Allen looked at Randy’s daughter perched in her father’s lap. She tapped a plastic straw against Randy’s leg as she sang along with the jukebox. I wondered if Allen saw something that reminded him of Miranda, if not of how she had been then something of what she might have become. I recalled what my art history teacher had told our class about Rembrandt. Three of his children died before reaching adulthood, and later in life Rembrandt drew them as he imagined they would have been as adults.

“Luke asked if we were lovers,” Allen said, still looking at Randy’s daughter.

“Why would he think that?”

Allen looked at me now, his eyes meeting mine.

“Maybe because I was clearly interested in what he had to say about you.”

Claire Pritchard-Hemphill’s face surfaced in my mind. I suddenly wondered if there was something about me that reminded Allen of her. Certainly it wasn’t my appearance—I was pure Appalachia via Northern Europe Celt, my features bleached out by generations of cold, sunless days, my eyes an icy shade of blue. But maybe a gesture or mannerism, maybe my voice or the shampoo I used. It was a silly notion but also a disturbing one.

“I hope that’s okay,” he said, “that I’m interested in you. If it’s not—”

“It’s okay,” I interrupted. “It’s more than okay.”

I laid my hand on the table, close enough to Allen’s that he could easily place his hand on mine. But he didn’t. Give him time, I thought.

I nodded at Ronny and Randy’s table. “You talked to the Moseley brothers this morning, I guess.”

“A little. They didn’t have a lot to say.”

“That’s the way they are, especially around people they don’t know well.”

“You grew up with them?”

“Yes. Their wives too. As a matter of fact, I’ve got some catching up with them I want to do. Why don’t you wait for me over at the motel. Let me talk to them a little while, maybe get you a good quote, then I’ll show you a few local sights, give you a chance to hear some good picking and singing. That is, if you’re interested.”

“Definitely,” Allen said, and picked up the bill.