Manhunting

Chapter Five

At nine the next morning-ignoring her own nagging doubts that she was wasting time she could better use furthering her plan-Kate met Jake at the lake.

“Valerie just called my cabin to arrange a nature hike,” she said. “Please don’t let her get me. I brought a book. I won’t annoy you.”

“You don’t annoy me,” Jake said. “Get in.”

He rowed them across the lake and back under the willows, stripped off his shirt and lay back to sleep, just as he had the morning before.

“Is this all you do?” Kate asked, settling herself with her book.

“What?”

“Sleep in boats?”

Jake tipped his hat back and scowled at her from his end of the boat. “I get up at five-thirty and work my butt off making sure the grounds look nice for people like you, and this is the thanks I get?”

“Sorry,” Kate said.

Jake nodded once and put his hat back over his face.

“So what is it you do, exactly?”

Jake tipped his hat back again. “If you’re going to be chatty, I’m rowing you back to shore.”

Kate shrugged. “I’m just curious. Penny said you used to be a tax attorney.”

“Used to be are the operative words,” Jake said. “Now I’m in outdoor management.” He put his hat back.

“Does that mean you mow lawns?”

“No, that means I tell other people to mow lawns. Now shut up and let me sleep.”

Kate opened her book, but ended up daydreaming instead. It was so peaceful on the lake, no pressures, no stress. Just the lake and the fish and Jake. She recalled the things she’d planned with Jessie back in the city and smiled. Jake would think she was insane if she told him.

She looked over at him. He wasn’t breathing deeply enough to be asleep yet.

“Have you ever noticed how reality changes, depending on where you are?” she asked him.

“No.”

“When I was in the city, I had an idea of the way things should be that seemed perfectly logical. But then I came to Toby’s Corners and my idea didn’t seem… well…quite right. And then I row out here with you, and in the middle of the lake, that same idea seems so stupid, it’s funny. Do you know what I mean?”

Jake was quiet for so long that she assumed he’d fallen asleep. Abruptly, he said, “Yes.”

“What?” Kate asked, startled.

“Yes, I know what you mean.” Jake pushed his hat off his face again. “That’s why I don’t go into cities and why I spend a lot of time out here.”

“Oh,” Kate said. “What was your stupid city idea?”

“That money was good, and it would be fun to make some,” Jake said.

“Oh,” Kate said again. After a moment, she added, “That was a stupid idea?”

“Well, not in Boston,” Jake said. “In Boston, they thought I was a wonder.”

“But not here?”

“Well…” Jake stretched a little. “Toby’s Corners has a very practical idea of money. It’s the stuff you use to pay the rent and buy food. In the city, it was more a way of keeping score.”

“Isn’t that just because there’s more of it in the city?” Kate said.

“No,” Jake said. “For instance, take my Aunt Clara. Now she was rich by Toby’s Corners standards, and when she died she split her money between Will and me.”

“That was nice of her,” Kate said.

“Well, it came to about twenty thousand dollars apiece, which was a fortune here but not much to brag about where I was living.” Jake reached over and opened the cooler. “I am having a beer,” he said. “You are having juice.” He handed her a can of orange juice and leaned back.

“Thank you,” Kate said, repressing her retort so she could hear the rest of the story. “So what happened next?”

“Well, I was divorced and was making more than I could ever spend, and I was living in the city instead of Toby’s Corners, so it was like Monopoly money for me. For a couple of years, I played the market I lost a little, won a lot, lost a little, won a lot. It was fun. Like playing a game.”

Jake had fallen silent so Kate nudged him with her foot again.

“Go on,” she prompted.

“Well,” he said slowly, “meanwhile back here, Will was taking correspondence courses in hotel management, planning to open up this old eight-cabin motel that had been deserted for as long as anybody could remember. Since he was in Toby’s Corners instead of the city, he used his money to buy up some land and repair the cabins, which of course was a really dumb investment by city standards. The family dug up some old furniture to fill them up, and he advertised and some vacationers showed up. He built some more cabins, and then he borrowed from the bank and put in the little golf course behind them. Things went pretty well for him, but he wasn’t making what the city would call real money. He was just giving some people around here some jobs and supporting himself. Barely.”

