Small Town Rumors(10)

But first, she was using a few dollars to buy a decent breakfast at the café. After that she’d go to the cemetery to visit her daughter’s grave, and then she’d get on the bus and never look back.

“Hey, Frank, reckon I could borrow a car? I’ll leave it at the bus station,” she said when she reached the garage.

Frank was bent over her mother’s Caddy and raised up slowly with a hand on his lower back. He’d always been tall, thin, and lanky, but right then she realized how much he’d aged in the past couple of years. Working for her mother would age anyone. Hell, he and Mabel had practically raised her. Wrinkles were etched into his long, slender face, and his hair had gone completely gray.

He raised an eyebrow. “Where are you goin’? Mabel told me about your troubles, child. You should stay here where people love you.”

“I can’t live like this, Frank,” she said.

“Wait till Dill gets home, honey. He’ll straighten out all this between you and your mama. She’ll come around and let you have bacon.” Frank grinned. “Don’t remember you ever goin’ through a rebellious streak as a teenager. Why now?”

“It’s more than bacon. I’ll gladly drive the old work truck.”

Nicky came in from outside and tossed his work gloves in the old truck. “I’ve got to go to the feed store to get a load of fertilizer, so I’ll be glad to give you a ride to Bloom, but the bus don’t come through for another few hours.”

“Thank you.” Jennie Sue threw her suitcase into the bed of the truck.

He brushed his dark hair back with his fingertips. His face was angular with just a hint of a chin dimple, and his muscles testified that he worked hard at his job.

“Now, exactly where do you want to go to wait for the bus?” He opened the door for her before getting into the truck himself, then put on a pair of wraparound sunglasses and started the engine.

“The Main Street Café,” she said. “You’ll pass it on your way through town.”

“Been there lots of times. Love their breakfast. Best pancakes in the state.”

“Thanks.” The idea of warm syrup over buttered pancakes almost erased the bitter taste of the argument.

The old truck rattled to a stop in front of the café. Nicky hopped out, retrieved Jennie Sue’s suitcase, and set it on the sidewalk as she got out of the truck. She picked it up and headed for the first open booth in the café, set it on the seat across the table from her, and picked up a menu stuck between the ketchup and the napkin dispenser.

“What can I get you? Well, my goodness, I didn’t even recognize you, Jennie Sue,” the waitress said.

“Hello, Elaine. I hear that you own this place now. That right?” Jennie Sue asked.

“Yep, it is. Bought it last year when my husband got killed in a car wreck. The settlement wouldn’t support me the rest of my life. All I’d ever known was cleaning house, cookin’, and raisin’ a couple of kids. Figured I could run a café, so here I am. My mama watches my two boys, and Cricket Lawson stayed on as part-time help,” she said.

Jennie Sue glanced over the menu. “I’m sorry to hear about your husband, but good for you for takin’ control of your own life. And you’re blessed to have family to help you.”

“I couldn’t do it without them,” Elaine said.

“While we were drivin’ here, Nicky said I should get the big country breakfast, so I’ll take that and maybe a big glass of milk.”

“No coffee?”

“Nope, just drank several cups,” Jennie Sue answered.

“Then it will be right out.”

Elaine hadn’t changed much since high school. She’d been a few years ahead of Jennie Sue and had always been super sweet, but she’d never quite fit in with the popular girls. She’d worn her dark hair long in those days, but now it was short and she’d gained probably twenty pounds. Jennie Sue wondered if Elaine’s mother ever fussed at her about the extra weight.

“Well, well, well! Are you leaving us already? You only got here yesterday.” Lettie shoved the suitcase over and sat down across the table from Jennie Sue. Short, as round as Mabel, and sporting a kinky hairdo that had gone out of style years ago, Lettie hadn’t changed since Jennie Sue was a little girl.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jennie Sue answered. “How have you been, Miz Lettie?”

“Elaine, I’ll have a big stack of pancakes and two orders of bacon,” Lettie called out across the café.

“Got it,” Elaine yelled.

“So where are you going?” Lettie turned back to Jennie Sue.

“To find a job,” she answered.

“What kind of skills and experience do you have?”

Elaine crossed the floor and set Jennie Sue’s breakfast in front of her. “Millie will bring out your order shortly, Miz Lettie.”

“No rush. Just send me a cup of coffee, and I’ll be happy until it gets here.” Lettie waved her away with a flick of the wrist and turned back to Jennie Sue. “Now, you were about to tell me about your work experience.”

Jennie Sue picked up the saltshaker and applied an unhealthy dose to her eggs. “I have no experience, but I do have a business degree. The only thing I’m good at is keeping a clean house and organizing fund-raisers and parties.”