milliways_bar | EP: Kate Barlow

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EP: Kate Barlow | Main Bar

Kate comes inside trailing clouds of dust behind her. She's been working the stables, as usual. Today was a hot one, and it didn't seem fit working the stock so long as the sun was high, so she set about cleaning and organizing instead. She takes off her hat and sets it on the Bar, wincing apologetically as dirt puffs up and settles on the lacquered surface.

"Beggin' your pardon, Miss. I'll clean it up. Meantime, could I get somethin' cold?"

A pint of peach cobbler ice cream pops up as she settles herself on a stool. She eyeballs it dubiously. How can you put a respectable cobbler in a bucket of cold ice cream? She don't believe it can be done. Naturally, she won't dismiss it out of hand without giving it a fair shake. For science, and all.

She opens a ledger and starts going over notes, scooting the pint closer. Every now and again, her hand strays to her chest, absently playing with the necklace she's wearing. It's strangely soothing.

[ooc: Open indefinitely, inside the bar or outside.]

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Her breath catches.

"Sam?"

Funny how the name still sends a flurry of butterflies up into her chest and down all the way to her toes. It takes her a moment to process the request.

"Oh. Oh, sure, why not? C'mon over."

She drops the pendant against her chest, flipping her ledger closed and scooting the pint of Ben and Jerry's closer to the stool next to her.

Which earns her a funny look from Clem. "Sam. Sam Axe? Tall guy, kind of pudgy, wears tropical shirts and a gold chain?" She scoots over, brandishing the ice cream. "He tends to hide out when he's in here, but his best friend's always hanging around."

"Oh! Mr. Axe."

She laughs a little, shaking her head.

"M'sorry, I didn't know you two were an item. S'been some time since I last saw Mr. Axe. I heard he got into a bit of a scrape. Glad t'know he's all right now."

Better than all right, from the sounds of it.

She'll pout just a little at the notion of Sam not talking about her. JUST a little. "Yeah. Blew into Bar during my last tending," she admits. "We've been on and off for around two years now." She shrugs. "Y'know how it goes, don't you? Milliways..."

Oh, she'd hate to know the cause of that pout. It has been some time since she last saw Mr. Axe, and he did mention a lovely lady, just not by name.

"Two years, gracious. An' congratulations. S'pro'ly been close t'that since I last saw him. It was fall, I believe, not this past but the one before."

She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

Y'know how it goes, don't you?

"Ah, sure. Yes. Things'll take y'by surprise."

The funny thing is that her possessiveness over Sam waxes and wanes, depending on whether or not she's fought with him recently. But things are good between them. Really good.

"I'll tell him you say 'hi'." And depending on his attitude,she actually will. She raises an eyebrow. "Am I just seeing things, or do you know what it's like?"

She smiles.

"Please do. If there's anythin' I can do for either of you, y'jus' let me know."

The raised brow quiets her smile a bit. She glances at her ice cream, poking at it with her spoon.

"Mm, I do. I was, ah — I was engaged t'a man here once. But it didn't stick."

The wound, however, clearly has.

"Thanks," Clementine says, and swirls her spoon through the ice cream as she considers Kate's take. "Yikes." She's sort of sorry but now her curiosity's piqued. "Did he end up stuck back in his world? And there's been nobody else? Ever?

She's not a very good detective, but she still doesn't believe Kate's story.

The flurry of questions makes her laugh, soft and surprised.

"Ah, well. S'complicated, y'see. He did, point of fact, get stuck in his world. Twice. But in the end he — I guess y'could say, the man I really loved died, an' whoever was left didn't want me no more."

She frowns at her ice cream. Her eyes sting, but not enough to worry about tears showing. She's surprising herself, being so candid.

Sucking in a breath, she tries reinstalling a little levity in the conversation.

"What kinda lady d'you think I am?"

Clementine raises an eyebrow. "So. Clones or brain damage, right?" She's trying to bend her poor mind around this whole concept. Sometimes she's too earthly bound for her own good.

"The kinda lady I am," she grins. "Someone who knows what she wants and knows how to get it."

Kate laughs, shaking her head.

"Sweetheart, we don't have near enough sugar or booze t'talk 'bout that whole story. Suffice it t'say the doors here can be cruel, an' I jus' don't have all that much luck with menfolk."

This year's been easier than others, so far as passing her anniversary goes. However, she still got herself into a bit of a mess with Tommy. Seems like they're always apologizing for something.

Again, without thought, she covers her heart right where her new pendant rests.

"Mmm, you're right. The chocolate's good enough t'kill for."

Clementine nods. "I'd offer you a jaggie bomb but we both want to keep that ice cream down." Speaking of, she finally dollops a bit of her own onto Kate's saucer, finally, eliciting that comment. "You should ask me for tips. I'm kind of an expert." The verbal tildes are obvious, no?

