bar where
he washed glasses. “So Sam’s all by himself now. I keep an eye on
him as much as I can.”
    “ What about his
mother?”
    Lee shook his head. “She died when he was
born.”
    “ How awful. What
happened?”
    “ The baby came out
wrongways. Feet first.” Lee paused to draw another beer for
someone. “They had to yank on him hard, Roy said, practically
twisted his little head off getting him out.”
    They were quiet for a moment. Dusty asked,
“So she died during childbirth?”
    “ No,” Lee replied. “She
died a few days after they came home from the hospital.”
    “ Of what?”
    “ Embolism,” he said,
shaking his head.
    Dusty looked at him, horrified. “Oh my god…
and the father was left all alone with a newborn?”
    “ Yeah,” Lee agreed. “They
got real close, just the two of them. That’s why Sam’s still pretty
broke up about his dad.”
    She nodded, feeling tears stinging her eyes.
“I know how he feels.”
    “ I think he's a little
lonely, you know?” Lee went on, not noticing her watery eyes. “And,
as I started out to tell you, he really likes you… from what I can
see, it's heading for a full-fledge crush.”
    “ Oh, come on—”
    Lee pointed and nodded toward the old
Wurlitzer. “If you hadn't noticed, Grady hasn't moved from the juke
all night."
    Dusty looked, and sure enough, the old Tom
was stretched out on top of it, eyes closed, purring and
contented.
    She smiled, shaking her head. "That's kinda
sweet.”
    "Yeah," Lee said. "I guess he has to think
up topics of conversation, but he's a good kid. A little slow up
here." Lee tapped his forehead. "But he's sure not lacking here."
Lee’s hand covered his heart.
    "I know," she said, smiling. "Well, it's
past time for me to get back to work, boss."
    "Hey, Dusty," Lee called as she headed
toward one of the tables. "I know you’re probably not interested,
but…don't be...mean to him."
    "I won't," she assured him. "What can I get
you?" Dusty directed her question to the guy who had just sat down
at the table behind her.
    "Dusty!" Jake’s eyes widened when he saw her
and