Manhunting

Chapter Seven

“Nice hat,” was all Jake said when he saw her, and Kate breathed a tiny sigh of relief. Still buddies, she thought. I’d have missed him. She got in the boat, and he rowed over to the willow.

They took off their shirts, set their poles and then leaned back. Their legs stretched out in the boat companionably next to each other, and Kate no longer worried about touching him, absentmindedly enjoying the warmth of his skin next to hers, as she pulled out her book and began to read.

Jake watched her read. He was glad she’d come back because he would have missed her. There really wasn’t any problem because as attractive as Kate was, she’d made it clear that he was not part of her plan. There was no danger. And now that she was back, he felt comfortable again. He hadn’t lost anything by seeing her naked except for the few brain cells he’d burned out looking directly at her breasts.

He looked up into the willow and listened to the water lap against the boat. It’s a good life, he thought and pulled his hat over his eyes and slept.

Half an hour later, Kate was deep in her book and didn’t notice the tug on Jake’s line until the pole was nearly bent to the water.

“Jake!” she called, and when he didn’t answer, she swatted his leg with her foot.

He woke up grumpy.

“What?”

“There’s something on your line.”

He tilted his hat back and then sat up fast, grabbing the pole before it flipped into the water.

“Damn,” he said, and fought the fish. It was a big one, and it broke the water battling, flapping water all over him as he ducked and tried to grab it Kate reclined in her end of the boat and watched Jake fight the good fight while she ate her second apple.

Finally, drenched and exasperated, he got the fish off the hook and threw it back in the lake. He sat looking at her, his forearms on his knees, his hands dangling in front of him, water dripping off his chest, arms and hands.

“You were a great help,” he said.

“If I’d known you were going to be this energetic,” she said, “I wouldn’t have brought you.” She tossed her apple core back over her head into the lake. “Now cut the hook off your line. The fish around here are positively suicidal.”

Jake shook his head at her stupidity. “What does a fish have to be depressed about?”

“Fine.” Kate waved her hand at him. “Slap yourself in the face with a fish again.” She leaned back in the boat and picked up her book. “Just make sure you let me know. I don’t want to miss it.”

A few moments later she heard the soft snick of his knife cutting through the line, and she grinned to herself.

“Give me an apple,” Jake said and she put her book down and tossed him one. He lay back in his end of the boat and bit into it.

“Where’d you get the hat?” he asked.

“Cline’s.”

“It looks really good on you.”

“I know. I think it’s sexy.”

He studied her critically for a while. “No,” he said finally. “It’s not sexy, but it looks good.”

Kate smiled smugly. “Well, I’m counting on it being sexy. I have a date this afternoon.”

“Oh, Lord.” Jake closed his eyes. “Who are you going to destroy now?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“The hotel would appreciate it if you’d just throw back the men you don’t like without maiming them.”

“I haven’t maimed anyone.”

“You almost drowned Lance, you scared Peter into heart palpitations, you stabbed Donald with a fork, and you hit Brad over the head with a bottle.” Jake shook his head. “And they still ask you out.”

“Lance asked for it, Peter was cheating, Donald was an accident, and, I might point out, I hit Brad to save you-an act I have regretted ever since.”

“They ask you out, but they don’t keep you. Has any guy actually finished a date with you?”

Kate sat up, outraged. “Listen, I’ve had affairs with men.”

Jake snorted. “So you’ve said, but where are they now?”

Kate glared at him. “Is there a point to this?”

Jake shrugged. “Just that it takes a brave man to spend time with you.”

“You spend every morning with me.”

“Yeah, but I make sure you stay in your end of the boat. If you try to get any closer, I’m going overboard.”

“You’re safe.” Kate sniffed. “I never attack wimps in boats.”

“I’m glad you have some standards. So, who’s the doomed man today?”

“Eric Allingham,” Kate said and waited for Jake to tell her that Allingham was a Nazi. When all he did was frown and take another bite of apple, she said, “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Well, what’s wrong with him?”

Jake shrugged. “Aside from the suicidal tendencies he must have if he’s dating you, nothing that I know of. Seems like a really nice guy.” He chomped into his apple again with more energy than was necessary.

“I think so, too,” Kate said doubtfully.

“You sound real enthusiastic,” Jake said.

