Harvest Moon (16 page)

A light snow had fallen a few days earlier, and the
last of its remains stuck stubbornly to the grass that edged the front of Jim’s
bar. Temperatures constantly hovered at freezing, and the sky was deceptively
clear, fooling people into a false sense of warmth only to shock them with
bitter cold if they stepped outside without a parka.

It had been a week since Jase’s goodbye, or at least,
what might become a goodbye. Dawn hadn’t heard from him. She hadn’t even heard
rumors of him, and yet he was all she could think about as she leaned on the
bar and watched the few remaining folks who had come to town to kill a bear
that didn’t exist.

With the snows starting and Thanksgiving fast
approaching, most of the hunters had given up and headed home. Only the most
stubborn remained in Goosemont, the ones who were certain that they were days
away from catching the big one, but even they were starting to thin.

The last couple of days, most of the gossip hadn’t
been about possible sightings of the bear, about people getting hurt, or
anything of the like. Most of the chatter she heard at the bar had more to do
with folks starting to theorize that the bear had moved on or died on its own.
Most of them had agreed that only a sick bear could be responsible for multiple
attacks on humans, and maybe the animal had finally succumbed to whatever was
eating at it.

It seemed logical, even though Dawn knew the truth.
There hadn’t been a disappearance since Courtney went missing, and even then,
there was no proof that she hadn’t just run off on her own. Part of Dawn still
hoped that was the answer, and town gossip seemed to favor the idea, but in her
heart, she knew the truth.

Things had been quiet, and Dawn was starting to wonder
if Jase had succeeded in killing the beast that was truly responsible for the
horrors that Goosemont had faced. Still, as her brow furrowed while she kept an
eye on the few people eating and drinking, she hoped he hadn’t. If he had, that
meant he hadn’t come back for her, and just the thought of it made her chest
ache.

“Hey,” a voice came from behind her and Dawn nearly
jumped out of her skin.

“Jim,” she gasped. “Don’t do that.”

“Sorry,” he said with a weak smile. In the last couple
weeks, Jim seemed to have aged by years. His beard was grayer and it barely
covered how hollow his cheeks had begun to look. He wasn’t eating properly,
that was obvious, but he was stubborn, and Dawn knew there was no sense trying
to insist he take better care of himself.

“It’s okay,” she said. “Guess I’m still jumpy.”

“Understandable,” he said as he looped his thumbs into
his belt. “You were probably just fretting about Courtney, is all. It’s all I
can think about, most days.”

“Yeah,” Dawn lied. She knew she should be worried
about her friend, but in her heart, she had accepted Courtney’s death, even
though nothing had been found of her. She’d mourned, in her own way, but she
couldn’t help but feel guilty as Jim said her name.

“I just…” Jim sighed, his eyes red. “I hope the poor
girl is okay, if she is still out there. I just...”

“Jim,” Dawn stopped him as she gently patted his arm.
“It’s okay. I know. I know.”

They were weak words of comfort at best, but it was
enough for the big man. It seemed to be enough for both of them to stand in
silence together. Words weren’t always necessary, and Dawn was happy to stay by
his side as long as he needed her to. He’d done so much for her that she owed
him that much, at least.

As the afternoon trailed on, most of the few diners
who sat around paid their tabs and left. People hadn’t quite adjusted to the
cold of winter yet, and while the town was starting to relax some, most people
were still cautious about being out after dark.

As they should be
, Dawn thought to herself as
she watched the sun set through the windows at the front of the bar. The only
people who filled the place the last couple weeks had been people who’d come to
join the search for the animal, and they were rapidly thinning. Jim’s saw less
and less of them every night, and Dawn was starting to prepare for another
famine.

Most of the place had emptied by time the sun had
fully set, and only a few stragglers remained as the clock on the wall chimed
eight. Jim shook his head and retreated to his office then, probably to mope in
the dark like he’d been doing a lot of lately, but Dawn kept her quiet perch,
watching over the bar.

It was as the last table was settling up their bill
that the door opened once more and a familiar face entered. Gavin Mosley
stepped in as he brushed a bit of snow off his shoulders, and then shook off
his boots. When he saw Dawn, he flashed her a smile, his teeth white and
perfect as he hung up the light jacket he’d been wearing.