“So you were in the fast lane, and he was in the slow,” Kate said.

“Well, Will and I always were different,” Jake said. “Although actually, it’s usually been the other way around. I’ve always been a loper, and he’s always been a sprinter. But I couldn’t wait to get out of here, and he couldn’t stand to leave.”

“So how did you end up back here mowing lawns?”

“I’m getting to that,” Jake said. “You sure you’re interested in this?”

“Fascinated,” Kate said.

Jake drank another slug of beer. “Where was I? Oh yeah, Will was hiring some people from the town to work up here, and as the place got bigger, so did the size of the staff. Pretty soon, he was the local tycoon. So when everything went to hell, they came to him.”

“Went to hell?”

“Well, most of our people worked at the plant over at Tuttle,” Jake said. “Little town, about fifteen miles north of here?”

Kate remembered it vaguely from her drive down-a lost, gray place full of empty stores and houses. “What happened?”

“Plant closed. Owners moved the whole operation to Mexico.”

“Ouch,” Kate said. “How many jobs?”

“About three hundred, give or take a few,” Jake said. He looked grim for a minute. “They just moved out; no warning at all.”

“So what happened?” Kate said.

“Well, people started showing up, asking Will for work, but of course, there was no way he could hire that many people. But they were all looking at him, and you know Will.” Jake looked over at her. “Well, actually, you don’t know Will. He thinks he’s everybody’s daddy, Will does.”

Kate thought about Will and Valerie taking over Nancy ’s bar. “But…”

“But what?”

“Never mind.” Kate shook her head, confused. “What happened next?”

“Oh, he did what he always did when we were kids and he got into trouble-he called me.”

“And you saved the day.”

Jake snorted. “Hell, no. I was clueless and told him so. And he said he didn’t want a clue, he wanted money. A lot of it. And he asked me to fix him up with some investment types so he could build a resort that would keep people in jobs.”

“Oh,” Kate said. “This changes the way I look at the resort.”

“Yeah,” Jake said. “Every time I look at that damn plywood Taj Mahal, I think about the jobs, and I shut up.”

“So you found him the backers.”

“No,” Jake said, taking another drink from his can. “I just gave him all the money I had and came home.”

“You must have had a lot of money.”

“Will was impressed,” Jake said.

“This resort employs three hundred people?”

“Well, it did while it was being built,” Jake said. “And then with all the people coming in, the stores in town started to do a nice business in antiques and crafts and that kind of crap. And every time Valerie stages one of her stunts like that godawful luau, we hire everybody for miles around to help out. All in all, Will pretty well saved old Toby’s Corners.”

“Will and you,” Kate corrected him.

“Nope,” Jake said, pulling his hat back over his eyes. “Just Will. It was pure dumb luck that I was on a major roll in the market right then. Another time, I could have been flatter than roadkill.”

“And you don’t ever think about going back,” Kate said.

“Nope.”

“You must have been pretty good,” Kate said. “To have made all that money, I mean.”

Jake tilted his hat back and glared at her. “Well, I don’t have any now, so don’t start getting ideas.”

“Like what?” Kate asked, stung.

“Like I’m a Yuppie you might be interested in.”

Kate was speechless for a moment.

“I know your kind, lady,” Jake said. “You eat guys like me for breakfast. Well, forget it. I’m broke.” He went back under his hat.

Kate considered kicking him, but decided it would be unladylike. “You know, I find it absolutely amazing that this boat doesn’t sink under the weight of your ego.”

“Ha.”

“The only reason I might possibly be interested in you is because you helped your brother save this town. Since you obviously didn’t, there is absolutely nothing about a shaggy, lazy, arrogant, macho blowhard like you to attract me.”

“Shaggy?”

“Your hair and your mustache need trimming.”

“Now, see,” Jake said. “That is just the kind of attitude that made me leave the city.”

“Also that cowboy hat is ridiculous.”

“Hey.” Jake tipped the hat back. “Will gave me this hat. It is not ridiculous.”

“Why would he give you a dumb hat?”

“Because he said I was a hero,” Jake mumbled.

