She was there.
Thank you, I whispered in my head.
Her eyes came to me as I headed to the bar, not the opposite end with my back to the wall, the near end with my back to the door.
“Hey,” she said, jerking up her chin. “Early tonight,” she remarked.
Another go at friendly. That door was still open.
Thank you, I repeated in a whisper in my head.
“Yeah, can I have a diet pop?”
She nodded, grabbed a glass, dunked it in the big ice bin and put it on the counter. Then she shot it with the soda gun.
“Heard Bud and his boys gave you trouble last night,” she said softly, curiously and carefully. She expected to be shut down.
I didn’t shut her down. I lifted my eyes from the glass to hers.
“Gray knew there’d be trouble, he was looking out for me.”
She took in a slight breath and replied, “Gray’s that way.”
More Gray intrigue.
I didn’t have time for Gray intrigue, alas.
I had a date with him that night.
“Anyway, a cop named Lenny showed up and Manny heard the commotion so Gray got backup and it all turned out okay,” I finished.
“Len’s a good man. And Manny doesn’t like trouble at his hotel. Bud, he’s a dick. He’s no stranger to trouble and Manny, or Len for that matter, especially Len, are no strangers to Bud’s brand of trouble.”
There it was. Bud spread his jerk cheer all through Mustang. Not a surprise.
“I shouldn’t have made that bet,” I muttered.
“Don’t know, girl,” she grinned. “Fifteen minutes to earn five hundred dollars? I’da made it.”
I held her gaze. Then, slowly, I grinned back.
She caught it, interpreted it correctly as the opening it was and leaned in instantly. “Where’d you learn how to play pool like that?” she asked then didn’t wait for me to answer. “Seriously, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everyone’s talkin’ about it.”
Oh no. That was not good.
She kept speaking.
“You can’t be more than twenty-one.”
“I’m twenty-two,” I told her.
“Okay,” she grinned again, “you can’t be more than twenty-two. So, your age, how’d you learn to play pool like that?”
I wasn’t used to this. Sharing. I didn’t know how to do it. I just knew how not to.
So I told her the truth.
“I didn’t. It came naturally. I just picked up a pool cue one day and went for it. My brother flipped out. I can’t say I played then like I play now but…” I shrugged, “it just happened. It’s just something I can do.”
“Cool,” she whispered on a bigger grin.
I liked this, talking to her. It felt nice. Nice enough I could do it awhile. Nice enough, I might even be able to do it for hours.
But I had a mission.
And on that mission, I blurted, “What’s a VFW?”
Her head tilted sharply to the side and her brows drew together.
Then her head straightened, her brows drifted apart and she flat out smiled.
“Veterans of Foreign Wars,” she answered.
What on earth?
Janie kept talking.
“They got a lodge here. Veterans commune, they do shit, make money, give it to charity, have picnics, I don’t know, shit like that. And they make a mean steak. Do it as a fundraiser every Friday but also so they’ll have more reason to commune, eat meat and drink beer.”
“So, is it fancy?” I asked carefully.
She shook her head and leaned in closer, both arms on the bar. “No, babe. The steak is to die for, to kill for but it’s just a night out. Everyone’ll be there. Cool. Casual.” Her eyes held mine and she said softly, “You’re good just as you are.”
I wasn’t sure I was a big fan of “everyone’ll be there” but I still nodded.
Then she weirdly begged, “Please tell me it’s Gray.”
“Tell you what’s Gray?”
“Tell me it’s Gray who’s takin’ you to the VFW tonight.”
“It’s Gray,” I whispered.
She smiled huge.
I was surprised. I was also pleased I had her endorsement. But I was lastly confused.
“Why do you want me to tell you it’s Gray?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know. He’s Gray.”
“What’s that mean?” I asked and it was then Janie studied me.
Then she leaned in even deeper and stated. “Good people in this town, a lot of them. Bad people too but that’s the way of the world and luckily, in Mustang, there’s fewer than most places. Everywhere, there’s always that someone who’s better than the good people, better than most anyone and in Mustang, that someone is Gray.”
My breath flew clean out of me.
“So,” she went on, “you got a guy like Gray, everyone, not just me, but everyone hopes he’ll find somethin’ great. Somethin’ awesome. Somethin’ else. Lotsa sweet girls in town, gotta say, but none of them’d do the trick.” Eyes glued to mine, she finished, “Has to be someone great. Someone awesome. Someone who’s somethin’ else. Like a twenty-two year old girl who walks into a bar thinkin’ she’s invisible and not havin’ the first clue she’s movie star gorgeous. Like a twenty-two year old girl that makes scuffed cowboy boots, faded jeans and a tight henley look like haute couture. Like a twenty-two year old girl who’s sweet to cooks in a bar she’s never gonna meet because she needs food but she don’t wanna put ‘em out when it’s almost quittin’ time. Like a twenty-two year old girl that sizes Bud Sharp up, sees his fancy-ass clothes, knows, she takes a good look in the mirror, she could bring him to his knees and make him beg and live the big life even if it’s in a small town, and she wants no part of a dick like him. Like a twenty-two year old girl who’s got her secrets and holds ‘em close but cares enough about Grayson Cody, she lays out her cards to make sure, when he asks her on a date, she doesn’t go out on his arm and make him look bad. Like you, who could open your door to Gray tonight lookin’ exactly like you look, wearin’ exactly what you’re wearin’, and, I’m tellin’ you, he won’t be disappointed and no one, not Gray, not anyone in this town, not anyone on this goddamned planet would take a look at you two and not think you belong together.”
I’d had a lot of experience hiding behind a guard that was unshakable.
But not enough not to be left breathing heavy with my hand flat on the bar and my eyes trembling with wet as I stared at a woman I did not know who said the nicest things to me that I’d ever heard in my twenty-two years.
“I’ll end with this, babe,” she whispered. “I don’t know what you got goin’ on, it’s a small town, you look the way you look, you play pool the way you play pool, you catch Gray Cody’s eye and he steps up for you, word’s gonna spread. Everyone’s talkin’. You decide to let go whatever you got goin’ on, I was close on puttin’ up a sign in my window. I need help. I don’t know what you do but I do know men in seven counties would come to The Rambler to buy a beer from you. You want the job, it’s yours. You need a place to hang ‘til you get your shit together, I own this joint including up top. Mostly storage and the rest ain’t much, but it’s got a kitchenette and a bathroom. You’re welcome to it until you get on your feet. A month, two. Then, you wanna stay, we talk rent. You wanna find somethin’ nicer, you keep smilin’, lookin’ as flat out gorgeous as you are and sellin’ the hell outta beer, we’re good. You don’t want that and take off, I get that. Life is life. But that offer is on the table. Yeah?”
I was still breathing heavily to stop the wet from spilling over when I nodded.
“Diet’s on the house,” she muttered then grinned.
I pulled my lips in and bit them.
Then I let them go and grinned back.