by Maggie Ryan
All afternoon while Nate worked on the engine he was rebuilding, he was trying to plan out how he was going to explain to Kathy about the very traditional viewpoints that were prevalent in the vast majority of the residents of Menton. He was strongly attracted to her and hoped that she wasn’t scared off by the information he felt obligated to share. He was well aware of the all too frequent blame that bearers of unpleasant news were often fated to suffer. But he felt a strong moral obligation to let her know early on what she was signing on for if she decided to set down roots in Menton—even if he accomplished nothing more than giving her a better understanding of how harmful it could be to antagonize the elders of the local church who claimed more than half the local population as congregants. Dustin Collins could make her life miserable if he chose to.
By the time his work day ended, Nate hadn’t come up with an easy solution—he was just going to have to do his best to be tactful and keep his fingers crossed that she took it well. Deciding that it would be helpful if they had as much privacy as possible for the talk, he called ahead to Dottie and took the unusual step of actually making a reservation so that he could guarantee a table in the back of the diner. He knew that the rumor mill would be in full operation as a result, but that was virtually a guarantee anyway, as soon as he was seen with a date that no one knew. That was just how things worked in a town as small as Menton.
He took extra care over his appearance as he showered and shaved again after work, even splashing on some of the cologne his mother had given him for Christmas. Shaking his head, he had to laugh at his actions. When he had opened the gift, he would have been willing to bet his next paycheck that it was something that he was never going to use. Now he just hoped that he didn’t run into any of the guys he normally hung out with—at least not until he had Kathy on his arm to show off.
Deciding that the rumor mill might as well have some extra fodder, he made a stop at the local gift shop to buy flowers. Julie Johnson, the owner of the store, was a well-known chatterbox, but she had a good heart and never had a malicious thought about anyone. Nate could tell that she was practically bursting with curiosity, but kept her questions to herself, as she took the individual stems he selected from her floral cooler and made them into an attractive arrangement in a green vase. She added several types of extra greenery to showcase the blooms and then looked to him with an eyebrow arched and her hand poised over the collection of ribbon spools. “What color bow would you like?”
“Uh, I don’t have a clue,” Nate confessed. “What do you think?”
“What is her favorite color? You’ve selected a nice range of flowers, almost any ribbon will look nice.”
“Why don’t you pick?” he suggested quickly, unwilling to confess that he had no idea. “I’m sure you have a better eye for that kind of thing; after all, you’re the professional here.”
Julie smiled and made no further comment, crafting a tasteful bow with yellow ribbon. “Since you picked several different kinds of daisy, I think this will work well. Do you like it?”
“Yes, it’s just what I imagined. Thank you,” he responded as he paid and then picked up the arrangement. He suddenly realized that he was going to be the source of a great deal of local amusement as he walked the final two blocks to the Blue Bell carrying the vase of flowers. Hopefully, Kathy would appreciate the gesture he was making and understand that he had her best interests in mind.
Chapter 2
Kathy tried to fight the urge to nibble nervously on her lower lip as she waited for Nate at the Blue Bell. She didn’t want to mess up her lipstick. Her landlady had been very eager to help with her preparations for her date and had declared that she must have some makeup, which she insisted on applying from her own supplies. Certain that she was going to look like a clown and have to find a place to discreetly wipe it all off after she left the house, Kathy was very pleasantly surprised to look in the mirror when the woman was finished and see that her landlady was a true expert. After spending several minutes sitting still while various cosmetics where applied to her face, Kathy would have been hard pressed to say exactly what had been done. She just looked pretty. “Wow! Can you teach me how to do this? You’ve worked a miracle. Thank you!”
The older woman had smiled happily and patted her shoulder. “Thank you for indulging me. I always wished that I’d been blessed with a daughter to share this sort of girly fun with, but I could hardly do it with my son! I’ll be thrilled to show you what to do. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Nothing tonight—unless you know of any jobs open around town. I’m a good employee and willing to do almost any kind of work.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, but I haven’t really paid much attention to that sort of thing since I’m retired. But I’ll keep my eyes open and ask around for you. All I can suggest is maybe Dottie at the Blue Bell can use another waitress. Is that something you can do?”
“I sure can,” Kathy had answered cheerfully. “I’ve got lots of experience with that. Maybe I should go a little early and try to talk to her before Nate gets there.”
She had followed through, but the diner owner was too busy with the dinner rush to be available to talk when she arrived. So Kathy had stood off to the side and studied the community bulletin board that was posted just inside the door. There were a lot of things going on in town. It looked like she would have plenty of opportunities to get involved and begin to make some friends.
“Hello, Kathy, you look lovely. Thank you for agreeing to have dinner with me. I’ll be the envy of every guy who sees us together tonight.”
Nate’s pleasant greeting washed over her, soothing her nerves and she turned with a blush and a smile. When she saw the vase of flowers he held out to her, her eyes widened and then teared up. “For me?”
He nodded. “Pretty flowers for a pretty lady.” He handed them over and realized that she was about to have a very public meltdown. “Come with me.”
