Of course, Doc was more than happy to comfort, change and jiggle Mel’s kids. He adored them. He grumbled a little about babysitting, but he never once refused. In fact, if she tried to get someone else to stand in, he seemed disappointed. Maybe offended, as if he’d been considered too old.
This was just such a typical day, a beautiful mid-October afternoon. Mel left the sleeping kids in Doc’s charge at about one-thirty and found Jack on the porch of his bar, tying off beautiful, feathery flies. Fishing season was starting to get good—the fall was excellent for salmon, sturgeon and trout. Jack was an amazing angler.
“Things have been really interesting in your little bar,” Mel said.
“A little tense and steamy.” He laughed. “Think someone should take Luke aside and warn him about this place?”
“I thought you’d finally learned your lesson,” she teased him. “You’ve been in the business of almost every romantic relationship in this town…”
“Yeah, but this one’s different. The second Shelby saw him, it was a target lock on. She wants him. Can you see the struggle on his face? He’s getting lines.”
“Yeah, what’s that about?” Mel asked. “She’s adorable. You’d think he’d be thrilled.”
“Well, the first night he met her he said he took one look at her and thought he was going to be arrested. He might be having a little trouble with her age.”
“Phooey,” Mel said. “There’s quite a nice difference in our ages.” She grabbed his thigh. “I’m catching up with you, however.”
“Then there’s the general,” Jack said. “Kind of intimidating…”
“Oh, Walt’s a pussycat,” she said. “And I think he likes Luke. They have the army in common.”
“Luke’s either going to give in or explode,” Jack said.
“How do you know he hasn’t? Given in.”
“Have you taken a good look at him? At his posture, his eyes? Believe me, he’d be a lot looser. He hasn’t unloaded in a long time.”
“Jack!” she said.
“And the funny thing is, Shelby’s downright serene,” Jack said, completely ignoring his wife’s scold. “She’s a very unusual woman.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror when it’s been a long time for us?” he asked. “It’s all over your face when you need to be taken care of.” He grinned at her.
“It is not!” she said, giving him a whack on the arm. But she laughed at him, and secretly knew he was right. She also knew why Shelby didn’t look that way. Shelby, virginal, hadn’t been satisfied by a man yet; she didn’t ache with longing for her lover. “It’s hardly ever been a long time for us,” she pointed out.
“Which is how I like it,” he said. “Then take the general,” he said. “Talk about a satisfied man…”
“You can’t possibly know that. Walt neither looks nor acts any differently than he ever did,” she insisted.
“The general looks like a beautiful woman moved in next door and he’s doing his best to be a good neighbor. He’s got a twinkle in his eye and a very sly grin.”
Mel turned toward him and narrowed her eyes. “Do you really think you know what facial expressions correspond exactly to a man’s getting laid?”
“I do,” he said with a smile. “In fact, I consider myself something of an expert.”
She sat with him for an hour, talking mostly about the new budding romances. In fact, a lot of people were preoccupied with that. No one knew what was going on outside the bar, but Shelby and Luke were there frequently for a beer, sometimes dinner as well, and they were inseparable. They tended to look at each other as though they’d been waiting days to be together just for that little while.
By contrast, the general was seen around town a little less, leaving people to wonder if he wasn’t spending that time with the movie star down the road.
It was three o’clock when the empty school bus barreled through town, Molly headed for her pickups. Like all little towns in the area, she had kids at elementary, middle and high schools to gather up at the end of the school day and bring back to town. It was a long day for the farm and ranch kids whose parents drove them into town to meet the bus in the morning, picking them up in the afternoon. As she passed the bar, she gave the bus horn a blast and waved at Mel and Jack on the porch.