The Unexpected Partner

Chapter 6

Marching through the wooden doors of her home, Claire went directly to the sofa and threw her watch aggressively on it. What am I going to do?! She thought to herself, pacing around the living room.

She walked back and forth, not being able to control her irritability. "If you have a brother, we can surely hire him!" She mocked the worker in the saloon with a silly voice. Well, I don't have a damn brother!

"What do I do, what do I do...," she continued to whisper to herself, really feeling the stress eat her alive. She took out the note from her pocket and read the last line... He will be dead. "God, I wish I knew who wrote this, so I could gouge their eyes out with my own hands!"

After crumbling the note and throwing it on the sofa, she put both her hands in her hair. If I don't starve to death, these brutes will kill me for not paying the debt. Her heartbeat rapidly thinking about what might happen to her if she does not find a way to make money.

Crying would be no use; her tears would not do her any good. She stopped pacing and sat on the sofa with her face in her hands.

What can I do? She asked herself.

Why don't I ask Liliann for help? She answered her own questions fast. No! I don't want her to struggle because of me. And I don't want to be a burden to her. She told herself this was the reason she would not ask Liliann for help but deep down she was scared that Liliann would not be willing to help her. Liliann was the closest thing she had to a friend and knowing that her only friend would not want to share in her problems would make her feel more alone in the world than she already did. If she never bothered Liliann, there's no way she would be able to reject her or stop being her friend.

What should I do? What should I do? She kept thinking and repeating those words in her mind.

She decided to stop the thinking for a moment and go outside for some fresh air. Standing on the porch, her eyes looked toward the sky. If only I were a boy, she thought, then I would be able to find a job and protect my father.

Out of nowhere, an idea came into her mind. "What if I am a boy?" Her mouth gaped, thinking about the thought.

Running back inside, she went to her dad's room, grabbed a pair of his pants, his shirt, and his boots. She ran back to the living room where she stood in front of the small mirror, quickly took off her purple dress and slipped into the men's clothes.

"Oh...my...Lord."

She put her hands over mouth at how shocked she was. These clothes fit me perfectly! Looking in the mirror, she realized that she looked exactly like a man. Exactly like her father. Well, except for her long hair. She turned around and checked how the clothes looked from the back.

"No!" She said, turning back. "I could never do this."

Then she contradicted herself. What other choice do I have?

"This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy... I don't even look like a man."

Suddenly another idea came to her mind. She took one piece of coal from the fireplace, being unused due to the hot summer days, and smeared it on her upper lip and her chin. "Now I have a beard!" She exclaimed, smiling at her ingenuity.

She contemplated the situation. The barkeeper at A's Saloon did say that he would give the job to my brother. So, he will surely give me the job, if I go in there as a boy.

But you are not a boy! Her mind reminded her.

I am not a boy. She conceded. But I have to do this, for Papa.

She stared at herself in the mirror. Oh... I am going to die, she thought about how finally she had found something that might work but might also ruin her.

"What do I do with my hair?" Taking a piece of yarn from the kitchen counter, she tied it into a bun but let it go when she realized she still looked like a woman. She ran to her father's room and grabbed one of his hats, tying her hair up again and putting the old brown hat on. The hat did not go on her head due to the size of her bun.

Feeling useless, she threw the hat to the side and ran her fingers through her hair, looking towards the table in the kitchen where there lay a pair of rusty scissors.

Without even thinking about her own good, but only about her father, she grabbed the tarnished metal scissors and held a big chunk of her hair. Slowly, she put the scissors through the long mane and cut it, aligning the hair with her chin. The hair slowly fell to the ground, making Claire too stunned to even do anything. She grabbed the other side and did the same, leaving a blanket of hair on the ground. Shock and disbelief took over her.

Claire looked in the mirror and saw a completely different person, her mouth forming an O shape. She ran her hands through her now neck length hair. So short. So... unladylike. She tucked the hair behind her ears and put on the hat. Claire wanted to cry but, at the same time, wanted to jump with joy.

I look like a complete man.

She cleared her throat and said, "I am...a man. Ehemm," she cleared her throat again and talked in a deeply manly voice for practice. "I am a man, and my name is...," she thought for a moment and found the closest boy's name that was similar to Claire. "My name is... Clark... Clark Conley."

Pondering on the name for a little, she smiled, feeling proud. "My name is Clark Conley," she spoke loudly in her male voice. "And I am here to work in your saloon."

She jumped up and down, I sound good!

The hope invigorated her. At first, she felt deeply saddened that she had cut off her hair, she always wanted to keep it long like her late mother's was. But she got over that sadness by telling herself that she did to protect her father, that there was nothing she wouldn't do to make sure those criminals didn't hurt him again.

She spent the rest of her day planning what she might say to certain questions and how she would have to conduct herself. After her long day of planning, she changed back into her lady clothes, took care of her father, making sure to put her hair up so that he didn't ask why she had cut it, and got ready for the next day to go to work.

The idea that the saloon owner she had talked to would buy her schemes and not realize she was a woman, caused her to feel a new kind of hope. I can do it! She said in her mind, feeling excited but also beyond petrified for what was to come.

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Hey everyone!! Thank you for being patient with me as I publish this book. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I have enjoyed writing it! What do you think so far? Who's your favorite character? And most importantly, why? 

Hope you're all happy and living live fully. :D  Remember to be patient and just keep living. <3