The Cherry Cola Book Club - By Ashton Lee Page 0,88
Maura Beth actually is going door-to-door on Commerce Street. I offered to help, but she insisted she had it covered. Meanwhile, Becca and Stout Fella are mentioning the petition every day on the radio show, Miss Voncille and Locke Linwood say they’ve heard from lots of her students and his customers, and—”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Douglas said, holding his hand up in surrender. “Listen, it’s not like we haven’t pitched in all along. We’ve paid for posters and flyers and printing up the petition and that monster seafood party we had out here. I don’t think you should be beating yourself up as if you’ve done nothing.”
Connie shrugged with a pleasant smile. “I’m not really. I just want to collect as many signatures as I can for Maura Beth.” Suddenly, she snapped her fingers and bore into him with her eyes. “Of course. The Marina Bar and Grill. At last, something useful will come of your haunting that place.”
“Haunting? Come on, I go for an occasional beer, that’s all,” he insisted.
“Do they like you out there?”
He drew back in disbelief. “Uh—yeah. I’m not the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Although I felt like it sometimes in the courtroom.”
“I’ve been thinking about that since we retired here,” she began, gently rubbing his arm. “I guess all this fishing really does help you forget some of the legal stunts you had to pull over the years.”
Douglas looked suddenly uncomfortable, and he did not answer her for a while. “I suppose you could make a case for that. A guy can put up with only so much stress in his life, you know; and it’s not like you didn’t have plenty of it in the hospital day and night.”
“Yes, I did.”
“And you’ve always had your books to read to keep yourself on an even keel, right?”
She nodded dramatically, widening her eyes. “Going to the library to check out my novels has always been my great escape. I get to explore someone else’s mindset for a while. It’s a very sane exercise. More people should try it.”
“So what do you want me to do out at The Marina Bar and Grill?”
“Ask the owner if you can put up the petition, at the very least,” she began. “And then talk it up with your drinking buddies. Well-lubricated people are more apt to listen to what you have to say.”
He gave her a little smirk. “Or forget it.”
“Never mind that. Don’t you guys bond watching football games and other sports out there all the time?”
Douglas laughed out loud. “You make The Marina Bar and Grill sound like one of those tree houses that little boys build where little girls aren’t allowed. There are wives and girlfriends on the premises. Women fish, too.”
“I can’t believe you just said that!” she exclaimed, turning to face him directly now.
“Why? You don’t believe me? You don’t think women can bait hooks?”
“Don’t be absurd. Of course I believe you. It was the perfect segue for something else I wanted to discuss with you. It’s about the details of our retirement. I feel like we’re leading two separate lives again, just the way we did in Nashville when we put everything we had into our careers. This was supposed to be a new start for us.”
“But I think last night at the library went well for us,” he pointed out. “Maybe not at the end there for Maura Beth with Councilman Sparks jumping down her throat the way he did, but you and I had a good time together, didn’t we?”
“That begs the question. We still spend most of our time apart. You’re out there with your beer and your fish, and I’m here inside waiting for you to get your fill. The truth is, the rain brings you in more often than the sound of my voice does. If this is the way it’s going to be, I’d rather go back to Nashville where I had Susan and Paul and so many other friends to do things with.”
Douglas turned to her with a puzzled expression, briefly shutting one eye. “I thought you considered these Cherry Cola people your friends. You’ve just finished saying how much helping Maura Beth means to you. Matter of fact, I think we’ve both made some nice new friends in the book club. Paul and Susan like them, too.”
“They are our friends, and I’m thankful for them and the things we’ve done together. But they can’t fill up all of my days or any of my