Chapter 2
Jarrod was surprised when he left his office the next day to catch some lunch before meeting a new client in the afternoon and spotted Nick and Heath going into Cattlemen's. Jarrod wasn't planning to go there for lunch, but now he was curious. His brothers hadn't mentioned they were coming to town, and he saw their horses hitched. They hadn't brought a wagon to collect supplies.
Jarrod went on over to the Cattlemen's himself and found his brothers being seated in the café. Nick was wearing his most charming smile as the waitress brought them menus – a waitress Jarrod recognized as Antoinette. He knew Heath knew her but Nick didn't, and now he was getting the correct notion. Nick was here to try out his "lucky centimes" on a girl with a French name.
Jarrod snuck up on them, pulling out a chair from another vacant table and sitting down with them as Antoinette went off to the kitchen. "She's from Ohio," Jarrod said as he sat.
Nick looked startled to see him, like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar as Jarrod had caught him more than once when they were children. "Ohio's a nice place – I've heard," Nick said. "Never been there myself."
"I think the only thing about her that's French is her first name," Jarrod said. "I doubt she'll know what centimes are."
Antoinette was coming back with coffee. Nick said, "Don't spoil my approach, big brother."
Jarrod and Heath both chuckled as Antoinette set the coffee down, saying to Jarrod, "I didn't see you come in, Mr. Barkley. Would you like some coffee?"
He was hungry but decided he didn't want to upset Nick's plans in any way. "No, thank you, Antoinette, I'm only here to touch base with my brothers and now that I have, I'll be on my way." He gave Nick a wink, got up and left.
Antoinette watched him go. Heath was noticing she kept her eye on Jarrod until he'd left the café, but he didn't notice that from the lobby Jarrod gave a glimpse back to Antoinette. Nick had drawn his and Antoinette's attention by starting to dig his lucky coin out of his vest pocket. "Got a question for you, Miss Antoinette," Nick said. "Brother Heath and I found this coin the other night. It looks like it's French. What do you think?"
Antoinette took the coin from him and looked it over. "I don't know. My last name is O'Hanlon. I wouldn't know a French coin from anybody else's coin." She handed it back. "Sorry. Are you gentlemen ready to order?"
"What's the special today?" Heath asked with a thinly disguised smirk.
"Pot roast," Antoinette said. "We have apple pie for desert."
"That's what I'll have," Nick said and handed her the menu.
"Make it two," Heath said and handed her menu.
Antoinette headed back to the kitchen, Nick watching her all the way. "O'Hanlon," he said somewhat mournfully.
"She's not for you anyway, Nick," Heath said. "I guess you didn't notice how keenly she was watching our big brother leave the room."
"Huh? No, guess I didn't," Nick said with a sigh. "I don't know if Jarrod is really ready to jump back into the social world though, and right now I'm more interested in my own move back into the social world. I guess Antoinette's not my ticket though. Maybe we ought to mention her attention to Jarrod's departure to Jarrod."
"Maybe, if the time is right," Heath agreed. "But I suppose for you we'll have to move on to Marie and Angelique."
"Maybe," Nick agreed. "Let's have a drink over at the Empire after we leave here, and where is it that Marie works?"
"The post office," Heath said. "I'm surprised you don't know her."
Nick thought about it. "Maybe I've seen her and just didn't ask her name. She's not that little thing with the hair that always falls out of her ribbons and sticks out, is she?"
"Yeah, that's her, and I guess she just hasn't been pretty enough to attract your attention. She's smart though, nice to the kids and the old people who come in. And I think she's from New Orleans. Maybe she is French."
"Hmm," Nick said, sounding uninterested.
Heath knew he would be uninterested. If she wasn't pretty, Nick never really saw her. He was a man who concentrated more on the outside of a woman than the inside. Not a bad thing in and of itself, but Nick sure was missing a lot of nice girls that way.
XXXXX
After lunch, Nick and Heath headed to the Empire and Angelique, but Angelique wasn't there. "Sorry, but Angelique quit the other day and left town," Harry told them.
