Bishop

 

Bishop slumped down in the booth seat and buried his head in his hands. A figure sat down across from him, and he looked up hopefully only to find that it was Jimmy.

 

The bartender slid a beer across the table. “You look like you could use this. Need an ice pack to go with it?”

 

“No, he didn’t get much in on me.”

 

“Didn’t look like it,” Jimmy said with a grin. “You were giving him a good wallop. Guess he was horning in on your territory, eh?”

 

“Something like that.” Bishop didn’t want to talk, because he didn’t really know what to say. There was too much to process. “He’s lucky his buddy showed up. I wasn’t ready to stop.”

 

Jimmy shrugged. “It’s been a while since we had any blood on the floor. It turns out you’re just good for business, Bishop. Things were just beginning to die down after the Lola incident, but you’re bringing it all back.”

 

“I’m not interested in anybody’s publicity, not yours or hers.” Bishop took a long sip of his beer, but it didn’t make him feel any better. He felt as though he had been duped. Lola had allowed him to believe he was her hero, and that she wanted to be with him. He had even been stupid enough to sleep with her, twice. But she was playing him just as much as Chris was supposedly trying to play her, or maybe even more.

 

“Maybe not, but you’re still the guy making it happen. Check this out.” Jimmy pulled his phone out of his pocket, touched the screen a few times, and handed it over. “In this day and age of cell phones and social media, it takes no time at all for word to spread.”

 

Bishop blinked at the screen a few times, not sure that he was reading things right. Numerous posts, dated from just that morning, were claiming that Lola Lennox was pregnant. There was speculation as to who the father was, with plenty of people imagining it was Chris, but nothing that had been officially confirmed. “You’ve gotta be shitting me,” he murmured.

 

“And look down here. They already know she was at the bar again.” Jimmy leaned over the table and scrolled down to a different message board. “Someone spotted her coming in, or maybe it was one of the people that’s sitting in here right now. I don’t know, but I have a feeling I’ll be working the taps on a constant basis this weekend.”

 

They were even talking about the fight, and someone had mentioned Bishop by name. Sometimes there were distinct disadvantages to living in a small town. Everyone who lived in Rolling Hills knew who he was, and he was paying for it. Handing the phone back, Bishop stood up. “I’ve got to get out of here.”

 

“If you want to stick around, you can have anything you want for free.” The barman stood as well and stepped back into his place. “I mean, you were always good business before, but now you’re like a walking, talking marketing package.”

 

“Shut up.” Bishop knew Jimmy only meant well, and he had no idea that Lola was claiming the baby was his. He left and headed into town. The sun shone down on his shoulders and the wind blew through his hair, but he still felt as though he was living through a waking nightmare. He bypassed the clubhouse, even though he knew he could find plenty of solace in comradeship there, and headed to a small café in the heart of the downtown area. It had been a while since he’d had something decent to eat besides bar food or frozen meals.

 

Lydia’s Café was a small joint snuggled in between the larger buildings that had been built on either side of it. A long counter ran down one side and chrome-edged tables occupied the other side. The linoleum was old and yellowed, but clean. The place was crowded for a midweek afternoon, but it was always cheap and fast. Bishop sat down at a table.

 

“Haven’t seen you in here for a while.” Lydia herself came to wait on him. A plump woman in her sixties, she wore her hair in a gray pouf on top of her head. The button-down dress and frilly apron gave a certain sense of authenticity to the atmosphere. She was one of the folks in Rolling Hills who had welcomed the arrival of the Cobra Kings, and Bishop had a feeling it was because they reminded her of her own wild youth. “What can I get for ya, sugar?”

 

She always made him feel as if he was being served by a grandmother he had never known. “A pork fritter sandwich and some home fries,” he replied without looking at the menu. “And a slice of apple pie after that.”

 

Lydia didn’t bother writing the order down. She never did. “You feeling a little down today, son? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat that much. You’re always too busy and trying to get back on the road.”

 

“I’ll be all right.” It was sweet of her, but she was just another link in the gossip chain.

 

She stepped into the kitchen and Bishop looked up at the old tube television mounted above the counter. The entertainment segment of the local news came on. “Thank you, Matt,” said a female anchor with pumped-up hair and overdone eyeshadow. “Tonight we bring you a special report that I think we were all hoping for, but none of us were expecting. It turns out that Lola Lennox has returned to Rolling Hills! She was spotted at the airport and at the Magnolia Blossom Hotel. She has even made a return to the sight of the now infamous shooting last month at The Dive. Here we have some footage of her as she disembarked from her plane on Tuesday.” The clip rolled, showing Lola fighting through the crowd with a determined look on her face. “While we’ve asked several sources if they have any idea just why Lola is in town, nobody seems to know. Stay tuned to Channel 5 Action News for more updates.”

