“But I like Cricket,” he chuckled. “She’s my kind of woman.”
Laura Kay, the café owner, came over to their table and asked, “What can I get y’all to drink?”
“Sweet tea for me,” Cricket said, “and I’ll have a double bacon cheeseburger and fries.”
“I’ll have the same, and with an extra order of fries,” Bryce added.
“Have it right out,” Laura Kay said, “and welcome to Bloom. I’ve been meaning to get down to the drugstore and meet you, but it’s been crazy in here all week. I’m Laura Kay Franklin, and I own this café.”
“It was busy at both our places today too,” Bryce said. “and thank you for the warm welcome.”
“Sure thing,” Laura Kay said. “Hope to see you in here often.”
“Maybe not, since Cricket has been cooking for me,” Bryce said.
“Well, I’m sure what you get in here wouldn’t be as good as what she makes,” Laura Kay said and rushed off to pour refills of tea for other customers on her way back to put their order in.
“You do know that she’s telling all the folks where she’s refilling tea glasses what you said, don’t you?” Cricket looked up to find that he was staring at her.
“I hope so,” he said. “You have the most beautiful eyes, and your smile lights up the whole room.”
“Flattery will get you—” she started.
He put a finger over her lips. “That’s not flattery. It’s the pure facts.”
She closed her hand over his finger and kissed it. “With all this to feed the rumor mill, the gossip about Anna Grace will fall by the wayside.”
“I told you we’d give them something to talk about, but it’s not rumors, it’s the truth,” Bryce said.
Laura Kay must have refilled the customers’ tea glasses five times each because no one seemed to be in a hurry to leave the café. The place was buzzing with conversation when Cricket and Bryce finished their burgers and fries, and when he paid for the food, the noise got even louder.
They had barely gotten into his SUV when both their phones rang at the same time. Cricket answered hers, and Bryce stepped out of the vehicle and sat down on the bench in front of the store to talk.
“Hey, I hear that you went to supper with Bryce at the Bloom Café,” Jennie Sue said. “I should leave town more often.”
“Holy smoke! We just walked out of the place,” Cricket laughed. “How did the news get all the way to Florida that quick?”
“You know what they say,” Jennie Sue giggled right along with her. “There’s three ways of fast communication: telegraph, telephone, and tell-a-woman. The latter is the fastest by far. Someone in the café called Lettie and she called me, but she thought y’all were going for ice cream tonight and burgers tomorrow night. She’s not going to be happy when she finds out that someone else jumped the gun on her when it comes to gossip.”
“Tongues were wagging.” Cricket told her what Bryce had said about giving everyone in town something to talk about. “He did an amazing job, but he said it was all real, not just for show.”
“Like I said, I should leave town more often,” Jennie Sue said, “and you should keep me informed a little better. I don’t like getting things secondhand either.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cricket agreed. “Bryce got a call at the same time I did, and he’s on his way back. Talk to you later.”
“I’ll expect details,” Jennie Sue said.
“I know, I know,” Cricket groaned.
* * *
A quarter moon hung in the dark sky with bright stars dancing all around it when Bryce walked Cricket to her door that evening at ten o’clock. They’d had ice cream, talked about anything and everything while they ate it, and then talked some more on the way home. She’d never been so comfortable with a guy in her whole life.
“I told you that the call back at the café was my father, and I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ask you to meet him and my mother. Is that too forward or too soon for you? Dad and Mama are coming to Bloom on Saturday and staying over until Sunday after church. Since my place is so small, they’ll bring their motor home. I called Lettie right after I talked to them, and she said they could park it in the driveway and hook up to the electricity in the garage. They want to take us out to dinner so they can meet you on Saturday evening. If you’re not comfortable with that, or if you think I’m rushing things…” He hesitated.
“I’ve got a better idea,” Cricket said. “Bring them out to the farm when they get into town and have gotten things hooked up. We’ll grill some pork chops and cook supper at home. We can visit more that way. Tommy and Anna Grace will be there too, so we’ll have a perfect group—three guys and three ladies.”
“Like I’ve said before, you are amazing,” he said. “Will you go to church with us on Sunday morning? They’ll have to leave right afterwards. Maybe we could take another picnic to the creek after we say our goodbyes?”
“I’d love to,” Cricket said, “on all of it.”
Bryce caged her by putting a hand on the door on each side of her, and then he leaned down and kissed her good night. Just like all the other times, he could have sworn the earth moved under his feet.
Cricket rolled up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck for the second kiss. “This has been the most awesome week of my life. I’m still not sure if it’s real or if I’m dreaming.”
“If you’re dreaming, then I am too, and I don’t want to wake up.” Bryce kissed her one more time. and then whistled all the way to his SUV.
Cricket waved at him until she couldn’t see his taillights any longer and then went into the house to find Anna Grace cuddled up beside Tommy on the sofa.
“You look like you’re in love,” Anna Grace teased.
“So do you,” Cricket shot back.
“Guilty as charged, and happy to boot,” Anna Grace said. “Mama called this evening just before I closed up shop and begged me to come home. She said that Daddy would give Tommy a job in the oil company, and I could have my big wedding. She’d already contacted a planner.”
“And?” Cricket stopped in her tracks.
“I told her no,” Anna Grace said. “Tommy likes what he does, and I’ve decided I don’t want a big wedding. I do need three more months to learn more about being independent, though, before we have a small ceremony on the beach on Padre Island. I told her that she and Daddy could come to the wedding, but none of the Belles are invited. Not one of my friends has tried to get in touch with me since I moved out of Mama and Daddy’s house.”
Cricket slumped down in a rocking chair. “As strong as you’ve gotten in just the past few days, you should be able to bench-press an Angus bull by the end of three months.”
Tommy chuckled. “That’s similar to what I told her, and she cooked supper all by herself. We had chicken enchiladas.”
Anna Grace blushed. “It was a simple recipe. I can read; therefore I can cook.”
“Yep,” Cricket said and remembered what Jennie Sue had said. “I should leave you alone more often. Hey, just a heads-up. Bryce’s folks are coming over on Saturday for dinner.”