Riverbend Reunion(72)

“Oh. My. Goodness.” Haley let all the pent-up air out in a whoosh. “Are you going to work at the school with him?”

“Oh, hell no!” Amanda said clearly. “But neither is he. He’s resigned already and he’ll be going to work for my friend’s daddy in the oil business. He and Missy are moving to Mexico. I hope she’s got enough sense to make him sign a prenup.”

“That would be good,” Haley said.

“Thanks for talking to me. I just needed to vent,” Amanda said. “I’m going home to Marion, Virginia, for the rest of the summer. I’ll find a teaching job around that area so I can be close to my folks.”

“Glad to be of help,” Haley said. “I wish you all the best.”

“Thanks again. Bye, now,” Amanda said.

Haley slumped down in a chair just in time to hear a phone ring again. She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and gave thanks it wasn’t her ringtone this time. She’d had enough of the past coming back to haunt her, and tomorrow she was changing her phone number.



Risa had just finished reading through the divorce papers that had come in the mail that day. Basically, the wording was easy to understand—she could have what she brought into the marriage, plus full custody of the girls, just like Paul had said. She signed her name on the lines where the lawyer had put a yellow sticker and slipped the papers back into the self-addressed, stamped envelope that had been provided, and tucked it into her purse. She would mail it tomorrow on her way to work.

The setting sun threw a yellow glow across the kitchen floor and reminded her of the color of that little sticker designating the place for her to sign the papers. “Yellow is my new favorite color,” she said with a smile.

How do you really feel about that? Haley’s voice popped into her head.

“Relieved,” she muttered, “and yet a little sad that Paul and I won’t enjoy being grandparents together some day.”

Her phone rang before she could fully analyze her feelings, and she fished it out of the hip pocket of her jeans. When she saw that it was Paul, a dark cloud covered the sun and the pretty rays spreading across the tile floor disappeared.

“Hello, and before you ask, I signed the divorce papers and have them ready to mail tomorrow morning,” she said in a curt voice.

“That’s good. I want this over with.” Paul’s tone was icy. “But I want to talk to my girls, not you, and neither of them are answering their phone.”

“They’re in the backyard practicing their cheers,” she said. “I’ll call them inside.”

“Cheers! You know how we feel about that!” he yelled.

She laid the phone on the table, crossed the room, and motioned for the girls to come inside. “Your dad is on the phone, and he’s pretty upset about both of you trying out for cheerleader.”

Lily marched over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down, then put the phone on speaker. “Hi, Daddy. How are things in Kentucky?”

“I just want you girls to know—” Paul began.

Daisy had gotten two bottles of water from the refrigerator and handed one to her sister before she sat down and interrupted him. “Hey, Daddy. What’s going on? We haven’t heard from you in weeks.”

He started again. “I just want you girls to know that even though your mother has custody of you, I would love to have you come back to Kentucky and live here with your family. Your grandmother and I miss you very much.”

“We miss the family, but we are happy here in Texas,” Lily said. “Tell all our cousins hello for us next Sunday. We’ve been texting and keeping up with them on FaceTime. We’re trying out for the cheerleading squad, and we’ve had a job working—”

Daisy poked her on the arm and finished the sentence for her. “We’ve been helping Mama out getting a restaurant ready to open.”

“Paul, where are you?” There was the sound of a door slamming and then Granny Martha’s voice. “Do you know what your daughters are doing? I just talked to Risa’s mother, Stella, and she says that Risa and the girls have been helping a friend of hers turn a church into a bar. We need to rethink those divorce papers. I will not have my granddaughters doing such a blasphemous thing.”

“Huh-oh!” Daisy said.

“I could strangle Granny Stella,” Lily whispered.

Risa had to hold on to the cabinet for a few seconds before the room stopped spinning. Lily glanced back at her, and she pasted on a smile.

“I’m fine,” she mouthed.

“Put me on speaker,” Martha said. “I’ve got something to say.”

“Girls, your grandmother wants to talk to you, so you are now on speaker,” Paul said.

“As if we couldn’t hear her before.” Daisy stood up and crossed over to hug her mother. “It’ll be all right.”

“Are you both there?” Martha asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Daisy and Lily answered at the same time.

“Is your Granny Stella telling me the truth?”

“She wouldn’t tell a lie. She’s too afraid of hell for that,” Lily answered.

Risa could imagine Martha’s expression. Lips pinched. Eyes narrowed. Jaw working like she was chewing gum.

“If I could take you away from your unfit mother and bring you home where you belong, I would,” Martha said.