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The August afternoon arht would be chilly in the mountains He hadn’t been out to the house he planned to live in, which had been vacant for a year If it was uninhabitable, he had his camper He took a deep breath The air was so dae fro

He walked into the renovated cabin and found hi little country bar He stood just inside the door and looked around appreciatively The hardwood floors glea trophies hung mounted on the walls There were about a dozen tables and a long, shiny bar behind which there were shelves full of liquor and glasses surrounding a stuffed king salhed about forty pounds at the catch A television, h in a corner, was tuned to national news, the volume turned down A couple of fishermen, identifiable by their khaki vests and hats, sat at one end of the bar playing cribbage A fewdrinks at a nearby table Luke looked at his watch: 4:00 pet you?" the bartender asked

"A cold draft, thanks This place wasn’t here the last tih town"

"You’ve been away a while then I’ve been open ht it and turned it into this"

"Well, you did a helluva job," he said, accepting the beer "I’ myself" He stuck out his hand "Luke Riordan," he said

"Jack Sheridan Pleasure"

"I bought so e downhill for years now"

"Those old Chapman cabins?" Jack asked "The old man died just last year"

"Yeah, I know," Luke said "I was back here hunting with one of my brothers and a couple of friends e first saw theht on the river, ht be worth some money We noticed the cabins weren’t in use and wanted to buy ’em and fix ’em up for a quick resale, turn ’em fast and make a couple of bucks But old Chapman wouldn’t even listen to an offer…"

"It would have left hi the bar a ith a cloth "He wouldn’t have had too many options, and he was all alone"

Luke took a drink of his icy beer "Exactly So we bought the whole property, including his house, and told him he could stay there, rent free, for life It turned out to be seven years"

Jack grinned "Sweet deal for him Smart deal for you Property doesn’t coht off the land under those cabins orth ht on the river like that I haven’t been able to get back here since, and my brother has only been up here once, just to have a look--he said nothing had changed"

"What held you up?"

"Well," he said, scratching the stubble on his chin "Afghanistan Iraq Fort Bliss and a few other places"

"Army?"

"Yeah Twenty"

"I did twenty in the Marine Corps," Jack said "I thought I’d come up here and serve up a few drinks, fish and hunt for the next twenty"

"Yeah? Sounds like a good plan"

"My plan got derailed by a cute little nurse rinned "I would’ve been fine, but that woainst the law"

"That so?" Luke asked

"Anyone can go fishing," Jack said with a satisfied s a man happy with his life He smiled back Then he asked, "Did you do ot so credit where I can This bar is a custom job, delivered to me finished I installed the shelves and laid the hardwood floors I didn’t trust h to have to hire soe one-room apartment onto the back to live in My cook, Preacher, has it now and is adding on again--his fa to work on those cabins?"

"I’ to look at the house first Chapht the whole business--that house probably needs work And I have no idea what shape the cabins are in, but I don’t have anything better to do right now Worst case, I can fix up the house and live in it for a while Best case, I can renovate the house and the cabins and put ’em on the market"

"Where’s your brother?" Jack asked

"Still active Sean is stationed at Beale Air Force Base in the U-2 It’s just me for now"

"What did you do for the army?" Jack asked hi his head "They go in some real hot spots"

"Tell me about it I came out the hard way"

"You drive one in?" Jack asked