Page 9 of Shame the Devil

“You bet,” she said, and headed off. Brunette, mid-forties, cheerful, and wearing the kind of shoes that told you she’d spent a lifetime on her feet. When she came back with the pot, she asked, “Come to see Owen Johnson, huh.”

Harlan ran his hand over his scruff of beard and asked, “Is it that obvious?”

“Well, yeah, hon. It’s the hair. You don’t see a lot of hair like that around here.”

“That’s what I was wondering.” He had the top part pulled back as usual, out of the way. If you bought your hair elastics by the package, it wasdefinitelysuspicious hair. He knew that. It was probably why he did it. He asked the waitress, “Is there a barbershop around here? I thought about the Cut ‘n’ Yak, but …”

She laughed. “Not that you wouldn’t make those girls’ day, but maybe you don’t want to have to put out that much charm. Head on out of town, past the courthouse and the Moose Lodge, and you’ll see Al’s. Almost to the highway, brown building, sitting all alone with the barber pole out front. You can’t miss it.”

Which usually meant that youcouldmiss it, but never mind. It wasn’t that big a town.

* * *

When he andOwen headed over to Amy and Dane’s for dinner that night, Amy said, “You cut off all your gorgeous hair!”

“Yeah, he actually looks semi-normal,” Dane said.

“Yep,” Harlan said. “I’m not as pretty, but I blend better in Wyoming.”

Matt, who was six and opinionated, scrambled into his chair at the dining-room table and said, “You can’t bepretty.Boys aren’t pretty.”

Ethan, who was eight and literal, studied Harlan judiciously. “Maybe if they have long hair, they are. I don’t know, though. I never knew anybody else with long hair.” Not too surprising. The boys and Dane clearly did their barbering via the home hair clipper method. Dane probably used the clippers on the family dog afterwards.

Ethan wasn’t done, either. “You don’t look the same,” he said, “but I don’t know if you’re pretty or not. I don’t think you can be pretty if you have a beard.”

“Sure you can,” Amy said. “Except that it’s not the same. Surprisingly different, in fact.” She put her head on one side and studied him, and Dane sighed, took the meatloaf dish from in front of her, cut off a piece, and set it on her plate.

“You’re still ridiculously handsome,” Amy went on, “but you look tougher. You lost that swashbuckler thing, but now you’ve got some … harder edges happening. Post-apocalyptic. That’s the look.”

She was sparkling again. She was sparkling like crazy. Usually, that meant a woman had had great sex the night before and was feeling powerful in her femininity. Which wasn’t something you should be thinking about your hostess, but Harlan couldn’t help it. He noticed stuff. It was his gift. Or his curse.

“Swashbuckler?”Dane asked. “What doesthatmean?”

“Pirate,” Amy said. “Thor.”

“Thor has short hair in one movie.” That was Ethan, being literal again. “So you still look kind of like him. But you look more regular now too, I guess.”

“If you had some lines shaved on the side of your head,” Matt piped up, “you could still be Thor.”

“What do you think?” Harlan asked Amy.

“Nah,” she said. “That would be trying too hard. You’re edgy, accidentally dangerous.” She did some more smiling.

Dane was paying attention to her now. He was paying attention like crazy. He wasn’t going to be thinking about heifers tonight.

He proved it by saying, “If I knew I could make you happy just by not shaving, I’d have done it.”

“Mm,” she said, and now, she was looking athim. “Sounds nice. Do that.”

“Want to go to Hawaii with me?” he asked her. “When calving’s done?”

She stopped in the midst of dishing up green beans and sat up straight. “Oh, man. Do I ever.”

“We could try snorkeling,” he said. “And you could buy a new bathing suit.”

“Or I could buy two.” She smiled at him, he smiled back, and Harlan thought,My work is done here.

Tomorrow, then. One short, anonymous trip to Yellowstone, but only to keep Owen company, since he was getting the feeling that it was necessary. It was clearly time to do something for somebody else, considering that he hadn’t been able to do it so far. He’d walked out on his dad once again, his baby sister was still stuck there, and he didn’t know what to do about that.