“Sold.”
“When do you want it?”
“As soon as you can,” Morgan said, tapping the eraser end of his pencil on the desk. “Evidently I’m getting married inNovember, so we’ll need this thing to take us all the way to Anaconda.”
“Yes, I heard about the wedding.”
Morgan sighed. The whole town had probably heard about the winter wedding hours before Jack had brought it up to Morgan. But that was the price to pay for being part of a community and, all things considered, it wasn’t very much for the happiness it brought.
“I want it to be a surprise,” Morgan said. “When it gets here, I need other vehicles in the parking lot. Like camouflage. Jack will go off to get donuts, and when he gets back—I’m going to call around for volunteers.”
“Coffee klatch time would work good,” Gus said. “I haven’t been to one in ages. I could deliver it there tomorrow morning. Will that work?”
“Yes.”
They ended the call, and Morgan sat back in his chair, looking out the far window at the blue sky that would soon be filled with snow. But not tomorrow. All he had to do was keep his tells from showing, and Jack would be surprised. What would make it even better would be?—
Morgan picked up his cell phone and called Mabel. Asked her to call her bridge friends and that he’d pay for a cab so they could be there right before ten. “Tell Owen I’ll take care of it.”
Then he called Ambrose and told him about it and asked him to make sure Neville and Maurice were there, too.
Then he called the Bean There, and asked to speak to either Justin or Shane because, even though he still couldn't tell them apart without looking at their name badges, they made coffee just the way Jack liked it, and deserved to be invited.
“It’s a surprise,” he said. “So Jack will be picking up the regular amount of fresh donuts from the market, like he usuallydoes, but with the people I’m inviting that might not be enough. Can you bring pastries? And then let me know how much, okay?”
“Sure can, Mr. Malone,” said either Justin or Shane. “We get deliveries every morning, so we’ll order extra for tomorrow.”
“Jack likes raspberry scones, especially,” Morgan added.
“Yes, sir,” said either Justin or Shane. “We’ll take care of it.”
Morgan grabbed the grocery list when he heard Jack clumping down the stairs, and erased a few items so that Jack would have a reason to not only pick up fresh donuts for the coffee klatch in the morning, but that he’d be delayed from returning to the feed and grain because Morgan had forgotten a few items that they’d need before the next storm.
It was such an obvious ruse it could not be subtle, so obvious that Jack would not see it for what it was. A way to ensure that as many of his friends as possible could assemble in time to see him receive his surprise present from Morgan.
Holding up the list as Jack came in the room, Morgan put on his best grumpy face to hide whatever tells Jack might see, and stood up to deliver a great big kiss, and a sweet murmur in Jack’s ear about love and devotion and drive safe and hurry back.
“I will,” Jack said. “Call if you think you’ve forgotten anything.”
“Sure thing,” Morgan said, though he knew there was not a chance in that.
That evening, as twilight turned to dusk, and the pale-pink clouds turned purple and gray, Morgan thought he could smell snow in the air. Fingers crossed that it held off. A silent request to the universe, and a promise that he would be eternally grateful if the storm held off just long enough so that the folks who did show up in the parking lot of the feed and grain made it home safely.
That night, even with Jack curled in his arms, Morgan could barely sleep.
In the morning, as they ate breakfast, he noticed that the sky was a dull gray, and his weather app suggested that snow would start around ten. And that the temperatures would hover around ten degrees. Earlier than forecasted, and not entirely ideal, but it would have to suffice.
“We need donuts, of course,” Morgan said as he got up and began to clear the table. “And we need carrots, and we’re out of cinnamon, and could you pick up stuff so I can make spaghetti?”
“Oh, sure,” Jack said. As Morgan began filling the tub in the sink, he came up behind him and hugged him tight. “Sausages, too?”
“If they have them,” Morgan said. He paused to reach and cup Jack’s head in his hand. “Or ground beef and ground pork if they don’t, and I’ll make meatballs.”
There was nothing Jack liked more than talking about food, so he was smiling when he left, bundled up for the trip to the market, not just for fresh donuts, but for things he could have easily gotten the day before, had Morgan not removed them from the list.
With that plan in motion, Morgan left the dishes, finished getting dressed, and hurried down to the corner of the store, and made coffee, then put that in the large carafe to keep it warm, made more coffee, wiped the tables and chairs, and realized that if everyone he called actually showed up, there wouldn’t be enough places for everybody to sit. Well, they’d probably be headed home as soon as they could to beat the storm. And, besides, there was no use worrying about what couldn’t be helped.
Gus Odell showed up first, driving his own car, followed by Jack’s present, driven by a ranch hand.
