Chapter 3

Nick's next chance to talk to Harry didn't come for several days. In town to pick up some supplies, Nick put his order in at the mercantile and wandered over to Harry's saloon. He hoped he'd see Amanda there, but she wasn't working yet, and Nick decided maybe it was just as well. If he wanted to have a completely frank talk with Harry, it was best Amanda wasn't around.

"Afternoon, Harry," Nick said and came up to the bar. "Whiskey."

Harry poured. Nick paid and looked around as he took his first sip. There were only two other patrons at this hour, and they were far away in the back corner of the room.

"How you doing, Nick?" Harry asked.

"Fine," Nick said. "Was wondering if I could talk to you."

"Thought you might want to," Harry said, "after that talk I had with Heath the other night."

"Harry, we have been friends for a long time, like you said to Heath – so why can't you tell me everything about why you don't want me to see more of Amanda? She's a nice girl, and you know I'm a decent guy."

Harry shook his head. "I know that, Nick, but it has nothing to do with that. I'd tell you more if I could, but Amanda needs a break in her life right now, and there are things she doesn't want me telling anybody. She's entitled to keep things to herself."

"Like her last name?"

Harry looked a little surprised that Nick remembered Amanda did not reveal her last name. "Especially that," Harry said. "Just leave it be, Nick. Give the girl a break."

When Harry put things like that, Nick was inclined to go along with him, but he liked Amanda. He liked her eyes and he liked her tiny size and he liked her sweet nature. If she didn't want her last name known, it had to be because she thought it would hurt somebody to reveal it. Then Nick remembered what Heath had said. "Telling me her last name is going to hurt my family?"

Harry nodded. "That's all I'm gonna say, Nick. I'm just gonna ask you to leave her be."

"Come on, Harry. You know me well enough to know that every time you warn me a little bit, I get more interested."

"Not this time, Nick. Don't be that way this time. Do me and yourself a favor and leave her be without any more questions."

"Why doesn't she ask me to leave her be?"

"It might be a good idea if you didn't get too involved with me, Nick," her voice came from behind him.

Surprised, Nick turned around. Amanda had come down the stairs while Nick and Harry were talking. Nick never heard her approach, and now he was embarrassed to be found talking about her behind her back. "I'm sorry," Nick said. "If my attentions bother you, I'll just take them away like Harry says."

Amanda came closer. "Harry's just trying to protect both of us, Nick. I do like you, and I like talking with you, but not anything more than that. I'm sorry if I led you on in any way. That wasn't right of me. But Harry's right, we can't let anything happen between us."

"Can't you please just tell me why?" Nick asked, quietly so the men at the far table didn't hear him. "It's not like I'd spread anything bad about you around. I can't imagine there's anything bad to spread."

"If I let it out, it will change everything, between you and me and between me and everybody in this town." Then she smiled. "I do like you, Nick. I like you better than anyone I've met in a very long time. And if things were different with me – well, who knows? There might be something for us, but please, just trust me on this. We can't be, and you really don't want to know why."

Nick just nodded. "All right. But we will be seeing each other. I come in here a lot. And I don't intend to ignore you. I intend to talk to you and get to know you and maybe you might just change your mind about me."

"Nick – "

"Just believe me. There's nothing I can think of that would be so bad it would keep you from talking to me. Whatever it is that you think is so bad, isn't so bad. Think about that."

Nick went out then, leaving his whiskey behind. Amanda hung her head, knowing he had no idea how bad things could get.

Harry said, "Take a deep breath, honey, and just do your job."

Amanda looked up. "Is he right? Am I thinking things are worse than they really are?"

Harry just shook his head. "I don't know. I thought it was better if you kept things to yourself, but now, I don't know. Nick's a good man, and Jarrod's a good man, too. Maybe, in time, if they knew – " Harry shrugged.

XXXXXXX

Nick was so grumpy at home that everyone – except Heath, who already knew - was wondering what was eating him. When he just said, "Nothing," everyone knew it had to be a girl, and they left him alone about it. There was just no talking to Nick when he had trouble with a woman.

Heath was the only one to say anything at all to him, and all he said was, "Nick, you're way too much to deal with. She's not for you - work it out."

Nick didn't have any reply, but what Heath was telling him to do was, in a way Heath didn't mean, exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to see Amanda again and work it out. Whatever it was that was keeping her bottled up, he wanted to know about it and he wanted a chance to help fix it.

