Hand-Me-Down Love (17 page)

When they got back
to the shop, Michael said he needed to get to Mobile to meet someone
about the potential bar there.

“
It’s been good
to see you, Michael,” Marla said. “I’m happy for you.”

“
It’s been good
to see you too, Marla. Really good. You look great, by the way.”

Marla looked down
shyly, and when she looked back up at Michael, she said, “Thanks.
You look good too.

“
I’m going to be
in this area for a while, if things work out like I think they’re
going to. I’ll be going back and forth from Mobile to Gulf Shores.
You’re right on the way. Can we see each other again?”

“
Of course,” she
said. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she knew she didn’t
know what Sean was doing either. “Of course,” she repeated.

Michael reached down
and hugged her and kissed her lightly on the lips. “I’ll call
when I come back through tomorrow, okay?”

“
Okay,” she
said. She shut the door behind him as he left. Marla Anderson was
getting back on the horse.

Chapter
Eighteen

Sean and Jesse
walked into Billy’s. It was a Saturday night and the place would be
hopping. It was always hopping on Saturdays. Sean had been there
enough to know that. He and Jesse sat at the bar and ordered their
brews, but Jesse probably wouldn’t be there long. The women loved
him and soon someone would drag him away to dance or sit in a booth.
That was okay with Sean. He was ten years older than Jesse but felt
like an old man compared to him.

Shortly after Jesse
left his stool, Pete made an appearance. Sean had come to expect him,
to look forward to seeing the old man. He had a certain wisdom that
Sean appreciated.

“
Hey, Sean,”
Pete said sitting on the barstool next to him.

“
Hey,” Sean
said, raising his mug.

After Pete had
settled in with his mug, he and Sean began to talk. That’s what
they did. Talk. Sean told Pete about cutting down trees, how much he
had learned in the two months he’d been there. Pete talked about
books—he was an avid reader. He talked about William Faulkner and
F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Earnest Hemmingway. Sean had never read
those books, but he was fascinated when Pete talked about them.

While they were
talking and throwing back bar nuts, Sean noticed a dog sitting behind
the bar. It was a golden retriever and he looked regal with his
flowing golden hair and pointed snout.

Billy himself was
working the bar that night. When he came over to Sean and Pete, Sean
said, “Did you get a dog?”

“
Huh?” Billy
said. “Oh, that dog,” he said looking back at the golden
retriever. “Somebody left him here. Left him tied up outside. What
kind of son of a bitch does that?” Billy had a full head of black
hair and a beard and mustache. His arms were covered in tattoos. Pete
had told Sean that Billy was a biker who stopped off in McGinley’s
Gap one day on a road trip and never left.

“
I’m going to
have to do something with that dog,” Billy said. “I like him and
all, but I can’t really keep him in the bar and I don’t want to
be responsible for an animal.”

Sean and Pete sat on
their stools looking at the dog. The dog looked back. He looked so
noble and sad all at the same time. How could someone have just left
him like that? As he sat on his barstool, looking at the dog, Sean
began to feel a connection to him. He didn’t understand it, but it
was unmistakable. The dog’s soulful eyes spoke to Sean and reminded
him of his childhood dog, Cody. Cody had been a German Shepherd and
didn’t look anything like this dog, but they had the same eyes.

Sean walked behind
the bar and let the dog sniff his hand to let him know he was a
friend. He rubbed his head. He squatted down and looked at the dog.
“Hey, boy,” he said. “You wanna go home with me?” The dog
wagged his tail.

“
Could I take him
off your hands?” Sean said to Billy, who was leaning against the
bar.

“
Who?” Billy
said setting the fresh mug of beer in front of Pete.

“
This dog. Could I
take him?” What was he doing? He didn’t even know if it was okay
with Marty for him to get a dog and take it to the cabin.

“
Oh,” Billy
said. “Yeah, you can take him. He needs a good home.”

Pete said, “You
know what you’re doing? You’re taking on a responsibility here.”

Sean walked from
behind the bar and sat back down on his stool.

“
I haven’t known
what I’m doing for a while now,” Sean said looking at Pete.

Pete smiled. “Then
it’s right,” he said. They laughed. Sean finished his beer and
looked for Jesse. He saw him sitting in a booth with a young redhead.
He caught his eye and held up his hand.

Jesse pried himself
loose from the redhead and came over to the bar.

“
You ready?”
Sean asked.

“
Not really. Are
you ready?”

“
Well, I’m going
to be taking that dog home with us,” he said motioning to the
golden retriever sitting behind the bar. “What do you think Marty
will think about that?”

“
I don’t think
he’ll care,” Jesse said. “He’s got dogs himself. I think he
loves dogs. But can we wait awhile longer before we leave? I’ve got
something going over there.”

Sean looked at the
young man, who in many ways mirrored himself. Sean’s hair had grown
so long that Mario had insisted he wear a ponytail for safety
reasons. He felt empathy for Jesse, a young man on the prowl, and
said, “Yeah. Let’s wait a while. Cody’ll still be here when we
leave.”

“
Cody?” Jesse
said. Sean realized he’d named the dog Cody, after his childhood
dog.

“
Yeah, the dog.
I’m naming him Cody.”

Sean and Pete sat at
the bar another hour, talking about books, the trail, cutting trees.
Sean looked back at Jesse every now and then and the kid looked like
he was having the time of his life. He was buying rounds of beer for
the people at his booth. He definitely didn’t look like he was
ready to leave.

A few minutes after
the last time Sean looked at Jesse, he came over to the bar. “Rebecca
says she can take me home. Sorry to hold you up.”

