The Gamble

I laughed and heard Bitsy laugh too.

I also heard the front door open and Mom call, “Neenee Bean, let’s go hiking!”

“Be down in a sec!” I called back.

“That your Mom?” Bitsy said in my ear.

“Yes.”

“You can come over, bring her too, anytime you want. Just give me a call, ‘kay?”

“Okay.”

There was a hesitation then, “Thanks, Nina.”

“Bitsy?”

“Yeah.”

“You just give me a call too, anytime. Here at Max’s or I’ll give you my cell, but it’s an international number so –”

“Honey, I’m loaded, haven’t you heard?” I laughed again and she said, “I got a pen and paper right here, sock it to me.”

I gave her my number, she read it back and then I offered, “Anytime, Bitsy, okay?”

“Thanks Nina.”

“No, Bitsy,” I said softly, the tears hitting my eyes just as I fought them back. “You don’t know how many times I tried to get Charlie to open up to me. So thank you again for trusting me.”

“Oh honey,” she laughed in my ear, “my pleasure. I’ll lay all my troubles on you, you like it so much.”

I laughed back which helped the tears subside and said, “Take care.”

“Yeah, you too. Hope to see you soon.”

“Bye.”

“Later, honey.”

“Who was that?” Mom asked and I looked to see her standing at the top of the stairs.

“A friend of Max’s,” I told her, hitting the off button and vaguely hearing the answering machine beep again. “Sounded like a friend of yours.”

I sighed because there it was again, Max, his friends and the whole town sucking me in.

“Well, I guess, now she’s a friend of mine too.”

Mom grinned and walked into the room, threw herself on the bed and bounced.

“This room is divine,” she remarked, throwing out a hand then she looked at me. “Tell me all about your new friend.”

“Well… I can’t believe I’m going to say this but it involves murder.”

Mom leaned forward and her eyes got wide. “No kidding? Do tell!”

I stood up and took the phone back to its charger. “Let’s get coffee.”

“Okay, bring mine up here, I feel like lounging,” she said and rolled to her back.

“I thought you wanted to hike?” I asked, Mom gave me a look, lifted up a leg and showed me a slender foot in a strappy sandal.

“In these shoes?” she asked back, I smiled and she finished, “Temporary Colorado insanity.”

“Your wish, Mom, my command,” I replied, leaned into her, kissed her forehead and then walked to the stairs to get my Mom coffee.

Then I took it back up to her and we lounged on Max’s bed and I told her about rape, parking lot fisticuffs, restaurant wrestling, ice queens, sweet and wise twenty-four year old girls, mountain men and murder.

* * * * *

“Oh my God,” Mom breathed, standing by my side on Max’s porch, staring at Cotton walking up the steps, “is that Jimmy Cotton?”

“How do you know what Jimmy Cotton looks like?” I asked her.

“Internet,” she whispered, making her “I don’t do e-mail and internet” even more of a lie, her eyes still glued to Cotton and she appeared to be swaying.

“She swoons, Cotton, you’re the male in this scenario, you’ve got to catch her,” I told Cotton as he stopped in front of me.

“She wears fancy clothes, like you,” Cotton observed, giving Mom a once-over and giving me further evidence that my shopping with the goal to blend in during my Colorado adventure failed.

“She’s my mother,” I replied.

“I can see it,” Cotton remarked.

“Oh my God,” Mom breathed, staring at Cotton and looking like she was either going to faint, drop into a curtsy or throw herself in his arms.

Cotton looked at me and asked, “She say that a lot?”

“Twice as much as me and I say it a lot, a lot.” Or these days, I did in my head, but I didn’t share that with Cotton, I just told him, “She introduced me to your work. She’s a fan.”

“No kidding,” Cotton mumbled and I smiled. “Came by to see where you two hung the pictures,” Cotton told me, dipping his head toward the house.

“They’re hanging them today. My husband is helping,” Mom shared, sounding embarrassingly like a sycophant and Cotton’s brows knit together.

“What’s takin’ so long?” Cotton asked me.

“We’ve been, um… kind of busy,” I explained and he grinned.

“Neckin’?” Cotton enquired cheekily.

I shook my head and hoped it didn’t look like an “I wish” shake.

“Taking Bitsy to the Police Station and dealing with surprise visits from my Dad, yesterday, and Mom, today.” I gestured to Mom. “Then my car got vandalized, we think by Damon.” I pointed to the car and Cotton slowly turned to look at it then back to me as I continued. “And Brody’s in town so we had dinner with him and Mindy last night. Dinner included our table being visited by an unhappy Kami, a not-so-nice Shauna and then Harry wrestled around on the floor of The Rooster with Shauna’s date, turning over some tables and getting doused with ketchup and horseradish sauce.” Cotton stared at me speechless so I finished. “In between that we slept and, yes, there was some necking.”

“Nina gave me the lowdown a minute go,” Mom told him. “It would seem that Gnaw Bone is the Rocky Mountain Peyton Place.”

“Got that right,” Cotton replied and then turned to look over his shoulder.

I looked too and saw the Cherokee heading up the road. Then I felt my heart skip and I didn’t think this was because I was worried about the outcome of the confrontation with Dad. It was more likely because I was happy Max was home.

“Seein’ as I’m here,” Cotton said as he turned back to me, “I’ll supervise the hangin’ and bum a cup o’ joe.”

I smiled and replied, “You’re in luck; we just made a fresh pot.”

“I’m a lucky guy,” Cotton said back on a smile and we all watched Max turn up the lane and park.

My eyes stayed on him as he got out of the Cherokee and one look at his face, my body tensed.

“Oh my,” Mom mumbled.