“That’s the truth,” Nadine agreed. “I’m so glad that Jennie Sue told them to go to hell after her mama and daddy died.”
Cricket giggled. “I’m not sure she said it just like that, but they sure knew what she meant. I was there when the Belles all came to the house after Charlotte and Dill died in the plane crash. I’d always thought I wanted to be in that crowd, but good glory! I learned real quick that I’d rather be pickin’ beans as puttin’ up with those women. That reminds me. I’ve got a bushel of beans and a bucket of tomatoes that I need to bring in and wash, and I’m still covered with mud.”
“Go on then,” Nadine said. “We’ll be in town tomorrow, so we’ll stop by the bookstore. I’ve still got a chapter of The Great Gatsby to read before we come to the book club meeting next Monday.”
“I’ll bring the cookies to club that night,” Lettie offered. “I know you’re super busy since Jennie Sue and Rick are off on their vacation.”
“Thank you,” Cricket said. “That will help a lot. See y’all tomorrow.”
“Bye, now,” Lettie and Nadine said at the same time.
Cricket laid the phone back on the table and headed back outside. She brought in the beans and tomatoes, took care of them, and put them in small baskets to take to the bookstore with her in the morning.
“Poor Bryce,” she muttered as she rinsed the mud from the beans and laid them out on paper towels to dry. “He’d better be fast if he hopes to outrun Anna Grace.”
Chapter Two
Bryce was grateful that the two employees who had worked for the previous owner had agreed to stay on when he bought the drugstore. Ilene, a gray-haired lady who had worked there for thirty years, managed the soda fountain and helped stock shelves. Tandy, a middle-aged pharmacy technician, helped him but wasn’t too proud to stock shelves, manage the register, or do whatever needed done. They had sure made the transition was an easy one when he took over the store, and on Wednesday, his second day at work, they were waiting at the back door when he arrived.
“Good morning, ladies,” he said as he slid out of his SUV and headed across the small parking area to unlock the door.
“You might be singing a different tune by noon,” Ilene told him.
“I thought you’d have more time, but it looks like the vultures are circling,” Tandy laughed.
He turned the key in the door but didn’t open it. Instead he looked up at the blue sky without a cloud anywhere in sight. “Vultures? What are y’all talking about?”
“You’ve been earmarked to be married by Christmas to one of the town’s most elite women, Anna Grace Cramer. Her daddy owns Cramer Oil Company, and her mother is one of the Sweetwater Belles.”
He opened the door and stood to the side to let them enter before him. Ilene flipped on the lights and reset the thermostat, then went to open the front door.
“What’s a Sweetwater Belle?” Bryce asked and wondered why the upper crust of Bloom would want their daughter married to him when they didn’t even know anything about him.
“A group of women formed a club about thirty years ago here in town. They call themselves the Sweetwater Belles, and they’ve got their fingers in everything including the holiday and homecoming parades.”
When two women came in right away, Lettie rolled her eyes toward Tandy and Bryce. Tandy patted him on the back. “The older one is Mary Lou. The tall, blond, younger version of her is Anna Grace. You better think fast because you are about to have to sink or swim.”
Bryce finished putting on his white lab coat and glanced toward the front of the store to see two well-dressed women slide onto the barstools in front of the soda fountain. The older one was wearing black slacks, a white silk blouse, and her diamond earrings sparkled under the fluorescent lights. If rich was a perfume, she would have reeked of it. The younger of the two was wearing a tight red skirt that showed half her thighs, and high-heeled shoes that matched her skirt. She had that competent air about her, but she didn’t come across as royalty like her mother did.
“Sink or swim!” Tandy said out of the side of her mouth.
“You’re joking, right?” Bryce asked.
“Not in the least.” Tandy patted him on the back. “Mary Lou wanted her daughter to marry a doctor, but she’s decided that a pharmacist will do since Anna Grace has passed the thirty mark.”
Bryce wiped sweat from his brow. “But I only just got here yesterday. You’re pranking me.”
“I wish I was.” Tandy removed her glasses and cleaned them on the tail of her blue scrub top. “I can never locate my glasses in the morning, and when my kids do find them, they leave smudges on the lenses. Someday I’m going to get contacts.”
Bryce wasn’t interested in Tandy’s smudged glasses or her four kids right then. He wanted her to tell him that she was hazing him. “Prank? Yes?”
“Prank. No.” Tandy twisted her brown hair up and secured it with a long clip. “Lettie Betterton called me last night and told me to warn you.”
“But…how…what…” Bryce stammered.
“This is a small town,” Tandy said. “Everyone knows what everyone is doing, who they’re doing it with, and where they did it. We only read the paper, which comes out today by the way, to see who got caught. Anna Grace won’t be subtle, and she won’t take no for an answer. Mary Lou has made up her mind, and when she does, it might as well be set in stone. Nobody crosses a Belle, except Lettie, Nadine, and Cricket. Oh, and Cricket’s sister-in-law, Jennie Sue,” Tandy whispered. “They never come in here for coffee in the morning, so you’ve probably got about five minutes to think up a reason not to do whatever she wants you to do. That is, unless you like what you see.”
Bryce’s neck itched with heat that was fast traveling up from his collar to put a blush on his cheeks. Lord have mercy! He had been a science geek in high school and in college. He’d never been one of those guys that the girls pursued and had no idea how to handle such a thing.
He’d been in town only a couple of days, and he had been brought up not to lie. What was he going to say if she asked him to dinner or to a party? Would not accepting her invitation ruin his business? He sure wished he had time to call his mother, or even his grandmother, and ask them for advice. Even though Bloom Drug Store was the only pharmacy in town, it wasn’t all that far to Sweetwater where folks would have a choice of several places to fill their prescriptions. What if he lost all kinds of customers because he refused to fall down at Anna Grace’s feet and kiss that big turquoise ring he could see sparkling on her finger? No wonder the previous owner gave him such a good deal on the drugstore—the old guy probably got sick and tired of playing small-town politics.
Tandy picked up a bottle of spray and a dust rag. “Ilene is taking her sweet time getting their coffee. She’s trying to give you time to get your ducks in a row, so to speak.”
“Bless her heart and thank you for the warning and for explaining to me about the Belles.” Bryce let out a long breath of air and tried to think of plausible excuses. His mama and daddy had taken him to church every single Sunday from the time he was born until he went to college. Then he went home on weekends that first four years and drove them to church. He sent up a silent prayer asking God to help him out of this big mess.