As they broke their hug, Corrine dashed a tear from her eye, then said, “Oh hell, Ernie, you’re gonna bust open that suitcase carrying it like that.” She went over to instruct and assist him.
Laurel went in search of Irv and found him in his room. He was sitting on his barrel seat, staring at the floor.
“What are you doing in here?” she asked.
“The girl told me I was gettin’ in the way more than helping. And she’s right. Arm still hurts if I move it a certain way, and this damn bum hip.” He muttered the rest, but she knew that his crankiness wasn’t due to his ailments or Corrine’s criticism.
She sat down on the end of his bed, facing him, and said softly, “I’m going to miss you, too. Terribly.”
Frowning, he said, “It ain’t too late to change your mind. I’ve worked the rails over there in East Texas. It ain’t like here. It’s humid. They got mosquitoes as big as turkeys. Alligators.”
“I don’t think there are any alligators in Bynum.”
He harrumphed. She reached for his hands and held them. “Be careful with your new enterprise.”
His bushy eyebrows shot up. “Enterprise?”
She gave him a look. “The first giveaway was catching you in a tête-à-tête with Mike O’Connor yesterday. I thought you didn’t trust his dimples.”
“Who said I do?”
She continued, “Another giveaway is all that busywork you and Ernie have been doing down in the cellar. Did you really think I would believe that you two are opening a machine shop?”
“Why not?”
“A machine shop with a mirror along one wall?”
He gave up the pretense. “With Gert dead, Lefty abandoned the roadhouse. Nobody knows where he ran off to. The county’s condemned the building. The girl remembered that long mirror, so we helped ourselves to it and the gramophone. They’ll give the place some class.”
“I suppose you’ll serve Ernie’s moonshine. Is Mike supplying the bootlegged liquor?”
“He’s got some good connections.”
“I’m sure.”
“The girl will make snacks to serve.”
“When do you open?”
“Soon as you and Hutton clear town.”
“Does this speakeasy have a name?”
“Blind Tiger.”
She laughed. “Isn’t that rather obvious?”
“The girl likes the way it sounds.” He tipped his head toward the kitchen where Thatcher could be heard responding to Corrine’s chatter. “Will you tell him?”
“He’s going to be my husband.”
“He’s going to be a lawman.”
“But he hasn’t been sworn in yet. One thing, though. Will there be girls?”
“Hell no. I’m too old, Ernie’s too much in love, and the girl would never hear of it.”
“What about your fix-it business?”