Paradise Valley (Virgin River #7)(77)

“Oh my,” she said, taking a breath. “Did you tell her it was an accident?”

“No. I told her it was a blessing. And the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Dan Brady had not envisioned that in just a couple of months in Virgin River, he’d be able to walk into that little bar and be accepted as one of them. They didn’t make a big fuss; it wasn’t like Cheers with everyone shouting welcome. No, that wouldn’t have been to his taste anyway. What was nice was to go during the busier times of day and sit up at the bar and chat with whoever was around, just as if he was one of the neighbors, which he was. In prior years, before he’d settled in this town, he would only go to the bar at midday when hardly anyone was around.

He sat up at the bar and found himself facing Preacher. “Hey there, brother,” Preacher said. “Heineken?”

Dan smiled. He didn’t let on how much it pleased him to be greeted that way. “Thanks” was all he said. “You doing bar duty tonight?”

“Just for a few. Jack’s over at the clinic, loading up Mel and the kids so she can take ’em home. He’ll be right back. Paige is minding the stove while Dana’s in the high chair back there, and Chris,” he said, tilting his head to the far end of the bar where the six-year-old sat, “is doing homework.”

Dan frowned. “Homework? In first grade?”

“Is that crazy or what? Thank Jesus I didn’t go to that school. Man, I had nuns, and I thought I had it rough.” Dan laughed. “It’s not like it’s trigonometry,” he went on. “He’s drawing pictures and making numbers and letters, but still….”

“Still,” Dan agreed.

“Excuse me. I have to check if we’re making progress.” And he wandered down to his stepson.

A moment later Jack was holding the door open for Hope McCrea. She stomped inside wearing her muddy running shoes and lavender sweatsuit with brown stains on the knees. He’d spent a good amount of time talking to Hope. Well, he’d been listening to Hope. It was gardening season for her. She tended a very large garden every spring and summer. Living alone as she did, she didn’t have much use for all her produce, so she gave most of it away and the deer and rabbits drove her crazy, getting in her garden.

She sat up beside Dan while Jack went around the bar and without being asked, poured her a whiskey. Then she pulled out her Marlboros. After a brief hack to clear her throat and lungs, she lit up. “I have news,” she said to Jack and anyone who would listen. “I bought the church.”

“You did what?” Jack asked.

“The church. The Lutherans aren’t sending another minister this way—we’re just too small for their tastes. Or for anyone’s, it appears. I’ve been making offers for six years, but they were set on selling the church to some other denomination. But finally they had to admit defeat—no one wants it. So I lowered my offer, crazy fools. Got it for a song.” She cackled. “Got it for a hymn.”

“Jesus, Hope—are you just richer than God?” Jack asked.

“I have a couple bucks and nothing to do but buy and sell things. So, I’m going to sell the church.” She sipped her drink. Puffed on her cigarette.

“But, Hope—you said no one wants it,” Jack pointed out.

“Well, none of those religions want it. I’m going to sell it on eBay.”

It was silent for a second, then Jack, Dan and Preacher burst into laughter.

“Oh, go ahead and laugh,” she said. “You’ll see. Someone’s going to want a church. That’s a good church. Little roughed up at the moment, but it can be considered a fixer-upper.”

Jack leaned on the bar. “Let me guess—you have some old pictures of that church, right? When it was beautiful, right? And you’re going to float out those pictures and snag some poor rube, like you did Mel.”

“Mel hasn’t complained in years,” Hope said, puffing.

“Mel?” Dan asked.

Jack gave the counter a wipe. “Mel took the job here based on a bunch of pictures Hope sent of a pretty little town and a cabin in the woods she could use for free for a year. Cabin looked like new; town looked thirty years younger. The cabin was probably in worse shape than that Creighton house you’re working on, and the town…? Well, you’ve seen the town. Mel was furious.”

“She’s got a sharp tongue, that one,” Hope said, making Jack laugh.

“So, Hope,” Jack said, “what if satanists buy the church?”

“Good luck to them,” she shrugged. “This would be a real bad town for someone who’s no good to try to make a go of it. I’ll post up old and recent pictures, so people know what they’re getting into.”

“Who’d want a church?” Dan asked.

“Someone who needs to preach, I’m thinking,” Hope said. “Or satanists, who Jack and Preacher will run off and make sorry they ever got the idea.” She sipped the last of her drink, put out her cigarette. “You’re going to have a lot of venison come in the bar soon, Jack. I’m going to shoot the goddamn deer if they don’t get out of my yard.”

“I can’t take illegal venison, Hope. You try this every spring. Why don’t you put up a good fence?”

“I have up a good fence! They jump it! And the goddamn rabbits dig under. Bastards.”