Vic looked around while the others placed their orders, taking in the scene that was Knockers. Jesse was over at the climbing wall, holding the rope for a friend. Men and women with pool cues in hand laughed and talked and drank beer. A man in a tank top noodle-danced his heart out in front of the stage, while a handful of couples bobbed and swayed together on the dance floor.
The first time Vic had been here, she had assumed that Knockers was nothing more than some local version of Hooters—skimpy tops, short shorts. She’d been wrong. The name referred to tommyknockers, mythical spirits that the town’s original inhabitants believed lived in the mines. Some locals still believed in tommyknockers, and Lexi was one of them. She was convinced that a tommyknocker had helped save her life last year when that bastard bank robber had almost gotten her killed.
Vic didn’t know what to think about that.
“So, city girl, now that you’ve learned how to wakeboard, are you going to try climbing?” Eric took Vic’s menu and handed it to Rain, who half-walked, half-danced away with their orders.
“No way! I’ve had enough adventure for one day.” Already, the muscles in her arms and shoulders were starting to feel sore.
“I thought you did a great job.” Lexi ran a hand through hair still damp from her shower, working the tangles with her fingers.
“You stuck it out,” Austin said. “Way to go.”
“I thought you learned fast.” Britta’s face was sunburned. “It took me six or seven tries to stay on my feet.”
Sasha gave her a high five. “You were a total badass today.”
“Thanks.” Vic was more than a little amazed with herself. In the span of an afternoon, she’d fallen in love with wakeboarding. “When I get back to Chicago, I’m going to buy a board and take some lessons.”
But who would go wakeboarding with her?
The question took her mood down a notch. None of her other friends enjoyed the sport. Her brother certainly wouldn’t be interested.
Austin grinned. “The next time she comes back, she’ll be doing tricks.”
Vic laughed at the very thought. “No Whirlygigs for me.”
Eric laughed. “That’s ‘Whirlybird.’”
“Don’t worry about getting the name right,” Austin said. “Hawke here won’t be doing any Whirlygigs anytime soon either.”
“Hey, I landed it, then caught an edge.”
Rain brought everyone’s drinks on a tray, ending that argument.
Vic had just taken a sip of her margarita when she heard a familiar voice quoting the Bible somewhere behind her.
“If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother,but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.”
She looked over her shoulder, saw the man everyone called Bear standing just inside the doorway, preaching with battered Bible in hand. He was big and shaggy like his namesake, with a long beard and buckskin jacket. He lived alone in a cabin west of town. No one knew where he’d come from, how old he was, or what had happened to make him the way he was. They simply did their best to watch out for him. Their kindness toward him had touched Vic deeply.
She motioned to Rain, who hurried over. “What can I get for you?”
Vic took a twenty-dollar bill out of her handbag and slipped it into Rain’s hand. When she spoke, it was for Rain’s ears alone. “For Bear.”
Rain smiled. “Lexi knows how to pick her friends.”
She walked back over to Bear, handed him a menu, and whispered something in his ear that had him looking straight at Vic. He walked over to the table.
Vic felt suddenly on the spot. She hadn’t bought him dinner because she wanted attention or even gratitude.
He stood beside her, towering over her in his buckskin jacket. “For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger …” His voice trailed off. “You’re Lexi’s pretty friend.”
Vic swallowed, a lump in her throat. “It’s nice to see you again, Bear.”
Bear smiled and scratched his beard, ducking his head like a shy schoolboy. “God bless you, Victoria Woodley.”
Then he turned and walked away, following Rain like a puppy to a table.