The Strawberry Hearts Diner(48)

“There won’t be any fights. My word is the law,” Nettie protested.

Emily rounded the end of the bed and hugged Vicky. “Jancy and I are doing a good job, but we’ll sure be glad to have you back in the diner. The guys do what they can, but they aren’t you.”

“Thanks.” Vicky smiled. “Send a text when you get home so I know y’all are safe.”

“Will do, and call me soon as you know what time the surgery is going to happen. We’ll drop everything and get down here if you need us. Good night, Mama.”

“’Night,” Vicky said.

“Did you feel something strange goin’ on?” Nettie asked as soon as the room was cleared.

“I don’t know for sure.”

“What are we goin’ to do if she’s got a thing for Ryder Jensen?”

“If she does, it’s just happenin’ now. She always had a good head on her shoulders. When we get home we’ll ask her outright, but I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Maybe the sparks were from Shane and Jancy. We could be imagining things.”

“Maybe.” Nettie sighed. “I’m so tired of this bed. I just want to go home. Promise me when it’s my time to die, you’ll let me do it at home.”

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Promise or I won’t even get the pacemaker. I’m already at the three score and ten and I’ve had a good life, but I do not want to step off into eternity in a place like this. I want you and Emily, and maybe even Jancy if we get to keep her, standing with me to support me when I breathe my last,” Nettie said.

Vicky’s voice cracked as she spoke. “I promise.”

“Good. Now let’s get some sleep.”

The good-luck/bad-luck thing wasn’t supposed to start until the first day of summer, not three weeks before. Vicky shut her eyes and pulled the hospital blanket up to her chin, but it didn’t do a thing to warm the chill in her heart.



Shane and Jancy sat in the back seat of Ryder’s truck. The ice cream had done nothing to cool her off. Her hand felt small in his big paw. She’d never known a guy like Shane. Most of the ones she’d dated wouldn’t have been happy just to sit beside her and hold her hand.

Ryder turned on the radio to a classic country station, and every song seemed to reach right into her heart and deliver the message that she should stay in Pick, Texas, for a while.

“W-words to all the songs are talkin’ right at us, aren’t they?” Shane whispered just before his lips found hers in a steamy kiss.

“Shane, you deserve better.”

“You let me be the judge of that.” He pulled her close enough that she could lay her head on his shoulder.

“I Want to Be Loved Like That” by Shenandoah started, and Ryder sang along with the lyrics that said he was the high school rebel and she was the teenage queen. Emily touched his face and leaned over the console to kiss him.

When the song ended, he took Emily’s hand in his. “I can’t believe you are really goin’ to marry this old sinner and we are going to have a beautiful baby together.”

“I’m so glad she told you,” Shane whispered to Jancy. “I thought it would be great to talk to someone about it, but wh-when I’m with you all I w-want to do is talk about us.”

“Vicky is going to stroke out,” Jancy whispered.

“Naw, she’ll throw a fit, but she’ll be all right when sees how much Ryder loves Emily. It’s Nettie that I worry about,” Shane said.

“I think Nettie has already figured out part of it,” Jancy said.

“Good,” Shane said.

Ryder pulled up in the driveway. “Home. It’s late. We’ll see y’all at noon tomorrow.”

“I’ll walk you to the door,” Shane said.

“And I’ll make out with Ryder on the tailgate until you get back, Shane.” Emily giggled.

“Gladly,” Ryder chuckled.

When Shane and Jancy made it to the door, he traced her cheek and tipped up her chin for a long, passionate kiss. If she hadn’t had a wall to lean on, her legs would have buckled. The kiss ended, and she leaned in for a second one. She fought the urge to reach out and pull his arms around her again when he finally took a step back. Never in her life had she wanted to take a man’s hand and lead him to her bedroom more than she did right then.

“I’ll see you at noon tomorrow. I like w-workin’ w-with you, Jancy. Maybe w-we missed our callin’. We should have gotten together right out of high school and put in a restaurant.”

“Or I should have taken car repair with you at vo-tech and helped you work on vehicles,” she said. “Good night, Shane.”

He whistled back to the car, and in a few minutes Emily appeared out of the darkness, her hair all a mess and her lips bee-stung from so many kisses.

“It will be such a relief to get all this out in the open. I love Ryder so much, but I hate this secrecy,” she said as she unlocked the door. “We’ve got to get you a key made, Jancy.”

“You don’t hate it a bit more than I do. I was glad that Vicky left the room for a little while. I felt guilty sitting there, knowing and not being able to tell her. She’s liable to fire me when she finds out.”