She pushed open the door just as Lettie and Nadine were about to open it. She stepped aside and allowed them to enter, then went on her way.
“Am I seeing things?” Lettie asked. “Was that Anna Grace leaving this store without a black eye or bloody nose?”
“Yep, and I still don’t know if she tried to pull a prank on me, or if what she said was real, but I think I shut down the joke if it was one, and I made her feel like crap.” Cricket went on to tell them what she had said and done.
“Holy hell!” Nadine sputtered. “What are you going to do if she shows up at your house tonight with her things in tow?”
“Teach her how to work and how to cook and clean,” Cricket said. “Jennie Sue gave me a chance when I treated her like crap, so I’m paying it forward.”
“This is like that one book we read a few months ago, or was it years ago?” Lettie drew her dark eyebrows down and tapped her chin with her bony finger. “Doesn’t matter how long ago it was, but I remember that someone said that the heroine was letting the villain define her actions. You just proved that Anna Grace doesn’t have any power over you anymore. I’m right proud of you, girl.”
Nadine shook her head slowly from side to side. “Man alive, you’ve got your job cut out for you if you think you can teach that girl a blessed thing in just three months. She’s probably never even pushed the button down to make toast.”
“Don’t I know it,” Cricket agreed. “She doesn’t even know how to work a microwave.”
“I want pictures of her the first time you take her out in the garden and teach her how to cut okra.” Lettie headed for the coffeepot. “That’d be something even more bizarre than aliens.”
“Oh, no!” Nadine grabbed her chest. “If she does this, she will be at your house on Saturday when you’re supposed to go fishing with Bryce. Do you think she’s just initiating…no that’s not the right word…” Nadine pursed her lips. “Insinuating, that’s the word, into your life so she can get next to Bryce? Is this just a ploy to be a pharmacist’s wife after all?”
“I warned her about that,” Cricket said. “If it is, she’s going to find herself landing out in the yard flat on her butt, and I hope it’s good and muddy when it happens.”
“I’ll help you,” Lettie said. “Just give me a call, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Let me drive and we’ll be there in five,” Nadine declared.
Cricket just hoped that she never had to make that call.
Chapter Five
Rather than get dressed for a party, Bryce would have liked to put on his overalls and go out to the farm to spend the evening with Cricket. Time with her was refreshing to his soul. Even from the beginning, she didn’t put on airs or try to cover up what she was thinking, and he liked that in a woman. But tonight, he would be going down the stairs from his apartment into the garage, and then into Lettie and Nadine’s house to celebrate Nadine’s ninety-fifth birthday. He’d known them for only a few days, but he already wanted to grow up and have the kind of attitude about life that they had. One that said he loved life and living, and that he was so confident in his own skin that he didn’t give a rip what people thought of him.
On his way out the door, Bryce picked up his present—a box of fancy chocolates that he’d bought at a local gift store. He’d called his mother to see what he should take, and she’d suggested a bottle of wine, but his grandmother said a box of candy was a better gift since he didn’t know if Nadine liked wine or, if she did, what kind.
When he had gone down the stairs and crossed the garage, he stood at the back door, not knowing whether to go in or to knock. A breeze wafted the scent of roses across the space to him. He turned to look over his shoulder, and Cricket waved at him.
“Hey, good evening.” She smiled.
She was wearing a cute floral sundress printed with roses, and red sandals. Her brown hair was twisted up on top of her head and held with a bright red rose clip. Surely, he wasn’t just imagining that beautiful, clean smell that got stronger as she neared.
“You sure look pretty tonight,” he said.
“Thank you.” Her smile grew even wider, seeming to light up the whole garage. “You clean up pretty good yourself.”
“I do my best with what little I’ve got to work with,” he chuckled. “I didn’t know whether to knock or not.”
“No, just go on in. Judging from all the cars and trucks parked along the road, we’re not the first ones here.” She brushed past him and opened the door.
He motioned for her to go on in ahead of him and then followed that enticing scent through the back door. Nadine was in the kitchen, swiping her finger across the icing on a cupcake, and she just grinned when she saw them coming into the house.
“Busted!” she giggled. “Just remember, when you get to be ninety-five, you can do whatever you damn well please.”
“Nadine Betterton!” Lettie shook her forefinger at her sister as she came into the kitchen. “That’s the third cupcake I’m having to set back.”
“It’s my birthday, and besides, I’ll have those three for my midnight snack tonight.” Nadine slapped her finger away. “You’ve made too much food anyway.”
“Where do we put presents?” Cricket asked.
“We’ve got a table set up in the living room,” Lettie answered. “I’ll take them if you two young’uns will guard this woman and keep her from ruining anything else.”
Bryce handed over his gift but wasn’t sure how he was going to guard Nadine without hurting her feelings.
“Are we the last ones here?” Cricket looped her arm in Nadine’s and pulled her toward the archway leading into the living room. “If so, it might be time to cut the cake and start eating. You sure look pretty tonight. Blue is definitely your color. I hope I look as beautiful as you when I’m eighty years old.”
“Eighty nothing! I’m only thirty in my mind,” Nadine laughed. “And you know very well that my birth certificate says I’m ninety-five, but thank you for the compliment.”
Cricket was absolutely awesome, Bryce thought, and he couldn’t wait to go fishing with her the next evening. For that matter, he already planned to spend as much time with her as he could in the coming days and weeks.
“Hey, hey,” Nadine called out, “the gang is all here.”
“And all ninety-five candles are on the cake. Amos, will you help me light them?” Lettie asked.
“Be honored to help, but only if you’ve got the fire department on standby,” Amos laughed.
“Amos and his wife, who passed a few years ago, owned the bookstore before Jennie Sue bought it,” Cricket whispered as everyone watched Lettie and Amos light all the candles.
Amos reminded Bryce of the late Mickey Rooney. He was short, had a smile that covered his round face, and by golly, Bryce liked the man before he even said a word because he’d worn bibbed overalls to the party.
When they’d finished, Nadine stepped up behind the table. “Okay, Lettie, now you have to help me blow them out. You could have bought a couple of those candles that are shaped like a nine and a five. You didn’t have to put one for every year.”