“I’d heard that Wind made it through surgery and was doing well before two task force members showed up to drive me home.”
“Were they any New Species that come into the diner?”
“They were humans. They flew in from Homeland with more doctors and to ask me questions.”
“What did they want to know?”
“I was shown pictures of the men I shot, and asked if I had ever seen them before. I hadn’t…and I’ve met almost everybody in town.”
“It’s impossible not to. This place isn’t that big, and we only have one decent grocery store.” Mary pulled a face. “That gas station minimart near the freeway is way overpriced. They screw the tourists.”
“I don’t shop there, either.” Mel sighed. “Anyway, I’m just glad I’m not going to jail. Those task force guys I spoke with said I wasn’t in any trouble.”
“You’re not, Mel. The New Species were very clear that you acted in self-defense and saved their lives. Sheriff Cooper wasn’t even mad that Joel keeps a loaded shotgun at the diner. Hell, he patted him on the back. Where did you learn to shoot like that, anyway?”
“You’ve never been on a working farm, have you?”
“No. I’m a city girl. I mean, our town isn’t real big but I couldn’t milk a cow. I’d probably grab a bull’s balls by mistake. I don’t even know how to tell them apart.”
“That would end badly.” Mel laughed, imaging that scenario. But her humor was short-lived. “Two words for you: barn vermin. We got infestations if we didn’t get rid of them. It was good practice.”
“What are barn vermin?” Mary looked confounded.
“Rats, racoons, and snakes, mostly. You sure don’t want them around. Some are downright mean. Though, I did miss some of them on purpose because the noise chased them off.”
Mary shuddered.
Mel chuckled. “See why I left my hometown? Not to mention, we had one bar there, and it doubled as a gas station and minimart. The owners only served food on the weekends, so it was where you went if you didn’t feel like cooking or wanted to take someone on a date. Everything else was over half an hour away. It wasn’t bad to travel during good weather, but in the winter, we were stuck. The roads could get too bad.”
“I thought you mostly left because of your mother.”
“Her too. Mama and her friends made my life a living nightmare. But the last straw was Bobby Roy.”
“Who’s that?”
“The fifty-two-year-old widower Mama kept throwing at me, but he looked way older than that. He’d never had kids with his dearly departed wife, and he owned a nice spread next to ours. Mama told me he drank a lot, meaning he wouldn’t live to a ripe old age. She had her heart set on adding his land to ours when he left me everything as his widow.”
Mary’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. He had a sweating problem, too. Probably from all the booze trying to escape his bloated body. I told her I wasn’t going to sleep with a man just so she could have a nicer fishing spot. She said I was sleeping with pond scum anyway, and I might as well get something out of it besides a bad reputation.”
“She sounds really harsh. I’ve known you for a year, and you’ve only dated one guy in that time. A bad reputation implies you sleep around, which you don’t.”
“Well, I was with Jimmy for five years, but two of those he was in the service after we graduated. I didn’t get to see him unless he was on leave. We were high school sweethearts. I wasn’t the cheating kind, but he turned out to be. Some girl showed up out of the blue looking for him. They’d broken up, and she wanted him back. Imagine how surprised we both were. She didn’t know he’d asked me to marry him. We were waiting until he was home, after he got out of the service. Meanwhile, he’d been living with her where he was stationed. Then I was with Buck, but he was more fun than serious.”
“You told me about Buck. He was the one who loved to race cars, right? Cute but kind of stupid? He had a good sense of humor?”
“Yeah. I didn’t want to become a widow since, he wasn’t very good at not wrecking cars, so I kept telling him no when he talked about marriage.”
“He met some girl and married her when he was in Texas, if I recall.”
“That would be him.” Mel shrugged. “Better her than me.”
“How long were you with him?”
“Two years, on and off.”
“Anyone else back there?”
Mel shook her head.
“And that earned you a bad reputation in your town? You’re twenty-five and have only had a total of two boyfriends. That’s not slutty at all.”
“They were kind of bad boys. Jimmy’s old man is the town drunk. Buck’s mama is a wandering spirit, which is a nice way to say she sleeps around. She’d hook up with any man who offered to take her away from there, then come home to her husband after she got dumped. He always let her back in the door, and then she’d take off again with someone else. It was like an endless cycle of misery. It’s probably still going on.”
“That made them bad boys?”
“Small town. The sins of the parents and all that. Nobody lets them forget who their folks are, and it’s kind of implied any woman willing to hook up with them is asking for trouble. Plus, I stopped going to church.”
“Is that a crime?”
“It is with my mama being who she is. She’s really involved, but I refused to go after Preacher Todd started hitting on me. I told her, but she insisted I was only saying it to get back at him for making me an example during one of his sermons about sinning. And he really did that as payback over me turning him down flat. Mama believed him over me, saying it was wishful thinking that a man of God would want me.”
Mary shook her head. “Your mother is a bitch, and Preacher Todd sounds like a first-class prick.”
“That’s why we’re friends, Mary.” Mel grinned. “And I agree. Then my mama started inviting Bobby Roy to dinner as my date and started laying on the guilt trips about how much easier her life would be if I married him. She still does every time I talk to her. She wants me to come home and marry him. See why I hate talking to her on the phone? Why I like to torment her about being open to cameras and some guy nicknamed Big Boner nailing me? Payback.”
“Are you going to tell your parents what happened? You might want to. Sheriff Cooper had everyone promise not to tell anyone what happened, to avoid a media circus coming to town, but whatever cover story they come up with might not work. Someone still might blab. New Species were attacked. It could make the news.”
“Nope. I’m going to lie if that happens, and tell my folks that there’s another woman with my name living here. They think this is some huge city, so as far as they’re concerned, it’s possible.”
Mary laughed. “Nobody would buy that.”
“Don’t pop my bubble of hope, Mary. I’m already having a bad day. I told Snow he had a nice butt and made a fool of myself. He’s got to think the worst of me. Did I mention I admitted I’m on the pill, and that I slept with Deputy Dud?”
“You didn’t!”
“Oh yeah. I shared my cable theory with him, too.”
Mary cringed. “Shit.”
“I asked him if he had cable.”
“No, you didn’t!”
“So guilty. See? Do you think Mr. Adams is hiring? Once my arm is out of the sling, I could work on a ranch. I never wanted to shovel crap again but at least I have zero chance of running into Snow there.”
“I’d miss you at the diner. No. You’re not quitting. Don’t look so depressed, Mel. This’ll work out. Snow probably forgot all about you already.”
“He’s the man of my dreams, and you think saying that is going to cheer me up?”