I Love This Bar (21 page)

   Daisy's temper jacked up into high gear. "Why should you be ashamed of me because of my job? I do an honest night's work for an honest dollar."

   "That sounds like you are a hooker. You ain't been doin' more work after hours in the back room, have you? Good God, Jarod, I told you to make sure you wanted a woman like this before you married her, but oh, no, you had to run off to Oklahoma. Didn't even ask me and your momma if we'd like to be there when you married and you're Frankie's baby son. God Almighty, but she's goin' to be mad as hell when she finds out. I might just tell her tonight when she calls. And where's that jackass that I'm supposed to tell stories to all afternoon? Tell me that, would you, instead of tryin' to help me around like I'm an old man." He fumed and fussed all the way into the house.

   Jarod slapped the leg of his overalls. "What in the hell did I say that set him off that time?"

   "It wasn't you. It was me. And I'd bet dollars to doughnuts he's not got an ounce of Alzheimer's. When he doesn't want to answer something or he gets caught between a rock and a hard place he goes off the deep end and accuses everyone around of anything he can think of. He's sharp as a razor and knows exactly what he's doing."

   "Then let's march in there and tell him we aren't married."

   "Not me," Daisy said. "He's already outted me. I'm married to you for better or worse and in sickness and health until death do us part and that means death of one Emmett McElroy."

   "Why are you staying if you think he's pulling the wool over our eyes?"

   She shrugged. "Guess I'm afraid of the possibility I'm wrong."

   "Maybe it won't go any further than Morgan Mill and they'll all think he's crazy and talkin' out of his head about us being married."

   "I hope so," she sighed.

Daisy pushed knickknacks to one side of the dresser to set her makeup kit down. She looked around the room at all the clutter and shivered. What if all those little beady black eyes looking at her from ceramic animal faces came to life at night like in that movie she'd seen as a child? If she was going to stay in the room for weeks it had to go. Emmett never came upstairs anymore. She'd bring empty liquor boxes from the Honky Tonk and pack it all up in boxes and shove them under the bed. She was putting eye shadow on when Jarod poked his head in the door.

   "Yes?" She looked up at him in the mirror.

   "You will come back?"

   "Yes, I'll be back. He'd have a hissy if I didn't. I'll be up at six for breakfast and then whatever I need to do to make him happy."

   Jarod sat down on the bed and the springs squeaked. He pulled the bedspread up to find the old metal springs under the mattress. He bounced and they screeched again. He flipped back and started a steady rhythm by bouncing his butt up and down.

   "Stop that," she hissed. "It's annoying as hell."

   "What does it sound like?"

   "It sounds like we're… isn't the living room right below this room?"

   "Yep, it is and if he wants to play the marriage game, we can too. Want to give me a couple of good loud moans and some loud panting?"

   "I do not! I'm going to slip out the front door so I don't have to look at him when I leave. This is embarrassing!" she whispered.

   Jarod speeded up and then stopped it suddenly. "How was that? Was it as good for you as it was for me?"

   "God, Jarod," she exclaimed forgetting to whisper.

   "Ah, Daisy, you were wonderful," he said loudly.

   Her cheeks were flame red. "I will get even."

   Jarod eased off the bed with a loud moan. He bent and kissed the back of her neck. "That was wonderful, darlin'," he said in the same loud voice.

   She inhaled the mixture of the soap he'd used to shower after working all day, the last dregs of that morning's aftershave and lemon from the iced tea he'd had at supper. The combination was so heady that she seriously wanted to throw him down on the bed for a second round, and it would be without clothing and last a hell of a lot longer than his rehearsal.

   He raised his voice even louder as he left the room. "You just sleep in, darlin', tomorrow morning. I'll make breakfast. I'm sure you'll be worn out after workin' until two and that little session we just had. It won't be long until the new owners of the Honky Tonk will be comfortable without you."

   She shook her fist at him and picked up a Japanese fan from the edge of the vanity and rapidly tried to cool her face. She hurriedly put on her makeup and rushed through the foyer, kitchen, and utility room into the garage. She pushed the button on the inside of the door. By the time the garage doors were up she was backing the Maverick out into the yard.

