Red’s Hot Honky-Tonk Bar by Pamela Morsi Page A

town is laughing about it. I will not be dragged down to your level. Let them laugh at you, I won’t allow them to laugh at me.”
    Hundreds of miles and a lifetime away, the words still cut her to the quick. She sobbed fresh pain, not just from the memory of it.
    “You are just like your father,” her mother had spewed with distaste. “Too low class to ever be a credit to me. I’m better off just cutting my losses.”
    Red’s tears were not for the mother who’d turned her back on her or the private shame and public humiliation she’d suffered. She wasn’t crying from the loss of a happy life that might have been so different. Her tears were for Emmaline Cullens, that clever, inquisitive farm girl who’d been the apple of her daddy’s eye.
    “Red? Are you sick?”
    Red gave a startled shriek at the unexpected sight of Cam in the doorway. She sat up straight and scooted herself back against the wall.
    “What are you doing here?” Her statement was so accusatory that his tone turned immediately from concerned to defensive.
    “I live here, remember,” he answered.
    Then, clearly deciding action would be better than words, he grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet and dampened it under the hot-water tap. Wringing it out, he knelt on the floor as he handed it to her.
    “Wash your face.”
    “I’ve got on makeup,” she protested.
    “What’s left of it is nothing to brag about,” he answered. “Wash, you’ll feel better.”
    She did and he was right.
    Cam got up, rinsed and wrung out the rag again and then seated himself next to her. Red leaned back against the wall and laid the wet cloth across her forehead, heaving a great sigh of relief.
    The two of them sat in welcome silence as Red regained her composure.
    “Did you get some bad food or do you think you’ve caught a stomach bug?” he asked finally.
    Red opened one eye to glance over at him. His face showed no anxiety, only concern.
    “Maybe I’m pregnant,” she suggested.
    He laughed. “Nope, that’s not it.”
    “You think I’m too old to get pregnant?”
    “No. I just know I won’t get you pregnant and I trust you not to two-time me.”
    “Accidents happen.”
    His grin widened. “I even trust you not to accidentally two-time me.”
    His humor wasn’t that funny, but she appreciated levity.That, at least, would keep the subject far from things she never wanted to discuss with anyone.
    “I didn’t think you were home,” she said. “I thought you were playing the Cove tonight.”
    “I did. We were the warm-up act,” he said. “As soon as we finished, I came on back here. I’ve got to get up early in the morning. I’m going fishing.”
    “Fishing?”
    “Yes, indeed.”
    “I didn’t know you were a fishing guy.”
    “All guys are fishing guys,” he answered. “Just some of us are less drawn to water than others.”
    “Ah.”
    “The truth is, Daniel told me that he’d never been. And I don’t think you can have a childhood without it.”
    Red’s thoughts flashed back to a creek bank from long ago, her father at her side. Despite herself, she smiled.
    “See,” Cam said, reaching out to touch the edge of her curving lip with his thumb. “Every kid needs to have that smile somewhere when he’s grown up and things are going wrong.”
    Red nodded. “Thanks for taking him.”
    “You’re welcome,” he said. “In fact, I’ll take Olivia with us, too. She didn’t seem much interested, but she’ll go. And that way you can sleep in late in the morning and catch up on some rest. Maybe avoid coming down with something.”
    Red sighed again and shook her head. “Cam, someday you’re going to make some lucky woman a very good boyfriend.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “I already make a lucky woman a very good boyfriend.”
    Red didn’t comment one way or the other.
    “I’ve got to get downstairs before Karl sends someone to look for me,” she said as she moved to get up.
    Cam stayed her with a hand on her