Ben flashed a quicksilver grin and repeated dryly, “Odd jobber.”
“That’s what he said, which I took to mean a person who does odd jobs. He told me you hire him and another boy for that purpose.”
“Uh-huh. Frankie Fuller. Good workers, the both of them. Why, do have some work for him?”
“I’ve been thinking I might. I have some modest regrets about firing my last assistant. I’ve never worked with anyone as young as Clay Salt, but I could train him, and I have a feeling he’d be a quicker study than Joe Watson was.”
Ben looked around and saw the congregation had thinned considerably. He picked up his hat from where it lay on the pew and set it on his unruly thatch of carrot-colored hair. “You want to join me at the hotel for dinner? My wife had to make a call on Bob Washburn this morning and she told me that she expected to be there a spell. I’m on my own. We can talk about this idea you have for Clay there. I’d like to hear more.”
“All right. I’d like that. Thank you.”
After making their farewells to the minister, Roen and Ben headed diagonally across the wide main street to the Butterworth Hotel. Ellie’s greeting was equally enthusiastic towardboth men, though Roen thought her green eyes sparkled a bit more brightly when she regarded her son. She was a handsome woman in her fifties, and all indications were still there that she had been even lovelier in her youth. She had a warm smile and a lively energy that transcended her fine features and made the most curmudgeonly of hotel guests uncommonly good-natured.
Ellie seated them next to a window that faced the side street and their respective homes. The house Roen rented from the sheriff was a pleasant two-story frame home painted white with blue shutters, while the house next door where Ben lived with his doctor wife was similarly constructed but butter yellow from the top to bottom.
Ben took off his hat before his mother cuffed him for wearing it to the table. Grinning cheekily, he hooked it on the spindle of the empty chair on his left. Ellie told them the specials, they ordered, and then she left them alone.
Ben leaned back and stretched his long legs under the table. He looked askance at Roen. “She likes you. I can tell. Maybe you already noticed that her good opinion goes a long way around here. She accepts you, folks accept you.”
“I did notice. And, well, I like her.”
Ben nodded. “Most days I like her just fine, especially when she remembers not to hug me within an inch of my life in public. It’s not dignified, I say, but that point is lost on her.”
“I imagine your mother harbors worry and pride in equal measure every time she sees you, and probably just as often when she doesn’t.” Roen looked pointedly at Ben’s holstered weapon. “Your position in Frost Falls is not precisely without hazard. Have you had occasion to use that?”
“My Peacemaker? I have.”
“There you go.”
Ben’s blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “Has Ellie been talking to you?”
“Maybe you haven’t noticed, but your mother talks to everyone.”
“You know what I mean. About me. Has she been talking to you about me?”
Roen was saved from answering by the arrival of a young woman carrying a pot of coffee. He moved his cup and saucera few inches to the side to make it easier for her to pour and thanked her when she’d finished. She offered a small smile that was as timid as her downcast, almond-shaped eyes and then moved to Ben’s side to pour.
“Mornin’, Fedora. Smells like the coffee’s fresh.”
“It always is for you.”
He chuckled and raised his cup to Roen. “There are benefits to having my mother here.” He looked up at Fedora, who was standing at his elbow waiting for his approval. Taking a careful sip of the hot brew, he told her it was excellent. She left as silently as she’d come. Ben watched Roen’s gaze slide sideways as he watched her go.
“You’ve met Miss Chen, haven’t you?” asked Ben. “Or should I have introduced you?”
“No, I know who she is.” He picked up his coffee cup but didn’t drink. He regarded Ben over the rim. “I’m not sure she’s spoken above a dozen words to me in all the time I’ve been coming here. I’m fairly certain she avoids my table. That she attended me today has everything to do with you. At first I thought she was merely shy, and that’s part of it, but I’m coming to the opinion that it’s more than that.” He took a mouthful of coffee that was pleasantly warm all the way down and set his cup aside. “I’ve been wondering if I’ve done something to offend her.”
“The truth?”
“Please.”
Ben also set his cup down. He said candidly, “Your presence here offends her.”
Roen’s dark eyebrows arched symmetrically as his head reared back a fraction. “Here? In this hotel?”
“Here. In Frost Falls.”
“What? Why?”
