Small Town Tango

by Jennifer LeJeune

  “Or,” Katy chimes in, “you could just reschedule your meeting.”

  “No way,” replies Bo, “I have waited way too long and tried way too hard to get this man in my office to reschedule on him and have him go somewhere else for representation. Not happening.”

  As Katy sits folding the rest of his clothes and nicely stacking them in his bag and packing his toothbrush and hair gel and hanging his suits, she is talking to God, asking Him if she had been mistaken in thinking that He had given her a sign that Bo is The One.

  Viola spreads the mayo on the six slices of toast and very carefully lays the lettuce and turkey and bacon strips down, just like Bo likes, in silence, as she is also praying to God about the will He has for her grandson’s life. She knows there has to be another reason that he sent Bo here and it has nothing to do with her health.

  “What time do you have to leave here if you drive?” Katy asks Bo as he is sending numerous emails on his Blackberry.

  “As soon as possible,” he says in a tone that says “I don’t have time for questions.”

  Katy knows that as soon as she is done packing the last of his things and he gobbles down that turkey sandwich, he will be gone. She can only hope that he does not get sucked back into the life where nothing matters except winning and gaining. She hopes that he remembers the peacefulness that being here brought to him and that he comes back soon. Katy doesn’t dare stand in the way of Bo and his work, she knows he has a job to do and will not try and hold him back. She knows that all she can do is pray for him which is, without a doubt, the most powerful thing that she has to use. She hopes that his heart has been changed and that he comes back to this place for his grandmother and for her one day.

  Bo tosses his bag in the back seat of his little pink Volkswagen beetle and takes a glass of his mammy’s sweet tea and a piece of cornbread for the road. He has a grueling nine-hour drive ahead of him. Being alone in a car is something he absolutely despises.

  “Bye, Mammy.” He gives her a hug and thanks her for everything she has done for him while he has been here. “I will be back as soon as I can, I promise,” he says.

  Katy stands there beside his car, clasping both of her hands in front of her. Bo steps over to her and takes her hands and tilts her chin up to where she is looking directly at him.

  “I will be back to see you as soon as I am done with work and can take off for a few more days. I am sorry, I wasn’t expecting this week to go by so fast, it kind of snuck up on me. I didn’t even think that this was my last day in town because this day was my first real date with you.” She smiles and nods and tells him to have a safe trip, and gives him a kiss on the cheek and tells him goodbye.

  Katy and Viola stand together at the end of the driveway and watch Bo drive away in his silly pink car. Both of their feelings for him are very different from they were when he first showed up. They had seen something in him change in the short seven days that he has been here, unplugged from the outside world. He was more fun and lighthearted, not so uptight like he had been, and less on edge than before. They are going to miss this new Bo Brogan, super mega ice cream pile-eating, pebble-skipping, fun-loving, church-going Bo. They hope that he is the same when he returns which they are sure he will. They are just unsure of the condition his heart will be in, but that is where their praying will come in. They grab each other by the hand and walk back up to the house to go in and eat their lunch, just the way they had before he had shown up, together.

  Bo drives down the highway with the cruise control set to 70. He remembers he has a big chunk of cornbread wrapped up in a paper towel in the back seat. As he reaches back to feel for it, his hand grabs ahold of something else - his camera. He quickly grabs his camera and pulls it up to the front seat with him and becomes overwhelmed with emotion as he remembers what exactly is on that camera. He presses the power button and finds the photo gallery and starts flipping through the pictures of the burnt kitchen and the bakery. There are exactly 100 pictures of the damage. Bo knows that the insurance money to fix the bakery won’t come in for at least three more weeks and that every day the bakery doors are closed is a day that won’t bring in any revenue, and that means Becky and Sally are also out of a job for the time being.

  “They can’t sit around for three weeks and wait on their job to get back. They will find new jobs, and then Katy won’t have any employees. She won’t be able to do the things she truly enjoys anymore, like work for home health or read to patients in the nursing home,” he thinks to himself.

  Katy’s words hit him in the face like a ton of bricks, “volunteer, take yoga, give back, and feed your soul.” He hears her sweet voice in his ears and knows he has to turn around. It’s time for change.

  Bo turns the car around and heads back for Little Hill, this time going 90 miles per hour instead of 70. He realizes once and for all just what filled the void and he speeds back to them as fast as he can. His grandmother, God, and Katy - love, love and more love are the things that Bo was missing in his life, and no high-paying client or new building could ever bring him as much love or joy as those three could. Bo decided to put money, power and fame out of his head and follow his heart.

  Katy walks up the block to her house and stand on the sidewalk staring at her house once again. She wonders yet again if she will ever move out of this small house and get married and have a family. Sure, Bo says he will be back and she will pray like mad to make that happen, but when there is a fight between good and evil going on in the heart and mind of a man, there is no telling what the outcome will be. She slumps her shoulders and gloomily walks up her front steps. Katy walks over to the teapot and makes herself a cup of chamomile tea, slips into her night gown, and grabs her Bible.

