But the strange event that’d happened during Aaron’s acceptance speech was something Florence herself did. She had moved behind the banquet table and whispered a few things to Brother Don before she darted stage left and down the far side aisle. I turned around in my seat to see what she was doing, and standing in the back waiting for her was Zeke Grey.
He looked awfully dolled up for a Saturday. He had on a light-gray suit with a pink tie and a cute little gray hat with a silk ribbon around the base.
“Oh gosh.” I gulped after I noticed he and Florence matched. “I’ve got to go,” I told Grady.
“Okay. See you tomorrow night for Sunday supper.” He continued to look forward at the pulpit. I was sure he was trying to process Wes not winning and how he was going to handle it.
“I’ll call you and finish up our conversation when we can talk.” I didn’t want him to think I was brushing him off. I just wanted to see exactly where Florence and Zeke were going in their matchy-matchy outfits. I had a hunch, but I had to see it with my own eyes.
Grady loved all his football players and many times did take their problems on. He and Julia had gone above and beyond for a lot of those boys and their families, but I respected Julia for telling him how he needed to look out for his own family now that a baby was on the way.
There was no way I was going to let him think he was anything like Richard Butler. He wasn’t. Grady was faithful, dedicated, and had a heart of gold.
There was a flurry of activity outside of the church. Some people were pointing one way, and I looked to see what they were gawking at. Poor Tiffany Franklin was still running as fast as her little legs would carry her down Main Street, hurdling over the planted ferns the beautification committee had placed along the sidewalk in front of all the shops. One by one, she jumped over them before she took a quick right next to the Sugar Creek veterinarian office and headed toward her home.
But my focus was on the big building next door. The courthouse, where I’d just seen Florence and Zeke walk in, giggling the entire time.
“Oh no.” I gulped, wondering if they were going in there to tie the knot, because it sure did seem like it.
“Well…” Radio DJ Lucy Drake’s voice held a curious tone. “What did you think of that?” she asked but really didn’t care about my opinion because she yammered on. “I can’t wait until tomorrow’s show so I can get all the gossip.”
“I’m sad for any child who needed the scholarship. Do we really know the financial status of the Brothertons? I mean, I guess the scholarship committee does or has it on the application.” I didn’t want to gossip with her, because somehow she’d turn it around and put it out there on the radio that I said something.
“Oh, Bernadette.” She tsked. “You do try to see the good in everything. I thought you’d learned that everything isn’t all unicorns and roses after Richard died.”
“I hope you have a great day.” My fake smile showed up. I grabbed the handle of the cart and looked both ways before I crossed Main Street over to Short Street so I could deliver the mail to my neighbors on Little Creek Road.
I took a few deep breaths and allowed my head to clear with each step because if I didn’t, Lucy’s comment about Richard and my unicorn land would put a damper on me all day, and that wasn’t going to happen. Iris had already put a little kink in it. I wasn’t going to let Lucy knot it completely.
Quack, quack. I could hear my duck friend greeting me before I even made it to the bridge that connected the sidewalks over the little creek.
It was a daily ritual with us. He loved to greet me from this bridge and get a little snack before he swam along the creek as I delivered the mail. Then he waited for me at the other bridge across from my house on Little Creek Road.
It was a nice little break that I looked forward to every morning.
“Good morning, duck.” I opened my mail carrier bag and took out the pouch of food Kayla, the veterinarian technician from the Sugar Creek Gap veterinary clinic, had given me for ducks. She’d overheard—which by the way meant gossip—that I was feeding the duck people-food.
An apparent no-no to ducks.
Kayla had the duck food waiting for me when I’d taken Buster in for a checkup after I’d officially adopted him. Though he was technically willed to me, Kayla insisted we have an adoption ceremony.
“Here you go.” I tossed in some of the pellet food. “You better eat it, because it’s all you’re gonna get.”
The duck, since the day I changed the food choice, almost snubbed the pellet food and would look up at me as if to say, “Is this all you got?”
I put the bag on the ground next to the old wooden bridge and leaned on the railing with my elbows to watch the duck swim around the floating pellets until he finally pecked at them.
“See, we all can be healthy if we are hungry enough.” I was like the duck. The more artificial ingredients in my food, the better I liked it. And it wasn’t good for me, but I made myself feel better by saying I walked a million miles a day.
Not really a million, but my point was made.
“I’ll see you down at the other end, my friend.” I decided to put the mailbag on top of Courtney’s packages and pull the cart behind me all the way to my first stop. I bypassed Mac’s house even though it was the very first house on the dead-end street.
Since we’d been dating, I’d combined his office mail with his home mail, which was easy since the delivery was in the same loop.
“Here she comes.” Millie Barnes wasn’t even trying to cover up that she and the Front Porch Ladies were waiting for me on Harriette’s porch. “Here she comes.”
“I heard you the first time.” Harriette shhh’d Millie and got up from the rocking chair to go into her house.
“Mornin’, ladies.” I unlatched the gate to get into Harriette’s yard so I could go up to her front porch.
All the houses on Little Creek Road had a small front yard that was fenced in, with a gate at the sidewalk that ran along all the homes. More times than not, the group of women had morning coffee around the time I was delivering the street’s mail, which was around ten a.m., give or take a few minutes depending on who wanted to chitchat along the way.
“Early afternoon.” Gertrude corrected me in a way that told me I was late with the mail service.
“It’s almost time for our dinner.” Ruby Dean, like the other ladies, called lunchtime dinner, which was normal in the south. Dinnertime was referred to as supper. “My belly is growling.” She eyeballed the bag I’d grabbed off the cart.
“I’m afraid my mom was too busy to send any treats today.” I knew exactly what she was getting at. My mom loved to send extra biscuits or even some soups with me for the ladies. They loved to put some of their homemade jellies on Mom’s warm biscuits in the morning.
So did I.
“Well?” Harriette came out with a big, tall glass of iced tea for me. Sweet iced tea at that.
One of the perks of knowing my customers and chatting with them was that many days, they had special treats for me. Again…happy I walked a lot so I could burn off the calories.
“I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed today.” I frowned and lifted my hands. “You don’t have any mail, but you—” I pointed to Millie and dropped the bag on the top step. “Your Save the Children envelope came, and I think they sent your new address labels.”