“I’m very pleased to meet you, Morgan,” Howard said.
“Me, too.” Morgan looked at the luggage. “You’ll be sleeping in the study. It’s a sofa bed and we hope it doesn’t kill you.”
“We’ll be fine,” Howard said. “Won’t we, Pamela?”
“Of course,” Pamela said.
David stood at a distance and watched, his face fairly blank. His eyes were angry, his body showed fear, his fingers tapping against his thigh, his Adam’s apple moving with his swallowing.
“I’ll help Gus while Morgan shows you the study,” I said. I walked into the kitchen and closed the door.
“That young lady needs to put on some clothes,” Gus said. Gus shook his head. “What is that man thinking? Why’d he bring her here?”
“I don’t know, Gus.”
“Why is he here at all?”
I shrugged.
David came into the room.
“How are you?” I asked.
David barked out a laugh.
“That’s what I say,” Gus said.
Morgan came into the kitchen, looked behind herself as she closed the door. “What is wrong with that man?” she asked. “They’re freshening up.”
“I hope that means getting dressed,” Gus said.
“Thank you,” Morgan said.
“I’m sorry, David,” I said.
“Why is he here?” David walked to the window and looked out at the snow. “Hell, he can’t even leave now.”
“Got that right,” Gus said. He sat at the table and whistled for the coyote. Emily came and sat to have her head stroked.
“Well, they’re here,” I said. “Let’s make the best of it. Gus, do we have enough food?”
“Plenty of food,” Gus said.
“They’re coming,” Morgan said and stepped away from the door toward me.
“That room will be just fine,” Howard said.
“It’s sweet,” Pamela said. “It has a real, ranchy, rustic feel. And I like all the wood.” Then she spotted the puppy under Gus’s hand. “Oh, look at the puppy. What kind of puppy?” She made kissing sounds to call the dog, but as long as Gus was touching her, she was not moving.
Gus stopped petting Emily. “She’s a coyote,” he said. “Her mother was killed and she lost her leg.”
“Oh, poor thing.” Pamela squatted and I was fearful her breast would pop free. She kissed again and this time the puppy hopped over to her. “Poor thing,” she said again.
Zoe watched from the corner, stretched out on her bed. She was attending mainly to David, I assumed because he appeared upset.
The coyote wandered away in midstroke and sat again beside Gus.
“You’re welcome to build a fire in the little stove,” I said. “The big stove in the other room keeps things pretty warm, but that one’s nice when lit.”
“Thank you,” Pamela said.
Howard walked over and put his arm over David’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you, son. I came so I could have a little time with you.”
David looked at his father and then at Pamela. “I promised Gus I’d help get the meal ready right now.”
“Of course,” Howard said. Then he looked at me. “Oh yeah. Pammy, would you run to the room and get that gift?”
Pamela left the kitchen.
“I brought you a little something,” Howard said. “This is a really nice place. I’m looking forward to seeing it in the light.”
“I talked to Mom,” David said.
“And how is she?” Howard asked.
“She sounds really strong now,” David said. “Like she’s found herself somehow.”
“That’s great,” Howard said. “That’s what I always wanted for her.”
Pamela came back into the room and handed me a wrapped bottle. I thanked her and stared at the blue ribbon.
“Open it,” Howard said. “It’s a bottle of Scotch. I thought I remembered that you like Scotch.”
“Thank you.” I peeled down the paper and looked at the label. “Glenturret,” I read. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“It’s a nineteen-eighty,” Pamela said. “It’s aged in special cherrywood barrels. It’s got a nice flavor.”
“Thank you. What a nice gift.”
“Pamela knows all about whiskys and wines,” Howard said.
“I’ll bet,” David said.
“Is that your business?” Morgan asked.
“No, just a hobby,” Pamela said.
“What is your business?” David asked.
“Our flight into Denver was as smooth as silk,” Howard said. “That’s some airport. We had a little trouble with the rental car. You see they stuck us in that midsize. I reserved an SUV, but they screwed it up. It would have been good on a night like tonight.”
“No kidding,” David said.
“Why don’t we go into the other room and let Gus get on with the meal,” Morgan said.
“That’s a good idea,” Gus said. Then, to David, “And you stay in here and help me, youngblood.”
Morgan followed Pamela and Howard out of the kitchen. I started after them and stopped at the door. “Are you okay, David?”
David nodded.
The guests, Morgan and I sat in the living room. The stove doors were open and the fire actually looked beautiful.
“It’s like a postcard,” Pamela said.
“Let’s break open that Scotch,” Howard said.
“I’ll get it,” Morgan said. She touched my leg as she got up.
“So, it was a messy drive,” I said.
“Just awful,” Howard said. “I could hardly see the road.” He looked at Pamela beside him. “But Pamela helped. Right, Pammy? We got gas in that funny little station at the edge of town. I went in to pay first and he told me to go ahead and pump it and then come back and pay.”
“So trusting,” Pamela said.
“You don’t do that in New York, I can tell you that.” Howard smiled at Morgan’s reappearance with the whisky. “There we are.”
Morgan put the tray with the bottle and glasses on the coffee table. “I thought I’d let you pour your own. I’m having water.”
“If you don’t mind,” I said, “I’ll have water as well.”
“It is early,” Howard said. “But it was a long drive.” He leaned forward and poured a little into two glasses.
Morgan poured half her water into my glass.
“To the new year,” Howard said.
We touched glasses and drank.
“That’s exquisite,” Howard said. “You’ll have to try this later.”
I nodded. “So, how is the law business?”
“Boring. Basically, I don’t like my clients. Every one of them thinks that he is my only client. They call me at home and expect me to remember the details of their particular cases.”
“Howard is a tax attorney,” I told Morgan. “In college, he wanted to be a civil rights lawyer.”
“So, what happened?” Pamela asked Howard.
“Marriage and kid,” Howard said, flatly. He leaned forward and poured himself a little more Scotch. “When you’re young, it’s easy to be idealistic. It doesn’t cost anything. Now, John here, he’s managed to stay idealistic. He said he wanted to live on a ranch with horses and that’s what he’s done. But John isn’t like the rest of us. He built this place all by himself.”
“I had plenty of help,” I said.
“That’s a John thing to say.” Howard laughed. “This man is amazing. He’s always been better than me at everything. Well, part of it was that he claimed to not want as much, but I don’t know if that was true. What do you think, John?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know what to make of his words or even the situation for that matter, perhaps especially the situation. I looked at Morgan and I could tell that if she knew of something to help me out, she would have been doing it. I had a mind to excuse myself to the kitchen for some reason or another, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave Morgan alone with them.