Chapter 5

They were back in the truck, and Bobby seemed to be heading somewhere.

“Where are you taking me?” asked Misty.

“You have to sleep somewhere,” he said. “My house is on the way to Wichita. We’ll have to go back there to get you the kind of clothes you’re looking for. There’s an extra bed. At least you’ll have somewhere to sleep tonight.”

“If you think I’m going to your house, alone with you, you’ve got another think coming, buster!”

“I live with my mother,” said Bobby, his voice tight. “You won’t be alone with me. I have two sisters at home too, okay? What do you want me to do?”

“Couldn’t you take me back to Amanda’s?” whined the unhappy girl.

“If you want to sleep on a couch, instead of a bed, I guess that would be fine.” He looked over at her. “She doesn’t have any spare beds.”

“How would you know that?” asked Misty.

“I know, okay? Now, what do you want me to do?”

“Wait a minute...” Misty sounded thoughtful, suddenly. “You live with your mother?”

“I’m not married, and two of my sisters are still at home,” Bobby said patiently. “So what?”

“But you’re ... what ... twenty-five or something like that?”

“Twenty-six,” he said, his voice tight. “So what?”

“Oh nothing,” she said, her voice light. “It’s just that the big strong man lives with his Mommy.” She giggled. “That’s so what. I can see why, though. No woman would have you!” She thought that was hilarious, and started laughing out loud.

Of all the digs she could have tried to use against him, that one was probably the worst possible choice. If Bobby Dalton knew anything, it was that he was attractive to women. Most women, anyway. What might have gotten under the skin of another man bounced off of Bobby like a thrown marshmallow. His face remained calm and he drove on. His reaction was so lacking, in fact, that Misty stopped laughing. He wasn’t angry. In fact, he looked positively confident, driving along in the almost-dark of the evening. It was unnerving.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked again, calmly.

“Shit!” she snorted, putting her nervous energy into the epithet. “Nothing else has gone right. If there will really be somebody else there, then I guess that’s better than sleeping in a haystack.”

“You really should watch your mouth,” said Bobby, looking straight ahead. “If you were one of my sisters I’d take you over my knee for talking like that.”

“You and what army, mister?!”

He looked over at her. His face wasn’t exactly grim, but the look she could barely see in his eyes made her want to scoot farther away from him. She was already pressed up against the door, though. She felt like her nerves were jangling and, as a distraction to both him and herself, she reached for the radio knob on the dashboard.

“Does the radio work in this thing?”

She was answered by the overly loud sound of music blaring, and turned the knob back down.

“Hey!” she chirped. “That’s me!”

She turned the sound up a little, and started singing along with the radio.

“That’s one of the first songs I ever recorded,” she said, feeling suddenly much more comfortable. She remembered the recording session that had produced the album the song was on.

“Not bad,” said the man driving the truck.

“Not bad?” She was incensed. “That album has sold over half a million copies!”

“I can see why,” said Bobby. “I’ve never heard that song before, but it’s not bad at all.”

Misty was almost shocked. He went from threatening to spank her, to complimenting her, albeit in a less than satisfactory manner. She decided that this guy was the strangest man she’d ever met in her life. That seemed humorous to her, because some of her Uncles and cousins were exceedingly strange, as far as she was concerned.

Her confusion about Bobby only intensified when they pulled up to an old farm house. Part of her mind told Misty to complain about the fact that she had to stay in an old house somewhere in the middle of nowhere, but another part of her was a little homesick, and the glow of the yellow lights from the windows, and their promise of warmth on this chilly night took precedence in her mind. Mirriam’s welcome was both warm and genuine. Misty liked her instantly.

Moreover, when two teenage girls came into the kitchen, where Misty was standing her night got a lot better.

“You’re Misty Compton!” said one of the girls. “You’re misty compton!“ almost screamed the other, who looked identical.

Misty looked at the man who had brought her here ... who had caused her so much anger since she met him. He was rolling his eyes, but he was also smiling. His attention was on the girls, and not her, but that was blown away in an instant as she was somehow surrounded by two giggling and squealing fans. That they were fans was obvious. She heard the titles of four ... or was it six ... of her songs? It was hard to tell because the voices sounded the same, but they were saying different things at the same time.

