The Gossip Mill
at Central Cafe
by Floyd Wilkie
“I’m telling you, this bass has my pole near bent in half,” Billy Crump tells me as we eat our breakfast. “And I’m struggling not to give it any slack. And then this beast gets near the surface, does a slow roll over onto his belly, and that’s when I realized he had to be close to ten pounds or so. And then that darn line just broke.”
I chuckle as I break a biscuit apart to put some jam on it. Billy’s fishing tales are always pretty tall.
“You see any movement out of Lowe’s cabin?” a female voice says, and I immediately recognize it as Lynette Carnes poking her nosy nose in. I turn and look over my shoulder to see her and Sarah sitting at a table right behind us.
Billy turns on his stool, takes his hat off, and scratches at the back of his head before putting it back on. “Not that I recall. But then again, I expect they’d be holed up inside seeing as how they’re technically on their honeymoon.”
Lynette doesn’t like that answer as her eyes go blisterin’ hot. But why she feels affronted is beyond me. I think it’s cool Lowe came back from Vegas married to Mely. I was pretty sure that was going to happen one day down the road, and if it happened sooner, that was awesome too. They’ve been back from Vegas for two days now, and no one’s seen hide nor hair of them.
But today’s a new workweek and I saw his truck in front of Millie’s, so I know the official honeymoon is probably over.
“That sure happened fast, didn’t it?” Muriel comments from the other side of the counter, and I turn to look at her. “Seems like just yesterday they were kissing secretly even as they were fighting.”
“What?” Lynette icily. “What do you mean by that?”
Muriel nods her head at me. “Floyd told me. Was like only a day or two after the judge ordered him to work on her house, and Floyd caught them kissing late at night. With her pajamas on, no less.”
“Sounds like Lowe was already starting to make a play,” Lynette asserts staunchly. “Maybe it was on his agenda to get her all softened up early.”
“Whoa, I don’t think—” I say, but then I’m cut off by Billy.
“Next night, she made a really expensive meal for him. Maybe she was the one playing Lowe.”
“Why would she?” Muriel tosses out. “He doesn’t have anything she wants. She wanted the house and she got it. No, if anyone was playing anyone at that point, it was Lowe playing her. That house was everything to that boy.”
“They have a real connection,” I blurt out, needing to defend Lowe and Mely, mostly because some of my original gossip started all of this.
“You say that now, Floyd,” Lynette says calmly. “But you were just in here a week ago today agreeing with me that it was fortuitous that Lowe was courting a woman who now owned the house he wanted.”
“Yes, but—”
“And Muriel was here and we all agreed,” Lynette continues. “If Lowe wanted that house back, the best way to go about doing it was to marry that woman, then divorce her. We all know she’d get home cooked by Judge Bowe and he’d give him the house in the divorce settlement.”
“It’s all hypothesis,” I mutter as I turn back to my biscuit, wanting out of this conversation like right now.
“It’s a sure bet,” Billy says staunchly. “Judge Bowe might be a hard ass, but he’s always going to look out after his own.”
“I bet that’s exactly what Lowe is doing,” Lynette says, and Billy bobs his head up and down in agreement. I turn to look at her, wondering how this is really any of her business. “There’s no other explanation. You don’t just up and marry someone you’ve only known for three weeks. And you certainly don’t do it in Vegas. I bet he liquored her up good and got her to sign that marriage paper before she even knew what was happening.”
Okay, now this just needs to stop. It’s absurd and as protector of this town, I have a duty—
My heart stops a little when I glimpse a woman past Lynette’s shoulder at the back of the restaurant, one I hadn’t noticed before and mainly because she’d been reading the paper when I’d walked in and couldn’t see who it was.
But I see who it is now.
Over the edge of the paper, she stares at Lynette with wide, unblinking eyes.
Lynette notices I’ve checked out of the conversation and turns in her chair to see what I’m looking at. She only glances at Mely Rothschild for a second before turning back to me and giving a gloating smile.
All conversation seems to have stopped in Central Cafe. Muriel, Billy, Sarah, and I all stare at Mely, who just looks blankly back at us.
Then she lays the newspaper on the table, turning to her purse. She pulls some money out and quietly stands from the table. Dropping the money down, she looks to Muriel. “I’ve got to get going. Thanks for the fabulous breakfast. I’m sure this will cover it and a tip for the waitress who served me earlier.”
“Mely,” I say as she starts to walk toward the door.
She doesn’t stop. Doesn’t falter in her stride.
Shoulders squared, head held high, she walks out and doesn’t give any of us a second glance.
Crap, I’m going to have to fix that with her later. I need to make sure she knows I don’t think those things about her and Lowe.
And surely she realizes it’s just bored people gossiping about the easiest thing to gossip about. She’s new and interesting to this town. It’s just natural.
Not done with any ill intent.
Well, except Lynette.
I have a feeling she knew Mely was sitting there the entire time, and that’s just wrong.
Turning back to my breakfast, I decide I’ll finish it and head over to the hardware store to open. Then I might meander over to Mainer House after work and make my apologies.