"Oh I don't expect that it was. He didn't think of me as the girl that got away from him, and all. I never could figure out why he didn't just go home to you all that time we were on the road. When I asked, he didn't exactly want to talk about it." Tommy said.

She said Joe wasn't around and Tommy got the impression that she wasn't lying, but she also wasn't telling him everything. All right. He could work with that.

"Do you know when he'll be home? I'm in town for awhile so I don't mind comin' back when he's here. Or when he's at home. You two made the local news rag a few nights ago, and the paper today." he said.

"I don't mean to pry, Roxie, but is everything really okay?" he asked her, his expression searching. "I'd like to help you out, if I could. As a favor to Joe, of course."