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Jesse laughed. “I’m not that desperate yet.”
“Well I am,” Aaron said. “Let’s go.”
“I can’t. I’ve got things to do today.”
“You said that yesterday and the day before that.” Ben pushed off the side of the building. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Jesse said. Ben threw him a look that said he was lying. “I’ve got to find a job and I can’t do that if I’m laid up drunk in the saloon.”
“Well waiting one more day ain’t gonna kill ya, now come on.”
His job search was put on hold as they steered him toward the Diamond Back Saloon. He could count the number of times he’d been inside on one hand and neither of those times had he wanted to leave the moment he stepped inside the doors.
The welcome back get together was as loud and rambunctious as Ben claimed it would be. The crowd inside the saloon was large for early evening. Ben and Aaron flanked him on both sides, his best friends since they were kids treating him as if he’d never left.
The atmosphere bordered on chaos. The gaming tables were packed with cowboys looking to double the cash they walked in with. The girls Vernon hired to liven up the crowd were working the room, their colorful dresses and short skirts grabbing the attention of everyone they passed, himself included. It was hard not to look when a woman flashed her thighs at you. Any red-blooded man would find it damn near impossible to look away.
The plain-looking brunette sitting on top of the piano was singing a bit off key, the noise rising above the din of voices and laughter, but no one seemed to notice but him.
He turned and faced the bar, downed the whiskey in his glass and waited until his eyes stopped watering before motioning to Vern, the barkeeper, for another. He’d tasted a variety of spirits while in Boston but nothing hit your stomach as hard and fast as the rot-gut whiskey Vern served.
“So, I take it you didn’t have much luck finding any work here in town.”
Jesse shook his head. “None.” He propped his elbows on top of the bar. “Rafe sold all the cattle to the Avery’s so there isn’t much for me to do around the house anymore.”
“Holden’s been hiring on for that cattle drive he’s sending east,” Aaron said. “You could always check with him and see if he’s looking for another man to ride along.”
He’d had the same thought himself when Rafe mentioned it but he’d spent three years herding cattle and it wasn’t an easy job. He needed work, but taking off on a cattle drive after getting back into town wasn’t anything he wanted to do. He’d been away too long as it is. Besides, he’d come home with dreams bigger than the Montana sky and most of them involved Alexandra Avery. None of them would happen if he weren’t even here to see them through.
As if they could read his thoughts, Ben said, “What happened when you went after Alex the other day?”
Jesse nodded in thanks to Vern when he slid his filled glass back toward him. “Not a whole lot. She was determined to ignore me.” He grinned and gave Ben a sideways look. “Although, she does still hate me. She was pretty clear on that.”
They shared a laugh. “What did you do to make her dislike you so much anyway?” Aaron asked. “You two have been fighting as long as I’ve known ya.”
Jesse shrugged his shoulder. “I don’t know.” He lied and took another swig of his drink. “We’ve just always clashed for some reason.”
“She clashes with everyone,” Ben put in. “I don’t think there’s one person in town she hasn’t had words with at least once in her life.”
Aaron nodded in agreement. “I wonder how Hugh puts up with her?”
Ben laughed and said, “I’ll never know.”
“Who is Hugh?” Jesse asked, looking at each of them in turn.
Aaron was the first to answer. “Hugh Jacobs. He’s the new blacksmith in town. He’s her beau.”
The reply was like snow chilled water down his back. Jesse stiffened, the words replaying in his head on repeat until it sounded as if someone were screaming them.
Alex had a beau?
A man he didn’t know was courting the girl he couldn’t stop thinking about.
There had been countless letters written to Alex. He’d burned them all before doing something stupid like mailing them, though. They held endless streams of words telling her how sorry he was for all the things he’d ever done to her. Pages of apologies and even more trying to say what he really thought of her. How he’d only picked on her because it was the only way he could get her to talk to him. As pathetic as it was, he’d deliberately riled her to get a reaction.
And he was no better off now than he had been all those years ago. Alex still didn’t see him. Now that she had a steady suitor, she never would. Not in a way he wanted her to.
He gritted his teeth and slid his glass back. “Vern, I need a refill.” The constant chatter of Ben and Aaron drew him from his thoughts when one of them said, “Speak of the devil.” Jesse looked toward the door, a man he’d never seen before taking up most of the space.