   "Something needs to help me make it through the night," she said aloud as she listened to Sammi Smith singing "Help Me Make It Through the Night" on the classic country radio station. When that song ended, Mel McDaniel began singing "Stand Up." In the song he asked if you'd ever had a hot date and ended up in the backseat? He said to stand up and testify. Daisy kept time with her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove.

   "Does the bed of a pickup truck count?" she asked aloud.

   When she pulled into the parking lot of the Honky Tonk, Willie Nelson was singing "Always on My Mind." She was humming it when she went in the back door to find Cathy sitting on the sofa, dressed in jeans and a tank top almost the same shade of blue as Daisy's.

   "Who's always on your mind? That hunky cowboy? Is he coming into the Tonk tonight?"

   Daisy shook her head. "Not tonight. I'll tell you about the jam I've gotten into while we get things ready to open the doors."

   Cathy listened to the whole story beginning with the night Daisy and Jarod wound up in a tangle of arms and legs on the dance floor up through the squeaky bedsprings minutes before Daisy left the ranch. The only thing she left out was the episode in the back of the pickup truck.

   "And you haven't taken him to bed? Have you lost your touch, girl?" Cathy asked.

   "It's just that…"

   "All or nothing. We are getting to that age." Cathy finished the sentence for her.

   "I don't want to admit that so I'm not answering."

   Tinker arrived, went to the old jukebox, and put in some coins. "Right or Wrong" by Wanda Jackson filled the Honky Tonk.

"That's an old one," Cathy said.

"Monday night is oldies night. Tradition."

"Well, it's an omen. Listen to the words."

   Daisy threw up her hands. "I'm tired of listening to words. Every damn song I hear has a message for me. The damn thing is talking to me."

   Cathy batted her eyes and sang along with Wanda. When the song ended they looked up to see Tinker smiling.

   "You think that's funny, Tinker?" Daisy asked.

   "Little bit." He sat down and folded his hands over his chest.

   The next song was "Country Bumpkin" by Cal Smith and Daisy plugged her ears with her fingers. He talked about a tall cowboy coming into a bar and a barmaid looking him up and down.

   Cathy patted her shoulder. "You got a bad dose, ain't you, honey?"

   Daisy removed her fingers and nodded. "That's what I want. I want life to be something; not just a ho-hum stream of days."

   "Well, he's the cowboy and you're the barmaid. Who knows? Maybe Cal Smith knows what he's talking about."

   The rattle of semis pulling into the parking lot preceded the arrival of a dozen or more truckers. Daisy got busy introducing Cathy and filling Mason jars with beer and stopped listening to the lyrics of every song. Merle came in and dragged Mac away from the bar and to the pool table. A Jones fan, she plugged coins into the jukebox and George entertained the customers for three songs.

   
Thank goodness the lyrics aren't talking to me, so
bless you, Merle,
Daisy thought as she mixed up a martini for a middle-aged businessman. She had just served the man when she turned around to find Chigger and Jim Bob grinning at her.

   "What?" she said.

   "I'm pregnant," Chigger blurted out.

   "And it's mine," Jim Bob said.

   Daisy was speechless.

   "She's goin' to marry me. Friday at the courthouse over in Palo Pinto. We're goin' to tell her momma that we sneaked off and got married six months ago and kept it secret. We're goin' to fly to Cancun for four days and call her from there," Jim Bob said.

   Daisy still couldn't find words.

   "And you're goin' to stand up with me," Chigger said. "I was mad today when Glorietta come in the shop and told me you and Jarod done beat us to the altar and you didn't even ask me to go along after we'd taken the both of you fishin', but I'm forgivin' you so you have to stand up with me."

   "Dear God," Daisy mumbled.

   "Are you pregnant too?" Chigger asked.

   "I am not pregnant," Daisy sputtered and hoped to hell she was telling the truth.

   "Well, you could be if you did. You can't tell me that you… who is that woman over there servin' beer?" Chigger noticed Cathy for the first time.