Gently taking her arm, he drew her through the bustling restaurant to their booth in the back, congratulating himself on his foresight to arrange for that specific table. It was in the back corner and had an upholstered bench against the wall and then nothing on the other side of the table because, otherwise, the area was too tight to have enough space for people to walk by. Usually people who were dining alone were seated there, but there was enough space for a couple to sit side by side. Nate hoped that their forced proximity would allow their conversation to be held in very low voices. Shouting would have every single person in the diner listening avidly and discussing at length what they heard for the next few days.
He took the vase back from her, set it on the table and then helped Kathy to slide in, realizing that when he sat next to her, he would be blocking her from leaving the table—which might be a very good thing if the conversation went poorly. “Are you all right? Hasn’t anyone ever given you flowers before?” He could see the answer even before he finished asking the question.
She shook her head and tried to dab at her eyes discreetly. “I’m sorry to be such a mess!” She tried for a light tone to her voice, but had trouble holding back a sob. “You are so sweet to think to bring me flowers. Thank you so much! And here I am crying and looking silly, I’m sure. Mrs. Donner put makeup on me and it’s probably getting all messed up. Not at all what you were expecting from your date.”
Nate wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, but decided that he would just go with his gut; after all it had served him well so far in life. “I’m honored to be the first to give you flowers and touched that it so obviously means so much to you.” He took out his handkerchief and asked, “May I help you a little?” She was doing more damage than she was rescuing with her efforts to wipe away the tears.
“Yes, please.” She turned toward him to offer up her face, closing her eyes.
She looked so trusting and adorable. His heart filled with a tenderness that he had never felt for any woman before. As he finished wiping away the smeared make
up and tear tracks, he leaned over and gently kissed her cheek. “There, all better. Pretty as a picture again.”
“Hardly!” she laughed. “But, hopefully, better than the clown I was worried I was going to look like when I realized that there was no way to refuse the makeup that Mrs. Donner wanted to put on me. It turned out that she was a miracle worker and now I’ve gone and spoiled it.”
“Hush, don’t say such things. I think you look lovely and you shouldn’t call me a liar.” He tapped her nose in a playful reprimand.
“No, I shouldn’t; that would be dreadfully impolite. I’m sorry.”
There was silence for a long moment as he gazed at her. Then he gave a slight shake of his head and smiled ruefully. “You make me think things and want things that I have no business letting into my head right now. We have a lot to talk about and I’m not sure how to start.” He looked around, not a soul was paying any attention to them. “I should have gotten you a menu before we sat down. I’ll bet you’re hungry. You didn’t eat much lunch and that was several hours ago.”
“I’m fine.” She, also, studied the area around them. “It’s like we’re in a bubble, just the two of us and the rest of the world doesn’t notice us. Isn’t it nice?”
“I feel like I’m failing to provide for you; you’re hungry and I’ve done nothing to fix it.”
She patted her hand on his arm. “I’m fine. I think that they’re giving us a chance to have some privacy and I think that’s sweet.”
“You’re the one who is sweet—forgiving and not complaining at all. Is this the real you? I wasn’t expecting this after the language that first brought us together.”
She dropped her head slightly and blushed. “Sorry about that. I was very tired and worried and then it all boiled over when I got frustrated with that jar. I can never open them.” She offered her hand for inspection. “Too small to get a good grip. At home—Where I used to live, I used a bottle opener to break the seal and then it’s not a problem at all. But it didn’t occur to me in the store when I bought the sandwich makings and I really would have hated having to spend money buying a bottle opener just to open jars. I need to watch every penny until I find a job and get a steady paycheck.” She stopped abruptly and took a deep breath. “Enough about that. Anyway, I took a nap and I’m feeling a lot better about things.”
“It sounds like moving to Menton was not well planned.”
She laughed. “No, it certainly wasn’t. Twenty-four hours ago I had no idea how much my life was about to change.”
“What happened?”
“My mother chose her boyfriend over believing me. She not only kicked me out of our home, she kicked me out of town. Put me on a bus and gave a most rude farewell gesture as it drove me away. It seems pretty obvious that is a bridge that has been burned.”
“Good grief! Are you all right? That must have been very hurtful. You couldn’t have been able to bring much on the bus. Will she ship you the rest of your things?”
Kathy shook her head. “There isn’t any ‘rest of my things.’ We weren’t exactly rolling in dough.”
“But clothes, books, whatever is special to you…”
“We’re the same size and shared clothing, so I really can’t see her deciding to part with anything.”
“But your personal things, surely you didn’t share every item of clothing.”
“You mean underwear? Nah, neither of us bothered much with that, although she had a couple of garter belts and things her boyfriends bought her. I wouldn’t want to touch those.”
Nate swallowed. Underwear was not what he had meant; it would have never occurred to him to ask about that, but her answer changed the direction of things. This conversation was leading him to a conclusion that he really didn’t want to have to confirm, but it was absolutely crucial. “Kathy, please forgive me for what I am about to ask, but it is important. Believe me, I would really rather skip the whole thing, if only I could, but I can’t.”
She turned an inquiring face to him and waited.
