Kate and I are working on another crime story with Karin Roland, our private investigator; but during a recent road trip, Kate indulged my need for some old Country & Western music by setting the dial to "Willie's Roadhouse" on Sirius/XM. As many of you may know, at least half, if not more, old C&W songs lend themselves to the "Loving Wives" genre. A song came on the radio that planted a germ of an idea, Billy Walker's "Charlie's Shoes" is a song about a man who covets another man's wife and so...
...away we go -
Sally and I were having dinner at 'The Hen House' (or as it's known locally - "the Hen"), the best local hangout for steak, music and dancing, when she walked in the place; Henry Phillips walked in right behind her. Whatever caught my attention made Sally turn toward the door, then back at me. I didn't realize I was staring until Sally spoke up.
"Geezus, Dwayne; try sticking your eyeballs back in your head. And please close your mouth."
I was embarrassed to say the least. It's just that whoever was with Henry was the most gorgeous creature I'd ever seen in real life. She had to stand five-seven and she couldn't have weighed more than one-twenty, but with curves. To top it off, she wore clothes that accented all the right features; high heels, short skirt, tight sweater with a swooping neckline, beautiful hair. Definitely not your typical girl from this little town.
I hadn't seen Henry in at least seven years; that's when he took off to find his fortune in the oil fields half-way around the world. Word came back that Henry did all right for himself; not crazy ass rich, but enough to keep him in comfort for the rest of his life. It seemed to have also allowed him to attract the kind of woman that needed money. That's not to say Henry didn't have other attributes, he was our Homecoming King and voted best looking in our graduating class. Which pissed me off because I came in second.
I could feel Sally still glaring at me. I turned and apologized - really, I'm not an asshole and I realized how rude it was of me to stare at another woman while out with her.
"OK, Dwayne. She is beautiful. I think all the ladies in town are going to be calling for hair appointments and getting new outfits tomorrow; it looks like we're all going to up our game if she moves in."
"I didn't know Henry was back in town; did you?"
"Word is he came back last week with a wife and bought the Parker place down by the river. I heard his wife was pretty, but damn - that's just wrong."
While we talked and finished our steaks, Henry and his wife were seated across the room. I took extra care to avoid following them with my eyes. Just about then the band started up; one of our local groups, 'The Sidewinders' who play a decent combination of bluegrass, rock and enough songs we could either two-step or dance close to.
Sally and I ordered our usual's, her Margarita and my long neck Lone Star. Whenever the band played anything I could dance to without making a fool of myself or stepping on Sally's toes, I asked her and she said 'yes'.
I couple of the other guys came over to our table and asked me if they could take a spin with Sally; most of the time I said, "yes". The guys who hang out at the Hen House are good guys who'll treat your date with respect, with one notable exception. The one guy who I told, "no", knew the reason and didn't make a fuss.
While watching Sally on the dance floor I couldn't help but notice Henry's wife was out there, but not with Henry. I looked over at Henry's table and we happened to catch each other's eye. I raised my beer to him and non-verbally offered to buy him one. We were never close friends in school, but we were always friendly. Henry got up from his table and walked over.
"Dwayne"
"Henry; how the hell are ya?"
"Good Dwayne - you?"
"Doing all right. Sally tells me you're married and moved back to town."
"Yea, that's my wife in the red sweater; Ginny."
"Pretty girl. How long you two been married?"
"Six months now. I did all right in South America and decided to come back home. I was finishing up some business in Dallas when I met Ginny. Is that Sally I saw you with?"
"Yea, she moved back to town last year. We've been going out for the past few months."
"Serious?"
"I guess. We've had the 'exclusive' talk, but nothing about marriage yet."
Henry looked into the distance, remembering something, and chuckled. "I still remember her in that cheerleader outfit bouncing up and down with that big smile. I took her out once, her old man met me at the door with a shotgun and sat me down to talk. Said since I was two years older than her, it seemed to him I was thinking she'd be easy. I told him it was only a date and I'd have her home before eleven. He nodded and then called her downstairs. I was a horny goat back then and decided it would be our last date."
Henry smiled again. "No offense, Dwayne; but I think she's prettier now than when we were in high school - and she was damn pretty then."
I smiled back so Henry would know it was all right, we tapped the tops of our long necks in a toast.
"You and your wife want to join us at our table?"