“Well, after spending the morning watching you trout-wrestle, I find it hard to believe that Eric will be able to measure up in entertainment value,” Kate said. “You’re a hard act to follow.”

Jake shook his head. “Today was special. Don’t count on me slapping myself in the head with a fish whenever you get bored, because it’s not going to happen.”

“I’ve got a date tomorrow, too,” Kate said. “My plan may actually be working.”

“You can’t be that dumb,” Jake said.

Kate ignored him. “A really nice date.”

“Okay,” Jake said. “I’ll bite. Who will the rescue squad be picking up tomorrow?”

“Rick Roberts, the environmentalist. We’re hiking.” When Jake didn’t say anything, Kate asked, “Do you know him?”

“Yeah,” Jake said, a trifle sourly. “Your taste is improving. He’s a great guy.”

“I’m glad you approve.”

“I don’t. Stay away from cliffs and busy roads.” Jake pulled his hat over his eyes. “Watch where you’re going. Do not antagonize the wildlife. In fact, my advice is stay in the hotel. You’re due to give someone some serious trouble here shortly. It might be a good idea to stay within reaching distance of 911.”

“Very funny.” Kate lay back and pulled her hat over her eyes. “I don’t know why you’re so relaxed. I spend more time with you than anyone else. The law of averages says you’re the next to go.”

“Not me.” Jake yawned. “I’m too old and too cautious to let you catch me napping.”

He drifted off and Kate heard his deep, even breathing.

I should tip you out of the boat, she thought. Too old and too cautious. As Jessie would say, what a crock.

Then she fell asleep and they dozed together under the willow, rolling toward each other until their legs tangled as they slept.

At eleven, Kate woke Jake up when she went searching in the cooler for juice.

“You know, you used to be peaceful,” he grumbled.

“I can’t believe you were ever married,” Kate said, as she cracked the can open. “What did you do, make her stand in the corner all the time?” She drank some juice.

“Tiffany was not the type to stand in corners,” Jake said.

Kate spat her juice all over him as she laughed.

Jake sat up and glared at her. “What the hell?”

“You married somebody named Tiffany?” Kate said. “I can’t believe it.”

“At least I only have one mistake in my past,” Jake pointed out as he mopped the juice off with her shirt. “You’ve got Dopey, Grumpy, and Sleazy.”

“Paul, Derek, and Terence,” Kate said.

Jake’s laugh held a lot of contempt. “Good Lord, woman, where did you find them? Twits ‘R’ Us?”

“They were very nice men,” Kate lied. “Did Tiffany dot the i with a little heart?”

“Tiffany was an assistant district attorney,” Jake said. “Don’t be such a snob.”

“If Tiffany was so hot,” Kate shot back, stung, “why aren’t you still with her?”

“Because I wasn’t hot,” Jake said.

“Oh,” Kate said. “I’m sorry.”

“No, dummy,” Jake said, patiently. “I didn’t mean she dumped me. She was going places I didn’t want to go. We parted by mutual consent.”

“Oh,” Kate said again. “That must be nice.”

“It was hell.” Jake frowned at her. “Nice? Are you nuts?”

“No.” Kate frowned back. “I’ve just never parted with anyone by mutual consent. I’ve always had to escape while someone was holding on to my ankle.”

“If they’d been dating you, I can’t believe there was enough life left in them to keep a grip on you,” Jake said.

“They weren’t really gripping me,” Kate said, staring off into space. “They just hated letting go of the money.”

Jake leaned forward to get a beer. “Just how much money are we talking about, here?” he asked, not really caring.

Kate looked up. “Oh, I don’t have that much. But my father does.”

Jake frowned as he drank. “Should I have heard of your father?”

“Bertram Svenson?”

“Oh, hell,” Jake said. “I met him once.”

“I’m sorry,” Kate said.

“No, no,” Jake said. “He was very…”

“It’s all right.”

“Very… forceful.”

“He really hated Paul, Derek, and Terence,” Kate said.

“He looked like he was a sensible man,” Jake said. “Is that why you dumped them?”

“No,” Kate said. “I hated them, too.”

Jake drank some more beer. “Uh, there’s no really tactful way of asking this, so I’ll just ask. Why did you get engaged to them if you hated them?”

“I didn’t hate them until after I was engaged to them,” Kate said. “It always took me a while to figure out that they were more interested in the money than in me.”