“What?”

“He said if I was going to act like a guy in a white hat and rescue everybody, I should have a white hat,” Jake said.

Kate laughed softly, and he glared at her.

“So that’s why you wear it all the time,” Kate said. “You big fake.”

“What?”

“You love being back here and knowing you’re half of the save-the-day Templeton brothers. You wear that hat because you’re proud of being a big hero. And then you go around saying, ‘Aw, shucks, ma’am, it twern’t nothin’, and insulting perfectly innocent people from the city like me.”

“You are not perfectly innocent,” Jake said.

“I certainly am,” Kate said. “I can’t believe you think I’d make a play for you just because you have money.”

“I don’t have any money,” Jake said.

“Well, I do,” Kate said. “Lots of it.”

“How much?” Jake said. “I may make you start paying for the beer.”

“Not unless I get to drink some of it,” Kate said. “Did you really think I’d jump you for your money?”

“I have it on good authority that you’re up here looking for a rich businessman,” Jake said. “That ain’t me.”

“What good authority?” Kate said, startled.

“Valerie told Will.”

“Oh, hell,” Kate said.

Jake shook his head. “Women.”

“Well, that was the idea I was talking about,” Kate said. “The one that seemed great in the city and stupid here.”

“Stay out of cities,” Jake advised. “They have a worse effect on your brain than they do on mine.”

“Well, it wasn’t completely stupid,” Kate said. “I’m thirty-five. I want to get married, and that stuff they kept telling me about the right man suddenly appearing before me just wasn’t happening. So I decided to get serious about it.”

“And you came down here to get engaged to a suit,” Jake said.

“No, I’ve been engaged to suits. Three of them. I came down here to find someone I could seriously consider marrying.” Kate looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You are not him. Relax and drink your beer.”

“You were engaged three times?” Jake started to laugh. “What made them leave?”

“They didn’t. I did.” Kate tried to look detached and failed miserably. “I couldn’t bring myself to go through with it.”

“I still don’t get why you came down here. Why didn’t you just go down to a nice big investment-banking firm and hang around the men’s room until somebody who looked good came out?”

“Fine, laugh at me,” Kate said. “At least I’m doing something about my empty life instead of mowing lawns and hiding out on lakes.”

“I don’t mow the lawns,” Jake said. “I supervise other people mowing lawns. It’s a management-level position. Also I own half of the resort, but the investment isn’t liquid so you’re not interested.”

“I don’t care if it’s vapor. I’ll never be interested.” Kate glared at him. “I can’t believe I’m listening to this.”

“Also, don’t look now, but you’re hiding out on this lake, too, kiddo. We are both, so to speak, in the same boat.”

“Yes, but this afternoon, I will be pursuing my plan while you go rot in the azaleas.”

“We don’t have azaleas,” Jake said. “What are you doing this afternoon?”

“Shopping in town with Donald Prescott, who is a stockbroker and possibly the man of my dreams,” Kate said.

“No, he’s not,” Jake said.

“Excuse me,” Kate said, “but I will determine my own dreams. You, by the way, are not in them.”

“He’s not a stockbroker,” Jake said. “You really can pick them.”

“He says he’s a stockbroker,” Kate said.

Jake looked at her sadly. “Do not believe everything men tell you, dummy,” he said. “He’s a scout for Eastern Hotels. He’s here to hire Valerie away from Will.”

Kate blinked. “What’s Will doing about it?”

“Praying that he hurries up,” Jake said.

“Aren’t they engaged?”

Jake snorted. “Who told you that fairy tale?”

“Valerie.”

Jake closed his eyes. “Well, I warned him.”

“What?”

“Forget Will and Valerie. Explain to me this plan of yours so I can avoid it.”

“You’re not even in the running,” Kate said. “I’m looking for someone tall, successful and distinguished.”

“I’m tall,” Jake said.

“You slump,” Kate said. “Forget it.”

“So tell me again why you came here of all places?”

“My best friend sent me. She thought it was a great idea. She, of course, is not here and has never been here, so she didn’t realize I’d end up on a lake with a bozo like you.”

