Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I’ve just been telling Byron that I still want to roam around with my dog,” Jim says.
I understand Jim’s frustration. The problem I have is that the promise the Colorado Club makes is exclusivity, privacy, and security. If celebrities want to escape LA, I want their first thought to be the Colorado Club.
“We can figure it out,” I assure Jim. “There aren’t going to be electric fences.”
“There shouldn’t be any fences—electric or not,” Jim says. “This is wilderness. Wilderness isn’t fenced off and claimed by an elite couple of thousand people in the world.”
They’re both staring at me, and I know they’re right. It’s just, for the Colorado Club to work, it needs to have a boundary. I nod. “I hear you.”
“It’s God’s country,” Jim says. “Not Byron Miller’s.”
I don’t ask him whether he’d welcome people wandering across his land. It’s not worth the fight—I’m not going to win, even if it is a double standard. But if the idea of having the land I own fenced off is a problem for the residents of Star Falls, I’m not sure what I can do about it.
I’m saved from having to think up a reasonable answer when Jim turns to see someone come through the door. I pick at the edge of the blue and white label on my beer bottle, wondering if there’s a solution to the problem. There’s got to be.
I turn to assure Jim that we’ll figure something out, but his attention isn’t on me anymore. He’s looking over my shoulder. I turn to follow his gaze and see a woman in her mid-twenties with long dark hair, walking toward the bar. She looks a little bedraggled, although she’s pretty. She’s definitely not from around here. Nothing too unusual in that, aside from the fact this woman is wearing sneakers, a faded gray hoodie, and a wedding dress.
I glance at Jim and he shoots me a look that says, What in the hell?
I still don’t have any answers for him. I glance at Walt to see if he understands what’s going on, but he looks as confused as I feel. I turn to the woman again, just as she slides onto the barstool one down from mine.
“I’d like a drink,” she says.
The bartender who knows me better than I know him says, “Well, you’ve come to the right place. You want to be more specific?”
Her eyelids flicker as she takes a breath and thinks about it, like she was expecting the bartender to decide for her. Now that he hasn’t, she’s having to make a decision she hadn’t planned for. “Do you have tequila? On the rocks?”
She picks one of the three brand names she’s given, and when the glass appears in front of her, she hesitates before she brings it to her lips. She takes the tiniest of sips and lets out a huge sigh. It seems she’s been waiting for that drink all day.
“You just get into town?” Jim asks the woman.
The woman doesn’t hear him at first. She’s staring forward and thinking so hard, I can almost see her thoughts in front of her face. She’s worried. And out of energy. Like she’s reached the end of the road.
Then, as if Jim’s words have taken a couple of seconds to register, she turns to him. She offers him a tight smile and nods—she’s not interested in small talk.
Jim goes to follow up on his question, and both Walt and I interrupt him at the same time.
“I’m sure we’ll come to some understanding,” I say, just as Walt tells Jim I’m not about to stop him walking his dog wherever he wants.
“Let me have a think about it, Jim,” I say. “And if you have any other questions—”
“I have a few things I want to talk to you about,” he says. He’s about to launch into his list, but he stops himself. “Why don’t you settle back in. Catch up with your buddy here.” He slaps Walt on the back. “But don’t be a stranger, you hear me? I’m gonna run. Gotta get back home by the time Love Island finishes.”
I want to laugh, but I stop myself. “Say hi to Sue from me.”
“You sure you want me to? Your presence will be required at Sunday dinner if I do that.”
I nod. “Say hi to Sue for me.”
“See you Sunday,” he says, as he drops some cash on the bar and heads out.
I wasn’t expecting the warm hum that settles in me. I walked out on this town fifteen years ago and Jim’s acting like I’ve only been gone a couple of months. It’s almost like they always knew I’d come back, and they’ve just been waiting.
“So you’re going to come to dinner on Sunday?” Walt says from beside me.
“You’re going to be there too?”
“I’m there every Sunday. I married Patty.”