Free When Bobbie Sang the Blues by Peggy Darty Page A

At love. Oh Christy, it feels like it’s possible now.”
    Christy reached out and patted her arm. “Yes, I believe it is.”

    Later in the morning, as Christy stood in line to pay for her purchases, she thought about Bobbie and Jack and Dan. And Seth. After a terrible scare, everything seemed to be slipping back to normal in everyone’s lives. The cashier totaled her purchases, and she slid her credit card through the machine.
    As the machine processed her card and the store clerk handed her the receipt, Christy remembered the day she had rushed in and bought a shredder while fighting tears. It had been her way of dealing with rejection slips before she found the right publisher.
    “Have a good day,” the clerk said to her.
    “You too.” Christy smiled and walked out into a lovely September morning.
    As she drove down Main Street, humming with the radio, she glanced at the sidewalk fronting the shops, then did a double take. Roseann Cole, wearing tight jeans and a purple T-shirt, stood at the corner, waiting to cross the street.
    The light turned red, and Christy braked, sticking her head out the window. “Roseann! Since I hadn’t heard from you, I thought you’d left town.”
    She shook her head. “No. Eddie hasn’t come back.”
    Roseann waved and crossed the street, and Christy stared after her, trying to absorb the fact that Eddie had abandoned Roseann. Or that he had truly gone missing.
    A horn beeped behind her, and Christy realized she was holding up traffic. She accelerated, her thoughts jumbled. She fought an impulse to stop by the deputy’s office to see what he really thought. Maybe Jack was right. Maybe Eddie had run out on Roseann.
    When she turned into her driveway, Bobbie came dashing from the backyard. “Deputy Arnold called here asking about Eddie again. He said they found his truck parked on a side street near the Blues Club.”
    Christy stared at her. “Oh no.”
    Bobbie followed her into the house, frowning. “That scares me. I’m afraid the bookies caught up with him. Right before I walked out for good, he got a threatening phone call. When he hung up, he said he had to pay a debt fast or they were gonna beat the—” She broke off, rephrasing her thought. “He put a lien on his mother’s house and paid them off, but I haven’t forgotten how scared he looked.”
    Christy sighed. “Well, I just saw Roseann Cole. She told me Eddie hasn’t come back.”
    Bobbie sank into a chair. She had put an apron over her clothes to catch a few red streaks. A tiny dab of paint sat on the end of her nose.
    “Hey, it’s twelve thirty, and we haven’t eaten lunch,” Christy said, thinking they needed a change of subject.
    Bobbie blinked and her expression brightened. “I forgot to tell you. Last night Jack cooked an extra rib eye for you, and I brought it home with some potatoes. All you have to do is warm it up. I already made myself a sandwich. Good thing I did.” She sighed. “I think I just lost my appetite for a while.”
    “Try not to worry,” Christy said. “Just get back to your project, and we’ll stay busy with our work. If anything happens, I’m sure we’ll hear about it.”
    Bobbie nodded, saying nothing. She sauntered out the door to the sun porch to study the purple post.
    Christy reached into the fridge and pulled out a plate wrapped in aluminum foil. When she uncovered her lunch, she swallowed,thinking her appetite had not been affected. She settled down to her food and a glass of iced tea.
    Later, as she washed dishes, the steak seemed to swell in her stomach as her mind replayed the tape of Eddie, Roseann, and the scene in the Blues Club. Eddie’s raging accusations against Bobbie, Jack’s bold threats, and Dan’s anger cast a dark cloud over them.
    Christy looked through her kitchen window to the backyard, studying her aunt as she measured the post, which now was looking more like a coatrack.
    Bobbie was such a tiny woman, scarcely five feet tall. It amazed Christy