Riverbend Reunion(94)

Daisy rushed over to the window and draped an arm over her mother’s shoulders. “We knew this might happen.”

“And there’s Lulu pulling up right beside her,” Oscar noted.

“I wonder if they’ve enlisted the whole congregation to come out here and just park so that folks will think we’re full?” Haley asked.

Jessica kept checking on the lot for the next half hour. No one else showed up, and at ten minutes until opening, she began to get really antsy. At first, she’d thought Stella was just a big bag of hot wind, but maybe the woman had more influence over the town than Jessica had realized.

Then vehicles began to arrive, two and three at a time. Men and women alike who were definitely military got out of trucks and cars and gathered in clusters to talk. Then Stella and Lulu got out of their cars and started putting brochures on windows. A few folks grabbed them, glanced through them in a couple of seconds, and tossed them on the ground.

“Looks like our job tomorrow after church is going to be cleaning up the parking lot,” Zach said.

“Kind of looks that way,” Wade said with a wide grin. “Okay, folks, it’s time, and it looks like the parking lot is full.”

“I see folks coming down the road,” Haley said. “That means they’re parking way out there and walking in. We’re going to have a good grand opening.”

“In spite of what my mother is doing,” Risa growled. “Y’all hold down the fort. I’m going out there.”

“Don’t give her the satisfaction,” Haley said. “She just wants to get a rise out of you.”

“Let me take care of this one,” Oscar said. “From the way the folks are crowding up to the door, you are needed in here. Man your posts, everyone. Mary Nell, Zach, and Wade need to be behind the bar. Risa and the girls, get ready for a rush. Jessica and Haley will be working the floor, and I’m going to be everywhere after I come in from the parking lot.”

“But . . . ,” Risa started to argue.

Oscar laid a hand on her shoulder. “What I’ve got in mind will work better than anything you could say or do.”

“We need you too badly around here for you to be thrown in jail,” Risa said.

“She’s right,” Jessica agreed. “Let me go talk to Stella.”

“I’ll take Jessica with me as a witness if that will make y’all feel better. Looks like our first rush might be more interested in beer and shots than in food. The porch is full of military folks.” Oscar headed for the door leading out of the kitchen and down the hallway. “Jessica and I are going out the back door. Wade, you start the music at exactly six o’clock and wait by the coatrack to kind of welcome the newest folks. Jessica, you get the key so you can unlock the door and let ’em in.”

Jessica trusted Oscar, so she followed him, but she sure hoped the argument that was bound to happen wouldn’t cause the customers to turn and run. She glanced over at the wooden cross marking the spot where she and Wade had buried the coffee can holding her folks’ ashes, and then toward the barn, where she could see her old RV sitting. Zach was fitting in well with their eclectic group.

“What do you want me to do?” Jessica asked when they had rounded the end of the building.

“When you hear the music, open the door and turn ’em loose,” Oscar answered. “The rest is my job.”

“What are you going to do?” Jessica hoped that Oscar wouldn’t land in jail for whatever he had planned.

“I’m going to fix the Stella problem,” Oscar said with a nod, “so that it’s over and done with. Hey, Tommy!” He waved. “You here to take pictures for the Riverbend Weekly News?”

“Yep, I am. Does that get me a drink on the house?” Tommy teased.

“You bet it does, if you’ll take a picture of me dancing and put it on the front page,” Oscar yelled above the noise.

“You got it.” Tommy gave him a thumbs-up.

Jessica had to weave among dozens of people to get to the bar’s front door to unlock it. When she heard the first notes of the music, she raised the key and yelled, “Welcome to the grand opening of Danny’s Place.” Then she unlocked the door and stood to one side.

She didn’t count, but it seemed like twenty or thirty people had gone inside when suddenly there was Stella in the middle of the crowd, with Oscar right beside her. She looked absolutely mortified, and he had a huge grin on his face.

“Turn me loose,” she growled as she passed Jessica.

“I’m afraid you’ll get trampled.” Oscar winked at Jessica and nodded toward the foyer. “The Good Book tells me to love my enemies. I don’t want to get thrown out of heaven for not protecting you from all these people.”

“I will not step foot in this place of iniquity,” Stella hissed.

Jessica whipped around in front of the next customer and followed them inside. “Danny Boy” had finished playing and “My Church” had started when Oscar marched Stella out onto the dance floor, grabbed her hand, and swung her out, then brought her back to his chest. Several flashes from phones and a big one from Tommy’s camera lit up the dance floor.

“You are the devil’s spawn,” Stella said in a loud voice.

Oscar wrapped his arms around Stella and held her so tight that she couldn’t get away. He whispered something in her ear and more flashes went off. When the lyrics asked for a hallelujah, everyone shouted.