by: Marty Chrisman

Luke sat at the end of the bar, his eyes slowly drifting across the room. It was still early in the day so the Boar’s Nest wasn’t that crowded yet. Ernie Ledbetter had come in but he was keeping his distance from Luke. The last time they’d gotten into a fight, Ernie had ended up with a couple of broken ribs so he was in no hurry to tangle with Luke again. Bo was off in the corner with Mindy whispering sweet talk in her ear and Daisy was working behind the bar. Lynn was working too but so far she’d been avoiding him. Luke wasn’t sure if he should be grateful for that or not.

“Hey Daisy,” Lynn called to Daisy from across the room “I’m going out to the shed out back for a bucket.”

“Okay.” Daisy called back, going back to counting the forks.

Luke watched Lynn go out the front door. His eyes narrowed suspiciously when he saw Ernie follow after her. Sensing possible trouble, he shoved himself off the barstool and followed them outside. He didn’t see anyone out front so he walked around the side of the building. That was when he saw Lynn and Ernie. Ernie had Lynn pinned up against the wall and was trying to put his hand under her shirt. Lynn was trying to get away but he had her pinned too tightly for her to move very much. Luke immediately saw red. “Leave her alone, Ledbetter!” he said in a loud angry voice as he walked towards them.

Startled, Ernie looked up at the sound of Luke’s voice and the warning it carried. For a moment, he let Lynn go and she took immediate advantage of Luke’s distracting him. She raised her knee and slammed it firmly into Ernie’s crotch. Instantly, he doubled over holding himself and cursing at Lynn. Without a second thought, Luke stepped in front of Lynn so that she was behind him and he was between her and Ernie.

“You bitch!” Ernie snarled at Lynn, straightening up with some difficulty. He glared at Luke but didn’t get too close.

“Get lost, Ernie.” Luke told him in a cold deadly voice “Or I’ll have to teach you some manners……”

“You want her so bad, you can have her!” Ernie growled “You’re both crazy!”

With that final parting shot, Ernie stomped off. The anger faded from Luke’s eyes as he turned to look at Lynn, surprised to find her eyes smoldering with anger.

“Will you stop trying to protect me, Luke?” she snapped “I can take care of myself!”

“Well, it didn’t like you were doing for good job of it.” Luke said trying to keep his own anger in check

“Well, I still took care of him didn’t I?”

“After I distracted him enough that he let go of you for a minute.” Luke pointed out.

“What’s your problem, Luke?” Lynn said sharply “You pissed cause he was trying to cop a feel instead of you?” Instantly she regretted her choice of words when she saw the hurt look in Luke’s eyes followed quickly by anger.

“Fine…the next time I’ll let you handle it yourself.” He said, turning quickly and walking away.

“Don’t do me any favors!” Lynn yelled after him, angry now because he was angry. Making a fist, she slammed her hand against the cinder block side of the building to vent her frustration. Damn it! Why couldn’t I just say thanks instead of pissing him off again? Lynn sighed softly. She felt guilty because she knew that Luke was only doing what he would have done for any other girl Ernie had been trying to manhandle. And she knew that her anger should have been directed at herself for letting herself get put into that position in the first place instead of at Luke for trying to help her. Lynn cursed softly under her breath as she walked to the back door of the Boar’s Nest and entered the bar that way.

When she went back in the main room, she saw Bo still sitting at his booth with Mindy but Luke was no where to been seen. Frowning, Lynn walked over to the bar where Daisy was still busy counting silverware.

“Where’d Luke go?” she asked trying to keep her tone light and casual. She didn’t especially want Daisy to know what had happened.

“He wanted to go home so he took my jeep. I’m gonna catch a ride home with Bo.” Daisy told her. She looked at Lynn closely “Did something happen while you two were outside? Luke wasn’t in very good mood when he came back in.”

“I kinda pissed him off again.” Lynn admitted

“You trying to set a new record for that?” Daisy said, shaking her head and sighing soflty.

“This time I really didn’t mean to.” Lynn said without elaborating.

“I’m not the one you need to be telling then. Luke is.”

“I’m not sure if he’d even talk to me right now. I didn’t just piss him off I said something that hurt his feelings too.” Lynn admitted.

“You know sometimes being around you and Luke when you two get together makes me feel like I should be a referee.” Daisy looked at Lynn and decided to ask what was really on her mind “Do you think you and Luke will ever work things out?”

“I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought much about it.”

“And if you think I believe that then I got some ocean front property I’ll sell ya out in Hazzard swamp.” Daisy told her with a laugh. Lynn joined in the laughter.

“I better get back to work.” Lynn said deciding to let the subject drop for now. As she went about her various duties, she found herself wondering exactly what she did want from Luke now that she was back in Hazzard. He was her first love and her first lover. She couldn’t forget that no matter how hard she tried. What was the worst thing that could happen if she let down her guard and let Luke get close to her again? She decided not to think about that right now.

Jesse was sitting at the kitchen table when Luke came into the house slamming the door behind him causing Jesse to look up at him sharply. “Do I need to make you go back out there and close that door right?” he said sternly

“Sorry, Uncle Jesse.” Luke said as he grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“You wanna tell me what’s got you so riled up?”

“Lynn.” Luke muttered, sitting down at the table “She aggravates the hell out of me.”

“Watch your language young man.” Jesse told him automatically

“Sorry”

“What’d she do this time that’s got your nose out of joint?”

“What doesn’t she do?” Luke said angrily “We can’t even talk without her saying or doing something that pisses me off.” Jesse ignored Luke’s profanity and let him vent. Luke tended to keep things bottled up inside and not talk to anyone about his personal feelings much. So if he wanted to talk now, Jesse was going to listen. “It’s almost like she’s trying to start a fight on purpose.”

“Maybe she is. Have you thought about that?”

“Yeah….but I’ll be damned if I know why.”

“Have you tried asking her?”

“No…..” Luke admitted with a tight smile. “She’d probably just take my head off again.”

“Maybe you should try. It couldn’t hurt.” Jesse told him “And you might be surprised. She might actually tell you what’s got her acting this way.” He looked at his oldest nephew closely “Luke, do you know what you want from Lynn?

“I used to.” He said quietly “Jesse, did you ever have a woman get under your skin like that? I mean one that could make you so mad….but at same time…” Luke‘s voice trailed off and he left the rest unsaid.

“Yeah…once.” Jesse said as he shoved himself to his feet. He started to go outside. At the door he paused and looked back over his shoulder at Luke, adding “I married her.”Luke smiled ruefully as Jesse went outside. Somehow he didn’t think that was the answer to his problem with Lynn.