“They couldn’t have been that dumb,” Jake said, and Kate looked up, surprised. “Well, you’re not my type, but no man in his right mind would look at you and say, ‘All this woman’s got going for her is money.’ They were interested in you, too.”

“Not really,” Kate said. “They were interested in how good I’d look standing beside them, at best. They didn’t know me.”

“Their loss,” Jake said.

“Thank you.” Kate bit her lip. “Tiffany couldn’t have been too bright, either, to let you get away.”

“Tiffany was very bright,” Jake said. “And she didn’t let me get away. She opened the door and I ran.”

“It was that bad?” Kate shook her head. “I can’t imagine you running.”

“Oh, very funny,” Jake said. “I was younger then.”

“I still can’t imagine you having that much energy.”

“Listen, if I got in the same situation today, I’d find that much energy again.” Jake shook his head and finished his beer. “Damn woman thought I was a mind reader. She kept hinting at things, and I’d miss ‘em, and then all hell would break loose. Plus she had this idea that I was some sort of tycoon, and that we’d be building this empire together. By the time I figured out what she wanted, I’d spent six months getting bitched at every time I turned around.”

Kate looked surprised. “You were only married six months?”

“With Tiffany,” Jake said, “six months was plenty.”

“Oh.” Kate tried to understand. “And you didn’t notice this plan of hers before you got married?”

“The only thing I noticed,” Jake said, “was that she had a great body and we were terrific in bed.”

“Oh.” Kate felt depressed. “And that wore off.”

“Fast,” Jake said.

“Oh.” She tried again. “And this was how long ago?”

Jake frowned, trying to count back. “About seven years. Maybe eight. What year is it?”

“And you’re still avoiding women?” Kate’s sympathy evaporated. “At least I keep trying.”

Jake snorted. “Yeah, and look who you keep trying with. At least I’m not dating Tiffany clones and trying to kill them to get even.”

“I’m not trying to kill them,” Kate said. “I’m just trying to find someone, and they keep self-destructing.”

“Maybe you should stop trying to find someone,” Jake said, settling back.

“No!” Kate said, surprising herself with her own force. “I’m tired of being alone. I want someone to talk to at night. Someone to laugh with. Someone to…”

Jake raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“Nothing.”

They both observed a polite silence while they thought about the nothing, Jake picking up another apple from her bag. After a while, he changed the subject. “So what’re you doing tonight after you’ve finished off Allingham?”

“I’m going to Nancy ’s. She’s going to teach me to bartend.”

“Good.” Jake bit off another chunk of apple. “I think it’s important for a woman to have a career.”

“That’s real liberated of you, Jake.”

“Yeah. I’m a nineties kind of guy.” He looked up at the sun and sighed. “Time to go back in.” He sat up, took the last bite of apple and threw the core in the lake, and stowed the cooler away so he could row. “Tell you what. Come on back to the pool table when you’re done with Nancy, and I’ll teach you to shoot pool like a real hustler.”

“All right,” Kate said, surprised. “I’ve never played pool.”

“Good. We’ll play for money.”

Jake put the poles in the boat and untied the line from the tree. As he reached for the oars, he asked, “How come I always have to row?”

“ ‘Cause I’m a fifties kind of gal,” Kate said, and tipped her hat down over her face.

When Kate looked back on that afternoon with Eric Allingham, there was a certain inevitability to the whole thing, as if she was caught up by forces beyond her control.

Eric was tall, distinguished, discerning, successful, honest, kind, considerate, clean, brave, and reverent. He was also a little boring, but Kate stomped on the part of her that noticed that. He was a good man. That should be enough. He was patient with her and gentle with the horses. Under his tutelage, she found herself in the saddle of a sleepy mare, clutching the reins with much less fear than she would have been if he hadn’t been beside her.

“This is very nice of you,” she said to him.

“My pleasure,” he told her and he really seemed to mean it.

This is a very nice man, she thought. At last, my plan is working.

Then the mare kicked him in the knee, and he went down without a sound.

“Whatever you do,” she told Will when he brought the doctor, “don’t tell Jake.”

All afternoon, Jake felt vaguely uneasy about Kate’s date with Eric Allingham. He couldn’t figure out why. Allingham was a very nice guy. After the string of losers Kate had been out with, Allingham would be a pleasant surprise. He might even be the key to her stupid plan. For some reason, that thought did not cheer him.