  “Bed for me at seven thirty, I guess my nights of staying up late and partying like it’s 1999 are over. Oh well, worse things could happen.” She says a quick prayer, amongst them is a prayer for Bo’s safe return to Dallas and quick return back to Little Hill.

  Viola makes herself a cup of decaf coffee and sits in her recliner and reads her book, waiting on the clock to strike eight so she can go turn the lights out and get into bed. She wouldn’t want to stray from her schedule just because she was worried sick about her grandson. She knew he would get back to Dallas alright. However, she did not know if he was going to pull through the fight that was going on inside his heart, and her heart hurt for him. Everyone has to be left to fight their own battles with good and evil. There is nothing that we can do except pray and have faith that Good will conquer. If a little old client could make him run off from here so fast, she didn’t know what else could possibly happen now.

  “Only fifty miles left,” Bo says out loud to himself as he guzzles down the third cup of coffee he has had since he decided he was going to turn around. His mind is racing with all of the things he wants to do when he gets back to Little Hill. Number one on the list is to pay for the bakery to be fixed as soon as possible so that Becky and Sally can have their jobs back and Katy can have her life back. He knows the townspeople are hurting as well, not being able to visit their favorite hangout for delicious banana bread and pastries and the BLT.

  “Mm-mm, a BLT. I’m starved, and there is really no reason to rush. Mammy and Katy are both sound asleep by this time of the night.”

  Bo pulls over to a little twenty-four-hour diner on the side of the highway. He asks the waitress for a pen so that he can write his ideas down on a napkin. The list reads:

  1. Fix diner

  2. Find location to build a soup kitchen for underprivileged families

  3. Take a yoga class

  4. Buy a diamond ring

  “Yes, I believe that will do” he mumbles.

  The waitress drops his BLT onto the table and he sees that her name tag reads “Katy”.

  “What did you say, dear?” she asks.

  “Oh nothing,” replies Bo, “I just have a bad habit of talking to myself, that’s all. Is there a hotel around here? He asks the waitress
.”

  “Make the loop. There are two hotels right on the other side of the highway.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” he says, grinning from ear to ear. He has never been this excited about anything other than getting a Tonka truck for his fourth birthday.

  Bo drives over to the hotel on the other side of the highway to get some rest. He is going to wake up at five and drive to Little Hill. That way he will catch Katy and his mammy before they are out the door.

  Baaamp-baamp-baamp. The alarm clock sounds and he picks his head up to look at the clock, although he is sure he has not slept. It is five o’ clock on the dot and he hops up and grabs his bag, which he had not opened, and runs to the bathroom. He washes his face, brushes his teeth, combs his hair, and heads down to the lobby to check out.

  When he steps up to the counter to return his room key, he sees an older woman with the name “Viola” on her name tag and he hands her his key.

  “That’s a beautiful name,” he says to her.

  “Well, thank you, but I’m married” she says. He laughs and turns to walk out the door to his car.

  “Let’s see,” he thinks to himself, “a waitress named Katy, a hotel worker named Viola with the same sense of humor as my mammy… I would say that’s enough signs, God,” he says, looking up towards the sky.

  Katy’s alarm clock sounds at six a.m. sharp. Monday is her least favorite day of the week, but at least now she gets to spend her Mondays with Mrs. Viola, thanks to Bo. Katy goes into the kitchen and turns the coffee pot on, then goes into the bathroom to get ready for her day. She contemplates calling Bo to make sure he made it back safe last night, but she doesn’t want to seem like a worrywart, so she decides to wait a few hours. She comes out of the bathroom and hears the coffee brewing come to a stop, so she goes to pour herself a cup.

  She walks over to her front door to open the curtain so she can watch the hummingbirds chase each other on the feeders. She pulls back the curtains and looks out to see the birds and “Ahhhhhhh!” She shrieks as she sees a shadow of a man’s face two inches away from hers through the glass.

  “Bo, is that you!” she screams as she swings the door open. “What in the world are you doing here, on my porch, at six in the morning!” she shouts.

  “Well, I’m happy to see you too,” he says, swooping her up into a big hug and twirling her around. “I came back, Katy. I drove a little while and then it just hit me, I have more important things to take care of here. I have you to take care of and Mammy; I have so much to do. I have to stop doing all of the selfish things that I have done all my life and do something different. Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over expecting different results? If so, I think I’m insane, Katy.”

  She spits her coffee out into the sink, while cracking up with laughter, “I would offer you some coffee, Bo, but I think you have had too much already.”

  “You are right, I had some as I was leaving the hotel, and took a cup to go.”

  “The hotel?” she replies.

  “Yes, I stayed about an hour away because I knew you would be sleeping if I drove straight back, but that if I waited a few hours, you would be awake, so ta-da! Here I am.”

