One of a Kind: Lionhearted / Letters to Kelly

Janie had won her first adult argument with her parent. She felt good about it.

Harley showed up two of her five nights on the job, just to check things out. He was back again tonight. She grinned at him as she served him pizza and beer.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

She looked around at the bare wood floors, the no-frills surroundings, the simple wooden tables and chairs and the long counter at which most of the customers—male customers—sat. There were two game machines and a juke-box. There were ceiling fans to circulate the heat, and to cool the place in summer. There was a huge dance floor, where people could dance to live music on Friday and Saturday night. The band was playing now, lazy Western tunes, and a couple was circling the dance floor alone.

“I really like it here,” she told Harley with a smile. “I feel as if I’m standing on my own two feet for the first time in my life.” She leaned closer. “And the tips are really nice!”

He chuckled. “Okay. No more arguments from me.” He glanced toward Tiny, a huge man with tattoos on both arms and a bald head, who’d taken an immediate liking to Janie. He was reassuringly close whenever she spoke to customers or served food and drinks.

“Isn’t he a doll?” Janie asked, smiling toward Tiny, who smiled back a little hesitantly, as if he were afraid his face might crack.

“That’s not a question you should ask a man, Janie,” he teased.

Grinning, she flipped her bar cloth at him, and went back to work.

Leo went looking for Fred Brewster after lunch on Monday. He’d been out of town at a convention, and he’d lost touch with his friend.

Fred was in his study, balancing figures that didn’t want to be balanced. He looked up as Hettie showed Leo in.

“Hello, stranger,” Fred said with a grin. “Sit down. Want some coffee? Hettie, how about…!”

“No need to shout, Mr. Fred, it’s already dripping,” she interrupted him with a chuckle. “I’ll bring it in when it’s done.”

“Cake, too!” he called.

There was a grumble.

“She thinks I eat too many sweets,” Fred told Leo. “Maybe I do. How was the convention?”

“It was pretty good,” Leo told him. “There’s a lot of talk about beef exports to Japan and improved labeling of beef to show country of origin. Some discussion of artificial additives,” he confided with a chuckle. “You can guess where that came from.”

“J. D. Langley and the Tremayne brothers.”

“Got it in one guess.” Leo tossed his white Stetson into a nearby chair and sat down in the one beside it. He ran a hand through his thick gold-streaked brown hair and his dark eyes pinned Fred. “But aside from the convention, I’ve heard some rumors that bother me,” he said, feeling his way.

“Oh?” Fred put aside his keyboard mouse and sat back. He’d heard about Janie’s job, he thought, groaning inwardly. He drew in a long breath. “What rumors?” he asked innocently.

Leo leaned forward, his crossed arms on his knees. “That you’re looking for partners here.”

“Oh. That.” Fred cleared his throat and looked past Leo. “Just a few little setbacks…”

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Leo persisted, scowling. “I’d loan you anything you needed on the strength of your signature. You know that.”

Fred swallowed. “I do… know that. But I wouldn’t dare. Under the circumstances.” He avoided Leo’s piercing stare.

“What circumstances?” Leo asked with resignation, when he realized that he was going to have to pry every scrap of information out of his friend.

“Janie.”

Leo’s breath expelled in a rush. He’d wondered if Fred knew about the friction between the two of them. It was apparent that he did. “I see.”

Fred glanced at him and winced. “She won’t hear your name mentioned,” he said apologetically. “I couldn’t go to you behind her back, and she’d find out anyway, sooner or later. Jacobsville is a small town.”

“She wouldn’t be likely to find out when she’s away at college,” Leo assured him. “She has gone back, hasn’t she?”

There was going to be an explosion. Fred knew it without saying a word. “Uh, Leo, she hasn’t gone back, exactly.”

His eyebrows lifted. “She’s not here. I asked Hettie. She flushed and almost dragged me in here without saying anything except Janie wasn’t around. I assumed she’d gone back to school.”

“No. She’s, uh, got a job, Leo. A good job,” he added, trying to reassure himself. “She likes it very much.”

“Doing what, for God’s sake?” Leo demanded. “She has no skills to speak of!”

“She’s cooking. At a restaurant.”

Leo felt his forehead. “No fever,” he murmured to himself. It was a well-known fact that Janie could burn water in a pan. He pinned Fred with his eyes. “Would you like to repeat that?”

“She’s cooking. She can cook,” he added belligerently at Leo’s frank astonishment. “Hettie spent two months with her in the kitchen. She can even make…” he started to say “biscuits” and thought better of it “… pizza.”

Leo whistled softly. “Fred, I didn’t know things were that bad. I’m sorry.”

“The bull dying was nobody’s fault,” Fred said heavily. “But I used money I hoped to recoup to buy him, and there was no insurance. Very few small ranchers could take a loss like that and remain standing. He was a champion’s offspring.”

“I know that. I’d help, if you’d let me,” Leo said earnestly. “I appreciate it. But I can’t.”

There was a long, pregnant pause. “Janie told you about what happened at the ball, I suppose,” Leo added curtly.

“No. She hasn’t said a single word about that,” Fred replied. He frowned. “Why?” He understood, belatedly, Leo’s concerned stare. “She did tell me about what happened in the hardware store,” he added slowly. “There’s more?”

Leo glanced away. “There was some unpleasantness at the ball, as well. We had a major fight.” He studied his big hands. “I’ve made some serious mistakes lately. I believed some gossip about Janie that I should never have credited. I know better now, but it’s too late. She won’t let me close enough to apologize.”

That was news. “When did you see her?” Fred asked, playing for time.

“In town at the bank Friday,” he said. “She snubbed me.” He smiled faintly. It had actually hurt when she’d given him a harsh glare, followed by complete oblivion to his presence. “First time that’s happened to me in my life.”

“Janie isn’t usually rude,” Fred tried to justify her behavior. “Maybe it’s just the new job…”

“It’s what I said to her, Fred,” the younger man replied heavily. “I really hurt her. Looking back, I don’t know why I ever believed what I was told.”

Fred was reading between the lines. “Marilee can be very convincing, Janie said. And she had a case on you.”

“It wasn’t mutual,” Leo said surprisingly. “I didn’t realize what was going on. Then she told me all these things Janie was telling people…” He stopped and cursed harshly. “I thought I could see through lies. I guess I’m more naive than I thought I was.”

“Any man can be taken in,” Fred reassured him. “It was just bad luck. Janie never said a word about you in public. She’s shy, although you might not realize it. She’d never throw herself at a man. Well, not for real,” he amended with a faint smile. “She did dress up and flirt with you. She told Hettie it was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life, and she agonized over it for days afterward. Not the mark of a sophisticated woman, is it?”

Leo understood then how far he’d fallen. No wonder she’d been so upset when she overheard him running down her aggressive behavior. “No,” he replied. “I wish I’d seen through it.” He smiled wryly. “I don’t like aggressive, sophisticated women,” he confessed. “Call it a fatal flaw. I liked Janie the way she was.”