 

Bishop tipped his head back and groaned. He couldn’t get away from Lola. She was everywhere, and this stupid hick town was crazy about her. They wanted any kind of attention and excitement they could get, and Lola gave it to them all in one package. There was even a big sign over the counter advertising the new Lola Burger, whatever the fuck that was.

 

Lydia brought his meal a moment later. “I went ahead and got you that slice of pie. It’s the last one I’ve got left, and someone would have ordered it out from under your nose if I had waited until you were done eating.”

 

“Thanks, Lydia. I appreciate it.”

 

“No problem, sugar.” She bustled back to the kitchen.

 

The table behind Bishop was packed with more of Lola’s fans, and they were singing her praises. “Can you believe that she actually came back here?” a young woman squealed. “Maybe Rolling Hills is about to become the new getaway for celebrities. I really should have gone into journalism, and then maybe I would get to meet her.”

 

“No way. None of us could get near her.” The reply was a man’s voice. “She’s the hottest thing right now, and you don’t exactly see her setting up photo ops for us regular folks.”

 

“I just think it’s a shame that everyone is after her all the time like they are.” This came from a different man, a much quieter one. “I bet she just wants to have a private life like everyone else does.”

 

“Why do you care, Ernie?” a woman asked. “You think you’re going to just find her at the hotel, whisk her off her feet, and enchant her with your boring life as a car salesman?”

 

“She might like it more than you think,” Ernie argued. “Celebrities all start off as normal people, after all.”

 

Curious, Bishop stood up and stepped to a different table, pretending to need the saltshaker even though the one on his table had plenty in it. He cast a glance at those who were talking about Lola.

 

“And just because you see things about her in the media doesn’t mean it’s true,” the man continued. He had pale brown hair that clung limply to his scalp and glasses with thick lenses. “For all we know, she just wants to settle down and have a family instead of jet setting and being stalked by crazy fans.”

 

“Ernie, you’re full of shit,” said the other man, who was considerably better looking. “Besides, if these rumors are true, then someone has already knocked her up. I wonder what lucky bastard got to fuck her.”

 

It was tempting to interrupt their conversation and let them know that he was that lucky bastard, but they probably wouldn’t believe him anyway. Everyone was trying to grab a slice of Lola’s fame right now, and he didn’t want to look like one of them. Frustrated, Bishop sat back down and dug into his food. He thought for a moment about the idea that the child might be his. There was always the chance that Lola had been honest with him. After all, they had done the deed. Just because she dressed provocatively on stage didn’t mean she was a slut.

 

What would life be like with a little boy toddling around the garage, picking up wrenches and pretending to work on motorcycles, babbling to himself while Bishop taught him what it really meant to be a man? He would have a chance to do what his father never had done for him. Bishop could encourage the boy and let him grow into his own person, not just living and getting by but thriving.

 

Or maybe it would be a beautiful blonde baby girl with big blue eyes like her mother, a fierce toddler who fooled people with her beauty until she opened her mouth and told them just what she thought. Bishop would be stern with her and tell her to be nice, but he and Lola would laugh behind their hands about how terrified adults were of her. Bishop had seen the shy, insecure part of Lola, but he had also seen the spitfire in her, and he could easily see that coming out in a child born of the two of them.

 

But, no. He couldn’t let himself think like that. Lola had said the baby was his, but she’d never said she wanted to settle down and make a family with him. What would a star like her do with a baby? Leave the poor child with him while she went flying off on a world tour? Or maybe she would just hire a nanny and leave him completely out of the picture. They were from completely different worlds. Maybe Lola had grown up in Rolling Hills, but she definitely wasn’t from here anymore.

 

There was no way of knowing if the child was actually his or not, and he wouldn’t let Lola fool him into thinking he was the father just because it was the easy thing for her to do. It could just as easily belong to Chris. No matter what Lola said, Bishop had seen the way the man looked at her. The way Chris fucked her with his eyes suggested that he had fucked her with his body as well, and Bishop didn’t like it. He would be a fool if he dismissed it and blindly accepted Lola’s word, no matter how good of a lay she was.

 

Bishop finished his meal and headed back to the clubhouse. He had business to take care of, and it was time to put Lola behind him. He just needed the rest of the townspeople to do the same.