“What did he say?” Clay asked as she looked up at him. There were tears shimmering in her eyes.
She sniffed hard and clenched her fists then shook her head, struggling with the tears as they sat together in the workroom. “Dad said he would come back to Divine and he finally told me what I didn’t want to hear.” Her words confirmed what Dirk had told them. Les Valentine’s time was very limited.
Clay rolled his stool over to hers, and he wrapped his arms around her, not caring if Tabitha and half of the town of Divine walked in and saw them. “I’m sorry, Lily.”
Lily relaxed and leaned against him. The trusting gesture in the shop workroom, where she rarely let her guard down, was meaningful. “At least I’ve had a chance to prepare. I told him that I’d be around all the time and I could get a nurse to come in.”
“Absolutely. You take whatever time you need with him. Did Jack say how soon the house would be ready? I wish Les would consider coming to our house.” Clay no longer thought of it as his house.
Lily shook her head. “He turned me down flat when I offered again. He said he can still get around, feed himself and take care of things. When he gets worse, he wants a nurse to come and for hospice to be called, when the time is right. He doesn’t want to be a bother, the ninny.” Her voice broke and a sob escaped, but she quickly recovered when they overheard Tabitha talking to a customer out front. “Jack said another week and it would be done.”
“Good. That way the time he has left isn’t spent in limbo waiting on the house.”
“Yeah, and it gives me time to find someone to pack him up so he doesn’t have to do the work. Clay, I know we agreed to leave her out of the loop for my privacy’s sake, but it might be a good idea to give Tabitha a heads-up about my situation with JT and also about my Dad. I don’t want her upset with me about missing work and making life harder for her. There is also the safety issue. It’s not fair for her to be oblivious about JT in case he pulls something, regardless of what a twatwaffle she can be.”
“A what?” Clay said, trying to hide his humor over such a serious topic.
“Twatwaffle. ‘A know-it-all, unaware of their shortcomings and highly critical of others.’ It’s my new favorite word. Rosemary taught it to me last weekend,” she added with a watery giggle. “Tabitha is a terrible gossip and I know it was a good idea to not let her in on my history and the divorce, but I don’t want her in harm’s way if JT decides to show up here.”
Clay nodded, knowing that Tabitha would probably not appreciate the care Lily demonstrated for her. She would go ape-shit over finding out that Lily was a married woman living with a single man…men, regardless of the circumstances.
“I’ll talk to her about it. So, your dad agreed to move to Divine and stay at the house?”
“Yes, I’m so glad he changed his mind. I’ve missed him so much. He sounded relieved when I told him the divorce should be final any day now. He was so worried about the legal entanglements with my inheritance.” She waved her hand dismissively with the last words as though she could care less about the issue. Clay knew she’d gladly trade it to keep her dad with her.
Clay was glad of the news that she would be a free woman, too, but for a totally different reason.
Lily checked her e-mail on the computer while packing up the order she’d just completed. “There’s an e-mail here from Grace. She’s having a surprise birthday party for Jack Friday night at the Dancing Pony and wants to know if we can come.”
“With the pig roast the next day? Where does that woman get her energy?”
Lily giggled and said, “I think she has plenty of help. What do you think? Dancing Pony on Friday night? I haven’t gotten to go there yet.”
Tabitha came through the doorway as Clay said, “Well, I think you’re overdo for a visit.”
“A visit where?” Tabitha asked absentmindedly as she looked through a storage cabinet and pulled out a roll of register tape.
Lily replied, “The Dancing Pony. We’re invited to Jack Warner’s birthday party Friday night. I was just telling Clay I’d never been there.”
“Oh,” Tabitha said flippantly as she waved her hand in a dismissive manner. “You haven’t missed much. Bunch of drunks and barflies.”
Peeved at her now constantly pissy manner, Clay said, “Tabitha, be nice. Ethan Grant is part owner of the Dancing Pony and a regular customer here, as are Jack Warner and Adam Davis.”
Tabitha screwed her mouth up and replied, “Seems like nothing good comes from hanging out there or spending time with all those people. You hang out with dogs and you’re bound to pick up some fleas. Just sayin’.” She peeled off the end of the roll as she went right back through the swinging doors without another word.