Free Westward Holiday by Linda Bridey

that matters,” Joe said.  “Is that what’s bothering you?  Women playing poker?”
    “Yes.  That and other things.” Rebecca knew it sounded as if she were being snobbish.  “I was shocked when I first saw Sammi.”
    Joe let out a shout of laughter.  “Everyone usually is, even me, but I got a kick out of her right off.  Look, it’s simple, Rebecca; Dawson has taught me to meet everyone where they’re at.”
    Her brow furrowed.  “I’m afraid I don’t understand that.”
    “It means that you accept people for who they are without judgment.  It’s the whole ‘judging a book by its cover’ thing.  Sammi is tough as nails on the outside.  I know that from personal experience, but if it wasn’t for her, my wife wouldn’t be here, so I’m grateful to her.  Besides, she’s fun as hell.  She, Jamie, and Lacey all came from some very bad circumstances, but they’re some of the best women I know.  Actually there are a lot of good women here.  Men, too.  You can’t just look at some of these people and put them in any particular category.  You have to meet them where they’re at and get to know them,” Joe said.  “Does that help any?”
    Rebecca mulled over his words and saw the wisdom in them.  “Yes.  I think it does.”  She looked at him and smiled.  “No wonder they elected you mayor.”
    “Nah, that’s just because I’m rich and they had no one else good runnin’,” Joe said as he stood up. 
    “I somehow don’t think that’s true,” Rebecca said.  “I think you’re much smarter than you let on.”
    “Shh.  Don’t be spreadin’ that around, Becky,” Joe said and laughed when he saw her frown at the use of a nickname.  “You might as well get used to that, too, because unless you get real cranky with people about it, you’re gonna get a nickname.”
    Rebecca arched an eyebrow at him.  “Do you have one?”
    “Yep.  Joey.  Or dumbass.  It depends on who’s talkin’ to me at the moment,” he told her and gave her a huge smile.  He patted her on the shoulder and said, “See ya’ll tonight.”
    Rebecca stared openmouthed at Joe as he walked away.
     
                  As Jake had told her, that night was wild compared to the night before.  She sat behind the bar with Jake a lot because it was so noisy.  Jamie and Joe sang as they had the previous night, but Seth Samuels had come along to play with Luke and the two fiddle players helped get the crowd even more wound up than normal. 
                  Jake served drinks, often tapping his feet while doing so.  Every so often, he’d have Gus watch the bar and go out to dance.  He always invited Rebecca to go with him, but she declined.  She didn’t want to try to learn in front of all the other people who would laugh at her.  Often times when Jake hit the dance floor, a cheer went up.  The crowd liked seeing the bar owner strut his stuff.
                  As Rebecca watched him dance, she enjoyed the way his strong body moved and saw quite a few of the females in the bar did, too.  He looked virile as he stomped, turned, and clapped and she wondered who’d taught him how to dance that way.  During one such dance, Seth tapped Joe on the shoulder and shook his head at him.  Joe shut his mouth and passed along the message to Jamie and so on until Seth and Luke were the only ones playing.
                  Jake laughed and recognized what they were up to.  So did the crowd.  Every once in a while, Seth and Luke challenged him to keep up with a crazy fiddle duel and not get tripped up.
    Joe stopped everyone and hollered, “Whoa, whoa!  Let the betting begin!  Who will win tonight, folks?  The bawdy bartender with legs of steel or the furiously fiddling fiddlers?  Hurry up, ya’ll!”
    There was a flurry of activity as money was given to Wendell who usually kept track of the bets. 
                  “All right!  Let’s get down to