Redwood Bend

clover for a while there, but when money gets tight, girly stuff like that tends to be in a decline, though there are still quite a few.”
“Easy,” Dylan said. “I think I’m a dude with a ranch.”
“You ranch, Dylan?” Jack asked.
“Depends on your perspective. I have chickens, some goats, a bull, six cows, two horses and a hand who’s been watching that property for years. He was old twenty years ago, so now he’s ancient. I don’t exactly—” He was about to say, “earn money,” but he was cut off when the door to the bar opened and a man, woman and set of five-year-old twins came in. He watched as she took them in, all smiles. Then she took the hand of the man she was with and led him to the bar, to Walt first.
“Conner, this is Walt, and he changed my tire the other day.”
Whoa boy, Dylan thought. This little girl cleaned up nice. She had the look of a drowned Chihuahua when he met her, but here she was all fluffed and buffed and sexy as hell. He grinned stupidly.
Walt turned on his stool and grasped the man’s hand. “Well, good to see you again. We met the last time I passed through. Yes, the miss here had herself an impressive flat. She was determined she was gonna change it if she could just get past the lugs.”
Conner laughed and shook his hand. “Katie can change a tire—but the lugs always give her trouble. To tell the truth, they give me trouble.”
“And, Conner,” she said, moving to stand beside Dylan. “This is Dylan. He also helped. I didn’t meet the others.”
Conner shook his hand, thanked him, and then Dylan introduced Lang and Stu. While Conner stood having conversation about the rides with Walt and the boys, Katie didn’t move away. Of course he was at one end of their foursome while Walt was at the other, but still. She was right there beside him.
“The husband?” he asked rather quietly.
“No,” she returned just as quietly, acting secretive, but she was mocking him. “The brother. Uncle Conner.”
“Ah,” he said. He took a drink of his beer. “Divorced?” he asked.
She leaned toward him. “No. Widowed.”
That clearly surprised him. “I guess you need to be near your brother…” he speculated.
“Well, the boys do,” she said. “Despite Conner’s insistence to the contrary, I’m pretty self-sufficient. But you know big brothers…”
“Hmm,” he said, as if he did. His big brother was in prison; his big sister was following in their mother’s footsteps with lots of scandal and unsuccessful relationships.
And then Jack was there. Jack seemed to be everywhere. “How’s that cabin working out for you, Katie?”
She lit up. Her eyes got so big, so bright. “Jack, it’s wonderful! Conner told me some of the history—your wife lived there? Your son was born there?”
“It was provided to Mel for the first year of her service to the town as the midwife. We lived in the cabin while I was building our house and David showed up—kind of fast, during a thunderstorm. We bought the place, just to have a little extra space around here for…well, for things like this,” he finished, with a smile.
“So, just how bad is the bear situation?” she wanted to know.
“Not significant, but they’re there.”
“If you say they’re more afraid of me than I am of them…”
Jack laughed. “As long as you don’t get between a mother and her cub, it’s a true statement.”
“So, you Virgin River people have sissy bears?”
“Scavenger sissy bears,” Jack said. “Keep the garbage inside and drive it to the Dumpster in town. If you’re scared…”
She scoffed. “I’m not scared. I love the cabin. It’s perfect. I’m going to have to run into one of the bigger towns to buy a TV, however. My boys have an Xbox. But I love the loft—a perfect place for it. It’s fantastic to put them up there with their noise.”
“They won’t make it without TV?” Dylan asked. And he was remembering when Adele refused to have a TV in the house, but of course her reasons were different. Dylan had been addicted to TV, to the news, celebrity gossip, sitcoms and series he’d been competing with. She was trying to get him off all his drugs.
“They might,” she said with a laugh, “but will I? I need a whip and a chair for those two.”
He glanced at the boys, already staking out a table, sitting on opposite sides and throwing packets of sugar at each other. “Gee. They look so well behaved…”
She just laughed and said, “Nice running into you,