“To superglue all his bank accounts shut,” Andy told her.
“Then I’ll invite you to the hoopla. Bring your daddy with you if you want to and he can see for himself that Carlton is just a bag of wind,” Jancy said.
“I’ll bring two sheet cakes and a dozen or two frosted doughnuts,” he said. “Good night, ladies. See y’all on Sunday.” That he wasn’t wearing jeans did not hinder that swagger one bit as he left the fire hall.
“You are welcome,” Jancy said with a big grin.
“For what?” Nettie asked as she joined them.
“She was too shy to invite that man to the party on Sunday, so I did it for her.” Jancy giggled. “And he’s bringing cakes and doughnuts.”
“Long as he don’t come empty-handed, he’s welcome,” Nettie said.
Vicky frowned. “She’s been here two days. She doesn’t get to make this kind of decision.”
“Long as she holds a job in Pick and lives in Pick, she gets a vote in what we do. You goin’ to side with Carlton, Jancy?” Nettie asked.
“Hell, no! I’ve seen smooth talkers like him before. He’s a snake, a poisonous one, and I hope that none of these good folks get taken in by his promises,” Jancy said.
“Well said for a kid your age,” Nettie said. “Now let’s go home and have a shot of Jack Daniel’s. I need to get the taste of this evening out of my mouth. Fancy houses, indeed. We don’t need all that crap in Pick. We just need good neighbors and good friends, and we done got both. Don’t that man have a lick of sense?”
“Some men are just born jackasses and age doesn’t do anything but make them bray louder.” Jancy followed Vicky and Nettie out of the building.
“Amen!” they said in unison.
CHAPTER FOUR
The diner sat completely empty in the middle of the afternoon on Friday. Rain poured down in sheets, big drops sounding like bullets as they hit the tin roof. The door flew open, and a big red-and-white umbrella preceded a lady into the place. Jancy jumped up from the booth where she’d stretched out her long legs and headed for the counter to get a menu.
“Emily! You’re early!” Vicky squealed from the kitchen.
With Nettie right behind her, they were soon all tangled up in a hug. Water droplets flew from the umbrella when Emily dropped it and threw back the hood of her yellow slicker, showing off thick blonde hair that floated to her shoulders in big, bouncy waves.
The rain hadn’t smeared a bit of her makeup. But then, the angels in heaven had always smiled on Emily Rawlins. It was a wonder they hadn’t stopped the rain and parted the clouds so she could walk to the diner from her cute little red car in sunshine.
“My last final was over at ten, but I was already packed and ready to leave. I drove the whole way in this hellacious rain.” She backed up a step and removed the raincoat.
She had big blue eyes and a face that would make a photographer drool, no change from the last time Jancy had seen her. It had been on a Saturday. She’d driven the same little car that was out there in the parking lot up to the diner, gotten out, and rushed inside to tell her mother that she and her friends were going to a mall in Tyler. She hadn’t even looked at Jancy or acknowledged that she was in the diner.
Jancy’s mama had reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Time will ease the pain, honey. Life changes, and it’s okay to hurt.”
Jancy didn’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t that they were moving that brought the pain to her expression that afternoon. It was the ache to belong to a place like Emily Rawlins did.
“Your dad is a difficult man, but someday he might change,” Elaine had said.
“How do you do this? How do you live with him, Mama?” Jancy asked.
Jancy would never forget what her mother said to her that day. “I loved him enough to say vows, and I won’t break them. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
“You drove way too fast,” Nettie scolded, bringing her back to the moment. “Have you had lunch?”
The way Vicky smiled at Emily reminded Jancy of her mother. She’d had that same look on her face the night Jancy got her high school diploma.
Emily shook her head. “I hope you saved me a piece of meat loaf. I’ve been starving for your cookin’ for the past four weeks. God, I missed this place. I wish I never had to go back to school.”
Vicky kept an arm around her shoulders and led her toward the kitchen. “It’s only one more year and then you’ll have a fancy business degree. You’ll be able to get a job anywhere in the whole world.”