The Reading Circle by Ashton Lee Page A

the picnic tables for the ones that like the fresh air, and the same old neon jukebox with all the country line dancing tunes indoors by the bar. Even though line dancing is so over, it’s not even funny. And I imagine that back room I unwittingly decorated for your extracurricular activities is still up and running.”
    He seemed to take her sarcasm in stride and even cracked a smile. “Now, you’d be wrong about that, Peri. I got rid of it and expanded the pantry over two years ago. If you’d like the grand tour, I’d be happy to oblige. But it’s just a collection of canned goods and spices with a few cardboard boxes thrown in for good measure. I gave the bed and the mattress the old heave-ho and drove ’em on down to the Cherico Salvation Army.”
    â€œAnd they took something that worn-out?”
    â€œYou can make jokes all you want, but I really am a changed man,” he insisted. “I wanted to tell you that tonight here under the moonlight. Ordered it up special just for you.”
    Periwinkle looked him over with a skeptical expression. He hadn’t changed much since their divorce, at least not physically. He still sported a lean and tall physique with rugged features accentuated by a neatly trimmed mustache, a full head of curly hair with a few grays here and there, and he had yet to give up on his blue jeans and cowboy shirt costumes. Somewhere along the way, he had died and gone to Line Dancing Heaven. But she had her doubts as to whether he had truly renounced his philandering ways, back room or no back room. No matter what, she was not about to be sweet-talked into anything she felt was not in her best interests. She was forty now, over two decades removed from the guileless country teenager who had once fallen for his macho Marlboro Man charms.
    â€œSo what’s caused this so-called change in you?”
    â€œI was hoping you’d ask,” he said, giving her a roguish wink. “The old me wouldn’t even admit to what I’m gonna tell you, but here goes nothing. A few years back this sweet young thing in a skirt leaving nothing to the imagination wiggles her way across the floor and takes a bar stool right smack dab in front of me. I could tell she was definitely gonna make a move and—”
    â€œSeems to have happened to you all the time, as I found out in no uncertain terms,” she interrupted.
    He briefly closed his eyes and shook his head. “Okay, okay. But this little item was different. ‘What’s your name?’ I asked her. And she said it was Tammie, spelled with an I-E—”
    â€œI’m sure that set her apart from the others.”
    â€œPlease stop interrupting me, Peri. You may not believe it, but I have a real good point to make here.” He waited a few seconds to see if she was going to comply, continuing only after she shrugged her shoulders and nodded with a look of resignation. “Anyhow, she happened to stroll in on my birthday, and a couple of the regulars mentioned that fact while we were all talking our typical bar talk. So Tammie says, ‘Hey, how old are you anyway, barkeep?’ And I like a fool tell her the truth. ‘Forty-nine,’ I say. And that’s when I get the surprise of my life. Tammie looks me straight in the eye and says I need to go see the doctor right away. Of course, I have no idea what she’s talking about, so I ask her to explain. And she goes, ‘Anyone that old is bound to have something wrong with ’em.’ ”
    Periwinkle started up with her heartiest laugh and took her time letting it die off. “Man, did you get your comeuppance!”
    â€œI guess I did. And you know what? I really did go to the doctor for that checkup I hadn’t had in a long time. After all the blood work and the X-rays came back, I was thankful there was nothing wrong with me. But it did start me thinking about the future. I mean, how long was I really