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“What about your bid for reelection, Hank?” Veronica asked.
Hank smiled down at Veronica and stroked her cheek before wrapping his arms around her, lifting her off her feet, and kissing her right out there in the street. “I’m going to leave that to the voters decide. I won’t refuse to be reelected but I’m content to watch the young guys put all the miles and hours into an election campaign. We’ll just see how it goes.”
“That sounds great.”
A shrill voice shattered the steady rumble of conversations around them. “Sheriff Hank Stinson! You should be ashamed!” The gathering parted as Tabitha Lester came marching forward with her “Keep Divine Pure—Say No to Polyamory!” picket signs and a pitifully small band of followers cowering behind her. Many members of the crowd scowled at they read the signs and some rolled their eyes, gathering their families to wander off to the food booths.
“Miss Lester,” Hank said firmly. “Go home.”
“No! You should be ashamed, joining in with the rest of these perverts! And with a pornographer, no less!” she screeched as she pointed at Veronica, who gasped. Hank knew a moment of searing affirmation when the woman he loved looked to him, asking for defense with her eyes, rather than accepting the abuse. Tabitha continued her diatribe. “I will be revealing your perfidy to the world in my next blog post! You can kiss your reelection goodbye, sinner!”
Hank stood up to her. “You know what? You go for it. Blog about it. Stage protests. Bring it on! Here’s your scoop, lady. I love Veronica Benedict, and so does my best friend, Travis McDaniel. You do with that whatever you want. And Veronica is not a pornographer. She’s a reputable author. By turns, you’ve terrorized and bored my friends and constituents with your gossip and hatred and we’re all tired of it.” Several people made noises of affirmation and patted him on the back.
“Well get ready for more, sinner, because I’ll cry it to the heavens until this town rids itself of the polyamorous perfidy that pollutes its people!”
Charity scoffed. “Nice tagline. Did you come up with that yourself?”
Tabitha turned to the crowd. “Good people, we must stand up for what is right, and stamp out what is wrong in this community!” She shrieked over the din of voices, ignoring the growing crowd of citizens and city and county leaders who formed ranks around Hank, Travis, and Veronica.
Jerry Batson, who also served on the town council, yelled, “Go home, Tabitha!”
“I will never give up!” Suddenly she broke out in song. “Stand up, stand up for—”
Woody Porter stood up to her, nose to nose, and said, “Don’t you dare sing ‘Stand Up for Jesus,’ you self-righteous harridan! I’ll stand up for the Jesus that challenged the Pharisees to cast the first stone. Go home, Miss Lester!”
Tabitha frowned at Woody, and Travis thought it was an amazing impression of Grumpy Cat. “I will not—”
“Go home!” Joe Warner called out.
“Go home! Go home!”
Soon, the chant spread through the fringes of the crowd and then suddenly, a deep voice shouted. “Tabby Cat!”
* * * *
The hellfire and brimstone was burning in Tabitha’s gut when the voice crossed the gathering, as surely as if it had crossed the years.
No! After all this time? No!
In her wild youth, when she’d lived on her own in Austin, she’d become enamored with a leather-wearing biker. She’d fallen hopelessly in love with Stubby Joe. She’d spent every spare moment with him. And then one day his two friends, Black Mike and Big Dick had shown up in town. Tabitha had taken an immediate liking to his friends. When they’d said they were hoping to hook up with the two of them, Tabitha hadn’t understood. But Stubby Joe had quietly explained to her that they didn’t mean going out to supper. Once she was over her shock and she’d gotten to know them a bit, wicked temptation had visited her. Then she’d discovered that Black Mike and Big Dick liked each other as well as Stubby Joe. And Stubby Joe loved all of them, including her.
They wanted her to join their polyamorous group, which had included one other woman who evidently had a liking for Stubby Joe. Tabitha hadn’t been too sure about that woman but she’d tried. God forgive her, she’d tried to be with them, but she’d been disgusted by their actions and she’d been furious because the other woman had done subtle little things to make her feel left out, pushing her aside and claiming all of their attention without the men realizing it. Tabitha wasn’t the one in the middle like she’d fantasized about. To top it off, the other woman had gloated about how good Stubby Joe was in the sack, meaning that she’d had him before. Tabitha had decided that if Stubby Joe was so good to her she could just keep him. Without explanation, she’d run away from their campsite during the night and never returned. It’s shattered her heart permanently, the way that woman had stolen her men from her. She gone home to her mother—
