Montana Fever. Jackie Merritt

clothing store. Or maybe the woman owned it. She wanted to get a closer look at the young woman and decided to return later, after the store was open for a while and other customers would be present.

       Driving away, she returned to the Sundowner Motel and room 116.

      “How is Brian this morning?” Lola asked when Betty arrived at opening time the next morning.

      “Brian’s fine. The doctor said to keep him quiet for one day, then send him back to school. Mrs. Miller from down the street is at the house with him. She always watches the kids when Tom and I go out, and she was more than happy to stay with Brian today.”

      “Betty, if Brian’s home today, you really didn’t have to come in,” Lola admonished.

      “I promise he’s all right,” Betty said. “I would never leave one of my kids if they weren’t.” She then added with an impish smile, “I’m dying to hear what happened with you and Duke Sheridan yesterday.”

      Lola was preparing the cash register for the day. “What makes you think anything happened?”

      “What an innocent expression! You should have been an actress, Lola Fanon.”

      Lola grinned. “And you should have been a gossip columnist. Okay, I give. There’s not that much to tell, anyway. He asked me out. We’re seeing a movie together on Friday evening.”

      “I knew it!” Betty’s blue eyes glowed with excitement. “I could tell he fell head over heels the second he saw you.”

      Lola scoffed. “That’s silly. All I am to the flirtatious Mr. Sheridan is a new face.”

      The first customer of the day walked in, and Betty went to greet him. Finishing her counter work, Lola wondered if she hadn’t hit the nail on the head with her comment of merely being a new face to Duke. The idea was oddly discomfiting, but it certainly could be true.

      She realized that she really didn’t know what to think, and wouldn’t know any more about it than she did right now until she spent some time with Duke. What would Friday night bring, disappointment or more intrigue?

      Shaking her head over her mental rambling, she walked over to the shirt racks. They had sold quite a few shirts yesterday, and there were gaps on the racks which she closed by rearranging the hangers. A shipment of shirts would arrive today or tomorrow. Good thing she had placed that order when she did, she thought. Without a wide choice of merchandise and sizes, sales would definitely drop off.

      It was amazing to her that she was actually making money with her store. Naturally, profit had been her goal when she started this venture, but to think that she was succeeding was extremely gratifying. Apparently she had a head for business, because she was doing everything right. What’s more, she loved every aspect of the operation, even to the paperwork.

      The bell above the door jangled. Smiling, Lola went to greet the second customer of the morning. From then on, it was a busy day.

       Three

      As Friday drew nearer, Lola became less concerned about seeing Duke. It was only a date, for’heaven’s sake, and he was only a person she barely knew. After one evening together she might not want ever to see him again. If that should happen to be the case, it wouldn’t bother her to tell him so. Not that she would be cruel or insulting about it. But it took two people to create a relationship, any kind of relationship, even ordinary friendship, and if Duke turned out to be unlikable, came on too strong or was boring—unlikely but not impossible—she would let him know that she wasn’t interested in furthering their association.

      She was glad of one thing, that she hadn’t agreed to having dinner with him. A movie was a sensible activity for a first date, much less intimate than a dinner for two in some quiet restaurant. There were several nice restaurants in Rocky Ford, and one especially good place about fifty miles out of town. It was a resort, actually, situated in green mountains with good hiking trails and meandering streams. The rooms and restaurant were expensive, but the Horizon Resort did a thriving business, both summer and winter, because of its first-class service and excellent food. Charlie had taken her there for dinner during her first week home, proudly showing her what had sprung up while she was away from the area.

      The town, too, had done some changing during her extended absence—several housing developments along its outskirts, new businesses, stoplights at intersections that had always been dangerous, and a modernized theater showing the latest movies, to name a few. Growth and progress had reached her hometown, and now she and her store were part of it. She liked that.

      When Friday was upon her, however, she became a little uncertain again. All day, in between customers and busywork, she thought about the date and Duke and how they would get along. She also wondered what to wear for the evening—something casual, of course, but how casual?

      She closed at six, as usual, hurried through the after-hours routines—balancing the register, securing the cash in the safe and putting away the sales slips for later attention—and drove home with a knot in her stomach she couldn’t dispel with the commonsense arguments she had relied on since agreeing to this date. Okay, she finally admitted, so she was nervous about the evening ahead. No big deal. But when had she ever been nervous about a date? If it had happened before, she couldn’t remember it.

      Dinner was broiled fish filets and a green salad. She and Charlie discussed the day, as had become a nightly routine, then, together, they did the dishes and straightened the kitchen. Charlie headed for the front part of the house, his business space, to do some sweeping and such, and Lola went to her room to get ready. Time was getting short, and she rushed through a shower and shampoo. After donning fresh lingerie, she grabbed a dress from the closet and put it on. Her hair was easy, just a few minutes with the blow dryer and a styling brush. Makeup took another few minutes, and she was ready with ten minutes to spare.

      Good, she thought, stopping to catch her breath. After switching purses, choosing one that matched her dress and flat-heeled shoes, she brought the purse to the kitchen and set it on the table. It was five minutes to eight.

      Hearing a vehicle pulling into the driveway, she peeked out the window and saw a black four-wheeler. It was a large expensive model with four doors, and as clean and shiny as a freshly polished mirror. Duke got out. Lola’s breath caught in her throat. He was wearing blue-gray Western pants and shirt, and black boots, appearing so handsome in the day’s waning light that she felt choked just looking at him.

      “Whoa,” she mumbled to herself, not particularly thrilled that the mere sight of a man would cause her so much turmoil.

      She let him knock twice on the kitchen door, which really had become the front door ever since Charlie had turned the front of the house into a business. Finally, calmly, she walked to the door and opened it.

      “Hello,” she said with a smile.

      “Hello.” Duke’s gaze glided over her pretty, dusky rose dress and slippers, then up to her face. She was every bit as appealing as he remembered, even more so in that dress.

      “I’m ready,” Lola said, stepping away from the door to pick up her purse.

      “We’ve got a few minutes before the movie starts. I’d like to say hello to Charlie, if it’s all right with you.”

      “Well, yes, of course. He’s in the front.” Leading the way, she called, “Charlie?”

      They entered the big room with its tables and chairs, display shelves containing books and magazines, and its wonderful smell of rich coffee beans. Charlie set aside his broom.

      Duke slipped around Lola and offered his hand. “Hello, Charlie.”

      “Duke.” They shook hands.

      “Been awhile since I’ve been in here,” Duke said with a glance around. “Nice place.”

      “It’ll