The Strawberry Hearts Diner(17)

Vicky folded her hands over her chest. “Then have at it. I’m waiting. How about the rest of y’all? You want some answers tonight?”

“Yeah, we do,” Ryder yelled.

“All y’all who w-want him to get down to the details, raise your hand,” Shane said.

Every hand in the place went up.

Vicky expected Carlton to clap again, but he just smiled and nodded. “I have a wonderful surprise for all you folks here in Pick.” His lips peeled back even farther over his perfect teeth, resembling a possum snarling. “I will host a big barbecue feast for the whole town at the city park on Sunday afternoon at one o’clock. I will bring my team to answer any questions, and I’ll have copies of a sample contract that you can all read over. I assure you, my plan will put your little town on the map.”

Nettie started talking as she stood up and marched to the front of the room. “We’re already on the map. We have the Strawberry Festival every year and folks come from miles away to get a strawberry tart or any number of other things made with strawberries at the vendors. We have a carnival and the whole nine yards.” She stopped and stood in front of the lectern. “We’ll come to your barbecue and we’ll eat your food. But we don’t take charity here in Pick, so let’s call it a community potluck. What do you say, folks? We haven’t had a good old Sunday get-together in a long time.”

Applause came close to raising the roof. Nettie was a genius. Vicky had never wanted to hug her as much as she did right then. Vicky clapped with everyone else and even threw in one of her shrill catcalls. When the noise died down, she winked at Woody. “We might bust out some of our strawberry wine, right, Woody?”

“You got it. I’ll bring six bottles, the last of what Irma made before she died. Myrtle, you can bring a couple of them blackberry cobblers,” he said.

“I’ll bring four if Darlene and Leonard will freeze up some homemade ice cream to go with it,” Myrtle piped up from the middle of the room.

“Wait a minute.” Carlton looked like steam might start flowing out of his ears at any minute. “This is my party to show you all that I’m serious about this venture.”

That man had some really hard lessons to learn—tonight was number one. He couldn’t waltz into their town and take over.

“Naw, it’s our party now. You bring the barbecue, and we’ll bring the rest and we’ll all have a good time,” Woody said. “It’s the way we do things in Pick, Texas. Hey, Ryder, if you’re in town, you can bring along your guitar.”

“Sounds good to me. Shane can tune up his fiddle and if Dusty will get out his banjo, we’ll use the pavilion for a little dancin’.” Ryder nodded.

“One o’clock right after church on Sunday, it is. We can have us a good old time and anyone that wants to talk to Mr. Wolfe can do so,” Nettie said. “Oh, and I’m sure you won’t mind if we call on our own local lawyer to read through that contract for us, will you, Mr. Wolfe? I think you are wastin’ your time because we’re kind of proud of our town and the way we do things, but we’ll be glad to party with you.”

Jancy leaned over and whispered. “What just happened?”

“We put him in his place the Pick, Texas, way,” Vicky told her. “I doubt he even shows up with the barbecue since Nettie mentioned a lawyer.”

“Who’ll bring the meat for the party then?”

“Nobody ever goes home hungry from our get-togethers,” Vicky said. “We’ll shut the diner at one o’clock and bring along a couple of big pans of meat loaf in case he doesn’t show.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jancy said.

“Stick around Pick, honey. We do right by what is ours,” Vicky told her.

“I will look forward to Sunday then. I want all of you”—Carlton raised his arms dramatically as if gathering in his lost brothers—“to think about how much my deal can improve your lives. I will turn this over to Woody again. I appreciate you letting me talk to you.”

Woody picked up the gavel and hit the oak lectern with it. “Meeting is adjourned. Let’s all go home and polish up our dancin’ boots. We might even talk the kids into doing some clog dancin’ for us.”

“And that’s the way to steal a man’s thunder,” Andy chuckled as he stood to his feet, towering over Vicky’s short stature. “Why don’t you invite me to the party on Sunday? Since it’s only for citizens of Pick, I would need an invitation.”

“What are you goin’ to advise your father to do about the investment?” Jancy stood up and was tall enough that it was no trouble to look him right in the eye.