The next few days passed quietly. Heyes spent half that first night in the chair, finally crawling into bed in the small hours. He and Curry slept past noon and gratefully ate the cold chicken Louise provided. Both men bathed, sent their dirty clothes to be laundered, and went back to bed. Neither felt well enough to go out, although each man made halfhearted attempts to get out for the other's benefit. Room service regularly brought meals up, much to Heyes' surprise and concern. Their funds, as always, were limited and couldn't cover such luxuries as fine meals. The next afternoon Heyes, feeling almost normal again, went to the front desk to see what the meals were costing him and was stunned to find the hotel had no record of any charges beyond the cost of the room.
On the third day, clean, shaved, and wearing his last good shirt, Heyes waited on the hotel's front porch for Louise to arrive for work. He saw her walking down the wooden sidewalk, wearing a sensible shirtdress, her long brown hair braided and worn like a crown on her head. He stood up to greet her when she reached the steps.
"Good morning, Miss Carson. You're looking well, especially for such a hot day."
"Good morning, Mr. Smith, and thank you. Yuma is always hot. You get used to it after awhile." Standing fully five feet apart, neither could think of another thing to say. Louise looked at him closely.
"You look like you're feeling better, Mr. Smith."
"If I do, it's because I've been able to clean up and eat well. I believe I have you to thank for that."
She stepped closer to him so she could speak quietly. "I do have some discretion as a manager to take care of preferred guests, Mr. Smith. Even so, let's keep this between us, shall we?"
"I never look a gift horse in the mouth, Miss Carson." She made a face, and Heyes realized what he hadn't exactly been complimentary. "Not that I think of you as a horse, I mean."
"It's alright, Mr. Smith. I know what you mean. I think." They looked at each other again for a long moment, until both turned away, suddenly shy.
"How is your friend doing, Mr. Smith?"
"Feeling better. He got pretty banged up when he fell off his horse. His back's been real sore, but he's finally up and moving around a little bit."
"Fell off his horse?" she asked, amused. "How did he manage to do that?"
"It ain't hard to do when there's eight or ten someones chasing you."
She sobered instantly. "Sorry. I did hear something about that."
He felt the old fear stiffen his body. Always cautious, he looked around briefly for eavesdroppers before he leaned in closer to her to speak quietly.
"What exactly did you hear?"
"They're still following the outlaws' trail, riding hell bent for leather into Mexico."
"Huh," he said, trying and failing to hide his relief with a feeble joke. "Hope they speak good Spanish. The Mexicans don't like American posses crossing the border."
"No," she said. "I've heard that, too." She saw he was still upset. "What will you do?"
He pushed his hat higher on his head and wiped his sweating face with one hand. "Depends on how my friend's feeling. He was hurt worse than he admits. I'd like to stay another day or two, if we can."
"Let me know if I can do anything to help."
"Louise, you've done a lot already. More than I could have asked for. Maybe you'd do one more thing for me?"
"If I can."
"Let me buy you dinner tonight? Someplace nice? If you're free, of course. I know you got a job to do."
She hesitated. "Can you afford that?"
He gave her a bitter little smile. "I wouldn't offer otherwise."
She rested a soft hand on his arm. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"You and me got a history of saying things to each other we shouldn't. Maybe we can start over again?"
"Yes, Mr. Smith. Let's do that. I can meet you here at, oh, 7:00pm? Today's actually my day off. I just came by to do a little paperwork."
"See you then, Miss Carson." She smiled at him one more time and went inside. Heyes felt unreasonably good. Must be the prospect of spending time with a beautiful woman who didn't want anything from him, he thought. Especially a woman who knew who he was and didn't seem anxious to collect the reward. This was going to be fun.