“And this friend is an expert on men?”

“Jessie? Good heavens, no. She dates even bigger losers than I do.” Kate surveyed him critically. “She’d like you.”

“On that note,” Jake said, “I am going to sleep. Wake me up when it’s time for your date with Donald.”

“I certainly will,” Kate said. “It’s going to be wonderful, and I don’t want to miss a moment.”

At two, Kate met Donald and Penny and a new friend of Penny’s named Brian, and they all drove into town together.

The town was wonderful.

Donald was awful.

He was tall, looming over her in his designer suit. He was distinguished, his cologne discreetly exclusive, his hair cut strand by strand by a trendy stylist. He was successful, everything about him shrieking designer labels and money. He was detached, reserved and worldly. And he was, above all, what Kate would once have called discerning.

By the end of the afternoon, she had acquired a different, unprintable adjective for him.

They went first into a store called The Toby’s Corners Shop. It was crammed floor to ceiling with gifts and souvenirs in colors Mother Nature never made, and Kate drew back, her good taste offended by the cheapness of it all. Penny picked out a pink stuffed dog with a tag around his neck that said “Toby,” and Brian bought it for her. She hugged him to thank him, and he closed his eyes in ecstasy and hugged back.

Donald was patient while they looked through the store, although he told them firmly in a voice that carried from one end of the place to the other that the store was just an overpriced tourist trap. The little old man who ran it looked wounded, so Kate bought Jessie a neon-purple T-shirt that said “Somebody Went To Toby’s Corners And All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt,” and an ashtray for her father that looked like a dog leaning against a tree.

“I really love your shop,” she told the old man to make up for Donald, and he smiled at her and thanked her and told her about how he and his wife had been running it for almost two years now, to help with their retirement.

Donald waited with ill-disguised patience by the door.

Then they went into The Corners Art Gallery and looked at walls hung with garish landscapes. Kate tried hard to think about all the work that had gone into the paintings instead of about how bad they were. Donald examined the paintings closely. “Amateur brushwork,” he announced. “Paint By Numbers stuff.” The young man behind the counter looked ready to defend his art with his fists, so Kate asked if he had any pictures of the lake and bought one that featured the willow in soft shades of green.

“This is beautiful,” she told the young man. “I love this part of the lake, and now I’ll always have it with me.”

“My mom painted that,” he said. “I’ll tell her what you said. She’ll be real happy.”

Donald snorted.

They went into Mother’s Sewing Basket and looked at locally made quilts and coverlets. Penny found a crazy quilt in shades of yellow. “This would look great on my bed,” she said. Brian grew pale at the thought and moved closer to her. “Cheap fabric,” Donald said. “They’re using polyester instead of cotton.” The little old woman stitching by the window looked ready to cry, so Kate bought a peach-and-blue comforter for her apartment.

“I’ve never had a real patchwork quilt before,” she told the old woman. “This will keep me warm all winter.”

“It will that,” the old woman said, and patted her hand.

Donald sneered.

They went into Cline’s Dry Goods and found rows of cotton and flannel shirts in bright plaids, stacks of dark blue jeans, and piles of socks, white T-shirts, and underwear that Donald snickered at. They also found, to Penny’s delight, a rack of cowboy hats.

Mrs. Cline came out from behind the counter to help her.

“You’re so pretty, you’ll look a treat in any of them, honey,” she told Penny. “It’s a real pleasure to see you try them on.”

Penny beamed at her and tried on a blue one with golden feathers around the crown.

“All right,” Brian said.

“It’s you,” Kate said, laughing. “You have to have it.”

“You, too.” Penny pulled her over to the rack. “You get one, too.”

Mrs. Cline picked up a red hat with white beads. “Try this one,” she urged Kate. “You’d be a picture in a red dress and this one.”

Kate hesitated, and Penny shook her head. “No. That one.” She pointed to a black hat with silver medallions around its crown.

“That’s for a man, honey,” Mrs. Cline said, but she got it down anyway.

Kate put it on and mugged with Penny in the mirror.

“We’ll wear these tonight,” Penny said, and Kate was about to tell her no, cowboy hats weren’t her style, when Donald picked the hat off her head.

