The Strawberry Hearts Diner(35)

“I just like things settled and planned out,” Vicky said.

“Don’t know what to tell you about that,” Jancy said. “In my world, things were never settled or planned.”

“Will you talk to her?” Vicky asked.

“Every day.” Jancy smiled.

“I mean about this crazy notion.” Vicky sighed.

“I’m the last person you should ask to do that. You know about . . .” Jancy stumbled over the words.

“You are probably the best person for the job,” Nettie said.

Emily poked her face into the window. “Hey, I could use some help out here.”

“Sure thing.” Jancy passed her on the way back out into the dining room, where she picked up an order pad, wrote on it, and then handed it to Shane.

Shane shook his head. “It’s Ryder’s turn to pay for breakfast. Give it to him.”

“This is not a bill. It’s my new cell phone number,” Jancy said.

Ryder reached for it, but Shane snatched it away.

His fingertips grazed hers, and the little bit of chemistry did not surprise her one bit. “Thank you, Jancy. I’ll get it programmed into my phone soon as we leave.”

She refilled their coffee cups and carried the pot down the counter, making sure everyone had a warm-up. When she reached the end, Ryder was standing there with his billfold in his hand. “Shane was right. It’s my morning to pay. And Jancy”— he lowered his voice—“don’t break his heart. He’s my friend and . . .”

She rang up the amount and took the bills he offered. “I won’t. I promise.”

“W-we ready to go?” Shane walked up behind Ryder as Jancy made change. “I’ll call you this evenin’.”

“Be lookin’ for it.” Jancy smiled.

Half an hour later, the diner was suddenly empty. Vicky cleaned off the last table in the deafening silence and grabbed the broom to give the floors a quick sweeping before the next onslaught of customers, but Nettie took it from her hands.

“It don’t look too bad. Let’s eat right here in the kitchen. Jancy, would you pour four cups of coffee? Emily, you help her bring them back here.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Emily groaned. “I didn’t know there were even that many people in Pick.”

“There’s not. Some of them were from Frankston and up in Berryville,” Vicky said. “Some of them are most likely sent from Carlton to see what’s going on today and to pick up any gossip. I hope they heard Ryder offer to hang his carcass on a barbed-wire fence.”

“Like they do coyotes?” Emily brought in two cups of coffee.

“Exactly,” Nettie said. “I’d pay Ryder in free lunches if he’d put him on the fence for me.”

“Nettie!” Jancy exclaimed.

“It’s the truth.” Nettie shrugged.

“Why don’t I give y’all another truth to shriek about,” Vicky said with a sidelong look at her daughter. “Emily says that she’s finishing up the last of her degree with online classes.”

“At least she isn’t quittin’ altogether,” Nettie said. “Y’all had better get busy eatin’. The next rush will hit in half an hour.”

“You can do that? Take classes online?” Jancy put two sausage patties on her plate along with a scoop of scrambled eggs and a couple of biscuits.

“Sure. You want to take some with me?” Emily crammed a biscuit full of eggs and bacon and ate it while three pancakes cooked on the griddle.

“Probably not right now, but I might sometime in the future.” Jancy carried her plate to the table, pulled up a bar stool, and concentrated on eating.

“Do you have a boyfriend here in Pick? Is that why you don’t want to go back to school? Who is it?” Vicky demanded, barely nibbling on a piece of toast.

“I wondered if that’s what was making her so antsy,” Nettie said. “Shane is interested in Jancy. All the other guys that amount to anything at all are married, and she’s got better sense than to get tangled up with Ryder.”

“Emily is twenty-one, isn’t she?” Jancy asked.

“Twenty-two on May 1,” Emily said over her shoulder. “And I’m right here. I can hear you talkin’ about me.”

“I was twenty-two on Valentine’s Day,” Jancy said. “No disrespect, Vicky, but I think we are both old enough to date. We could even get into a bar, order a drink, and vote.”

Emily set a plate in front of Nettie. “Thank you, Jancy. Bacon or sausage, Nettie?”

“Both. I expect the doctor is going to fuss at me tomorrow about my cholesterol, so today I’ll eat what I want,” Nettie answered. “And if Emily had a boyfriend, she couldn’t keep it a secret from us. Lord, she even told us when she went to get birth control pills.”

“For real? My mama had no idea that I went to the health department and got pills,” Jancy said.

“I should’ve gotten . . . no, I’m wrong,” Vicky said. “If I hadn’t gotten pregnant and had Emily, I never would have survived that year after my mother and my husband both died. Knowing that I had a little bit of him . . . Well, anyway, that’s what kept me going. Along with Nettie’s constant naggin’ at me.”