Well, this is as good a time as any to put this whole matter to rest.
“Casey! I want you to meet my husband, Ennis. Ennis, honey, this is Casey. Tanner’s girlfriend. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Ennis grunts and lifts his glass, nodding his head in greeting.
“Nice to meet you,” I say, my smile genuine.
Hattie looks past me and waves. “There’s Tanner. How about you ask him over here to join us?” Hattie says.
“Oh, I don’t think that would be a great idea,” I stammer.
“Nonsense. Don’t you worry, I’ll grab him. You sit tight.”
Hattie practically plops me down in the chair across from her husband. I glance at Tanner, who gives me a strange look upon noticing Hattie making a beeline for him.
I figure I’ve got about 15 seconds to crack this case.
Leaning across the table, I ask the burly Ennis, “Why did you pay Rachel Springer twenty bucks to tell people that Tanner Murphy made out with her under the bleachers?”
I find it’s best to talk fast and phrase things like I already know the answer when dealing with a schemer or a liar.
Ennis sits back in his chair and splutters.
“Why?” I press.
“You think you know everything that goes on in this town?” Ennis growls.
I cock my head. “I think I know a troublemaker when I see one, and it ain’t Tanner Murphy. It’s you. Was twenty bucks all that Hattie was worth to you?”
His eyes wide, Ennis pushes his chair back and stands up. Here we go.
Pointing an accusing finger across the bar at Tanner, Ennis explodes. “I didn’t pay Rachel Springer twenty bucks. I paid her five hundred dollars to start the rumor about Tanner Murphy the day before the big game. Because he didn’t deserve her. That was my girl.”
I never thought I’d ever get to witness a real record-scratch moment in a saloon, but here we are.
Not literally. The jukebox is still playing Waylon Jennings, and a few younger folks in the back are still chattering away because they’re too young to give a shit about what happened in Darling Creek almost fifteen years ago when they were in kindergarten.
But everyone else? Stone cold silence.
Standing over by Tanner’s and my table, Hattie stares at her husband, totally stunned. After some time, she squares her shoulders and walks up to her husband. In front of what feels like the whole world, she asks, “Once you had me, why did you let everyone in this town think we were cursed? Why would you let everyone carry on with such a ridiculous story?”
She stops a few feet away, and Ennis scrubs his face with his hand and adjusts his ball cap. “I don’t know, baby. I was glad he was gone and could never win you back if he stayed away. I was just so crazy about you. I didn’t mean for him to fuck up the big game, but it happened, and people came up with the curse all on their own. It worked in my favor, so I let it lie.”
Hattie takes one step closer and swallows. “Ennis. You know I would never do that to you. Once I was with you, I never gave another man a second glance. You know that, right?”
The two of them are close enough that he reaches out and takes her hand. “Baby, I’m just crazy when it comes to you.”
Hattie reaches up and cups Ennis’s bearded cheek. “Oh, Ennis. I love you, you silly, silly man.”
This moment might be heartwarming if it weren’t so fucked up.
And yet, the hundred or so customers at Willie’s seem satisfied with the resolution to the curse.
Without me noticing he’s left our table, Tanner has sidled up behind me and murmurs in my ear, “Whatever Willie is putting in the beer, I want what they’re having.”
I blurt out a loud guffaw as Tanner spins me around. “This town is coo-coo for cocoa puffs. Let’s get out of here.”
I stare back at him, horrified that he’s going to let Ennis and everyone else get away with accusing him of cursing the entire town. “They all owe you a huge apology. Ennis, at the very least. But really, everyone,” I hiss.