“I’m Lindy.” She didn’t seem nervous as she extended her hand. “You must be Ms. Hickok and Mr. Wyatt. Those are awesome names to have in a western town like this, by the way.”
Cooper shook her hand first, making a mental note that her temperature seemed normal (not abnormally high or low, which could signify a supernatural being) and taking a long moment to look her up and down. He didn’t want to give the appearance of being a letch or anything, but if the woman was evil — which wasn’t out of the realm of possibility — he wanted to be prepared to react.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Hannah offered, shaking Lindy’s hand. “You have a very impressive résumé.”
Lindy snorted as she took the chair Cooper indicated and crossed her legs. She had an easygoing personality and didn’t appear nervous in the least. “I don’t know that I would go that far,” she hedged. “I’ve worked at a few places, though.”
“Ten.” Cooper shook the sheet of paper.
“Ah.” Lindy bobbed her head. “You’re wondering if I’m going to be trouble.”
“I don’t know that I would phrase it that way,” Hannah said hurriedly.
“I would,” Cooper countered. “We want a diligent worker. We want someone who doesn’t rile up the chemistry with the other workers. You have a great deal of experience, but it doesn’t look to me as if you stay places very long.”
“That’s fair.” Lindy’s expression never wavered. “The first eight of those jobs, if you’ll look at the dates, were when I was in college. I worked at a different bar every semester. Why did I switch every semester? Most of the bars preferred to get fresh meat in behind the bar because it drew in the male college students. The first couple of times it happened I was surprised. Then I got kind of used to it.
“If you look at my last two jobs, they both lasted more than two years each,” she continued. “The first was at the Greensboro Country Club. That went out of business because the course refused to allow people of color to play and a local activist group went after them.”
“I remember that story.” Cooper bobbed his head. “I couldn’t actually believe there were still segregated golf courses in this country in this day and age.”
“It wasn’t even segregated,” she countered. “I mean ... you need to have more than one race present and then force the races to refrain from intermingling to claim segregation. Greensboro flat out only allowed white people to play.”
Hannah was horrified. “How is that legal?”
Lindy made a face as her shoulders hopped. “We’re not quite in the south, but close enough. You would be surprised how often stuff like this happens.”
Hannah looked to Cooper for confirmation. “That can’t be right.”
He shot her a rueful smile. “You came from the north, where racial problems aren’t all that prevalent.”
Now it was Hannah’s turn to snort. “I hate to break it to you, but I lived close to Detroit. Race is still a huge problem there. The suburbs are mostly white, and the black inner-city folks resent what they call ‘white flight’ and a lot of the people from the suburbs refuse to go into the city because they believe crime is a black problem.”
“I guess I can see that.” His smile was thoughtful. “The race problems are different here. Most people — and I mean ninety percent of folks — are kind and don’t put up with the nonsense. There’s a specific group, though, that ... like to be jerks.”
Amusement flitted across Hannah’s face. She was certain that Cooper would’ve preferred saying something nastier about the situation, but he didn’t want to risk upsetting Lindy.
“I didn’t even know it was a segregated club when I first got the job,” Lindy admitted. “It never even occurred to me. By the time I figured it out, the country club was on its last leg and I was due a payout from them. I would like to say I’m above it all, but I needed the money.”
Hannah nodded in understanding. “I know how that goes. What about your job now?”
“That’s at Pete’s Barbecue and Bingo,” she explained. “I like the atmosphere — at least for the most part — but the bingo stuff drives me crazy. I would prefer a quieter atmosphere, where people aren’t getting loopy about bingo of all things, and where I can have a set schedule.”
“Do you plan on going back to school?” Cooper queried.
“Kind of, although not exactly. My goal is to eventually own my own bar. That’s not something that will happen anytime soon. I need to save up enough money to make it a reality. While waiting for that to happen, I take these business classes through an online college. They’re not what you would consider normal business classes. They’re far more practical, like how to order and how best to stock liquor for a bar.”
“Those actually sound like really good classes,” Hannah enthused. “When I took over here, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing when it came to stocking the saloon.”
Lindy laughed, the sound low and light. “That sounds like me. I want to learn, though, and since this place isn’t open at night, I figured I could work here during the mornings and afternoons and then still do my business classes at night.”
“With the ultimate goal being to own your own bar,” Cooper said.
“Eventually. It’s going to take me years to save up.”
“Right.” Cooper slid his eyes to Hannah to see if she had any questions. When she didn’t speak, he barreled forward. “How easy do you think you are to work with?”
“You just go right for it, don’t you?” Lindy chuckled. “Well,