“
That’s okay.
I’ve been enjoying Pete’s company. But I do think I need to get
Cody where he’s going.”

Sean paid his tab
and went behind the bar to get Cody and the bag of dog food Billy had
bought. Pete was standing by his barstool when Sean came back around.

“
Guess I need to
be leaving too. I’m not gettin’ any younger.”

They walked out
together as Sean held the rope that was tied to Cody’s collar. He
and Pete said goodnight and Sean put the dog in the old truck Marty
let him use. Cody jumped into the seat and looked at Sean. “Let’s
go,” he seemed to say.

And they went. Back
to the cabin. Cody walked in, sniffing every corner. Sean lit a fire
and settled on the couch. Cody eventually came over to him and lay
down on the rug by the sofa. Sean scratched him behind the ears.

He knew he should
get in touch with Marla, but that had been a hard thing to do. Every
time he texted her and she texted back, he wanted to run to her. It
was hard to keep doing what he knew he needed to do. If he heard her
voice, he barely had the strength to stay the course. He loved her.
He wanted her. He missed her. But he had to go to her with a free
place in his heart just for Marla.

Cody slept on the
floor by Sean’s bed that night and every night after that. Marty
and his wife loved Cody and the dog spent the days up at the
farmhouse while Sean worked. Then he went home with Sean to his cabin
after supper. Sean had no idea who had owned Cody before—of course
he didn’t—but he didn’t understand how anyone could have let
him go.

In the afternoons
and on weekends, Sean took Cody into the woods surrounding the
Rutherford’s house. Cody was eager to learn the land and more than
once splashed into the creek that ran through. His ears pricked at
every sound in the forest. Sean found a Frisbee in the little general
store in town and spent some evenings throwing the Frisbee out into
the meadow where Cody ran for it and caught it in his mouth. He
brought it back to Sean, who threw it again.

Sean had learned
early on in his timber-cutting training to keep his mind focused on
the task at hand. He couldn’t think about Meredith or Marla or
anything else emotional. He didn’t want to get killed, and if he
allowed his mind to wander, he might.

Several times a
week, Sean and Jesse got in the old truck and went to Billy’s.
There really wasn’t much else to do around there.

One Saturday night
in mid-May, Sean and Jesse went to Billy’s and Sean found his place
on his usual barstool. A brunette with long hair tied behind her back
came over to Sean. Sean had never seen her before.

“
What can I get
you?” she asked with a faint smile.

“
I’d say the
usual, but I’ve never seen you here before. So, I’ll have a draft
beer.”

“
I just started
working here yesterday. My name’s Crystal.”

“
Nice to meet you,
Crystal,” Sean said holding out his hand. She shook his hand, then
walked down the bar and drew him a draft. She put it on the bar in
front of him.

“
Let me know when
you need a refill,” she said, smiling before turning away to tend
to other customers.

Sean kept watching
the door, expecting Pete to show up. He usually was there on Saturday
night, but he was running late or something. He kept drinking his
draft. When things slowed down, Crystal walked back over to Sean and
brought him a refill.

“
Are you a hiker?”
she asked Sean.

“
I was a hiker
until a few months ago,” Sean said. “I stopped off here and never
went back on the trail.”

“
I figured you
were a hiker,” she said.

“
Are you from
around here?” Sean asked.

“
Sort of. I’m
from a little town a few miles down the road.”

Sean kept talking to
Crystal and found out she had gone to college at the University of
North Carolina, married right out of college, and divorced a few
years later.

“
I didn’t really
know what to do at that point, so I came back home. I got this job to
keep myself busy and make a little money in the process. I’m not
really sure what my next step is. Just taking my time.”

She left Sean to
make some drinks for customers. Pete came in while she was doing
that.

“
I got a late
start tonight,” Pete said. “The kitchen sink started backing up
and I had to take care of it before I could leave. Can’t leave
something like that.”

“
Right,” Sean
said.

Crystal came over to
take Pete’s order, a draft as usual.

“
Who’s she?”
Pete asked. “I’ve never seen her before.”

Sean filled Pete in
on who Crystal was and her story, as far as he knew it. For the
remainder of the evening, Sean and Pete talked, and Crystal came over
when she could to add to the conversation. She’d gotten her degree
in American Lit and she and Pete discussed all of the books that Sean
had never read. He really wished he had read them so he could
participate in the conversation.

But Crystal paid
plenty of attention to Sean. She asked him about the trail, what he
did for a living, all the usual questions. But she seemed really
interested in his answers and he gave them easily.

“
I think she’s
got a thing for you,” Pete said when Crystal left them to fill
drink orders.

“
Me?” Sean said.
“I just think she’s a friendly person.”

“
Okay,” Pete
said. “Whatever you say.”

Sean continued to go
to Billy’s several nights a week and he continued to talk to
Crystal as she tended bar. They talked about their childhoods, their
careers, and finally Sean told her about Meredith. Crystal put her
hand on his hand then, and that was all. She didn’t say she was
sorry, she just let him know she was sorry, that she understood his
pain.

May moved into to
early June. Sean had been cutting trees for four months by that time,
and he was pretty good at it. The weather was warming up and flowers
and bushes were blooming. One night, he and Cody sat on the bank of a
pond in the meadow and the fireflies flashed their yellow lights on
and off. They were reflected in the pond. The stars in the clear
night sky shone brightly. They were reflected in the pond, too. It
was a night of lights. Sean watched the fireflies and the stars. Cody
sat beside him, looking out across the pond and up at the sky. In one
moment, Cody looked over at him, and Sean looked in his eyes. He
realized that Cody was watching the lights too. Man and dog were
connected in the vast universe.