As the pair reached Widow’s Walk, a large group of people, mostly men, made their exit. Many yelled hello to Callie, and she returned their greetings, calling each by name. There were a few whistles of appreciation for Angie, which she would have found insulting if Callie hadn’t made a few comments, and a couple of whistles, back. Instead Angie found it amusing, perhaps because Callie treated it as a friendly game.

When they walked into the main section of the combination tavern, restaurant, and lodgings, they saw that the place was fairly empty, with only a few tables occupied. Nub was sitting at one, alone, and he waved to them as they walked in. There was no food in front of him, giving Angie the suspicion that he had just arrived himself in the hopes of having supper with her.

"Looks like Nub got the last clean table," Callie said to Angie, confirming Angie’s suspicions. "Want to go join him?"

"I don’t know. I don’t want to encourage his infatuation with me ..."

"But you don’t want to bus your own table, do you? Alex hasn’t hired a busboy yet, and Molly can’t cover everything when it’s busy. Besides, Daniel is sitting over there," and she pointed to a dark haired man in a black leather jacket sitting with his back turned to them at a table across from Nub, "and you’ll get a better view from Nub’s table."

As they walked to join Nub, one of the fishermen at the bar turned around. Seeing Angie, he called, "Hey pretty lady, can I buy you a drink?"

"Oh go on with you," Callie immediately told him. "You know how your wife feels about that!" Abashed, he turned back to his drink, but it did catch the attention of the red haired woman tending bar.

"Hey, Callie, who’s your friend?" she called. With that, Daniel turned sideways and stared at the women walking towards him. The boy sitting across from him also looked up from the book he had on the table, then looked at Daniel’s shocked expression.

"Daniel, what’s wrong?" he asked softly, even as Callie said, "Alex, I want you to meet my friend from New York, Angie Ramirez. Angie, meet Alex Stone, owner of The Widow’s Walk."

"Nothing, Dylan," Daniel told the boy, as Angie walked right past him to shake hands with Alex, who had come around the bar. At that moment the door leading to the kitchen swung open, and a blonde woman carrying a tray of food nearly collided with Alex.

"Sorry, Molly, I really gotta shorten this bar," Alex told her.

"It’s okay, Alex, I’ve learned to expect it," the woman replied, and put the tray of food in front of Daniel.

Angie shook Alex’ hand briefly, then one of the fishermen called out for another beer.

"You’re having dinner here?" Alex asked her, and Angie replied, "Yeh."

"I’ll talk to you later when things really quiet down. Pleased to meet you." Then she hurried back to wait on her customer.

"Molly, this is my friend Angie Ramirez," Callie continued, doing so at Daniel’s table. "Angie, this is Molly Brewster, Brian’s daughter, but we love her anyway." The affection in her voice said Callie was teasing,

"Pleased to meet you, and I’ll take your order in a moment. Dylan, you’ll have to put the book away now to eat your dinner," Molly admonished the boy. He gladly closed it and put in on the floor under his chair.

"This is Dylan Stone, Alex’ son," Callie told Angie.

"Hi, Angie," the boy said, straightening up. "Hi Dylan," she returned, a feeling of dread settling on her. There was only one last person to be introduced to in this merry group, and he was the one person she just didn’t want to meet right then.

"And this is our new Minister, the Reverend Daniel Cooper," Callie finished, watching the faces of these two carefully. "Daniel, this is my friend from New York, Angie Ramirez."

Angie turned and looked straight at Daniel, and again felt her heart race and her breath catch. With that black leather jacket and jeans, oh yes, he looked exactly like Rollie Tyler.

"Pleased to meet you, Ms. Ramirez," he said, offering his right hand.

"Please, Ro ah Reverend, call me Angie," she stammered, trying to hide the fact that she almost called him Rollie. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, wondering how she was gonna explain away that gaffe.

"Only if you call me Daniel. Deal?"

He sounded much as Father Mac had, and nothing like her former business partner, so she took his handshake in stride and said, "Deal, Daniel."

"Only if you brought a deck of cards, and mind you, I don’t play for money," he told her, which got a laugh from Dylan and a smile from Callie and Molly. For Angie, however, it was too much like Rollie’s sense of humor, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"It was a bad joke, I know, people tell me that all the time," Daniel said, trying to cheer her up.

"Oh no, it’s just ..." Angie took yet another deep breath, and collecting her composure once again, explained, "a friend of mine used to crack jokes like that, and, well, he’s gone, and, well, you reminded me of him, that’s all."

"My condolences at your loss," Daniel said sincerely. "I’ll try not to remind you of him again."

"So where are you two going to sit?" Molly asked. "Pick a table, any table, and I’ll go clean it up for you."

