Nobody's Fool

yourself.”
    â€œI may be exhausted,” Carl conceded. “But I’m not tired.”
    Toby Roebuck was sitting quietly in the truck when Sully got in. The truck’s dome light didn’t work, and the glowing tip of her cigarette was the only testimony to her presence.
    â€œGod, you’re a jumpy man,” she said.
    She had, in fact, startled him. “I wasn’t expecting you,” he said.
    She looked at him. “There must be a lot of surprises in your life, Sully.”
    This was true, and Sully didn’t deny it. Today had been a pretty surprising day, start to finish. “How come you let him back in?”
    â€œI didn’t,” she said. “I think Horace gave him a key, the dirty, double-crossing snake. Carl was there when I got back from Schuyler.”
    This reference jogged Sully’s memory. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there’s a rumor circulating about you.”
    â€œReally!” Toby clapped her hands in mock excitement. “How exciting! Do tell.”
    â€œYou’ve got a boyfriend in Schuyler.”
    Toby studied him seriously for long enough to make him squirm, then broke into laughter. “Poor Sully,” she said when she was finished. “You are a hoot.”
    As was almost always the case with women, Sully suddenly felt himselfto be on the fringes of the conversation. “Hey, I didn’t make it up,” he insisted. “In fact, I told the guy I didn’t believe it.”
    This set Toby Roebuck off again, though she stifled her hilarity more quickly this time. “You really are a sweet man,” she said, striving for seriousness.
    â€œIt’s true,” Sully grinned at her. “I just wish more women realized it.”
    Inside the house, Carl had come over to the window and was peering out, scout fashion, into the drive where they sat. Sully doubted he could see anything but his own reflection. He started the truck, realizing that not hearing it might have been what had brought Carl to the window. “Maybe you shouldn’t stay here tonight,” he said. “He’s in pretty rough shape.”
    She noticed his glance and followed it. “I can’t take much more of this,” she admitted. “Look at him.”
    Carl, still shading his eyes, was right up against the window. He looked unsteady, like he might tumble through the glass.
    â€œGo away for a while,” he suggested. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
    The suggestion brought a smile. “That’s a funny idea. You looking after anybody.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œOh, Sully, don’t go getting your feelings hurt. I know you’d mean to. After about two minutes you’d get sidetracked and forget, and you wouldn’t think of him again until about two weeks after the funeral. You’d be walking down the street and wondering why you hadn’t seen him around.”
    Carl had stepped back and gone to the foot of the stairs, his back to the window.
    â€œBy the way, where’d he hide the snowblower?”
    â€œOut at the yard,” she confided. “In the shed.”
    â€œAll right,” he said. “I’ll steal it back tomorrow or the next day.”
    â€œCareful of that mean-ass dog.”
    â€œI’m not worried about the dog,” Sully said. “I’m trying to figure how I’m going to scale the fence.”
    â€œYou’re a man among men, Sully.”
    â€œThanks,” he said.
    â€œIt wasn’t a compliment,” she assured him.
    â€œYou don’t have to get all dressed up to come in here,” Tiny said when Sully, clean-shaven and dressed as he’d been for his visit to Vera’s, came inand took a seat at the end of the bar. The shirt was a gift from Ruth, given to him months earlier, and this was the first time he’d worn it. He’d put it on right out of its plastic wrapping. The shirt’s creases still conformed more to its cardboard packaging than to Sully’s torso. The pinholes had still not closed, in fact.
    A college football game on the television above the bar occupied the attention of the dozen or so men who’d escaped their families late on Thanksgiving afternoon. The holiday had begun too early with the Macy’s parade, and they hadn’t been able to enjoy the afternoon football with all the holiday commotion. At The Horse they hoped to watch the second game in