(Untitled)

[realmrsreynolds]

After an appropriately maternal wink at her son the bartender, Sallie sets up shop with her music for her House of Arch classes and a cup of steaming peppermint hot chocolate.

It's getting on to time for a second annual Milliways Piano Recital, anyhow. Lady's got to make plans.

[ooc: If a piano recital in bar seems interesting to your pup, please

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[jack_f_twist]

There's got to be something that goes together better than coffee and a cigarette, but what it may be Jack's got no damn idea: just like there ain't much better that goes together than a Sunday night off and finding Sallie in the bar that he ain't been frequenting so much...recently.

Besides, it ain't like he don't have an appreciation for music, right? So he comes on by, lit cigarette precarious, propped between two knuckles of the hand holding his coffee so the other's free to drop on Sallie's shoulder and so he's free to bend down and smack an impudent little kiss on her cheek. "Hey, boss."

[jack_f_twist]

The grin he gives her is immediate and cheerful.

"Y'already live with me."

[realmrsreynolds]

Sallie snorts. "Fair enough."

"I don't want him around. Not like this."

[jack_f_twist]

"Maybe it ain't--"

Jack stops, and starts to bring his cigarette up for a pull before letting it drop again, half-hearted.

Maybe it ain't...what? Ain't Ennis? Ain't real? Ain't a sign of somethin...more to come? Maybe it ain't any of those things. But what if it is? And if it is, how long's he been around?

Thought you were gone for good, bud.

His own surprise and sudden flush of jealousy and guilt and longing doesn't count for much against Sallie's face right now, though, so he just leans over to put a hand on hers. It' a moment more before he can voice the thought that's running loose through his skull.

"Think he might be comin back? Or just...you know...hangin around?"

[realmrsreynolds]

Jack's a calming influence as much as anything, and the questions give Sallie something to focus on.

"I don't know -- I...I dealt with him bein' gone. If he's hanging around, it needs to be one or the other. None of this...

"...In-betweens."

[jack_f_twist]

"Well..."

He coughs, as much to hide the hoarseness in his voice as to clear it, tries a laugh that just about works. "You know him. Stubborn as all hell, and he don't like to be rushed into nothin."

[realmrsreynolds]

"Fancy way o' callin' him lazy."

[jack_f_twist]

That gets a twist of a grin.

"He's lots a things, but lazy ain't one of 'em."

[realmrsreynolds]

He isn't alive, either.

Sallie sighs, exhaling as a segue from one thought to another.

"I'm going to go home, I think. You comin'?"