Authors: K.T. Hastings
The dance floor at The Ale House is an old fashioned teak wood floor, measuring only about 12 by 12. Jake and Brandee started their dance, each quickly finding the rhythm of the music. They danced two fast numbers and then one slow piece. Jake held her close during the slow number as they swayed silently to the sounds around them. When another fast number started, Jake begged off.
“I'm whipped, baby," he said. “You were right about the fogey thing.”
Brandee wasn't done yet. She went back to the group table and asked Bruce if he would take a spin with her. He looked quickly at Suzi, who was more amused than anything else. Bruce was an awesome keyboard artist. As a dancer, though, he really wasn't much. Suzi nodded her assent.
“All right, Missy," Bruce growled playfully to Brandee. “I'll show you my best moves.”
They took the floor and Bruce was game but clearly over-matched. Brandee danced circles around him while he was left to do his part with a shuffle and snapping fingers. He spun her away from him and, without spinning back she spun to the table. She held her hand out to Jake for another dance. He begged off.
“You're too much for me tonight. Where do you get your energy?”
Brandee didn't answer. She kept dancing while singing along to the song that was being played. Janelle, who had been silent this whole time, spoke up.
“I'll dance with you," she said to Brandee.
Brandee nodded and, without skipping a beat in either her step or the words she was singing, returned to the floor, this time with Janelle in tow. The two girls danced up a storm together. At the end of just one song, they were both lathered up. As the sound system switched to a slow number, Brandee and Janelle returned to the table, pink-cheeked and flushed with the exertion.
“Good job, kiddo," Jake said to Janelle. “You can dance!”
“Thank you, sir," Janelle answered, her face flushing a slightly deeper red. “I used to dance some in high school and I've danced to you guys' music off of YouTube ever since I first heard it,” she said, indicating the whole group with her look.
Brandee giggled. “If we ever have need for a backup dancer, we'll know where to look! You're really very good!”
Janelle preened under the glow of Brandee's compliment. She had been a little nervous at first, but the dance had flowed between the two of them as if they had danced together before. She was beginning to settle into being with these people, and was loving life as she had never loved life before.
Jake saw that his wife was in an exceedingly good mood. He decided that he would press that advantage and see if he could put the bad feelings between them to bed once and for all.
“It's good to see my girl happy!” Jake said to the table at large. “How about a toast to the best and prettiest singer in the United States," he said, holding his glass of iced tea in the air over the middle of the table.
“Hear hear," Diane said, standing and clinking her glass of Diet Coke against Jake's iced tea. Bruce and Suzi stood and added their glasses to the mix. Janelle followed suit with her Dr. Pepper.
“To Brandee!” they all chimed together.
Brandee smiled widely. She stood up and shook her hair back as she prepared to make a little speech.
“Thank you, my friends," she started. “Thank you for being all the family I'll ever need. Thank you to old friends,” she said indicating the three musicians. “Thank you to new friends," she said, indicating Janelle. “And thank you to my husband,” she said, turning to Jake. “We'll never have children, but you can baby me all you want.”
With that, she leaned over and kissed Jake on the cheek before sitting down. As the rest of the group took their seats, Suzi, Diane, and Janelle noticed the dark look that briefly passed over Jake's face.
***
The rest of the time at The Ale House passed uneventfully. Jake was perhaps a little more quiet than usual, but Brandee kept up a steady chatter getting to know Janelle. She learned about Janelle's background on the Oregon Coast and how she found herself in Wyoming. Bruce and Suzi chimed in occasionally. Bruce had a little history in Oregon and was aware of Janelle's hometown. Suzi had always wanted to travel up the Pacific Coast into Oregon and Washington and was curious about what it was like.
Diane stayed largely out of the conversation that was swirling around her. She was keeping an eye on Jake. She wondered what Janelle's presence, harmless as it may have been designed to be, was doing to his psyche. On the one hand, it did keep Brandee occupied. She was enjoying the attention of the starry-eyed youngster. On the other hand, Diane wondered if the distraction wasn't just letting Jake stew in his own juices a little too much. Diane had grown very fond of Jake Evans during their time together. She felt like a mother figure to the much younger man, and didn't want to see him hurt. She hoped that the net effect of Janelle's presence would turn out to be a positive, but she had her doubts.
For his part, Jake was inwardly miserable. He remembered the conversation that he had shared with Bruce that afternoon in the park. He was trying to process the grief alone, but it wasn't easy. Brandee's breezy little toast just provided that much more evidence to him that she was, at best, unaware, and at worst, uncaring of the turmoil that was weighing him down. He felt alone, even if he was surrounded by a roomful of people and a table full of friends.
Janelle's mind was racing. The trance that she had been in earlier had given way to senses that were almost unnaturally sharp. She sensed that the 3 musicians were ambivalent about her presence.
The old lady doesn't much like me
, she thought to herself.
Bruce and Suzi seem to be okay, though.
It was Jake that had her most intrigued, though. Her studies of mysticism had tapped into the deeper perception that all people have but most don't exploit.
Janelle could tell that things were not at all well between Jake and Brandee. She could almost smell Jake's anxiety. Rather than being compassionate about it, though, Janelle wondered if there was a way that she could exploit it to get closer to Brandee. She casually asked Brandee where the rest of the tour was going to take the group.