“One hundred and twenty-five dollars? That’s ridiculous.”

Kate saw Mrs. Cline color.

“I don’t think so.” Kate took the hat back from him, even though she did think so. “This is a high-quality hat. I’d have to pay a lot more for this in the city.”

She put it on again and let it slide back so it framed her face. She looked a little bald with all her hair pulled into a chignon, so she took the pins out and let her hair fall free.

“All right,” Penny said.

“Now it’s worth one hundred and twenty-five dollars,” Donald said gallantly.

If she wore braids, she could pretend she was Annie Oakley. She’d always wanted to be Annie Oakley. What was she going to do with a one-hundred-and-twenty-five-dollar cowboy hat?

She looked at Mrs. Cline, who looked at her and smiled.

“I’ll take it,” she said. “Penny’s, too. My treat.”

“Oh, Kate, really?”

“Really,” Kate said.

They went into Dickerson’s Snack Shop because Kate said she was tired of shopping. In truth, she was tired of spending money on things she really didn’t want. It’d be just her luck that the next place they’d end up would be a car dealership, and she’d have to make up for Donald’s big mouth by buying a ‘69 Chevy.

“Hi, folks.” A round little woman came to the table, a pad in her hand. “What’ll it be?”

“Hamburger and fries, lots of catsup,” Penny said.

“Hamburger and fries, lots of catsup,” Brian said, adoringly.

“Do you have anything broiled?” Donald asked.

“Mashed potatoes and gravy,” Kate said, reading the menu. “You have mashed potatoes and gravy?”

“Sure do.” The little woman beamed at her. “I make ‘em myself.”

“I love mashed potatoes and gravy,” Kate said. “Real homemade mashed potatoes and gravy. Two orders, please.”

The potatoes when they came were light and fluffy, the gravy dark and speckled with meat chunks and scrapings.

“I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Kate said and the little woman laughed.

“Kate,” Donald said loudly when she’d gone back behind the counter, “they’re instant.”

Kate looked horrified. “They can’t be.” She tasted them. They were thick and rich, full of butter and real potato. “They’re real.”

“No place like this could afford the time to make real mashed potatoes,” Donald told her. “They’re instant.”

Kate ignored him. The gravy was salty and thick, the potatoes creamy, the meat falling apart on her fork. Who needed men? She had this.

“Kate!” Donald was as outraged as if he’d read her mind.

“They’re real.” She scooped up another mound. A piece of meat fell off, and she raised her fork to spear it.

“Let me see.” He thrust his hand over the plate just as she aimed the fork.

Later, she couldn’t remember whether she’d had time to stop, or if Donald’s trying to ruin her potatoes the way he’d ruined everything else had made her temporarily insane. Whatever the reason, she stabbed him with the sharp, narrow, old-fashioned fork and hit a vein in the back of his hand.

Donald screamed, and she shoved his hand away so he wouldn’t get blood on her potatoes.

“I’m so sorry, Donald,” she said and took another bite.

An hour later, Kate stopped by the cabin and dropped off the things she’d bought and then strolled back to the pool for a while. Two orders of Mrs. Dickerson’s mashed potatoes had made her world a better place, even though Donald tried to make her leave after Mrs. Dickerson had wrapped his hand in gauze.

“I’m almost finished,” she’d told him, “and you’re not bleeding anymore.”

He was standing at the bar when she sat down next to the pool, drinking with his left hand and ignoring her. Obviously he wasn’t going to be making any passes at her tonight. Just as well, she told herself. He’d probably tell me that my nightgown was polyester and that I’d faked my orgasm. And he’d have been wrong about the nightgown and right about the orgasm.

Penny waved to her and she moved to the chair beside her. “Thank you for talking me into going into town today,” she told Penny. “I had a very good time.”

“Well, don’t forget, we’re going to Nancy ’s tonight, too,” Penny said.

“Anything you say,” Kate said and slouched down in her chair to enjoy the late afternoon.

Jake watched her slouch and then deliberately turned away. She didn’t seem upset, but something had pretty clearly gone wrong that afternoon; for one thing, Donald the gnat was wearing a bandage. She must have done something to him. Jake grinned, wondering what he had done.

