Breath of Scandal(10)

Velta snorted. "You're too young to know what love is. 11



Jade's eyes turned a deeper blue, a sign of rising ire. "You wouldn't say that if I were claiming to be in love with Neal Patchett. You'd be urging me to trap him any way I could ... even if it meant having sex with him."

"At least you would be somebody in this town if you married him."

"I am somebody!"

Velta clenched her fists at her sides. "You're just like your father-head in the clouds, idealistic."

"There's nothing wrong with having goals."

"Goals?" Velta scoffed. "A funny word to bring into a conversation about your father. He never met a single goal



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Breath of Scandal



29



in his life. For all the years we were married, he never did one worthwhile thing."

"He loved me," Jade retorted. "Or don't you consider that worthwhile?"

Velta turned and walked stiffly to the door. Before leaving, she said, "When I was your age, I married the hero of the town. Right now, that's your Gary. He's ood-

9 looking, a star athlete, class president, everything a girl could want. "

Velta sneered. "Take it from me, heroes are temporary, Jade. They fade like cheap curtains. The only thing that really counts is money. No matter how many awards that Parker boy wins, all he'll ever really be is old Otis Parker's firstborn. I want better than that for you."

"No, Mama," Jade argued softly." You want better than that for you."

Velta slammed the door behind her.

Jade sat on a tall stool, nibbling a shortbread cookie. The heels of her shoes were hooked over the chrome rung that encircled the stool's legs. Her chemistry textbook lay open on her lap.

After school and half a day on Saturdays, Jade worked in Jones Brothers' General Store. During the week, she clocked in at four and worked until Velta picked her up on her way home from the factory, usually around six.

It wasn't a long shift, but it gave Pete, the last surviving of three brothers, a chance to sit with his ailing wife, who was in a nursing home, and it provided Jade with a little spending money.

The store was one of a diminishing breed. The planks of the hardwood floor were covered with a waxy-looking film from the lemon oil used on dustmops for countless decades. On the coldest of winter afternoons, old men gathered around the potbellied stove in the back room and discussed the state of the world between chaws of Redman and games of dominoes.

Pitchforks hung, tines down, from hooks screwed into the ceiling. A customer could outfit his horse or his newborn. He could purchase a deck of cards, a pair of dice, or a, Bible. The variety of merchandise and customers made tfie job interesting.

Jade tried to concentrate on the material she was reading, but her mind wandered from chemistry to her personal problems, chiefly those with her mother, who refused to take seriously either Jade's love for Gary or her burning desire to have more out of life than the ordinary-husband, home, and children.

A family was important and Jade wanted one. But she wanted more. Most of the girls in her class had already resigned themselves to working for Ivan Patchett until they got married and started having babies, who would eventually work for Neal. Gary and she shared an ambition to break that dreary cycle.

Whether intentionally or not, Ron Sperry had imbued his daughter with the courage he had lacked, instilling in her a desire to make a better life for herself than her parents had had. At least on that, she and her mother agreed. It was their ultimate goals that differed . . . and their means of attaining them. Jade feared that those differences would never be reconciled, especially where Gary was concerned.

Gary was another source of worry that gloomy afternoon. Neither of them had heard from any of the scholarship boards to which they had applied. That, coupled with their escalating sexual frustration and the hell that Neal was giving them at school because of the incident at the Dairy Barn, had made them irritable and short-tempered with each other.

They needed a distraction. Perhaps if the weather was warm this weekend, they could have a cookout on the beach, or go for a long drive, something that would relax them and put things back into perspective.

She was still mulling it over when the bell over the entrance jangled. Jade looked up from her studies to see Donna Dee barreling through the door. Her cheeks were flushed and her chest was heaving as she gasped for air.



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Jade jumped to her feet, and her chemistry book fell to the floor with a loud thud. "What in the world is the matter?"

Donna Dee fanned her hands in front of her face and drew several deep breaths. "I just came from school. Mr. Patterson asked if I'd stay and do some filing for him." "And?"

"You got it. Your scholarship."

Jade's heart went straight to her throat. She didn't dare trust her ears, so she repeated, "I got it? A scholarship?" Donna Dee bobbed her head quickly. "To South Carolina State. "

"How do you know? Are you sure?"

"I saw the letter lying on Mr. Patterson's desk. It looked very official, you know, with gold seals and scrolls and stuff. I saw your name on it and kind of accidentally on purpose knocked it to the floor as I was reaching for a folder I was supposed to-"