The Barefoot Summer(53)

“Hey, fishermen and ladies.” Paul waved as he started down the grassy slope with his daughter.

“Lisa!” Gracie squealed and took off up the hill to meet her little friend.

Hattie waved. “Come on down and join us. There’s plenty of food. The kids can even fish some more if they can be still. They might rather run up and down the shoreline and play.”

“Kate!” Gracie ran back holding Lisa’s hand. “We are starving. Can we have a burrito while we wait?”

“Of course you can. There’s fried cheese sticks, too.” Kate removed two from the sack and handed them to the girls.

“Thank you, Miss Kate,” Lisa said.

“You’re welcome.” Kate wanted to smother both of them with hugs.

“Thank you.” Gracie said with a big smile. “Let’s go sit by the water and eat them.”

Kate loved the sight of them sitting on the grass, talking with food in their mouths, because they were so excited to see each other. She’d had acquaintances in her life, but she could never remember a time when she was that carefree, even as a child.



Paul sat down on the edge of the quilt. “Jamie, how’s your first week going? I’ve been meanin’ to stop by the office and welcome you proper, but I couldn’t get away from the ag barn.”

“Busy,” Jamie answered. “I’m cleaning the file cabinets and reorganizing, getting things ready for school to start.”

“I heard that you might be interested in the elementary opening,” he said.

“Haven’t made up my mind, but I’m thinkin’ about it,” she said.

“Well, Lisa will be over the moon if you decide to stay in Bootleg.”

“So will Gracie.” Jamie smiled, her pulse kicking in a little extra beat when the summer breeze wafted the scent of his shaving lotion her way.

“I’m confused,” Amanda said. “Here we are, three women who were all married to the same man, and Bootleg is taking us in and acting like we are sisters. Is there something wrong with all you people or with us? Aren’t small towns supposed to be all cliquish and gossipy?”

“Oh, we are both of those things.” Hattie set out a platter of chicken salad sandwiches and a relish plate. “But Iris wouldn’t want us to treat y’all badly. But I got to admit we are all glad that one particular man got what he deserved.”

Victor opened his mouth to say something before he snapped it shut and whispered out the side, “He is Gracie’s daddy, so we need to be nice, Hattie.”

And therein would probably be a big problem with any kind of relationship between her and Paul. He, like the rest of Bootleg, despised Conrad, and Gracie was Conrad’s daughter. Not that Jamie was entertaining notions of the chemistry between them leading to anything. No, sir! It was far too early in this thing for her to—she felt crimson flooding her cheeks . . . again.

Hattie sighed. “She’s such a lovely child that I forget that she’s his.”

“It’s easy to do,” Kate said.

“Well, let’s get on with our picnic. We don’t need to talk about rubbish. What’s been going on at the ag barn?” Victor asked.

“Not much, but I hear that the office is getting a thorough straightening.” He winked at Jamie and turned to face Victor.

Her heart tossed in an extra beat and she couldn’t have wiped the smile off her face—not even by sucking on a lemon.



Not many days turned out to be almost perfect, but for Kate that one had. Even with the threat of nothing at all good coming from the information that she’d given Waylon, she still felt good about the day. She’d gotten part of the load off her chest, and now all she had to do was tell Amanda and Jamie. Down deep inside, she hoped neither of them asked exactly how long she’d known about all this. Maybe they’d be so excited or bummed out about the will business that they wouldn’t even think about the timing.

Jamie had started reading Pipsie, Nature Detective to Gracie on the deck that evening, but she’d fallen asleep in her mother’s lap before the second page was finished. It was another of those moments when Kate wished she’d had a daughter but then realized if she had, the child would be thirteen now and in those “I know everything” years and certainly wouldn’t want Kate to read a children’s book to her.

Jamie carried her into the house, returned with a bottle of beer, and got comfortable by sitting in one chair and propping her legs up in another. She set the bottle on the table between her and Kate. “You still smell like hay.”

“Well, I haven’t had a bath yet. That’s next on my agenda. You still smell faintly of fish,” Kate said.

“So.” Amanda laid a hand on her stomach. “I hope I can be as good a mother with this baby as you are with Gracie and as Paul is with Lisa.”

“You will be as good as both of them, but I’ve got something serious to talk to y’all about now,” Kate said.

“More serious than kissing the detective who’s trying to hang us out to dry?” Jamie asked.

“Yes, it is more serious. And I hadn’t kissed a man in thirteen years,” Kate said.

“Good God almighty!” Amanda’s voice got higher with each syllable until it completely squeaked out at the end. “You mean you were faithful to Conrad?”