The sight of the rescue squad turning down the lane toward the stables did, though. Of course, the squad could be going down there for somebody else, he reasoned, but if he knew Kate, Allingham was in need of medical attention.

And, he thought complacently, I know Kate.

After an afternoon in the emergency ward, Kate tried to forget about Eric and concentrate instead on getting ready to be a barmaid. It had seemed like a wonderful idea the night before, but eighteen hours later, without the lubricating power of beer, she felt uneasy.

The phone rang and she picked it up.

“Hello?”

“So are you engaged yet?”

“Jessie, it’s Tuesday. I’ve only been here four days. I am not engaged yet. Don’t you have anything better to do than call for hourly updates?”

“No,” Jessie said. “What’s up? How were the new guys?”

“The new guys?” Kate started to laugh. “Not good.” Then she remembered Eric and stopped laughing. “Not good at all.”

“Did you kill another one?”

“Stop it. You sound just like Jake.”

“Oh, yeah, Jake. How’s old Jake?”

“Obnoxious. How did the Dershowitzes like their cake?”

“They loved it. So tell me about Jake.”

“Why?” Kate stretched out on the bed and prepared to humor Jessie.

“Because I think he sounds interesting,” Jessie said.

“Well, he’s not. But I am. You’d be very proud of some of the things I’ve done.”

“Like what?” Jessie said skeptically.

“Well, I’m saving a bar.”

“Oh, good,” Jessie said. “We need more of those.”

“No, this is a little neighborhood bar. One owner, with mortgages. You’d like her. Her name’s Nancy.”

“Just like the good old days,” Jessie said and Kate could tell from her voice that she was pleased. “So you’re doing a business plan, right?”

“Right. I knew you’d be happy.”

“Why don’t you date the banker who holds the mortgages?” Jessie suggested. “Then when you’ve got him on his knees pleading for his life, you could bargain for the papers.”

“There is no banker,” Kate said.

Jessie waited, and when Kate didn’t say anything, she said, “So who does have the mortgages? Come on, spill it.”

“Jake,” Kate said.

“Jake?” Jessie sounded confused. “A handyman-banker?”

“He’s not exactly a handyman,” Kate said. “Anyway, I’m going back to Nancy ’s tonight and pick up the books, and then she’s going to teach me to be a barmaid.”

“A barmaid.” Jessie started to laugh. “That’s terrific. A real career for a change.”

“I think it will be fun,” Kate protested.

“Good,” Jessie said. “I can’t remember the last time you did something just for fun. Everything with you is business.”

“Not everything,” Kate said. “I went skinny-dipping this morning.”

“You’re kidding.” Jessie sounded impressed. “Totally nude?”

“Totally. It was lovely.”

“Where’d you find a private place down there? I figured every square inch would be crawling with guests.”

“There’s a little lake that’s very secluded,” Kate said. “And I got up very early.”

“So you were all alone,” Jessie said dreamily. “I may come down there yet.” When Kate didn’t say anything, she added, “You were all alone?”

“Well, in the beginning,” Kate said, hating where the conversation was going. “So what cake are you working on now?”

“What do you mean, ‘in the beginning’?”

“Nothing. You are working on a cake, right?”

“Right. A wedding. So what happened?”

“Nothing happened. Whose wedding?”

“Kate.”

Kate sighed. “I stayed out too long. Jake was on the shore when I came in.”

Jessie started to laugh. “I have got to meet Jake. So how did you get out of it? No, wait, wait. I know. You made him turn his back, and he did because he’s a gentleman.”

“No, I didn’t,” Kate said, stung. “I just walked out of the lake, put on my shift, and went back to the cabin.”

“You let some guy see you in the nude?” Jessie shrieked.

“Well, it’s not as if no man had ever seen me naked before,” Kate said.

“Full frontal nudity in broad daylight with a complete stranger?”

“Jessie, it was just Jake.”

“Just Jake.” Jessie was silent for a minute. “Did he say anything?”

“Yes,” Kate said. “He said that I’d improved his morning. Now tell me about the cake.”

Jessie started to laugh again. “How are you ever going to face this guy again?”

“I spent the rest of the morning on the lake with him,” Kate said. “He’s teaching me to play pool tonight. He’s just a friend. That’s all. Not part of the plan. But speaking of the plan, I went horseback riding with a very nice man this afternoon who may be perfect.”