He felt somebody at his elbow and turned to see Kate.

“Soda,” she said. “Any kind. I’m dying of thirst.”

“Sure.” Jake moved behind the bar. “So how did the plan go today?”

Kate glanced over at Donald who was glaring at her as he nursed his hand. “Not well. Why?”

“I was curious as to why old Donald was wearing a bandage. You were my first guess. What’d you do, bite him?”

“He should be so lucky,” Kate said. “I stabbed him.”

Jake handed her a drink. “Try not to injure anybody else, okay?”

“He deserved it,” Kate said.

“I’m sure he did. But if you go around wounding every guy who deserves it, you’ll be taking out most of the hotel.”

“I’ll behave,” Kate said. “I’m not even going to be at the hotel tonight. Penny’s taking me someplace called Nancy ’s.”

“I’ll warn Nancy,” Jake said.

“Very funny,” Kate said and walked back to her chair while Jake watched.

I’m really not attracted to her kind, Jake thought. Which is a good thing, because if I was, I could be in deep trouble here.

Penny knocked on Kate’s door at seven. “Come on, Kate,” she called. “Let’s go.” She was wearing white hoop earrings the size of bracelets, her new cowboy hat, and a neon-blue scoop-necked cotton-knit shift that stopped a good distance above her knees. She had exquisite knees.

Penny came in and sat on the bed and her dress rose above her thighs. She had great thighs, too. “You’re going to love Nancy ’s. Everybody says it’s the best-a real country bar. Everybody goes there.”

“Right,” Kate said. “I’m going. Just give me a minute.”

What to wear was a problem. She really liked Penny, but going places with her was depressing. No thighs or knees, she told herself. You can’t compete.

She pulled her white silk halter dress out of the closet. It was a little formal and draped a little low in the back for a bar, but it was also calf-length. She looked at Penny’s thighs. This was the dress.

She put her hair back in the chignon and put on her gold hoops.

“You should leave your hair down,” Penny told her. “It looks really good down.”

“It’s messy.” Kate tucked a loose strand firmly behind her ear.

“Men like messy hair. They like to touch it.”

Kate looked at Penny’s hair, tumbling all over her shoulders. It was lovely.

“Not my style.” She put in another bobby pin.

Penny sighed and followed her out to the car.

Surprisingly enough, Kate liked the bar. It was everything Penny had said-a real country bar. The light was dim, the tables were scarred wood, and a jukebox glowed neon as it moaned country and western to the crowd. In the background, Kate could hear the snick of pool balls and see people playing under hanging lights, and somewhere someone was playing pinball. A real bar. Not a fern in the place.

A good-looking redhead was tending the old oak bar, wiping down the thick white-veined marble top. Like the rest of the waitresses, she was wearing a well-filled black tank top and a pink vest. Unlike the rest of the waitresses, she was self-possessed and over thirty. Kate made a bet with herself that this was Nancy.

“White wine, please.” Kate sat on the barstool in front of her, and the redhead poured her drink. Penny stood with her back to the bar, surveying the room.

“I’m Nancy,” the redhead said. “You want anything, just holler my name. Everybody else around here does.”

Kate smiled. “I’m Kate. And this is Penny.”

“I love your bar,” Penny said, turning around. “It’s just too authentic.”

“Thanks,” Nancy said. “That’s definitely the ambience we wanted.”

Kate looked at her with more interest than before. “Exactly how do you achieve this authentic ambience?”

“Oh, it’s not hard. We just hire a couple of guys in plaid shirts to come in and play pool and spit on the floor.”

“You hired them?” Penny asked.

“It’s a joke, Penny,” Kate said.

“Actually, the guy in the blue plaid shirt back there is my husband.”

Kate looked back to the pool table. The guy in the blue plaid was blond and stocky. He was staring sadly at the table where a big man in a cream-colored cowboy hat was knocking balls into the pockets with disheartening precision.

“Isn’t that Jake?” Penny asked.

“You know Jake?” Nancy shook her head. “He’s beating Ben at pool. They’ve been playing off and on for about five years now. Ben’s never won once.”

