The Strawberry Hearts Diner(59)

“W-Woody says he’ll spread the news. I’m going to the cafeteria and getting all of us coffee and doughnuts,” Shane said. “Jancy, w-will you go w-with m-me and help carry?”

“Glad to,” she answered.




Jancy had never prayed so hard or worried so much as she had in the past hour. She’d spent precious few hours of her life in a hospital waiting room. Her grandmother died at home, her mother simply dropped right in the kitchen while she was making dinner, and she hadn’t been there when the cancer finally claimed the last hours of her father’s life. Not her choice but his after that last fight they’d had over him moving again.

“Roots,” Shane said as they headed down the hallway toward the cafeteria.

“What?” she asked.

“Wh-what you said back there about prayers answered. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t pray for Nettie. That’s the first sign of roots, Jancy.”

“Maybe so.” She smiled. “But I’ve seen huge trees dug up by the roots and transplanted.”

“Yep, but those trees never ate one of Nettie’s strawberry tarts, did they?” He slung an arm loosely around her shoulders. “I like the w-way we fit together, Jancy. I always felt like a big dummy around other girls. You m-make me feel like I’m special.”

“Shane, you are very, very special, and just for the record, I’ve never felt like a dandelion in a bed of pretty pansies when I’m with you. You make me feel like . . .” She hesitated, looking for the right word.

He stopped in the hallway. “I know, darlin’. I know. The feelin’ is m-mutual. Like I said, roots.”

He bought four cups of coffee and half a dozen frosted doughnuts with sprinkles, and they made the trip back to the waiting room. Vicky took a cup of coffee, though she shook her head at the doughnut.

“Did you have supper?” Emily asked.

“I had an apple and two cupcakes. I promise I’ll get a burger or something later,” she said. “Got a text from Andy, and he said he’d wait to eat if I wanted to get out of the room for a little while.”

“A date?” Emily took a doughnut from the bag and bit into it. “Sprinkles. I love you, Shane.”

“I’m a lovable guy.” He grinned.

“And he knows how much you like sprinkles,” Ryder said.

How could Vicky not see the electricity between them? Jancy wondered. Must be worrying over Nettie that put the veil over her eyes, or else she didn’t want to admit what was right in front of her.

A sweet little lady with slightly purple hair that kinked all over her head left the volunteer desk and asked if they were Henrietta Fields’s family. “If you’d like to follow me, I’ll take you to her, but only two at a time. The rest of you can wait in her room. Same one she was in before.”

Vicky stood up quickly, and Emily followed her.

“No food or drinks,” the lady said.

Vicky trashed her coffee cup, and Emily handed hers off to Ryder after she’d stuffed the last of the doughnut into her mouth. They disappeared out into the hallway.

“We’ve got a few minutes. Might as well finish our doughnuts here. Nettie might not be able to have food for a little while, and we wouldn’t want to have to fight her for them,” Ryder said.

“Henrietta?” Jancy frowned.

“You better not ever call her that. She hates it. I think it’s got something to do with her ex-husband. He m-might have called her by her real name when he was angry,” Shane said.

“Then Nettie it is.” Jancy polished off the last bite of doughnut, downed the rest of her coffee, and threw away her trash. “Y’all about ready?”

“I am.” Shane popped up.

Ryder did the same. “Me, too. Thanks, Shane. That was good, but not as good as tarts and cupcakes. Y’all should think about making them all the time, Jancy.”

“No, sir!” She said. “Nettie is the tart queen. The cupcakes would steal part of her thunder. As soon as she’s able, hopefully on Monday, she can come in and make tarts, and then we will only make cupcakes for picnics and church dinners.”

Nettie’s eyes were wide open when they arrived in the room. She was still hooked up to monitors and to an IV, but she looked right at Ryder. “Did you bring me a beer?”

“No, but if the doctor says you can have one, I’ll go to the store right now,” he said.

Her eyes fluttered shut, but she had a smile on her face.

“Is she okay?” Jancy whispered.

“The nurse said she’d be like this most of the evening,” Emily answered. “She’ll drift in and out and may fall off to sleep right in the middle of a sentence. It’s pretty normal. She’ll be fully awake come mornin’.”