“You were on a horse?”

“Certainly,” Kate said. “Eric showed me how. He was very patient.”

“You went horseback riding?”

“Well, not exactly.” When Jessie didn’t say anything, Kate sighed and went on. “The horse kicked him in the knee, so we had to go to the emergency room-” She stopped because Jessie was laughing again. “Stop it. He was a wonderful man.”

“Well, he’s not dead, just lame,” Jessie said. “Tell me more about Jake.”

“I’m not interested in Jake,” Kate said.

“Well, I might be,” Jessie said. “He sounds great. How old is he?”

“I don’t know,” Kate said, annoyed. “Late thirties, maybe.”

“Married?”

“Divorced,” Kate said. “From an assistant district attorney named Tiffany who was great in bed.”

“My, my, my,” Jessie said. “Tell me more.”

“No,” Kate said. “He’s not your type. I have to go. I have to get ready to bartend. And then I have to call Eric and see how he’s feeling because he has real potential for my plan. And tomorrow, I’m going out with an environmentalist named Rick, whom even Jake says is a great guy.”

“Jake, again. Are you sure he’s not my type?”

“Absolutely,” Kate said.

“Does he have any brothers?”

“Will,” Kate said. “He’s younger than Jake, very good-looking, extremely nice, wears a suit like a GQ cover, runs the hotel almost by himself, and is considered a local hero by the town because he saved the place single-handed. Come on down. I’ll introduce you.”

“A suit? No thanks, but he sounds like the perfect guy for you,” Jessie said. “You could run the hotel together.”

“Will?” Kate thought about it. “No. He’s darling, but he’s not for me.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.” Kate was annoyed again. “He’s practically engaged to this barracuda named Valerie. And he’s not… I don’t know.”

“He sounds like your plan in the flesh,” Jessie said. “I’d go for it if I were you and if I were still committed to following an extremely dubious plan that I should have dumped days ago.”

“This plan is going to work,” Kate said. “Now I have to go. I’m bartending tonight.”

“Call me tomorrow,” Jessie said. “I want to know what happens with Ron.”

“Rick.”

“Whatever. And give Jake my love. Tell him I can’t wait to meet him.”

“I told you. He’s not your type,” Kate said and hung op to the sound of Jessie’s laughter.

I don’t know what she thinks is so funny, Kate thought, and then dismissed Jessie from her mind as she opened her suitcase to find something to wear.

Black underwear? She found some sheer stuff embroidered with pink and gold flowers. Classy. Her black straight skirt was calf-length, and on an impulse, she took her nail scissors and cut it off above the knee. She took down her hair, and then because her head looked sort of vulnerable under all those curls, she put on her black cowboy hat before she went out the door.

She stopped on the top step. Her car was gone. She’d left it at Nancy ’s the night before when she’d had too many beers to drive. Now what? Did she call Nancy? Walk? What?

After a little thought, she sat down on the top step to wait. He wasn’t distinguished, discerning, or successful, but he was dependable. Jake, she knew, would remember she had no car and would come to get her.

At seven-thirty, Jake got into his car to go to Nancy ’s and found one of Kate’s shoes in the front seat. Terrific. Her car was down at the bar. He sighed and drove to Kate’s cabin, pretending an exasperation that he really wasn’t feeling. When he pulled up in front, she was sitting on the cabin steps in a tight, short skirt, waving at him. She had very nice, very long legs, he noticed. She would be collecting some hefty tips. And probably a few hefty passes. He felt a faint concern, which he told himself was solely for the men of his town.

Kate got in and smiled at him. “I was getting ready to walk, but then I realized you’d show up and rescue me. I’m very grateful. And I’m giving up drinking forever so you won’t have to bring me home.”

“No problem,” he said. “Just do me a favor and try not to make a date with anybody from town tonight. The population’s pretty small as it is.”

“Very funny,” Kate said.

Jake grinned. “Speaking of you and men, what did you do to Allingham this afternoon?”

“Nothing,” Kate said.

“I saw the rescue squad.”

“The horse kicked him.”

“You sure you left those three guys you were engaged to?” Jake said. “Have their bodies been found?”

“Just drive,” Kate said.

Nancy handed her a tank top and vest as she came through the door. “You’re a professional now. Here’s the uniform.”

When she put them on in the storeroom, the tank top was a little tighter than she would have chosen, the vest a little looser. Who cared? She was in Toby’s Corners, and she was going to have fun.