So he went to the saloon on a Tuesday night, when it wasn't likely to be very busy, and it wasn't. And Amanda was there, hovering over a table where three men sat laughing and talking with her. Nick walked right over to her.

"I want to talk," he said, interrupting.

He didn't know the men there, and they did not know him. "Hey, the lady is with us right now, pal," one of the men said.

"The lady and I have some personal matters to discuss," Nick said.

"Discuss them later," the man said.

Harry saw it happening. "Don't start anything, Nick!" he called over.

Nick glared at him.

"Wait, wait," Amanda said. "Guys," she said to the men at the table, "this fella and I have some business to get out of the way. Would you give me a few minutes?"

The man looked unhappy, but he said to Amanda, "If you want to talk to him, go ahead. I just don't want him bothering you."

"He's not bothering me," Amanda said. "I'll be back soon as I can."

Amanda led the way into the back room, a room usually reserved for special parties, but it was empty on a Tuesday night. Once inside, she closed the door and immediately said, "I really don't appreciate you barging in when I'm working."

Nick turned around. "I wouldn't barge in if I didn't think it was important. Amanda – I don't like not being able to be with you and getting to know you better. I don't like it. I'm aggravating everybody around me, and I don't want to do that anymore. I want to be able to see you and I don't know what it is that's keeping you from wanting the same thing, but I know it's not me. I know you want to see me, too. Please, just tell me what's wrong and let me see if I can help you work it out."

Amanda was startled a bit at the directness of his speech. She didn't know how to reply at first, but in a moment or two she said, "I've been thinking about it ever since I saw you last, Nick. I talked to Harry about it. He say's you're a good man."

"I am a good man."

"Let me tell you why I'm reluctant to let things go any farther between us, and you can think about it, too. But I don't want you to just blow it off and say it's not a problem. I want you to really think about it and be honest."

Nick nodded. "I will."

Amanda took a deep breath and looked straight at him. "Nick – my last name is Hyatt."

Nick was startled.

"I haven't told anyone – except Harry, of course, and he already knew. But I know what happened between your brother Jarrod and my brother Cass. I don't care what Cass thinks if I see you and he's in jail anyway, but I do care what Jarrod thinks and I care what this town thinks. And I really care what you think. I'm just not sure this is something we can overcome. I don't see how I can start seeing you without hurting your brother and your family and in the end, this whole town."

"The town be damned," Nick said flatly.

"No, we both live here," Amanda said. "If I hurt your brother, the town will crucify me, and we both know it."

Nick did know that. It's the way people were, protective of their own, and somehow when something like this went bad, to most people it was the woman's fault. "Do you want to be with me? If Jarrod wasn't in the picture – "

"He is in the picture, Nick."

Nick came closer to her and took her by the arms. "If he wasn't, would you want to start seeing me, for real? Think hard, Amanda. Think hard and be honest with me."

She did. And she sighed, frustrated. "Yes."

"Jarrod's in San Francisco," Nick said. "He'll be there for a while. He doesn't need to know if I'm going to be seeing you."

"And your family?"

"They don't need to know who your brother is, not yet, anyway."

"Oh, Nick, I can't do that – "

"You can until they get to know you, at least a little bit."

"No, Nick, it just isn't fair. It isn't right. Look how bad it was for you when I kept all this secret. I admit now, it wasn't right, and it wouldn't be right for me to keep it from your family."

"Then let me tell my family, right now. Let me work it out with them while Jarrod's still in San Francisco. If they have big objections to us seeing each other, well then I'll let things go. I won't see you anymore, and what your name is doesn't go any further than that, at least not from us. If they don't object to us seeing each other, then we'll work it out with Jarrod when he gets home. He's not the kind of man to hold your brother against you, especially not if the family doesn't object to us seeing each other."

Amanda hesitated, so long that Nick let her go, although he still stayed standing in front of her, looking her straight in the eyes. She just didn't know what to say or do. She wanted to work things out with Nick – she wanted it so much she could taste it. He was the best thing that ever happened to her, and if he came to want her for good – but Jarrod. What about Jarrod?

Nick could see her confusion in her eyes. "Let's try, Amanda. What if we could be meant for each other – really meant for each other – but we didn't take the chance?"

She nodded. "All right. Talk to your family, see what they say. If they don't object – then yes, I'd like for you to come see me, good and proper."

Nick broke into a great grin and grabbed Amanda into his arms. "We'll work it out! I know we will!"