“Do you have… Did you pack… panties?”
There was an uncomfortable silence as she studied him, her head tipped slightly to the side, and he tried to keep an expression on his face that denied he was a pervert.
She bit her lip and then asked cautiously, “Does it really matter? Will you think differently about me depending on how I answer?”
He shook his head. “No, absolutely not. But if you don’t have any, it is a problem that has to be remedied immediately.”
“Why?”
Well here he was, at the crux of the matter. He never would have anticipated that a discussion of panties would be the lead in. “Because panties are not optional in this town,” he answered firmly. “I’ve been struggling with how to warn you about this ever since you cursed in front of Mr. Collins. This is a very traditional town, the residents—many of them, anyway—have very old-fashioned ideas about the roles of men and women. And,” he sighed, “misbehaving women are likely to get spanked.”
“Who decides if they are misbehaving? The men, right?”
“Public opinion, for the most part; a lot of it is based on what was expected back in the fifties. The women here generally agree with the behavior standards. Otherwise they get out of town as soon as they are able, like my mother did.”
“I’m… I don’t know what to think. Keep explaining, please.”
“The general belief is that every woman needs to have a man watching out for her, guiding her, making sure that she is okay, protecting her. Ultimately, he is responsible for her. If she misbehaves, there is an expectation that he will correct her. If you had been a local woman, Mr. Collins would have been on the phone to your man complaining about your language and demanding that you be taught a lesson about proper behavior.”
“So you weren’t just flirting with me when you came over and asked if you could sit with me.”
“Oh, I was contemplating it, but wasn’t sure if I would be welcomed or not. Then you let loose with some very poorly chosen words and suddenly I knew I needed get over there to diffuse the situation. I was worried that Mr. Collins would head straight to the sheriff. It seemed obvious to me that you had no idea what kind of town this is and I wanted to save you from getting into trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Vagrancy, for starters,” a deep voice answered.
Startled, Kathy and Nate looked up and noticed the sheriff was standing there. He nodded politely as he snagged a chair from another table and brought it to theirs. He positioned it backwards and sat straddling it, apparently entirely unconcerned about blocking the aisle.
“Pardon me, for joinin’ in uninvited like this, but I’ve been wonderin’ where this youn’ lady had gotten to.” He took an envelope from his shirt pocket and placed it on the table in front of Kathy. “Cliff, the bus driver, felt real bad about havin’ to drive off and leave you stranded, but he was already behind schedule and no one had any idea where you were. He said that you hadn’t properly purchased a ticket and asked me to return your money to you. Speculation was that you didn’t mistake the time, you made the decision not to return to the bus.”
“Sorry,” she whispered, embarrassed. “I wasn’t feeling well, and I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly. When I started out walking, I was just trying to get some fresh air and feel better. Then I noticed the sign in a window about a room for rent and I decided to check it out. I needed to find a new place to live and this town seems pleasant. The landlady was nice and I could afford the rent, so I looked at the room. Oh gee, it was better than I could have ever imagined, so we came to an agreement right away and I signed the contract and paid on the spot. I guess it just pushed all thoughts about the bus out of my head. I left my stuff in the room and went out to explore my new town. I bought some groceries for making lunch and sat in the park where I met Nate.”
“Had a bit of a run in with Dustin Collins, I hear.”
Nate groaned. “So he didn’t wait for
me to take care of it. I’ll bet he was quite pleased to report Kathy and demand that you do something.”
Will chuckled. “He’s never been much of fan of my style of handlin’ thin’s. But between such an upstandin’ citizen demandin’ that I clear the town of foul-mouthed vagrants and Cliff feelin’ guilty about leavin’ an indisposed youn’ lady stranded, I figured I needed to impose on this nice intimate dinner for two and see if I had found my mystery woman.”
“So how much trouble is Kathy in? I can vouch that she seems to be a fine addition to our town, she’s got a place to live and she’s looking for a job—she’s hardly a vagrant. I’ve explained about the local behavioral standards and now that she understands, I’m sure that she won’t be a problem.”
“The last single woman who moved to town was assigned a minder, if you recall.”
Nate shook his head. “I’m fairly new to town myself. I didn’t know about that. How did that work out?”
The sheriff looked surprised. “I hadn’t realized that you were new. Just thought you returned here from bein’ in the Army. There’ve been Burrowses in town forever. They’re a foundin’ family.”
“Yeah, that’s my family. My Uncle Bucky had a heart attack a while back and my mother asked me to come here and help him out with the garage when I finished my service. She couldn’t wait to leave Menton behind when she came of age; hasn’t been able to bring herself to come back for a visit—not even to take care of her brother. But I was raised in ‘the normal world’ as she calls it. So how did that other single woman deal with having a minder? With all that I’ve heard from my mother over the years about life for women here, I’d guess that she probably left as quickly as she came.”
“Well, no.” Will rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, his evening whisker stubble making a loud raspy sound. “She had a bit of a rocky start, but her minder really cared for her and she came to love him; now they’re engaged.”
“Am I going to be assigned a minder?” Kathy asked.