“I feel like Debra Winger in Urban Cowboy” she told Nancy as she tilted her hat back. “Except taller, fatter, older, and blonde.”

“Other than that, you’re a dead ringer,” Nancy agreed, handing her a tray with six beers on it. “The hat’s a nice touch. Keep it on. This goes to the corner table at the front. Watch the guy in the bowling shirt. He has hands. Oh, and the records you wanted for the plan are in the back. You can take them back to the cabin with you for tonight, if you want.”

“I want,” Kate said. “I’m really looking forward to this. I love financial planning.”

“I’d rather shoot myself in the foot,” Nancy said. “But each to his own, I guess.”

“Well, right now my own is being a barmaid,” Kate said, checking her hat in the mirror. “I’m going to be great.”

She felt great. Her hair was loose on her shoulders, her body round in the low-cut tank top, her face flushed from the heat and exercise. She would never have planned to look that way, but she found after her first embarrassment that being riotously feminine was intoxicating. She knew she looked good because of the way the men looked at her, a way she wasn’t used to. She was used to cool, approving looks that evaluated her like she was an expensive piece of porcelain. The men at Nancy’s looked at her like she was flesh and blood. It was disconcerting and fun. She felt powerful instead of possessed, appreciated instead of coveted. She tilted her hat back and smiled at everyone, practicing her own version of the friendly, mild flirting that Nancy used on every male she met; and the men were responsive to a flattering degree. The women, she found, were just plain friendly. She felt happy and curiously alive. The only plan she had in mind now was the one for Nancy ’s bar.

However, being a barmaid, Kate discovered, wasn’t all bounce and smile. The bonuses were the friendly people, the cheerful atmosphere, the tips, and working with Nancy. The downside was the constant walking and the hands.

“Just move around them, honey,” Thelma, one of the barmaids advised her. “If they connect, spill a little beer on them.”

Sally, the other barmaid, pointed out the worst offenders. “Give them their drinks from across the table. They’ll look down your bra, but they won’t be able to reach you.”

Nancy showed her how to mix drinks, draw beer, and work the register. Kate concentrated like she hadn’t since college, learning not only the names of the drinks but the names of the customers and what they drank. When Jake’s Uncle Early, a potbellied man in a stained shirt, came to the bar and said, “Another one, please,” she said, “Gin,” and poured.

Nancy was impressed. She was even more impressed when she realized that Kate could do it with anyone by their third drink.

“How’d you do that?” she asked.

“Mnemonics,” Kate said. “It’s the way I got through college. You make up a sentence that links the two words. You know, it’s too Early for Gin.”

Nancy shook her head. “Amazing.”

“I think I’ve got the hang of it.” Kate felt absurdly proud.

“I think so, too.” Nancy handed her two beers. “Jake and Ben. They’re due.”

Kate threaded her way back to the pool table.

“Hey,” she said, and they stood back for her.

Jake looked at her tank top as he took his beer, and then he looked away. “Nice outfit,” he said. “Injured anybody lately?”

“Give it a rest,” Kate said. “Not everyone is as big a wimp as you.”

“Oh, almost forgot,” Jake said and tipped her five bucks.

“What’s this for?”

He picked up his cue and chalked it. “Helping me settle a bet with Ben.”

“What bet?”

“Whether you were a real blonde or not.”

The lake that morning. Kate blushed brick red and turned back to the bar. She stopped before she got there and walked back to him.

“Who won?” she asked.

Jake made his shot. “I did. Ben’s a cynic.”

By ten the bar was almost empty, so everybody saw Sally swerve to avoid Brad’s hand, slip in some spilled beer, and sprain her ankle.

Jake looked at Kate. “I warned you,” he said. “I pleaded with you not to maim any more of the population.”

“Oh, please,” she said. “This is my fault?”

“Okay, you’re right.” He put down his cue. “This one isn’t your fault.” He left to help Ben get Sally into Thelma’s car.

Nancy waved her over. “That job offer is really serious now. Can you fill in for Sally for a couple of nights?”

“Sure,” Kate said.

“Six to eleven, Wednesday and Thursday. If Sally’s not back by Friday, six to one.”

“Sounds good,” Kate said and went to clear a table. My feet hurt, but I like it here, she thought. I owe Jessie big for this one.