  “Here you are,” she says. “Are you hungry? I can make you some breakfast if you want.”

  “No,” says Bo, “there is no time. I have a list of things I have to do today.”

  “I’m really happy you came back, Bo,” she says, leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Now I have to go get ready for work. It’s Monday. Today I sit with Miss Viola,” she says as she walks out of the room.

  When Katy comes back to the living room, she sees Bo sleeping like a baby on her couch. She grabs a blanket and covers him up and slips away back into her room to call Viola and tell her about him being back.

  “Yes, isn’t it crazy? I mean, I prayed for him to come back to Little Hill soon, but I didn’t think it would happen that fast,” Katy says to Viola.

  “Katy bug, you can’t put anything past the good Lord. I will be over there in ten minutes. Just let me get my walking shoes on, I have to see this for myself.”

  There is a light tap on the door and Katy tiptoes through the house to quietly open the door and let Viola in very carefully to not wake up Bo.

  “Well, I’ll be,” Viola says as she and Katy stand in front of Bo with their arms crossed staring at him. “What a good boy,” Viola says. She sees a white napkin sticking out of his pocket and bends down to get it, poking him once to make sure he is good and asleep. She gently pulls the napkin out of her pocket and reads:

  1. Fix diner

  2. Find location to build a soup kitchen for underprivileged families

  3. Take a yoga class

  4. Buy a diamond ring

  “Hmm…” Viola says as she quickly folds the napkin and shoves it back down into Bo's pocket.

  “What was that?” Katy asks Viola.

  “Oh nothing, dear, come along with me and let’s go get pedicures. Our boy is home, we have a reason to celebrate!”

  Three hours later, Bo arises from his nap to find himself alone on Katy’s couch with a pink polka dotted blanket on top of him.

  “What’s with all the pink!” he shouts up to the heavens. “Am I supposed to build a rescue for flamingos or something!” he pulls out his list and looks at it and searches Katy’s house for a phone book to find some local contractors that he might be able to get started on remodeling the bakery right away.

  After several calls, he has painters, construction workers, electricians, and plumbers coming to redo the kitchen of the bakery. “Now I can scratch that off” he says.

  He ponders over his list for a while, asking himself why buying a diamond ring is at the bottom of the list when it is the thing that he wants to do the most. Bo decides to do number five next and throws on a change of clothes and heads over to Burke’s Jewelry on the other side of town, hoping not to run into Katy at any time while trying to pick out the perfect ring for her so as not to ruin the surprise.

  Bo rounds the corner and parks his little pink car on the curb outside Burke’s Jewelry and skips inside. Browsing the engagement ring section, he sees that there are so many options that he doesn’t even know where to begin. He feels a finger tap him on the shoulder and he thinks to himself “Please be anyone but Katy.” He turns around to find Becky staring him in the face.

  “What are you doing here, Bo?” she says.

  “What are you doing here, Becky?” says Bo.

  “I am here because a diamond fell out of my ring and I needed to get it replaced. Besides, I asked you first, what are YOU doing here?”

  “Well, I, uh… ok, Becky Ann, you have to promise me you won’t say anything to Katy.” At that moment Becky jumps up and down and puts her hands over her mouth and leaps into Bo’s arms and gives him a huge hug.

  Still jumping up and down, she asks him, “Are you really asking her to marry you!”

  “Well, Becky, I would like to but with you shouting that loud the word is going to get back to her before I do with a ring, so could you quiet down just a bit?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry, I’m just so excited. She is going to be so excited!” exclaims Becky.

  “While I have to be here, Becky, would you mind helping me find the right ring?” Bo asks.

  “Would I mind? I would absolutely love to!”

  Skimming the ring cases, Becky whispers to Bo, “You know pink is her favorite color, don’t you?”

  “No, I didn’t know that. I mean, I guess I should have known with all of the pink dresses she wears and her little pink shoes and the blanket I woke up under earlier was pink.”

  “Bo Brogan, did you sleep over there last night?” she shouts.

  “It’s a long story, Becky, but no. Now could you please keep your voice down?”

  “Whatever you say,” Becky replies.

  “Look at this one, Becky, I think this is it.”

  Back at the salon, Miss Viola has alread
y insisted that they have pedicures, manicures, facials, and get their hair blown out.

  “What are we doing all of this for, miss Viola? Did you enter us into a pageant I didn’t know about?”

  “No, no, dear, don’t question, just enjoy. When we are done here, we can go back home and I will fix us some turkey sandwiches. I will even break out the last jar of pickles I have made from my last batch of cucumbers.”

  Katy starts to wonder why Miss Viola is doing all of this. Maybe she is just very excited that Bo is back, she concludes, and carries on getting her hair blown out and doesn’t question it again.

  Back at Burke’s Jewelry store, Bo has finally decided on the perfect ring. He makes his purchase and ducks out of the store, hoping to not be seen by anyone.