Page 53 of Priceless
People found seats. Jess grabbed my arm and we sat there, braced for the news to reach us.
At the opposite end of the bar, four old men sat at a corner booth. One of them stood up and raised his glass. “We’ll all need another round, Vonnie, if ye please. On me. For I never thought we’d see the day?—”
“Never?” someone shouted. “Never see the day ye’d buy a round, ye mean!”
The old man frowned, not appreciating the interruption. “For we never thought the day would come when our Jocko would relent…and walk the widow home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Vonnie returned to the table, frantic, but with a platter full of plates, which she quickly unloaded. “Dinnae mind Abby Abernathy, do ye hear? He’s never bought a round in his life and he’s not about to do it now. It means nothing that Jacob is walkin’ Cora Woodbrey home tonight. Just because she’s begged him to do it a thousand times. He’s only gone to give her the news in private, see. Wouldn’t want to humiliate her in front of this lot.”
Jess cocked her head. “And Banner?”
“He’s followin’ to make sure Jacob gets out in one piece. Now, they ordered ye some supper, and they’ll be back to join ye before ye eat it all, ye’ll see.” Then she was off again.
I looked at the food. Everything on the menu, it looked like. It would take hours to eat it all, with just the two of us. And a bigger stomach than I had. It looked like Jacob didn’t expect to be back for a long time.
“Jess?”
“Aye?”
“Maybe you’d better tell me what Cora Woodbrey looks like.”
When she picked up a Scotch egg and shoved it in her mouth whole, without dipping it in sauce, I understood.
“Widow Woodbrey isn’t a hundred years old, is she?”
Jess shook her head.
“She probably doesn’t have gray hair, either.”
Another shake.
“And this is the first time he’s ever walked her home?”
Jess nodded.
“I guess we’d better pace ourselves, eat slowly. They might be starved by the time they get back.”
Her eyes popped wide, and she spoke with her mouth full. “Both of them?”
I shrugged. “I guess that depends on how hungrysheis.”
I don’t knowwhat was in the text Jess sent to her husband, but Banner came flying past the windows and through the pub door about seven minutes after it was sent. Jacob was close on his heels, though he was having a hard time simultaneously walking and laughing his guts out. Bent in half and gasping, he stopped just inside the door to catch his breath.
When he recovered, he ducked into the kitchen for a minute before he came to the table. And by the time he reached us, Banner had already scooped Jessica into his arms and was headed out the door, like a caveman in a hurry to take his woman back to their cave.
“See ye in the morning, Jacob,” Jess shouted between giggles. “At the dock. Five-o’clock!”
He shouted after her. “What are ye on about?”
“Yer woman will explain! Dinnae forget to bring lunch!”
The door closed on anything else she might have wanted to say.
I tried to act cool when Jacob sat down across from me once again. “Banner seems in a hurry.”
“Aye. He has much to prove.” He shook his head, avoiding eye contact. “Nevermind. What is this about five in the mornin’?” He began gathering food on a mostly empty plate like he was starving to death.