"Hmm," Nick said, and thinking in baseball terms thought Strike 2.
"Were you looking for her for some particular reason?" Harry asked.
"French name," Nick said and pulled out his lucky coin. Handing it to Harry, he said, "Trying to find out some information about this. It looks French. Heath and I found it on the trail from Angel's Camp."
"I found it," Heath corrected him, "but I gave it to Nick because he needs some luck."
Harry turned the coin over, frowned at it, and gave it back to Nick. "Yeah, it does look French, but Angelique isn't. She's from Denver. Maybe she went back there. Sorry, Nick. If you think this is giving you luck, maybe you better think again."
Nick and Heath each had a beer and then moved on, heading for the post office. Nick wasn't really all that interested in Marie. She was not pretty, just ordinary and a little unpretty with that hair that stuck out, but Heath encouraged him. "Maybe she'll know something. You don't have to court her to ask her if she recognizes this."
Marie was behind the counter and didn't have any customers when they walked in. She was small, not really ugly but the hair made her somewhat unattractive, at least as far as Nick was concerned. He said hello anyway.
"Hello, Mr. Barkley," Marie said. "What can I do for you today?"
"Thought we'd pick up the mail," Nick said.
"There isn't any for you today," Marie said.
"Oh," Nick said, and then he reached for his coin. "Marie. That's a French name, isn't it?"
"Marie Simone, my parents were from France," she said. "I'm from New Orleans."
Nick handed her the coin. "This is a French coin, isn't it?"
Marie looked it over. "Centimes. Yes, it probably is French. It's hard to tell because it's worn." She gave it back. "I wouldn't try to spend it around here though."
"Oh, I'm just keeping it for luck," Nick said and put it back in his pocket.
Marie smiled. "The date is interesting. That's the year I was born."
"Oh," Nick said, then took it out again. "Maybe you'd like to have it?"
"No, no," Marie said. "You keep it. Maybe it will bring you some luck, who knows?"
"I guess I can hope," Nick said.
And Heath said, "Nick might can hope, but so far that coin is proving to be just a coin that's worthless around here." And he smiled. He had liked Marie's smile. She was actually very pretty when she smiled.
Marie smiled again, this time in Heath's direction. "Well, I guess that would depend on what he's trying to get lucky at."
"I think I'll try a card game," Nick muttered and headed out the door.
But Heath lingered, tipping his hat. "Thanks for putting up with us, Marie. I'll check again tomorrow to see if there's any mail."
"I'll be here," Marie said.
Heath left, finding outside that Nick had kept walking and was heading back to the Empire. There hadn't been any poker games going when they were there a few minutes ago, so Heath wasn't sure why he was heading there, but when he caught up with his brother Nick was already ordering another beer.
"Come on, Nick, it's only been an hour or so," Heath said. "That coin may prove lucky yet."
"Hmm," Nick muttered. "Maybe for you and Jarrod but not me. I saw how Marie was making eyes at you, and you said Antoinette was eyeing Jarrod."
Heath chuckled. "Would it be so bad if I found a pretty girl who would talk to me? And would it be so bad if Jarrod got interested in someone who was interested in him?"
"You think Marie is pretty?"
"Yeah, I do. She has a pretty smile. There's a lot of sides to 'pretty,' Nick."
"Maybe," Nick muttered, reluctantly. Then he said, "No, I guess it wouldn't be bad if you and Jarrod found some girl. I'd like to see Jarrod come back to life, and I'm used to the girls getting more interested in you than me."
Behind the bar, Harry snickered.
"What's that about?" Nick asked.
"Nick," Harry said, "the girls go for Heath faster than you because you have a blustery way about you. You come on strong at first with everybody. Heath, now he begins with his soft side. You could take some lessons from him."
Nick harrumphed. "I am who I am, Harry," he said and drank some more beer.
"Yeah, and a coin ain't gonna change that," Harry said and moved on down the bar.
Nick muttered some more and took another drink. Heath just smiled and shook his head.
