Rough Country (Tannen Boys 3)

Doc’s eyes narrow. “He’s going to try to run you off, you know that, right? And that’ll be when he needs you the most. Don’t let him, ’kay?”

I consider that carefully, weighing my words. “What makes you say he’ll need me more than I need him?”

Everyone who’s asked has gotten the same answer out of me—that I wanted to get away from the city, needed a change. There’s no reason anyone should think or suspect that I’m here for any other reason, but Doc Jones sounds like he’s thinking something else entirely. Like he knows I didn’t show up here in Great Falls randomly looking for a change of scenery but that I was sent here by Mom. For Unc.

“He’s needed someone for a long time, Willow. Well before now, but he’s old and grumpy like me. Old fellas like us don’t much like figuring out that we can’t do what we once could. Hurts our fragile egos.” He smirks as he talks about his ego, like the word alone is funny.

“Your ego is probably the only thing fragile about you. And Unc’s the same. Tough as shoe leather down to the core,” I tell him, hoping the compliment eases over the truth of Unc’s fragility. Especially given that he’s not here.

He’s usually the first one in and the last one out, but he called at noon and asked if I’d be okay on my own, saying he had some ‘shit to do’. He’d been sketchy when I asked what he was doing, and I suspect it includes a whole lot of nothing. But I keep that quiet, not telling Doc because I would never throw Unc under the bus, even with his friends. I’ll cover for him, always.

Doc nods, adding sagely, “We’d like to think so. We’d like for everyone else to think so even more.” He finishes up his pork chop and sips at the last of his drink before flagging me down again between rounds of helping Olivia. “Will you see if Ilene will make me a plate of scrambled eggs and toast to go? Or something bland like that? Think I’ll run by the house and see if I can get that stubborn mule to eat something.”

He’s not talking about a donkey and we both know it.

He’s going to check on Unc, which means he knows something’s up. Actually, looking at the ‘nothing to see here, move along’ blank stare on Doc’s face, I can see why he’s good at poker. He’s got a great bluff. But I read him loud and clear, as he intends for me to.

He doesn’t suspect, he knows something is up, especially with Unc not being here, and he’s following up with his friend. Hopefully, Unc will take the support from Doc better than from me, though he’s leaving his baby in my capable hands today and I doubt he’ll be in tonight. So we’re essentially babysitting for a weekend night too, a major trust move on Unc’s part. Or desperation. One of those. But I’m choosing the positive . . . that he trusts me, Olivia, Ilene, and Daniel to take good care of the bar.

“I’m sure Ilene won’t mind a bit,” I answer, leaving the rest for later examination. “I probably won’t have a chance to check on that mule until tomorrow morning, so thank you for going by.”

Doc nods, and dismissed, I go back to get him a full box of goodies for Unc, hoping he’ll eat something.

“Three JDs and Coke, two Girly Beers, and one draft Miller Lite. Got it,” I tell Olivia, and though she looks like she’s not listening, her nose buried in the tickets she’s flipping through, she nods affirmatively.

“Lemme run this to table twenty, and I’ll be back for them,” she says, and she’s off. I have no idea how she can work this whole floor alone, but she does. I’ve worked at bars half this size that would have three waitstaff running around like chickens with their heads cut off. But Olivia is cool as a cucumber and everybody’s happy. Maybe it’s the slower pace and the friendlier vibe in town, or maybe she’s that good, or some combination of the two, but it makes working the bar with her a pleasure.

I pull her drinks, setting them on the end of the wooden top for her to grab, and turn back to check my own spaces at the bar. Everyone’s drinks are full and they’re talking among themselves. Not even Richard is here tonight, and I wonder if he’s at Unc’s too. Maybe Doc pulled the lunch shift and Richard took the dinner one? Since I’m not sure, I’ll go by early in the morning, maybe take Unc some of those doughnuts Bobby told me about and see if some sugary, greasy goodness tempts him to eat.