The Barefoot Summer(66)

“I’d make a poor poker player.” Kate smiled.

“When it comes to Waylon, I can read you like a book, girl.”

Kate was so jealous of Jamie and Amanda that evening that it was a wonder she wasn’t the same shade of green as the Hulk. They knew what they wanted and went after it. Kate knew what she wanted, but a nagging fear kept her from being willing to make a change. Pure insanity. She’d been in Bootleg less than a month. Not long ago she and Conrad’s other two wives were at his funeral. That was not enough time for her to even consider a drastic change.

Decision based on the heart. Hattie’s words stuck in her mind. The only time that Kate had done that, she’d wound up married to Conrad.

Be honest, the voice in her head argued. You weren’t paying a bit of attention to your heart in those days. That was one time your mother was right.

Kate pushed the voice away. “Hey, I’ve got a bottle of chilled wine waiting, and Hattie brought over a sinful chocolate cake.”

“And I can have milk with my cake, right?” Gracie was still wiggling in excitement.

With an arm around Gracie’s shoulders, Kate whispered, “Out of a stemmed wineglass, so you can pretend.”



Dear Lord, what have I done? was the first thought in Jamie’s mind that Saturday morning when she awoke. The thrill of getting the job had passed, and the reality of actually moving from the city to Bootleg set in. All through the process of making up her mind and then signing the contract, she’d thought she was making the right decision even if it did seem rushed. But that morning she doubted herself. She moaned and immediately checked to be sure that she had not wakened Gracie.

Her child was gone! For a split second she panicked, and then she heard her out in the house laughing with Kate. Jamie hopped out of bed, and something fluttered in her peripheral vision. She whipped around to find Gracie’s balloons straining against the strings holding them down. Right beside them was her bouquet of daisies. The congratulatory card was unsigned, but there was no doubt in her mind that Kate and Waylon had sent them.

“Stop it!” she scolded herself, not the balloons. “You made this choice. Now plow ahead without regrets.”

She sniffed the air and caught a whiff of warm maple syrup, bacon, and coffee mixed together. Pancakes and coffee sounded like a right fine way to start the day.

Neither Amanda nor Kate looked a bit better than she did.

“Did we do the right thing?” Amanda asked.

Jamie sucked in a lungful of air and said, “Of course we did. It’s normal to second-guess such a drastic change.”

“Not as radical as if Kate said she wasn’t going back to Fort Worth,” Amanda said.

Jamie poured coffee into her mug. Maybe not, but to her it was every bit as big a decision as any one Kate would make. And now with the cabin undecided, she might have to rent another place and move furniture.

Kate motioned toward the stove. “Amanda left pancakes for you, and the syrup is warm.”

“Still nesting, are you?” Jamie glanced at Amanda, remembering her days in that mode just before Gracie was born.

“Yes, and weeping at commercials, too. We’re discussing whether or not we’ll ever get married again,” Amanda said.

“Not me,” Jamie said. “What I’ve been through is enough for me without having to adjust to married life all over again.”

Although, if she was honest, she’d never really done much adjusting with Conrad. He’d popped in and out occasionally, only staying a week at a time. That wasn’t much of a marriage.

Amanda sighed. “It seems like all that happened years ago, instead of just a month.”

“Don’t it, though?” Jamie set her mug on the table and went back to get the plate of pancakes. “Where’s Gracie?”

“She’s waiting on the porch for your Mama Rita. So, say the perfect man came along and you fell in love with him. Would you change your mind?” Amanda raised an eyebrow toward Jamie.

She poured syrup on the pancakes and thought about the question for a full minute. “I’d have to do double time on the trust issue. He’d not only have to be good to me but also to Gracie. And believe me, if it happens, I will have him investigated,” Jamie said. “If he finds out and don’t like it, he can hit the road.”

“That’s exactly what I said. I may even hire two separate investigators to make sure it’s done right,” Amanda said.

“Did you ever . . .” Kate hesitated long enough to take a sip of coffee.

“Ever what?” Jamie asked.

“Think there was something too good about the whole dating process with Conrad?”

“You mean like it was too perfect?” Amanda asked.

“Exactly. Did you ever have an argument or a fight with him over anything, especially that first year?” Kate asked.

Jamie shook her head. “That is strange, isn’t it? He always got his way, but then he was only home a week out of a month, and I didn’t want to make that time unpleasant.”

That should have raised a warning flag. No arguments. Making things so perfect for him so he’d be happy. God, what had turned her into a submissive little wife like that?

“Me, either,” Amanda said.

“He was a master of manipulation,” Kate said.