"We’re going to join Nub," Angie told her, glad for the change of topic.

"Does Nub know this?" Molly asked, surprised.

"Nub is praying for it, trust me," Callie said, and at Molly’s expression of understanding, Angie felt herself blush.

"It was good to meet all of you," Angie said to the group, then to Callie added, "I think I’ll go let Nub know we’re joining him before he starts feeling slighted."

"Good idea," Callie said, to which Molly added, "Tell him I’ll be right there to take his order, okay?" Once Angie had moved away, Molly asked quietly, "So what’s the deal, Callie? She looked shocked to meet Daniel, and almost ready to burst into tears at his joke." To Daniel she added, "It was a pretty bad joke, Daniel, but even your jokes don’t deserve that kind of response."

"Thanks," Daniel replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "If you two don’t mind, I’d like to eat my dinner now before it gets cold. You know how Boris hates to have to reheat my meals."

"I should go join Angie and Nub. Besides, I promised Angie that I’d let her tell her story in her own time, and talking about her behind her back would be rude. See you later, Daniel, Dylan."

"Bye, Callie," they both said around mouthfuls of food.

"Well, if you two are set I’ll go take their orders," Molly said as Callie walked away. "Thank heavens the dinner rush is over, now all I have to do is clean up and I think I can have my dinner."

"We’ll help clear tables when we’re done with our meal, won’t we Dylan," Daniel said, and to Dylan’s look of disgust at the thought told the boy, "You should help your mother more often, Dylan. You know how hard it is on her to take care of you and still run this place."

"Yeh, Daniel, I’ll help. For you, and for mom."

"That’s the spirit, Dylan."

"Thanks, both of you," Molly said, and then left to go get her remaining customers’ orders. As soon as she was out of hearing range, Dylan asked Daniel, "So, Daniel, why did you look upset when you saw Angie?"

"I wasn’t upset," Daniel protested, a bit harshly, keeping his eyes focused on his plate.

"You looked upset to me," Dylan pursued the issue as only an eleven year old can.

"I was startled. For a moment I thought it was Stella, that’s all."

"She doesn’t look anything like Stella. Stella’s prettier, for one thing."

"Now that’s not a nice thing to say."

"Why not? It’s true."

Daniel sighed. "First off, it’s not true. Yes, Stella is a very pretty woman, but so is Angie Ramirez. They’re just pretty in different ways, and it’s not nice to compare women that way."

"Beauty pageants do it all the time," Dylan countered in defense.

"And where did you get that idea from?" Daniel acted shocked, but in truth he was about to laugh at the boy’s seriousness.

"I’ve seen them on TV," Dylan said with an air of worldliness in his voice.

"First off, beauty pageants don’t just look for pretty, and second I think we should change the subject before your mother hears us," Daniel stated firmly.

"Okay, so why were you upset thinking Stella was back?" Dylan had a smug look on his face as if he had scripted the entire exchange to force Daniel to answer his question.

"I told you I wasn’t upset. Can I finish my dinner now?" Daniel then took a good look at Dylan’s plate, "Finish yours, too, while you’re at it. Boris is getting a lot better at his American dishes, and his fish and chips are really quite good."

"Okay, Daniel," Dylan said, and took a bite from the fish patty. "Do you miss her?" he asked as he chewed.

"Miss who?" Daniel asked around the last mouthful of his fish.

"Stella, of course," Dylan said in an exasperated tone.

Daniel thought about the question as he finished chewing his food. "I think about her," he admitted. "I wonder if she’s rushing into yet another marriage that won’t work for her," he confided.

"Like yours?" Dylan asked.

"Yeh, like ours," Daniel admitted. "But no, I don’t think I miss her."

"So if you weren’t upset at seeing Angie, and you weren’t upset thinking she was Stella, why were you upset?" Dylan sat back smugly as if he had just made a checkmate in chess.

"I wasn’t upset, but I’m getting upset now, Dylan, so please don’t ask me that again." This time Daniel’s tone was very agitated, and Dylan responded with a trace of fear in his eyes.

"I’m sorry, Daniel," he said sincerely. "I didn’t mean to make you mad at me."

"I’m not, Dylan, I just am tired of the same question coming from you. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, finish your meal, and I’ll start helping Molly clean the tables. Deal?"

"Only if you brought the cards ..."

"That’s not funny, Dylan," Daniel admonished, then laughed.

"I know," Dylan returned, joining in on the laugh.

"I’m glad somebody’s having fun," Molly said as she passed them with plates for Nub, Callie, and Angie.

"I’d better start cleaning tables," Daniel said, and rose from the table, heading for the kitchen for the supplies he would need.