“Well, that’s a silly thing to say. It’s his wife who died, not him.” They both studied the man. He stood like a cop, straight and tall. His sheriff’s jacket made his broad shoulders look even broader. “Seems to me, he’s still a young man. Not hard on the eyes neither.”
Edith made a little hmm sound. “No, he’s not hard on the eyes, is he?”
Marlene squinted her eyes to focus better. “He reminds me of…I don’t know…a cowboy from a TV movie.”
Edith finished tying her scarf around her neck. “Not as handsome as Damien, though.”
“Maybe not,” said Marlene. “Though he makes Damien look like a kid in comparison.”
“Damien isn’t a boy. He’s Sorrow’s age, and I say twenty-three is old enough to start thinking about settling down.” Edith’s eyes drifted back to the sheriff. “Are you saying he’s looking to remarry?”
“I didn’t say marriage.” Marlene abruptly began to gather her papers into her handbag.
All this talk of spouses made her think. If she’d been a widow, would she have remarried? Would the pain have been this deep? Sometimes, when she was feeling small-hearted, she wished she were a widow. That her husband had died instead of divorcing her. In her low moments, she told herself that burying him would’ve been easier to bear than the shame of his leaving.
Pearl approached the table. The woman wore a contented smile—the meeting had been as dramatic as promised. “Are we leaving now?”
The other two Kidd sisters were close behind, still bundling up. Marlene’s elderly mother was having trouble with her coat sleeves, but before she could help, Billy appeared at the woman’s back.
“Let me get this for you,” he said, guiding Emerald’s arms into the sleeves. “You got all turned inside out.”
“What a gentleman,” Ruby exclaimed.
Edith met Marlene’s eyes, a significant question there. Was there something between Billy and Sorrow?
Marlene studied him. Whether or not he was a widower, whether it was Sorrow or somebody else, someday, some lucky woman would find herself turned inside out by this sheriff.
Twelve
Billy felt kind of awkward. He’d gone home to change—nobody wanted their guest to show up for dinner wearing a sidearm—but he worried he looked as though he were trying too hard. He refused to think on the fact that simply thinking on such things was the very definition of trying too hard.
Was he trying?
Of course he wasn’t. The last time he’d tried with a woman had been with Keri. For years, they’d been colleagues, then friends, and it was a slow courtship that’d turned them into lovers. He’d bought flowers. Symphony tickets. Dinners at the latest in restaurants. Things he didn’t necessarily enjoy but had thought his wife would. Sitting through a three-hour avant-garde opera? Now that had been trying.
No, this was a friendly visit, all part of small-town living. Sorrow’s mother led him into the lodge’s private living quarters. He’d never eaten in the lodge before—tourists and lodgers ate at the tavern—and he was looking forward to seeing how the family interacted.
“You’re looking handsome this evening,” Edith told him as they joined Sorrow’s father in the den. The man sat in his recliner, watching a college basketball game on mute.
Billy had settled on wearing jeans with a sweater, but seeing Bear’s scowl, he’d begun to regret the absence of that sidearm.
“Bear”—Edith nudged her husband—“say hello to Billy. If it weren’t for him, I’d have missed my meeting.”
The older man nodded a greeting then turned back to the game.
“Evening, sir.” Billy’s eyes went to the action on TV as he settled onto the giant sectional couch. Its old brown leather was as comfortable as it looked. “Kentucky came out strong this year.”
Bear’s eyes narrowed. “You a Kentucky fan?”
That seemed like a minefield if ever there was one. For all he knew, Kentucky fans weren’t allowed in the Big Bear Lodge.
“I went to Colorado State,” Billy said, sidestepping the question. A topic change seemed in order, so he added, “It’s where I discovered my love of the mountains.”
“Why go all the way there?” Bear was skeptical, obviously not the sort of man who thrived on travel.
“Football scholarship.”
Bear pulled his eyes from the screen to study him. “Really now?”