“Knowing how the people in this town operate, I sincerely doubt it.”
But then we see the lights of Mr. Jacobson’s truck as it comes slowly toward us down the lane.
“Guess we’ll find out,” Katie says softly.
Mr. Jacobson gets out and Jake and Ethan climb out of their side right after. Jake lets out a heavy sigh, and Ethan winks at me right before they start to unload the pans, which I guess the meat was in, from the back of the truck.
“Take that one home with you,” Mr. Jacobson says, with a nod toward the one in Ethan’s arms.
Ethan looks down at it. “Are you sure? There’s still a lot in here.”
“There’s just as much in this one,” Jake says. “We’re going to be eating ribs for days.”
“Wait,” Katie says. “Why do you have leftovers? You never have leftovers.”
Jake grins at her. “You should have seen him. Pop walked around and jerked full plates out of people’s hands, and he even yanked a rib bone out of one guy’s mouth, I swear, and then he told us to load it all back up.”
“Then he told them all that God don’t like ugly, and we left,” Ethan adds, but he’s grinning too. He stands there with the pan hitched against his hip. “They didn’t want my kind there,” he says. But he doesn’t look torn up about it. He looks fine. He looks happy, in fact. He realizes I’m standing there just staring at him and he walks over to kiss me.
“Are you okay?” I ask him quietly.
“Fine,” he says, that grin still on his face.
“So Pop showed his tail pretty good,” Jake continues. “We should be good for the next year or so on public displays of lunacy.” Jake looks at me. “Pop is only allowed so many episodes per year.”
“I fight for what’s right,” Mr. Jacobson objects. He pops a toothpick in his mouth and grins at Ethan. “All day long.”
Ethan lifts the pan he’s holding in my direction. “You feel like ribs?”
“Sure!” I reply. I still can’t understand why he feels so happy after getting kicked out of an important town meeting.
“We’ll see you guys later,” Ethan calls out. “Thanks again, Mr. Jacobson,” he says a little more quietly. Mr. Jacobson gives him nothing more than a tilt of his chin.
Ethan is still smiling when we get back to my cabin.
I can’t contain my curiosity any longer. “Why do you look so happy about getting kicked out of a town meeting?” I ask, as he sets the pan down on the table and retrieves two plates from the cabinet.
“Honestly, it’s because I want to be Mr. Jacobson when I grow up.” He puts two ribs on a plate and pushes it toward me, and he takes two for himself.
“That’s all you’re going to eat?”
“I ate about ten of them while we waited for Mr. Jacobson to finish gabbing with all the old people at the nursing home. I think the man has probably forgotten more about Macon Hills than most people will ever know. He knows every person, every story, every secret, and every scandal. And he’s not afraid to wield them as appropriate. He has bigger balls than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“So what happened?” I ask as we sit down to eat.
“He refused to feed them all when they tried to kick me out, and then we left.” He shrugs, but he’s still grinning.
“Why has this got you so tickled?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like I could just own what happened,” he says quietly. “But after tonight, I’m ready to own it. I made a mistake, and the woman I loved died. She’s gone now, and I paid
for my mistake, and now I think I’m just about ready to be done with it.”
“That’s quite a leap.” As early as this morning, he was still doubting his place in the world, his value to anyone.
“Well, now I have some shit worth fighting for,” he says. He reaches over and squeezes my hand, getting barbecue sauce all over me.
“Hey!”