Riverbend Reunion(4)

Instead, she changed the subject. “Hey, you want a beer?”

Before he could answer, the noise of approaching vehicles filled the air. Dust boiled up behind them and settled slowly when they came to a stop beside his truck.

“I didn’t know you were having a party,” Wade said. “I should be going.”

“There’s five beers left in this six-pack. That means there’s extra. You might as well stick around and have one. That’s Risa, Haley, and Mary Nell. It’s not a party, just a gathering of friends for a cold one and some catching up.”

“How long has it been since you’ve seen them?” Wade asked.

“Years and years, but we kept in touch—kind of,” she replied, not knowing why she didn’t want him to go. Maybe it was the ache in his voice when he talked about his brother, or perhaps it was her nosiness in wanting to hear more about Danford—Danny—Granger. Or, if she was honest, maybe it was because she remembered the crush she’d had on Wade himself when she was in high school. Or perhaps she recognized a kindred spirit, not only in his service to the country, but in his grief. “Grab that extra chair from inside the door and join us.”

“Thanks.” His brief smile didn’t reach his green eyes. “You sure I’m not intruding?”

“I’m sure,” Jessica said.

Car doors slammed. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

“Risa must have brought the twins with her,” Wade said.

“You’ve met them?” Jessica asked.

Wade nodded as he headed for the RV. “Did some work for her mother last week. Saw them there. Cute kids, but not a thing alike, even if they are twins.”

Jessica stood up and finger combed a few stray hairs back into her blonde ponytail. When the four women met in a group hug, she towered above the other three, but then she’d always been the tallest kid in her class. Risa had always been the pretty one, with her dishwater-blonde hair and big brown eyes. Haley had been the short, curvy one of the group when the four of them had been senior cheerleaders twenty years before—the smart one who always seemed to make the right decisions. Her eyes were the color of a chocolate Yoo-hoo, and her hair was so black that it looked blue when the sunrays hit it. Then there was Mary Nell, the smallest of the four cheerleaders from that year, who had always taken the place at the top of the pyramid. Jessica had envied her friend’s thick, curly red hair and light blue eyes—but even more, her Dolly Parton boobs. Jessica had wondered at the time whether Mary Nell wasn’t jumping into a relationship that would end up breaking her heart—and she’d been right.

None of them had changed much. Mary Nell might have put on a few pounds and Risa had lost a few, but Haley was about the same. Jessica still felt like a giant among them, even though Mary Nell was the only one who’d be considered short.

Another song about always being seventeen in your hometown came to Jessica’s mind as the four of them took a step back from one another. She had put twenty years into serving her country and was now thirty-eight years old, and yet for a few moments, she felt like she was a teenager again.

But they’d graduated, gone their separate ways, and reality had hit them all like a category-five tornado. Risa’s daughters were proof that none of them were still seventeen, and that they could never go back to those days, even though they were meeting in the same place—a gravel parking lot—to have a beer and catch up.

“Hey, y’all, this is Wade Granger, home from a stint in the military just like me. His brother, Danny, graduated with us,” Jessica said.

“Hey, Wade.” Risa waved.

“I was sorry to hear about Danny,” Haley said.

“Me too,” Mary Nell said with a sad frown.

“Thanks.” Wade popped open the lawn chair a few feet from Jessica and sat down.

“Would you girls please get out the lawn chairs from the back of the truck, and set them up for us?” Risa nodded toward the older-model pickup that she had shown up in that evening.

“Yes, ma’am. Do we get a beer for doing that?” Lily, the taller twin with blonde hair and big brown eyes, asked.

“Sure thing,” Risa said, “when you are twenty-one and can buy them with your own money.”

“I figured you’d say that.” Daisy giggled. “We won’t talk about the times Daddy let us have one.”

If Jessica hadn’t seen pictures of them from the day they were born, and then watched them grow up through the benefit of the internet, she would have never believed they were sisters, much less twins. Daisy, the shorter one, was the spitting image of her mother, with her hair color and curvy figure. The only things the girls had in common were Risa’s milk chocolate–colored eyes.

“Or about the times he showed us how to roll a joint,” Lily said as she reached over the bed of the truck and picked up all five chairs at once.

“I don’t believe either one of you, because if your Granny Martha found out he was doing that, she would disown him,” Risa said. “And his mama’s word was the law.”

“Amen!” Lily handed off two of the chairs to her sister.

“Mama has talked a lot about all y’all. The picture of y’all when you were cheerleaders is still on her dresser these days,” Daisy said. “We’ve already met Haley and Mary Nell, so it’s good to see you in person rather than just on FaceTime. I’m jealous of your height. God could have been better to me and shared what he gave Lily.”