“We're going to Jackpot, Nevada tomorrow to play at that casino with the funny name.”
She turned to Jake and asked, “Do you remember what that place is called, Jake?”
“Sneaky Pete's,” Jake answered.
“That's right, Sneaky Pete's Casino. I love that name," Brandee giggled.
“Then we go to the Winnemucca Events Center and on to Cache Creek Casino in the wine country in California. After that, it's up the Pacific Coast to Oregon and finally Tacoma, Washington. That's the last stop.
Diane spoke up. “Jake's sister Rebecca lives in Tacoma. We're all anxious to meet her.”
Janelle didn't even acknowledge that Diane had spoken. She had heard what she needed to hear.
“Did you say up the Oregon Coast?” she said casually. This was something that needed to be handled very delicately.
“Not exactly," Brandee answered. “When we get to the top of California, we go inland and up the Willamette Valley in Oregon before we get to Washington. We won't see the ocean again after we leave Crescent City.”
“But you go through all of Oregon, right?”
Bruce answered. “We will never be more than a couple of hours from the coast, but we won't be right on it.”
Janelle, actress to her core, summoned up a lonely tear.
“I miss my Mom and Dad so much. I wish I was going along. I could afford a bus ticket from somewhere close so I could see my folks and my baby sister. I miss her too.”
Brandee took the hook that Janelle had dangled in the water.
“It's summer time. You don't have to be in school. Why don't you come with us?”
A stunned silence struck the table. Jake and the musicians could scarcely believe their ears. It was one thing to extend a friendly hand and an Ale House Bacon Burger to this girl, but to offer to take her along, make her an ipso facto member of the group, was more than any of them had bargained for. Suzi was the first to find her tongue.
“I don't know about this, Brandee. Shouldn't we at least t--" she started.
“Relax, Sooze," Brandee interrupted. “You're pregnant. You're really going to be sleeping a lot. Jake can ride along with you guys and help Diane with the driving, as well as keeping the rest of them company. It will just be for a few days. We'll drop Janelle in Crescent City. She can catch a bus to see her parents and her little sis. It will be perfect.”
Bruce was the next to share his thoughts. “There's room in the Nissan, and I'm sure we would all be glad to have Jake with us, but first I would like to hear his thoughts on this. It's a change to the plan and I want to know what he thinks.”
Brandee answered for her husband. “Jake is a sweetie. He'd like to see Janelle get to see her parents.”
“All the same, I would like to hear what Jake himself has to say about this change.
Jake replied evenly. “I think it deserves some more thought.”
Janelle ventured an attempt to set the hook that Brandee had swallowed. Seizing on information that she had just learned from Brandee, she spoke, “I can pay my way by helping out. Suzi shouldn't be lifting equipment and stuff.”
Brandee nodded enthusiastically at Janelle's offer to help with some of the lifting and carrying.
“It's all settled then," she said.
Jake's face turned three shades of red. He leaned over to his wife and asked if he could have a private word with her. They left the table to go outside.
“I don't like it, Brandee!” Jake said, with no preamble on his part. “We don't even know this girl. What were you thinking?”
Brandee looked back at him with a steady gaze. She was rarely one to back down and this was no exception.
“Stop being such a drama queen, Jake," she said. “What do you think Janelle is going to do? Make off with our shit in the middle of Nevada? For God's sake, Jake. Sometimes I don't understand you at all!”
With that, she turned as if to go back into the restaurant. Jake was far from finished with this conversation, though. He stepped forward and grabbed Brandee by the shoulder, spinning her around so she had no choice but to look at him.
“Goddammit, Brandee!” he shouted. “What the hell is wrong with you? Where in the hell do you get off saying 'there it's settled' about something like this? Is it because of the fight we had about having a baby? Is that why you want to avoid being in the same car with me? Because if it is, I can sure as shit ride in the Nissan without you bringing some teenybopper shave tail along with us!”
Brandee shook her shoulders free from his touch. He had never put his hands on her like that before, and she certainly didn't like the sensation. Inside, she was a little bit intimidated by the anger that he was displaying. She wasn't going to let him see that, though. What she said next, she said in a tone that started out low and menacing, but increased in volume as it went along.
“You fucking asshole. Don't you ever touch me like that again! If you do, I'll cut your fucking nuts off when you sleep! Count on that!”
Jake took a step back. “Hey, I'm sor--”
“Sorry isn't enough, you cocksucking sonofabitch!”, Brandee shouted. “As far as I'm concerned, you don't have to ride in the Nissan! You can just catch a bus and GO HOME RIGHT NOW, JAKE EVANS!”
Brandee finished this part of her conversation with Jake in a full-out scream. Jake was stunned into silence. He and Brandee had exchanged angry words before, lots of times. This was on a different level, though. He felt like a boulder had been dropped on him. He tried to come back around to her, taking a different tack.
“I shouldn't have done that. I am sorry. I just didn't want you to turn your back on me. I don't feel listened to by you when you do that.”
Brandee may not have been mollified by this, but at least she was quieter when she answered him.
“I'm going to go back inside now," she said. “I'm going to tell everybody that we decided that it's okay to take Janelle along with us as far as where she can catch a bus. That might be Crescent City, or it might be sooner. You can put on a smile and tell them that you agree or you can act like a spoiled brat and pout about it. I don't care.”