“Hold your horses!“ yelled Bobby.

To Misty’s astonishment, the racket stopped abruptly, though the two girls were frowning now.

“She has to stay here tonight,” said Bobby in his normal deep voice. “The bed and breakfast she was going to stay at caught on fire, so she’s a guest here now. Please try to behave.”

“She’s staying here?!“ gasped one of the girls.

“All night?!“ yipped the other.

“Girls!” said Mirriam.

Then it started all over again, with the squealing, and suddenly Misty’s arms were grasped by soft hands and she was pulled toward a doorway. She looked over her shoulder at Bobby and he shrugged and mouthed, “Sorry” to her.

They calmed down a bit as they dragged her to a room and proudly displayed it to her, telling her she could sleep there.

“Where’s your suitcase?” asked one of the girls.

“It got lost,” said Misty. She almost laughed at the moans and sympathy she got, but it was so much fun to be adored like this that she tried to maintain her role as a “star”. By the time the two girls calmed down enough to carry on a decent conversation, Misty felt so good that all her anger had washed out of her.

“I’m Betty!” moaned one of the girls. “This is Matilda, my sister.”

“You’re sisters?!” said Misty, unable to keep the smile off her face now. “I’d never have known.”

Matilda goggled at her and then made a funny snorting sound.

“You’re teasing us!” she gasped. She turned to her sister. “Misty Compton is teasing us!“ There was another set of twin squeals.

They were so honest in their appreciation of her that she couldn’t keep up the false front of being a famous musician, who was above all this.

“Calm down!” she laughed. “I’m just a girl, like you. You’re making way too much fuss about this.”

“You are not just a girl!” said Betty, her face serious. “You’re Misty Compton. You’re the best, and you’re right here in our house!”

“Okay,” smiled Misty. “I sing songs, and you like them, and I’m very happy about that. But while I’m here, I want you to treat me just like any of your other friends, okay?”

“Ohhhhh,” moaned Matilda. “Misty Compton wants to be our friend, Betty!”

It was Mirriam’s arrival that managed to calm the girls to the point that they were no longer wringing their hands and gasping for breath. She had clothes in her arms.

“Bobby told me what happened to your things,” she said. “This isn’t much, but it will at least cover you and keep you warm. Bobby says he’s taking you shopping in the morning. I think they’ll fit all right, if you don’t mind wearing hand-me-downs.”

Misty was feeling so good by now that she simply reverted to being herself.

“I’ve worn hand-me-downs all my life,” she said, smiling. “I had to wear my brother’s clothes half the time.”

“He said you’d eaten.” Mirriam handed the armful of clothes to Misty. “Did you get enough? Would you like a little snack?”

“I’m fine,” said Misty.

“Well, from what I hear you’ve just had a horrible day,” said Mirriam. “If you want to get some sleep I’ll drag my daughters out of here and leave you in peace.”

There were moans of unhappiness, and Misty again tried to hide her smile.

Just then Bobby showed up in the open doorway, holding a little boy, about three. When Mirriam saw him she stamped her foot.

“What is he doing up? Bobby! It’s way past his bedtime!”

“I didn’t get him up,” complained Bobby. “My sisters raised the roof and it woke him. He wants his Mamma.”

That appeared to be true. When Bobby had first appeared, the little boy had been holding tightly to him, his arms around his neck. But when he saw Mirriam, he instantly let go and reached for her. Bobby put him down and he ran to Mirriam, who scooped him up and hugged him.

“It’s okay, baby,” she crooned to the little boy, whose eyes were wide and taking in everything. “It’s just a little excitement. Nothing’s wrong.”

Misty watched her kiss the little boy’s forehead, right beside a drooping lock of black hair that looked familiar, somehow. Then the little boy wiggled until Mirriam set him on his feet. He immediately trundled back to Bobby and held up his arms to the man. Once again, Misty watched as Bobby’s face transformed and softened, as he picked up the little boy, who again hugged his neck tightly.