   "My cousin, Cathy. She needs a job. I need help," Daisy said.

   Billy Bob and Joe Bob each claimed a bar stool. Billy Bob threw a hand over his heart. "I'm hurt. We were engaged and you threw me over for that Okie."

   "We were never engaged, Billy Bob."

Billy Bob pointed at Cathy. "Who is that?"

   "That'd be her cousin who's helping now that she and Jarod are married," Chigger explained. "Are you thunderstruck?"

   "Hell, no. I'll never marry. My heart is broken. I'm going to dance until there ain't no leather on my boots just to keep my old heart from bleedin' to death right here in the Honky Tonk. Can I dance with your cousin, Daisy?"

   "Not while she's workin'. What she does after hours is up to her. What's the bunch of you doing in here on Monday, anyway?" Daisy asked.

   "We come to celebrate the next generation of Walkers. Jim Bob done jumped out there ahead of me and Joe Bob. He'll be Momma's favorite if Chigger has a girl. If it's another rotten old boy, then me and Joe Bob is still in the runnin' for first place," Billy Bob said. "Give me a beer and would you look at that? A whole bunch of pretty women just got here to help me get through the night."

   "Well, praise the lord," Daisy said.

   "If he ain't good to you, you call me and I'll break his neck. I wouldn't mind bein' your second husband," Billy Bob whispered across the bar as he picked up his beer.

   "He ain't good to me, I'll break his neck. Now go pick out a pretty girl and wear some leather off them boots. Looks to me like Jim Bob and Chigger are ahead of you on that matter too." Daisy pointed toward the engaged couple all wrapped up in each other's arms.

   "What's that all about?" Cathy asked.

   "The Walker triplets and Chigger. I'll explain later," Daisy said.

   "The Chigger who you told me about?"

   "The very one and that'd be Jim Bob two-stepping

with her. She just told me she's pregnant and they're getting married on Friday," Daisy said.

   "I'm glad you told me they were triplets. For a minute I thought I had a brain tumor and was seeing triple," Cathy said.

   At ten o'clock Cathy pointed to the clock. "Get out of here. Tinker and I can run this place. It's not all that busy and besides, you've got your second job to go to. Acting ain't easy."

   "It's my third job. Did you forget I'm an underpaid vet tech too? Don't make out the sofa anymore. Sleep on my bed. It's a lot more comfortable. The only rule is that no men are allowed in the apartment. You want sex you make them take you to the nearest hay barn or motel. And watch Billy Bob, he'll propose six times tonight," Daisy said.

   "He can propose a thousand times and the answer would be no. How in the hell would I know I was in bed with the right one? Besides, after Brad I don't want another man for a long time."

   "Never known you to go without a man for more than thirty days," Daisy said.

   "Get out of here." Cathy shoved her.

Daisy figured she'd sneak into a dark house and read a few hours since she wasn't used to going to bed before three in the morning. The garage door sounded like a tractor with a bad engine when it opened, so she opted to park the car in the driveway. She was tiptoeing up the porch steps when Jarod spoke from the shadows. "Evenin'," he said in a deep drawl.

"Hell's bells, you scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

   He'd been leaning against a porch post and stepped out of the shadows into the moonlight not three feet from her. He wore orange cotton pajama bottoms with twoinch OSU letters written in black all over them and a white muscle shirt. Droplets of water from a very recent shower sparkled in his dark hair. Soap, shaving lotion, and a hot summer night all blended to send delicious shivers dancing up her spine.

   "I thought you'd be asleep," she said.

   "Not this early. Uncle Emmett turns in by nine thirty. I was listening to some music and trying to relax. That cluttered house sets my nerves on edge."

   "I'm not a stuff person either. I meant to bring boxes from the Honky Tonk to pack up some of that stuff in my room. It drives me crazy."

   He motioned toward the rocking chairs. "Sit with me."

   She eased down into a chair and he turned a knob on a portable radio. Country music floated out across the yard. Bright stars hung in the sky. Fireflies lit up the yard in brief flashes of light and a coyote howled in the distance.