Small Town Rumors(60)

“Might make us the same age,” Jennie Sue answered without mentioning that her skinny jeans fit a lot better than Nadine’s loose ones. “Please tell me that you didn’t drive.” The window was too fogged up for her to see if Nadine’s van was parked by the curb.

“Nope, caught a ride with Rick when he brought me a gallon of strawberries. I’m makin’ jam this afternoon. He was takin’ produce to the café, so I got a box of goodies, and he dropped me here. Lettie is comin’ down in a little while, and she can take me home,” Nadine answered. “Where’s Amos?”

“He called last night and said he was going to Sweetwater this mornin’. Something about flowers for Iris’s grave.” Jennie Sue reached inside the box and chose a doughnut with chocolate icing and sprinkles.

“He needs to sell this place. It was Iris’s dream store, not his.”

Jennie Sue devoured the first doughnut and reached for one with maple icing. “It’s probably hard to let it go—it reminds him of good times with her.”

“She’s been gone now for years, and the place looks like crap. When she was alive, she kept it all dusted and in some kind of order. If I wanted a Sue Grafton book or a Mary Burton, all I had to do was ask Iris, and she’d take me right to them. Amos just puts books any old place.” She reached for her second pastry. “You’re doin’ a good thing here. I can feel Iris smilin’ over my shoulder.”

Jennie Sue licked the sticky sweetness from her fingers, finished off her coffee, and went back to work. “Thank you, Nadine, I appreciate that.”

“Well.” Nadine pursed her lips in a gesture that Jennie Sue recognized as her bearer-of-bad-news expression. “I heard that Cricket was pretty mad last night. She called Elaine and said that Rick wouldn’t even listen to her, that he went to his room with an armload of books and slammed the door.”

“I hate that,” Jennie Sue groaned. “I just wanted to help him pick vegetables, not create another problem. I should’ve had him bring me home earlier.”

“Cricket has a burr in her underbritches and needs to get over it. Jealousy is an ugly thing. Lettie and I had a long talk with her yesterday, but I guess it didn’t take as good as we wanted. Some folks have to learn things the hard way,” Nadine said. “Now let’s talk about what you and Rick were doin’ down at the creek. Lettie said he kissed you.”

A vision of his deep-green eyes as they fluttered shut, leaving his dark lashes to rest on high cheekbones, flashed through her mind. She blinked away the image and nodded. “Yes, he did, but it was the moment.” She went on to tell Nadine about wading and her foot slipping.

“Sounds to me like fate. I’ve learned that you should never argue with fate.” Nadine took out another doughnut and shut the box. “If it’s open, I’ll eat them until it’s empty.”

“Hey, where all you at?” Lettie called out at the same time the bell above the door rang. “I brought brownies.”

Nadine grabbed the box of doughnuts and hurried toward the office with them. “We’re over here in the new mystery section. I’ll get you a mug of coffee. Bring a chair with you.”

Lettie must’ve gotten a chair with no rubber caps on the legs. Jennie Sue covered both ears, and Nadine yelled, “For God’s sake, Lettie, pick that chair up. That sounds like fingernails scraping against a blackboard.”

“Oh, hush,” Lettie hollered. “Nothing is that bad.”

The mention of blackboards made Jennie Sue think of school. “Maybe I should’ve studied education. Texas is always needing teachers. I wonder, if I got my education credential, if I could get a job right here in Bloom teaching high school.”

“Why would you do that? Kids today are all about entertainment, not learnin’.” Lettie popped the chair out, sat down, and put a plate of warm brownies in the exact spot where the doughnuts had been. “Have one while they’re hot. Nadine, you goin’ to take all day with that coffee?”

“I’m right here. You don’t have to yell at me. And I’d be for anything that would keep you in Bloom. I’d even be willin’ to pay for your education and put in a word for you at the school.” She put a cup in her sister’s hands and reached for a brownie. “Now what did you hear about Belinda this mornin’?”

Just like that, another avenue opened up to Jennie Sue that would keep her in Bloom. Classes would start in the fall if she wanted to go that route. She could probably get what she needed in a year, and then she’d be ready to start teaching. She’d wanted something to help her make the decision about what to do . . . Was this the answer?

“Where are you woolgatherin’ at?” Nadine touched her on the arm.

“My future. I’m havin’ a lot of trouble making the decision about whether to stay in Bloom or not,” Jennie Sue answered, knowing the sisters deserved her honesty.

“We want you to stay, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you, but, honey, the final decision has to be yours or you’ll always wonder if you made the right one,” Lettie said.

“Thank you both. I think we were talkin’ about Aunt Belinda.”

Lettie and Nadine both cocked their heads to the right at the same time.

“It’s a Sweetwater Belle thing that I have trouble shaking. All of us kids were encouraged to call them ‘aunt,’ since they referred to themselves as sorority sisters,” she explained. “Go on about Belinda.”