“Why does he keep playing?” Kate asked.

“He says he’s getting better.”

“Well, you have to admire a man who doesn’t quit.”

“Jake says he’s getting worse.”

“Jake’s dreamy,” Penny said.

“Go tell him,” Nancy said. “Maybe you’ll distract him and Ben will win.”

“Maybe later,” Penny said. “We want to scope out the action. Right, Kate?”

“What do you want to drink, Penny?” Kate asked hastily. “I’ll buy.”

“Strawberry daiquiri,” Penny said.

Nancy sighed.

“How about a beer?” Kate suggested. “Men in places like this love women who drink beer.”

“Are you sure?”

“Did you ever see Urban Cowboy?”

“No,” Penny said. “Beer, please.”

“Thank you,” Nancy said to Kate and went to get Penny’s beer.

Over by the pool table, Ben looked up. “Check out the talent at the bar.”

Jake glanced over his shoulder and stopped for a moment to stare. Then he turned back to the table. “The one in white is Kate.”

“The killer?” Ben took a longer look. “That’s some dress.”

“Yep,” Jake said. “I think you just lost this game, son.”

Ben looked at him skeptically. “You said she was a nice kid.”

“She is.” Jake studied the table. “Aside from the damage she does to her dates.”

He leaned over to take his shot, and Ben looked at him and shook his head. “That is no kid.”

Jake pocketed the last ball. “No, but that is the game. You got time for another?”

“Hell, yes. My winning streak is about to start.” Ben looked back at Kate. “She’s not a real blonde.”

“The hell she isn’t.”

“Twenty bucks says she isn’t.”

Jake looked at him in disgust. “And how do you propose we settle the bet?”

“I propose you find out,” Ben said, grinning.

“Find out for yourself.” Jake moved around the table to rack the balls. “But make sure I get the twenty from your estate. Death is no reason not to pay off your bets.”

“This is a wonderful place, Penny,” Kate said. “Thank you for bringing me. In fact, I like it so much, I’m going to buy the next round, too.”

“Oh, shoot,” Penny said. “We won’t have to buy any more beers. That’s what guys are for. Look at that guy in the black Stetson.”

The guy in the Stetson was ersatz cowboy, right down to his spurs. Expensive ersatz cowboy. He was probably a dentist from Detroit. Still, if Penny liked him, Kate wasn’t going to be a snob. “He’s very attractive, Penny.”

“He’s smiling at us.” Penny smiled back. The dentist ambled over.

“Howdy, little lady.” He touched the brim of his hat “Could I buy you a drink?”

“Sure could,” Penny said. “This is my friend, Kate.”

“Just leaving.” Kate backed away a few seats, taking her wine with her. The dentist smiled his appreciation.

Why is it, Kate thought as she backed up, that Jake and Penny can look honestly charming in their cowboy hats and yet this man looks like such a loser? And those spurs. Those spurs would make me very nervous.

She stopped with a bump when she backed into someone. She turned to apologize and got a good look at the man she’d bumped-he was tall, rangy, blond, and devastatingly good-looking.

Hello, she thought. He wasn’t exactly part of her plan, but then her plan was obviously not working anyway.

“Lemme buy you a drink, honey,” he slurred, grabbing her arm.

The moment of her temptation was gone. She didn’t like grabbers, especially drunk grabbers.

“Thanks but no thanks.” She smiled sweetly and tried to move away from him, but he blocked her way, holding on to her.

“Back off, Brad,” Nancy said from behind the bar. “She’s not interested.”

“She will be. Just got to give her a little time.” Brad tried to kiss her but Kate ducked and all he caught was her ear. From the corner of her eye, she saw Nancy wave to somebody, and then she concentrated on getting away from Brad.

Across the room, Ben looked up at Nancy ’s wave and saw the minidrama unfolding at the bar.

“Uh-oh,” he said. “Brad’s putting the moves on your kid. Want to go save her?”

Jake looked up. “No.” He sighed and put his cue down. “But I’ll go save Brad. He’s kind of obnoxious, but he doesn’t deserve what Kate will do to him.”