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well prod at whatever was going on between
Bryce and Kerri Ann.   “You know that
man I was dining with, Bryce?”
    “Sure.”   Kerri
Ann nodded.   “Everybody knows
Bryce.”
    “That was very nice of him, don’t you think?   Paying my bill like that for an
accident.   That would never happen
back home.”
    “Home?”
    “Oh, sorry.   Atlanta.   I’m just here
visiting.”   She leaned on the
counter to the clear annoyance of Kerri Ann.   “So, what’s his story?”
    “Who?”
    “Bryce.”   Like
she didn’t know.   “He’s very
attractive, he’s got great manners, and that accent…”
    Kerri Ann’s shoulders flew back and she swung the hair from
her face with a flick of her head.   “He’s…the best.”   Did she know,
Lita wondered, that her whole face took on a dreamy look when she said it?   What the hell was keeping them apart?
    ***
    Jesse approached the register as Angelita walked through the
screen door. “You’re not going to have many customers if you give them all the
evil eye like that.”
    “You think she’s pretty?” Kerri Ann asked.   “All that hair and those ridiculous
clothes?”
    Jesse laughed.   “Yeah, but so are you, darlin’.”
    Kerri Ann snorted.   “Oh, please.   I’m not
sleeping with you again, Jesse, so don’t even bother.”
    “You women are crazy.”   He grabbed her chin with his hand and gave it a shake.   He could see all her old insecurities
float to the surface.   It was one of
the things that kept her in his heart after all the harsh words they’d shared
over the years.   “The beautiful
thing about women is that they come in lots of varieties.   And your variety has always been cute,
despite your nasty attitude.”   He
turned to walk out through the back.  
    “Jess?” Kerri Ann called.
    “Yeah?”
    She smiled when he turned around and she saw the exasperated
look on his face.   “Thanks.”

 

 
    Chapter 6
    The air smelled ripe with spring’s bounty.   Cal had heard the first call of the
Kentucky warbler echoing through the woods early in the morning as he pulled
rakes for him and Ty out of the storage shed.   The mountains had emerged from a
particularly frosty winter, prompting him to clean up the property and get the
grounds in top form.   He’d felt a
little embarrassed that Lita had seen Bloodworth Cabins looking less than
perfect, but he could only hope she was too much of a city girl to care.  
    Cal looked forward to spending the day with Ty.   He hadn’t seen the kid much lately, not
between baseball and homework.   Besides, he spent most of his free time working with Jesse, getting the
raft shop ready for the spring break crowd.  
    Cal had driven past the turnoff for the raft shop the other
day on his way up to the nursery and had noticed the sign Jesse made was
glistening from a fresh power scrubbing.   He had to admit, Jesse had turned the place around a lot faster than Cal
expected.   Course, the way he’d
pumped money into it when he first came back didn’t hurt.   Cal couldn’t say much about Jesse’s time
in Atlanta, but he sure did come home with money to burn.  
    That’s just what Cal had thought Jesse was doing when he’d
bought the old put-out spot and shacks that had once belonged to the area’s
first outfitting company.   The place
had sat dormant for almost six years and needed both deep pockets and a lot of
hard work to get it up and running.   He quickly realized Jesse’s pockets were deeper than when he’d left and
he knew his son could put the old Bloodworth grit into something when he set
his mind to a goal.  
    He’d overheard some guys down at the VFW talking about how Jesse
had turned a profit his second year out.   It had stung, hearing about it through the grapevine, but Cal understood
there’d be no bragging from Jesse as far as his career was concerned.   Water under the bridge, he reminded
himself as Jesse’s Scout rounded the bend and stopped at the