“I’m still full from dinner with Nadine, so I decided that a strawberry shake would make a wonderful supper,” she said.

“And here it is.” Cricket set it in front of her. “I’ll be another ten minutes, Rick. If you want to come sit at the bar, I’ll make you a shake, too.”

“I’m fine right here,” he said.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that was not the answer she wanted, but dammit, he was a grown man and didn’t need her constant meddling.

“So how’s your first day on the job?” he asked.

“Fine. I like working for the sisters.” Jennie Sue unwrapped a straw and stuck it down in her milkshake. “But I’ve told them that it’s temporary. I didn’t work to get my degree so I could clean houses. I want a job in a firm with benefits. So how was your day?”

“Did some weedin’ and harvestin’ this morning for tomorrow’s deliveries and for the farmers’ market in Sweetwater. Then drove the bookmobile up to Longworth this afternoon.” He wondered what folks did with false rumors. Did they go into a recycling bin? Change the names and the places and use them all again?

“What are you thinkin’ about?” Jennie Sue asked.

“Rumors.” He shared his recycling idea.

Her blue eyes twinkled with amusement, and his heart actually skipped a beat. “Think we could start a business reselling them? I could run the office and man the phones, bringing them to my attention. You could sort through them and decide what was real and what was false and then we could sell the untrue ones to other towns.”

Cricket brought an order of french fries and a tall glass of sweet tea with a wedge of lemon and set it down in front of Rick. “I’ve got to stick around a little longer. Elaine had to make a run home to see about her mother. You might as well have something to eat.”

“Thank you,” Rick said.

“What were y’all laughing about?” she asked.

“Gossip and rumors. We may go into business together recycling them. Want to partner up with us?” Jennie Sue asked.

“You are both crazy, and I wouldn’t go into any kind of business with you, not ever.” Cricket flounced off.

“Never say never,” Rick called after her.

“How long have you been home?” she asked.

“Two years. I was on the West Coast in a hospital and rehab center for nine months before they discharged me on a medical with full disability. My dad died right after I got home, so I just picked up the shovel and hoe and kept things going.”

“I admire anyone who goes into the service and who makes a livin’ working with his own two hands in the dirt,” she said.

“Well, thank you. I wish you weren’t leaving Bloom. I think we could be really good friends,” he said.

“I’m sure we could.” She hoped that their friendship would endure long-distance when she left Bloom.

Chapter Seven

A short Texas rain on Friday afternoon brought the temperature down into the low nineties but jacked the humidity up, so it seemed hotter than it had been that morning. Jennie Sue made the cake, and after a quick shower, she dressed in fresh jeans and a clean T-shirt and wished she’d brought along a sundress or two when she’d packed. Cricket had looked so cute in the one she’d worn to the Fourth party that Jennie Sue was a little jealous.

She’d seen a rack of brightly colored ones when she’d gone to Walmart with the sisters. Maybe she’d splurge and buy a couple when they went again. Lettie was waiting beside the truck when she arrived, and Nadine was doing the same by her van when she carried the cake down the stairs that evening.

Nadine started talking before she even got the door closed. “I heard about you having dinner with Rick Lawson yesterday evening. He’s a good guy—kind of broken since he got back from wherever to hell they sent him, but he’ll come out of it.” She fastened her seat belt. “Now, wagons, ho! Let’s go argue with Amos about Scarlett O’Hara.”

“It wasn’t dinner or a date.” Jennie Sue backed the van out and started toward the bookstore. “He sat in one booth and I sat in another and we had a conversation. That’s all there was to it. We had to talk so loud that everyone who was in the place could hear us.”

“Did he pay for your strawberry milkshake?” Lettie asked. “I heard that he did.”

“He did not. He didn’t pay for his fries and tea, either. Cricket must run a bill in there or else she gets free food for her and Rick, because I didn’t see either of them pay, and they left before I did.” Jennie Sue pulled in behind a cute little red Smart car. “Who owns that?”

“It’s Amos’s new toy. He says he gets almost fifty miles a gallon with it. I wouldn’t have one of them things, no matter how cheap it is to run,” Lettie said. “Get hit with a big car and it’s lights out.”

Nadine unfastened her seat belt. “I been meanin’ to tell you that I ain’t never had a housekeeper that cleans like you do. I couldn’t find a speck of dust on anything, not even the rungs of the rockin’ chair in the spare bedroom. I hope you can’t find a job.”

“Nadine!” Lettie scolded. “That’s not nice. But we love havin’ you close by.”

“I really like workin’ for you and havin’ you for friends, too, but I told you in the beginnin’ that I was going to look for another job,” Jennie Sue said.

“Listen to her, Nadine,” Lettie said. “Only been in God’s country for a week, and she’s already gettin’ her Texas accent back.”

“Wonderful, ain’t it? Let’s get on inside and get the discussion done with so we can get down to the serious business. I’ve got a couple of juicy tidbits, and I ain’t talkin’ about whiskey bacon and that delicious-smellin’ cake in the back of this van.” Nadine undid her seat belt. “Y’all hurry up and get in out of this god-awful heat before we all melt.”

Jennie Sue held the door open and then followed the two ladies into the used-book store. She set her cake with the other food and sat down at the discussion table beside Cricket. Rick, Lettie, and Nadine were all across the table from them, with Amos taking his place at the head.

“Okay, this meeting is officially in order,” Amos said. “For your information, Jennie Sue, we usually have about five or six more, but they called in today with one excuse or another. We really should make a rule that says if a person misses more than two discussions a year, they’re on probation, but we can decide on that later. Everyone welcomes you, Jennie Sue.”

“Thank you. I’m excited to be here. I love books and I love to read.” She shot a sideways glance at Cricket, and the look on her face said that Amos hadn’t taken a poll before he spoke.

“And here’s the first question on my discussion list. Do you think that Scarlett is a good sequel to Gone with the Wind? Did it bring closure to you when you read it?”

“Yes, I love a happy ending,” Jennie Sue said.

“I liked it, but I liked Scarlett better in the original book,” Cricket said. “She was her own person in both books, but in the first one she had more grit and sass.”

“Which brings me to the next question,” Amos said. “Do you think that having that child tamed her wild spirit? I realize that none of us here has a child, but we all know Scarlett O’Hara pretty good. What do you think?”

Jennie Sue couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat, so she let Lettie and Rick take that question. She focused on keeping the tears at bay as their unheard responses washed over her. She couldn’t answer, not when she didn’t have the power to even get out of the truck and go visit Emily’s grave.

Jennie Sue had tried her best to make her mother happy, and that always meant things had to be perfect. She didn’t know why her mother had wanted to keep the baby a secret. After all, she was married when she got pregnant, and there was no shame in having a stillborn baby, but Charlotte always had her reasons. Jennie Sue vowed that the next time she went home or saw her mother, she would make her explain why Emily Grace had to be such a big secret.