Before his prayer ended, Lettie and Nadine pushed through the glass door at the front of the store and headed straight back to one of the little bistro tables with the four chairs around it.
“Mornin’, Ilene,” Nadine called out. “Me and Lettie will have our usual. Neither of us wanted to cook breakfast this morning.”
“Two honey buns and two cups of hot chocolate coming right up,” Ilene said.
Anna Grace slid off her barstool and started toward the back of the store, where the pharmacy was located. There was something about her pasted-on smile and the look in her eyes that let Bryce know Tandy and Ilene were not pranking him.
“Hey, Anna Grace, I heard that you and your dentist boyfriend broke up last week,” Lettie said.
“Is your poor little heart just plumb broken?” Nadine asked.
“No, I broke up with him,” Anna Grace answered.
“Well, honey, if you get down in the dumps, I suggest you watch a good movie. Me and Lettie like all the Home Alone movies when we’re feeling blue. They make us laugh,” Nadine said.
Anna Grace’s smile faded, and she tilted her chin up a notch. “I’m sure that little movie would appeal to old folks like y’all, but I’m just fine. Like I said, I broke up with him, so my heart is just fine.” She focused her attention on Bryce and pasted her smile back on. Her high heels on the tile floor sounded to him like .22-caliber bullets heading straight for his heart—or maybe for a spot between his eyes. He needed to think fast, come up with a plan, but his mind was totally blank.
“Hello, I’m Anna Grace Cramer, and I’d like to welcome you to Bloom. We’re having an informal little cocktail party at our house tonight, and we would just love it if you would join us.” Her smile seemed sincere, but it sure didn’t reach her eyes.
“Hey, Bryce,” Lettie called out, “didn’t you tell Cricket that you would help her gather vegetables tonight? She’s kind of swamped since Jennie Sue and Rick are out of town.”
Anna Grace whipped around, and Bryce could only imagine the go-to-hell looks she was giving his two elderly landladies.
“Yes, I did.” Bryce crossed his fingers behind his back like a little boy who had told a lie. “I’m sorry, Miz Anna Grace, but I have plans.”
“Some other time then. Maybe I can pick you up tomorrow night, and we’ll go for ice cream?” Anna Grace pressed.
“That’s my birthday party night.” Nadine raised her voice.
“Sorry again,” Bryce said with a smile.
“Then don’t make plans for Saturday night. We’re going to Sweetwater to the Community Theatre. That’s the opening night for the newest musical they’re doing this summer. I do love musicals, don’t you?” she asked.
“Not so much, and I’ve already asked Cricket to go fishing with me that night. Why don’t you just leave your number with Ilene, and when I have some free time, I’ll give you a call?” Bryce hoped that the sassy Cricket wouldn’t shoot him when he told her they had plans for at least three evenings that week. Thinking about her telling him that she was taking a mud bath put a broad smile on his face.
“I’ll be looking forward to your call.” Anna Grace’s tone was suddenly as cold as ice. When she got back to her barstool, she whispered something to her mother, and the two of them left without even waiting for their coffee.
“You’re welcome.” Nadine grinned at Bryce.
“Thank you,” he said, coming around from behind the counter and joining them at the table. “That woman is pretty brazen.”
“Yes, she is but not as much as her mother,” Lettie said, “and Mary Lou always gets what she wants.”
Ilene brought coffee and warmed honey buns to the table for Lettie and Nadine. “Thank goodness y’all didn’t want to cook breakfast this morning.”
“And that you called us, so we were prepared,” Tandy added from the checkout counter.
“But now you’ve caused Mary Lou to put on her war paint,” Ilene said.
“What does that mean?” Bryce asked.
“She will never, ever let it be said that her daughter lost out to Cricket Lawson,” Nadine giggled.
“Why not? “Bryce asked. “I liked Cricket when I went out to her farm to buy vegetables last night. She’s honest and funny, and she seemed down to earth. Why would anyone not like her?”
Lettie rubbed her hands together and giggled like a little girl. “This is the most exciting thing that’s happened in Bloom since Jennie Sue came home from New York and thumbed her nose at the Belles. We’ve got to get a bet going.”
“Cricket has never run in the same circles as Anna Grace,” Ilene answered. “She hasn’t got a dishonest bone in her body, and she’ll speak her mind even if doing so gets her put in jail.
“Speaking of Cricket, it looks like she’s just now turned down the alley to park behind the bookstore,” Nadine said. “Maybe you ought to run over there while there’s no one needing prescriptions and tell her that you’ll be picking peas with her tonight and fishing with her on Saturday.”
“What if she says no and slaps me for being so presumptuous?” Bryce asked.
“Be sure to tell her the whole story about why you made dates with her without asking. She’ll understand,” Nadine told him.
“I hope so.” Bryce pushed back his chair and headed out of the drugstore.
* * *
Cricket turned on the lights and unloaded her tote bag, putting her lunch in the small, dorm-sized refrigerator, and then rolled the cart with the newly bought, used books out to shelve them. She had seen Lettie and Nadine’s vehicle parked in front of the drugstore, so when the bell above the door rang, she figured it was her two friends.
“Y’all have a seat. I’ll make a pot of coffee, and I brought blueberry muffins,” she called out without even looking up from her work.
“Sounds good, but I’m alone,” said someone with a deep, Texas drawl from the end of the romance book aisle.
She looked up into Bryce Walton’s smiling face. “I thought you were Lettie and Nadine,” she said.
Bryce shook his head. “They’re over at the drugstore having hot chocolate and honey buns, and they saved me this morning, so I shouldn’t even charge them for their breakfast.”
For one of the very few times in her life, Cricket was speechless for a whole minute. “Saved you?” she finally asked.
“Yes, and now I’m here to beg a couple of favors from you.” His blue eyes locked with hers and held for a moment until he blinked. “I’ve got a bit of a problem, and it is named Anna Grace Cramer.”
“You better sit down and have a muffin and some coffee.” Cricket pointed to the sofa at the front of the store. “It’s too early for customers to need medicine, and the doctor doesn’t call in prescriptions until he closes at four, so you’ve got a little while before you get busy.” She left the cart in the middle of the aisle and went to her desk, where her tote bag was still sitting. She poured two cups of coffee from her thermos and removed the cover from a plastic container of blueberry muffins.
“How do you know all that?” he asked as he sat down on the end of the sofa.