Shelby was back with little Emma cuddled against her, Mel’s coat draped over her arm and the clinic keys in her hand, which she used to lock the door.
Mel put on the coat and took the baby from Shelby.
“Where’s the little guy?” Cameron asked.
“With his dad, serving. He’s in the backpack. So—you settled up all your affairs without difficulty?” Mel asked.
“Slick as grease. Had an offer on the house in three days, sold most of the furniture and put some favorite things in storage up there, traded in the sports car for an all-wheel-drive vehicle and had Christmas with my family.”
They began walking across the street to the bar. “What did they think of this idea?” Shelby asked him.
He chuckled. “They think I’ve completely lost my mind. And maybe I have. But what the hell, huh?”
“I really can’t figure out why you did this,” Mel said.
“Same reason you did, Mel,” he said.
“Nah, couldn’t be. My heart was in pieces. I had to go someplace simple and quiet to get a handle on my life. To heal. To be alone and not so obviously alone.”
“Same reason as you, Mel,” he repeated.
She stopped walking. “Ho boy,” she said. “There’s more to this story.”
“Yeah, we’ll get sloppy some night and compare our broken hearts. How’s that?”
She tugged at his sleeve. “This doesn’t have anything to do with any of our, ah, mutual friends, does it?”
“No, Mel. This has nothing to do with Vanessa.” Shelby’s eyes grew very round and Cameron looked at her. “Before Paul got smart and told Vanni how much he loved her, I had a couple of dates with her. That’s all—a couple of dates. She disappointed me when she picked the other guy—but she didn’t break my heart. No worries.”
“Shew,” Mel said. “Had me worried there for a second. I mean, the gossip in this town is good, but it shouldn’t be that good!”
Cameron laughed. “This is going to be great. I’m going to learn to fly-fish on my days off.”
“You’ll have plenty of those,” she said, stepping up on the bar’s porch.
Cameron apparently didn’t think there was anything odd about the number of cars and trucks at the bar and on the street, but then he wasn’t up on the seasonal activities. From January to June things were usually pretty wet and quiet around Virgin River, hunting done and the fishing pretty much closed. But when he walked into the bar, a bar stuffed with people, a cheer and greeting erupted. He stood just inside the door, stunned, while the din slowly subsided. Jack came around the bar, little David squirming around in the backpack. “Come on in, Doc. Welcome.”
Next came Paul, his hand outstretched, then Vanni with a hug and kiss on the cheek, and Walt, pulling him into a hearty embrace. Preacher just about broke his ribs with his hug, then there was Paige, Mike and Brie with a brand-new baby. Next came introductions to friends and neighbors from all over town and the outlying ranches. A cold draft was pressed into his hand, there was a hearty and delicious buffet set out and lots of handshakes, grateful pats on the back. Among the crowd were doctors June Hudson and John Stone and their families, offering services and assistance at the call. June’s dad, Doc Hudson, offered to come out to Virgin River for a while and visit with him on the subject of country doctoring and maybe a trip out to the river. “We can get your angling up to speed before the real fishing starts,” he offered.
Cameron ate, drank, got to know the people from town and felt, for the first time in a very long time, a part of something personal and important. Something both hearty and delicate. There were very few single people among this happy throng, but it didn’t affect him in the way being out with his married partners had depressed him, made him feel like he didn’t belong anywhere. Here, he felt like one of them, though he was absent a partner with whom to share it all.
At some point in the early evening, Mel told him Jack would bring him home and she’d see him later. Jack helped settle his family in the Hummer so Mel could take the babies home to bed. Little by little people bid good-night and wandered off and then at nine o’clock the bar seemed to empty of patrons, bidding him good-night and expressing, again, their grateful thanks and earnest welcome. And then it was down to Jack, Preacher and Cam.
Jack got down a couple of glasses. “We usually pour a shot at the end of the day, after the bar clears out. I’ll drive you out to the house if you’re up to one more.”