Her eyes finally follow Kate's hand. "Hello. Where'd you get that?" It's a little glint of gold, but it catches her eye, as all golden things do.

Whatever a 'jaggie bomb' is, it sounds unpleasant.

"You're kinda an expert in what? Chocolate, menfolk, or killin'?"

Or perhaps all three, from the singsong quality of her voice. Kate smirks, cut short from spooning over some of the peach cobbler ice cream for Clem to try when she asks about her necklace. It picks up the light brilliantly, sparkling in a jeweled way, but when she moves her hand she reveals sterling silver instead of gold.

"Oh. Ah, it was a gift. S'new. Isn't it lovely?"

She looks up and smiles, genuine warmth in her expression.

"I mean, it ain't as lovely as yours, but I'm awful fond of the words etched into it."

It's a shot of jagermeister tossed into a glass of beer, chugged. Clem loves it. It's probably killed at least a fourth of her brain cells.

"All three, but the third's a business-related thing. Guess I shouldn't talk about it, right?" As if she doesn't have her badge on her somewhere.

"It's really cute." She pats her diamonds and smiles. "Mine're all from Sam." Neither of them can afford baubles, but hers were a Christmas gift. Then she stares.

For quite awhile.

At the charm.

Oh, she knows who got her that necklace.

She knoooows.

Um Clem? Kate's eyes are up there...

"Business can be a delicate topic 'round here. I promise not t'tell."

She chuckles softly. She knows the business Clem's in, and she's always careful not to say too much on the business she's in around lawfolk. Even with the bar rules, it's like teasing a caged bear.

She's still laughing when Clem calls the diamonds 'cute' — she's always admired the finery, but never had the wealth before — when her staring makes Kate a touch uncomfortable.

She glances down. Is there ice cream on her blouse?

"Um. What is it?"

"Uh?" Clementine does a double-take. "Oh. I'm...I'm a cop." She rubs her forehead, then tousles her own hair. "Fuck and you knew that..." Then she tilts her head. Crosses her arms.

STARRES at Kate.

"Do you know a guy named Tommy Gavin?"

Kate goes as still as a jackrabbit with a snake in its sights.

"Oh. Ah—"

A flurry of thoughts assail her all at once. She blinks hard, shakes her head, and realizes her mouth is hanging open.

"M'sorry, um. Yes. I know 'im."

Suspicion and the terror of getting caught settle in her belly.

"Why d'you ask?"

"Cauuuse I saw him buy that necklace." She spoons a little more ice cream into her mouth. "And he said it was for a girl he liked."

She actually wiggles her eyebrows at this point. Maybe Sam's cheesiness is secretly an STD.

Her stomach drops to her boots.

(It's not the worst thing she'd been imagining — when an attractive woman asks you about your jewelry, and happens to bring up the name of the fella who gave it to you, instinct leans toward wondering how many women out there got the same gift — however, it's close.)

She can feel heat rising to her face even as she's looking away, trying to affect nonchalance.

"What a coincidence."

Clem gives her a tilt of the head. And a little laugh.

"Kate. Come on." She shrugs. "If it helps to know, I was never serious with him. He's just a good friend, and you seem to make him pretty happy..." she shrugs. "Happier than he used to be."

Wait a darned tootin' minute!

Kate's brain lurches and jumps the tracks.

"Y'were never—? You two—? Oh. Oh. ... oh."

She must be the cop Tommy mentioned once before. Everything else she said is bouncing around Kate's head incomprehensibly, everything about this moment whittled down to just that one sentence.

She knew Tommy got around, but it's something entirely different to be sitting next to one of the women he's, ah — been with. Particularly when it's someone Kate knows.

She goes up in flames, and tries to shrink into something small and unnoteworthy and, if God is gracious, dead.

"Well, that's nice."

She shrugs. "Honey, it was just one time." They ate Oreos naked, it was fun, and they're close friends, but a relationship? Pah! "A year ago? Maybe two?" Another spoonful of ice cream. "So don't you worry about it."

She shakes her head briskly.

"M'not worried."

She might be more convincing were her voice not a startled squeak. She swallows a few times, wide eyes trained on the ice cream. It's safe, neutral ground. She can turn this thing around.

"I've got no reason t'be worried. Tommy an' I were jus' friends. I — I ain't got no claim on 'im."

Clementine shakes her head. "You look like you swallowed a meteor." And then tries to look Kate in the eye. "It's okay, if you don't want to talk about him."

Making eye contact will prove difficult.

She's fiddling with the pendant again, turning it between her fingers, smoothing her thumb along its edge.

She doesn't know what to say.

"No. S'fine."

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