“Hey,” he said to her as he took a seat at the bar.
“Busy night?”

“Hardly,” Dawn laughed. “Snowing pretty bad out
there?”

“Nah,” he said. “Just a light dusting. It’ll pass soon
enough. I walked, so I got myself a little covered.”

“You walked?” Dawn asked. “Really? Seems a little cold
for that.”

“I grew up in this,” Gavin said as his smile grew. “I
love it, though I can’t wait ‘til we get a real blizzard. Then the fun really
gets going.”

“If you say so,” Dawn replied. “How about a nice,
toasty beer to warm up with, though?”

“Now you’re speaking my language,” Gavin laughed.
“God, I was really thinking more people would be here tonight.”

“I think they’re still a little scared of the dark,”
she said as she handed over his pint.

“They’re being ridiculous,” Gavin said. It was the
first judgemental thing she’d ever heard come out of his mouth, and it
surprised her.

“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “People just
want to be safe.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, “but you can’t let something change
your life like that. I mean, you seem fine. You’re here working, and I assume
you’ll be walking home in the dark.”

“So?” Dawn said, a little put off by his assumption.
“I don’t have much choice in it. Besides, Gabe and I usually walk together.
He’s just up the street from me.”

“Okay, okay,” Gavin said as he put up his hands in
faux defense. “Sorry I said anything.”

“It’s fine,” Dawn said. “I can just understand why
people would be scared, is all.”

“You’re totally right,” he said with a smile. “Man,
did your boss turn up the heat in here?”

“No,” Dawn said. “It’s pretty much normal.”

“Maybe it’s the beer,” Gavin said as he pulled off his
jacket. “It’s pretty toasty all right,” he said with a wink.

“Hey, your arm looks better,” Dawn said as she noticed
he was no longer wearing the tension bandage.

“This?” he said as he rotated his right arm for
effect. “Yeah, it had me laid out for a couple days. I almost called my old
sports doc to ask him what to do, but I just stayed off it and rested, and now
I’m fit as a fiddle. Won’t be sliding into home plate any time soon, of course,
but I’m not out of commission.”

“Well, that’s good,” Dawn said. “Feel like anything to
eat to go with that beer?”

“Oh yeah,” Gavin said. “Can you get your cook to do me
up one of those burgers? I’ve been itchin’ for one, and I can’t cook for squat,
so I’m starving.”

“Want me to make it a double patty?” Dawn asked with a
playful wink.

“Do it up,” Gavin said. “And fries with gravy. I am so
hungry, I could eat the whole cow.”

“Coming right up,” she said before she moved to the
kitchen to put in his order. “Hey, Gabe,” she called to the cook. “Double
burger and fries.”

“Shit,” he said. “I was just about to shut down the
grill.”

“Just one more,” Dawn said. “I don’t think anyone else
is coming in.”

“Fine,” Gabe grumbled as he threw two patties on the
flat-top.

“Any chance we have some gravy?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he told her. “Tons, actually. Figured we’d
need it for Thanksgiving.”

“Throw some on the fries,” she said. “Smother them.”

Gavin hadn’t asked for them to be drowning in gravy,
but she had a feeling he’d appreciate the thought. If he was that hungry, he
probably would be glad of it.

“So, how’s business been?” Gavin asked when Dawn
returned. “Or is that a sore subject?”

“It can be,” she said with a shrug. “Up until
recently, we were booming, but the last few days, it has really slowed. I think
folks are heading home.”

“They shoot whatever it was they came here to shoot?”
Gavin asked her as he took another drink from his beer.

“I doubt it,” she said. If someone had shot a
werewolf, well, anyone but Jase, she was sure everyone would be talking about
it, and not just the folks in Goosemont. “You ever go hunting?” she asked him.

“Me?” he said as he pointed at his own muscular chest.
“Nah, not really my thing. Couldn’t imagine pulling the trigger on some
helpless bunny rabbit. Besides, where’s the sport in sitting in some tree,
covered in piss, and shooting some poor critter that’s just doing what he does
best?”

“You have a point,” she said. “I mean, that kind of
hunting, at least.”

“There are more kinds?” he asked, seemingly clueless.

“Well, of course,” she said. “My dad took me a few
times when I was a kid. We didn’t do the sitting in trees thing. We actually
stalked the deer.”

