CHAPTER 39

Esmeralda sighed contentedly as she turned the door sign to “closed.”  It had been another successful Saturday, twelve giggling teens and ‘tweens defying tradition and dressing like it actually was nineteen-seventy-five.  Her trips to the Denver fabric sales were paying off and her designs were the talk of Jerkwater.

Even her social life was blooming.  There was, of course, the dreamy Chad Sparrow who had won her heart when he saved her from that false-alarm fire.  And Edger Hofflemyer, a sweet, awkward man, who had built her a partition between the feed and tack section of the building and her store; even though he wasn’t a talented carpenter, and was actually the owner of the largest auto-repair shop in town. 

It had worked out pretty well so far.  Every third Thursday the Downtown Association had a mixer at the Gold Bar, and afterward she and Edgar usually had dinner in the Yellow Room, where Edgar always insisted on paying. Then he would walk her to her car, kiss her on the cheek, and stumble away.  It pulled at her heartstrings, but she thought of her heroine, Jane Withersteen, and that first awkward romance that was doomed to nothing.  Jane had gotten through that breezily enough.  What was meant to be, and all that.

And then there was Chad. He was only in town on Saturday nights, and they played it the fullest.  Chad had a special liking for the Crawlback Inn, where the food was always great, and she insisted on sharing the bill.  And of course there were more than two bars in Jerkwater.  The Elk’s Lodge had a full bar that was open from four pm to ten-thirty pm weekdays, and three pm to eleven-thirty pm Fridays and Saturdays.  And then there was alwaysThe Moose.  Somebody would be having a dance two or three weekends a month, Chad was smooth and graceful and could always have his way with her on a dance floor.

Esmeralda was not indifferent to her suitor’s attentions; She didn’t feel she was misusing her feminine whiles when she batted her eyes or flashed a smile at them; that was just her personality showing through, and they did seem to appreciate the attention.  

She  truly enjoyed each of their company, but she was a woman of the seventies and dedicated to developing her business.  But now, with Chad being in town all the time, things were going to be different.  She wasn’t certain that was going to be as enjoyable.

Chad pulled at more than her heartstrings. He had a wind-swept feeling about him, but           Esmeralda wasn’t quite ready to be swept up.  True, her heart began to throb whenever she thought of him.  She dreamed of going WAY beyond the long and passionate make-out sessions that ushered in sunrise.  But what then?  Jane hadn’t ever gotten that far.