I’m doing much better. I’ve lost forty pounds, had to buy new pants, and am not allowed to eat anything at the Longbranch Inn except a new dish now on the menu called ‘The Milt.’ It’s a grilled chicken breast, liberally basted with picante sauce, and comes with a corn and black bean relish and a green salad. And Loretta is totally in on it – she won’t bring me anything but the Milt. One day, just for kicks, I ordered French fries with cream gravy – and got a green salad. Chicken-fried steak? The Milt. It’s a conspiracy. I wouldn’t really eat any of the bad stuff now anyway, but it makes Jean and Loretta feel like they’re contributing to my well-being and that they’re in control. You gotta give the women a little something every now and then. Personally, and don’t tell Jean this, I kinda like the way I look in my new duds. Very studly.
Emmett’s nick in the neck from Reba Sinclair shooting at him turned out more serious then he thought – he didn’t get it looked at right away and he got sepsis – something that’s not good. He was on antibiotics for a whole month and still has to go see the doctor a lot. What with my heart and his neck, we were both out of commission for a while, which meant Jasmine, who was next in line after Dalton in seniority (Dalton said he didn’t want it, which was good, ’cause I wasn’t gonna give it to him) was in charge for about six weeks. It was not a good six weeks for slackers who liked to jaywalk, kids who wore their pants down showing off their Calvin Klein’s, or mothers who turned the wrong way in the pick-up lines at the schools. She also managed to arrest two burglars and a car-jacker. I’m thinking about turning in my badge and letting her run the show. Or maybe not.
Emmett and I went by the shop one afternoon, just to see what was going on, and saw a female there we didn’t recognize, although she was sitting in Holly Humphries’ chair.
‘Hey, guys!’ she said with glee and waved, and sure enough it was Holly. But her hair was dark brown all over, all the shiny things were gone from her face, her make-up was normal, and she was wearing a regular dress almost to her knees, with panty hose and kitten heels. She twirled for us.
‘What happened to our Holly?’ I asked her.
‘Oh, don’t worry, she’s still here. It’s just that I’m going to Dalton’s house for dinner to meet his mom for the first time. You know, first impressions.’
I nodded. ‘Makes perfect sense,’ I said.
Shortly after that meet with Dalton’s mama, the two announced their engagement and Holly started showing off an engagement ring that wasn’t exactly normal. I was flabbergasted when Holly told me Dalton had picked it out on his own. The wedding will be in the fall, after Dalton’s mama and his aunt get back from their pilgrimage to Israel, and he’s asked me to be his best man. I’ve accepted. I’m also walking Holly down the aisle, so it will be a hectic day for me, but I think I can man-up for it.
Summer’s upon us and Johnny Mac’s been bugging his mom and me to go to sleep-away camp. This particular camp is in Texas, in the Dallas area, a Methodist church camp, where Mike and Lucy Tulia are sending Janna for two weeks. Jean heard from Esther Monte that Lyssa’s been bugging her about the same camp, and we got a call from Early’s mom that he’s been asking about the same thing. So it looks like we might do it. All of us drive there – Esther would probably fly in from Atlanta – go out to dinner, take in a show or something. It’ll be fun seeing the old gang again. Tell you the truth, except for a couple of murders, that cruise wasn’t all that bad.