“You ever shoot one?” Gavin asked, his brown eyes
intently watching hers.

She shook her head. “No. My dad did, and I watched him
do it. He did teach me how to shoot, though. And I shot a duck, once.”

“You know,” Gavin said as he took another swig of
beer. “When I first saw you, you never struck me as the tomboy type.”

“It’s hit or miss,” she said. “I guess it depends on
the activity.”

“Fair enough,” Gavin said.

Gabe appeared from the kitchen, Gavin’s platter of
food in hand. There was so much gravy on the fries that it had soaked through
the bottom of the hamburger bun, but Gavin didn’t seem to notice as he scooped
it up and took a bite.

“I’m shutting down the kitchen,” he said. “If anyone
orders, let them know it’s appetizers only, ‘kay?”

“Will do,” Dawn said as she watched him retreat.

“So, what about you?” she asked Gavin once the cook
had left. “Beyond baseball, what do you do?”

“Well, that’s the pickle,” Gavin said between bites.
“Baseball was all I ever did. In high school, my parents didn’t care how my
grades were, as long as I was playing ball. God, especially when college scouts
showed up and said I had a future. The only club I was in was baseball, the
only sport I played was baseball. Even in the winter, I was at the batting
range every weekend. So, uh, I guess I’d have to say baseball.”

“But you have a degree, right?” she asked. “You went
to college.”

“You been checking up on me?” Gavin asked before he
tore out another big bite of his burger.

“Guilty,” Dawn confessed, smiling at him. “What did
you study?”

“English,” he laughed. “I thought it would be a bird
major and I could just skip everything. But as it turns out, some of those
English professors have integrity and expected me to actually show up. Looking
back, I really should have done that, but three years in, I got scouted to the
minors and I’ve played ball ever since. Never got the degree.”

“What will you do now, though?” Dawn asked, genuinely
curious.

“I’m not really sure,” Gavin said with a casual
chuckle. “I’ve got some money, but it won’t last forever if I’m not careful.
I’ve got no skills beyond playing ball, so that’s out. Maybe I’ll get a job at
the local hardware store, or something. At least it’d give me something to do.
I’m going stir-crazy up at my cabin.”

“Really?” Dawn asked.

“Hell yeah,” Gavin said before he scooped up a fry and
popped it in his mouth. “I only get about three channels on the TV. There’s
nothing to do. I mostly go for walks in the woods, but even that doesn’t kill
much time. Maybe I’ll take up yoga.”

“Hey,” Jim said as he poked his head out of the
kitchen. “I think I’m going to close up… Oh!” he said when he spotted Gavin.
“Or maybe I won’t.”

Dawn waved him off. “It’s fine. Gabe is shutting down
the kitchen. If you two want to go, I can close up on my own once Gavin’s
done.”

“You sure, Dawnie?” Jim asked as he glanced at Gavin.

“Very,” she affirmed. “It’s fine.”

“All righty,” he said, shrugging before he slipped
back into the kitchen.

“You don’t have to do that,” Gavin said. “I can hurry
up.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him. “You’ve got a
lot of food there to finish. Don’t rush.”

“Well,” he said as he picked up a fry that was more
gravy than potato. “I think I made a tactical error. My eyes might have been
too big for my stomach. You want some of this?”

“I wouldn’t say no,” Dawn said as she reached for one
of the fries that had somehow escaped the gravy bath.

While they ate, Gabe and Jim finished up and left
through the front door. Dawn turned off the neon “open” sign and locked the
door behind them before she returned to her familiar place behind the bar.

“So,” he began as she poured herself a beer and then
another for him, “you plan on being a waitress here forever?”

“No,” Dawn said. “I mean, probably not. I don’t know.
My life hasn’t really involved sitting still for too long, I guess.”

“And why’s that?” Gavin asked as he drank some of the
heady beer.

“Oh, no reason,” Dawn said, though it was a lie.
“Maybe a bit of wanderlust. Once I got going, I realized I liked it.” That part
was true. She liked Goosemont, sure, but she’d been thinking more and more
about leaving, and the reasons she was staying were getting thinner and
thinner. Courtney was gone, she had accepted that much, and it had been a week
since she’d seen Jase.