Riverbend Reunion(40)

“Stella is working the concession stand, selling nachos for the church,” Oscar answered.

“Sweet Jesus!” Haley groaned. “You think she poisoned the ones we ordered?”

“Only if words dripping with ugliness can poison them,” Oscar said. “Risa held her own, so you don’t have to worry about her.”

“That’s more than I would have done, and it could always be a bluff, but I’m here for her if she needs to talk about it. As far as that goes, I’m always here for any of the team,” Haley assured him.

“We’re lucky to have you,” Wade told her.

“Thanks, but the feeling is mutual.” Haley smiled.

“And that’s the last event of the evening,” the rodeo announcer said. “While we’re waiting for the band to get set up for the dance, let’s give our rodeo clowns a big hand. Their job might look easy, but believe me, it’s a tough one, so let’s hear it for them.”

The clowns all came out, lined up, and took a bow. The crowd gave them a standing ovation complete with whistles and ringing cowbells. The dust settled somewhat but was still hanging in the air a few minutes later when the band struck up the first notes of an old country song, “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away.”

Wade stood up and extended a hand to Jessica. “May I have this dance, partner?”

She put her hand in his and said, “I might be a little rusty, but I’ll give it a shot.”

His inner voice warned her against dancing right out in public with Jessica, but he ignored it. He didn’t give a tiny rat’s rump what people thought of the church being a bar or of him and Jessica being partners—or if they banned her from riding on a float at homecoming, either, for that matter.

That song had ended by the time they reached the middle of the area. The lead singer started singing “My Church.” Wade wrapped his arms around Jessica and drew her close for a fast-moving two-step.

“Seems fitting for our first dance, doesn’t it?” Wade said.

“I imagine that Stella would say that heaven being a sin away would be more like it, only she would substitute hell for heaven,” Jessica told him.

When the singer asked if she could get a hallelujah, the folks still up in the stands all jumped up and yelled, “Hallelujah.” Wade glanced over Jessica’s shoulder and smiled when he saw Oscar giving him the thumbs-up sign.

When the next song started, Wade swung Jessica out and then brought her back to his chest. The singer sounded a helluva lot like Mary Chapin Carpenter as she sang “I Feel Lucky.”

Wade could agree with the lyrics because he sure did feel lucky with Jessica in his arms. The whole arena filled up with other couples, but Wade didn’t even see them. In his mind, he and Jessica were the only couple out there in the dusty arena.



Haley grabbed a quick shower, got dressed in a pair of loose-fitting pajama pants, and glared at the pregnancy test lying in the drawer beside her toothpaste. Still in the box and just lying there tormenting her every time she brushed her teeth. She couldn’t be pregnant—she’d been on the pill for years and years. She kept telling herself that all the recent stress, not pregnancy, had caused her to miss a couple of periods. Losing her mother, finding out about her biological mother, not knowing whether she should even try to find her father. Then add on the fact that she was having trouble deciding whether to quit her job in Alabama and stay in Riverbend—all that would cause any woman to be irregular.

She slammed the drawer shut with force so she wouldn’t even have to see it. Sure, she wanted a family, but not now. Lots of women were starting a family in their early forties these days, and she was only thirty-eight, so that meant she had a few years left. She’d always plowed right into a problem, so why was she procrastinating and worrying about that test? If she was pregnant, the decision would be made for her about going back to Georgia in the fall. Here in Riverbend, she would have support and help. There she would be completely alone.

“I can’t think about this right now,” she muttered.

She went to the kitchen without turning on the light in the foyer, poured herself a glass of milk, and carried it to the back porch with intentions of watching the stars dance around the moon. She and her mother used to do that, and it always calmed her nerves.

Like the stars did the night you probably got pregnant? the pesky voice in her head asked.

“Hush!” she said as she stepped out onto the screened porch and remembered that last bittersweet night.

“I didn’t say a word,” Risa said from one end of the settee.

“Sorry,” Haley said with a sigh. “I was arguing with myself.”

“I’ve done that a lot lately,” Risa said.

“Oh, yeah.” Haley caught a whiff of whiskey, and her stomach did a roll. “Please don’t tell me you are drinking because Paul called and you’re all going back to Kentucky.”

“Where did that idea come from?” Risa asked.

“It’s just the scariest thing I could think of.” Haley crossed her fingers when she thought of that pregnancy test, because that scared her even worse.

She had invited Risa and the girls to live with her to be a help to them, but now they were there, she had figured out it was a two-way street. If that pregnancy test turned out to be positive, she sure would need support from them.