Small Town Rumors(48)

“I don’t give a damn about the meeting. Come on, Cricket.” He turned around and headed outside.

“I’ve ordered a milkshake, and I’m not leaving until I finish it,” she said.

“Then you can walk.” He left without another word to any of them.

“I’ll bring her home,” Jennie Sue yelled. “Want us to bring you a burger for lunch?”

He didn’t even glance their way as he passed the diner window, but a few minutes later, his truck rumbled down Main Street.

“Jackass. I thought he was makin’ progress, but he’s acting just like he did when he first came home,” Cricket said.

“He is, honey. He just don’t know how to handle it.” Lettie patted her on the hand. “Give him some space.”

I’ll give him space, Jennie Sue thought. But not for long.





Chapter Twenty-Two

After another sleepless night of wondering if she’d done the right thing and if she’d regret the decisions she’d made and whether Rick was still angry, Jennie Sue made it to the bookstore at exactly nine o’clock to find Amos already there.

“Good mornin’,” he said entirely too cheerfully for that time of day. “Coffee is made and there’s doughnuts in the office. Ledgers are all out and on the desk. Never could figure out that damn computer even after I bought one, so that part is on you. Combination to the safe is written on the first page of the ledger. All the keys to the place are over there by the cash register.”

“What are you doing, Amos?” She frowned.

“Selling you the store.” He grinned. “When Justin gets all the paperwork in order, call me. I talked to him last night, and we settled on a fair price.”

“And that is?” She was suddenly fully awake, her mind running in circles.

“He’ll call you later, but don’t fuss—Iris told me to do it this way.”

“And how’s that?”

“When I thought about the price, I didn’t feel peace until I got to the right number. Sometimes it takes a while for her to get through my thick skull. I’m happy you have the store, and so is she. I’ll pop in every few days, and if you have any questions, you can always call me,” he said. “Now hug me and don’t argue with the way I’m doing this.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you, Amos. There’s two places that I’ve been truly happy. One is out on the Lawson farm. The other is in this store.”

“You are so welcome.” He took a step back, looked around the store, and said, “I can’t help but wonder what all those lending libraries will do to the business. And to the library as well. Folks might stop coming to buy or check out books if they can just grab one on the street corner.”

“They’ll make both businesses even better,” she said. “Because they will teach people to love to read, and that will bring them into the store and to the library for the authors that they like. I’m thinking of putting up a little section of brand-new books, too.”

“Iris really is smiling.” He waved as he left the store.

A moment of instant panic set in. She went straight to the office, poured a cup of coffee, and called Lettie. “Guess what just happened?” Her voice sounded shaky in her own ears.

“Amos turned the store over to you, and you can’t clean for me and Nadine anymore. Don’t worry, honey, we saw this coming. One of Elaine’s cousins has agreed to come work for us. I’m sure she won’t do things like you, but that’s all right. We can live with a little less than perfect.”

Jennie Sue took a sip of coffee. “The other shoe is going to drop. This is all too good.”

“Nadine and I’ll be down there in thirty minutes, and we’ll talk. I’ve heard at least twenty stories this morning about what went on in that meeting yesterday,” Lettie said. “And we’ve got some confessions to make of our own.”

Had she really made the decisions that she had? That was what was on Jennie Sue’s mind as she waited on Lettie and Nadine. If she decided to back out of selling the company and the house, she could always sell the store to Cricket.

But if the books on a small business like this scare you, what’s a multimillion-dollar company going to do? Mabel’s voice was in her head as she picked up a chocolate doughnut.

“I went too fast, didn’t I?” she said aloud.

No, you didn’t. You listened to your heart, and I’m proud of you. This time it was Dill’s voice. Do what makes you happy, and tell the rest of the world to go to hell. Life is short. Live it the way you want to, baby girl.

She sat down at the desk and opened the ledger. Other than the fact that it was on paper and not a computer screen, it wasn’t so different from the mock-ups that she’d worked on in her online classes. Covered with dust, the laptop sat over on the end of the oversize desk. She flipped it open and turned it on to see what programs had been installed. Nothing but the basic things that came on the computer—no wonder Amos couldn’t figure out what to do with his bookkeeping.

She went back to the ledger, and right there on a sticky note in spidery handwriting was the number for a CPA. Jennie Sue poked the numbers into her cell phone, and a lady answered on the second ring.

“Good morning, this is Drummond CPA service, Annie speaking. What can I do for you today?”

“I’m Jennie Sue Baker and—”

The lady butted in before she could finish. “Amos has already called me. I will be glad to continue to do your books. But I hear that you are really smart, so you might just want to invest in a program and take care of them yourself.”

“If you do them, I’ll have more time to do what I want,” Jennie Sue said.

“Okay, then, I like to have them quarterly, by the first of the month, so I can get your taxes ready every three months. I’m in Sweetwater,” Annie said.

“I see your card stuck under the sticky note. So you’ll want them on the first of September. Do you want the journey tapes for the month, also?”

“You are smart,” she said. “Yes, the tapes from the cash register and the ledger and for goodness’ sakes, let’s get this stuff on the computer as soon as possible—then you can simply email me the whole thing.”

“I agree,” Jennie Sue said. “By the time everything is due again in January, I’ll have it transferred.”

After goodbyes, she’d just gotten off the phone with Annie when the bell rang in the front of the store. She picked up her lukewarm coffee and hurried that way. Lettie and Nadine had both already reached the sofa, and one look at their faces said something was terribly wrong.

“I don’t think I can take any bad news.” She slumped down in a chair.

“Did your first thoughts go to Rick?” Nadine asked.

Jennie Sue nodded. “He hasn’t called, and I’ve been worried about him.”

Lettie wrung her hands. “Well, it’s not him, but Cricket says he’s still an old bear, so she’s stayin’ out of his way. It’s us, and we don’t even know where to begin.”

“At the beginning.” Jennie Sue figured that they were going to offer to keep the bookstore for her on Thursdays and Fridays if she would clean for them.

“It all started a long time ago,” Nadine said.

Looked like it wasn’t going to be a problem with the house cleaning business after all, and it wasn’t Rick or Cricket. Jennie Sue’s heart and pulse slowed down to normal.

“Oh, we don’t have to go back to the first chapter of Genesis, when God created dirt,” Lettie fussed. “Everyone in town knows that we have an interest in Texas Red.”

“That’s where all that money comes from, but they don’t know how deeply we are into it. We own a major percentage of the stock there, and we’ve tried to buy Baker Oil for years, mostly because we were enemies of the Wilshires. Your lawyer called our CEO this morning. We don’t feel right buying it without tellin’ you because of all the past problems with the families.”

“And you are our friend, so you should know,” Nadine said.

“I knew you weren’t poor, but I’d forgotten about your family and Texas Red. I remember Daddy talking about it when the company was mentioned in oil-magazine articles.” Jennie Sue stumbled over the words.

“We inherited the shares when our parents died. Baker Oil and Texas Red were started the same year. Our parents bought into one, and the Wilshires into the other,” Lettie said. “Our parents didn’t believe in spoiling kids with material things, so all three of us girls worked.”

“And, just like you, we like a simple life, but we do a lot of good with what we have. Scholarships at the Bloom school for girls who can’t go to college without help—Texas Red money built the library in town. I’m not braggin’, but just wantin’ you to know some of what we do, so you won’t . . .” Lettie had wrung the handkerchief in her hands so much that it was nothing but a knot.

“Your friendship means more to us than buyin’ Baker Oil. We’ll back off if you have a single problem with it.” Nadine finished the sentence for her sister.