The Strawberry Hearts Diner(83)

“How long has it been since someone hid an engagement ring in a tart at the diner?” Emily asked as they walked four abreast on the path from the diner to the house.

“Must have been last Valentine’s Day,” Nettie answered. “Eddie Don Anderson proposed to Melanie Drumright that day. He put her ring right in the top. It was so pretty that I took a picture of it.”

“We should have taken a picture every time and kept a scrapbook,” Emily said. “So Jancy, you want Shane to propose that way?”

“Hey!” Jancy threw up both palms. “I’m not rushing into anything. If the past has taught me anything at all, it’s to slow down and think about things.”

Nettie crossed the porch and sat down in the swing. “One of you young’uns bring out some good cold lemonade. That breeze feels like it’s comin’ from a bake oven.”

“I’ll do it.” Jancy disappeared into the house.

Vicky sat down on the top porch step, and Emily joined Nettie in the swing.

“I love this time of evening when we can get some fresh air.” Nettie sighed.

“Something that don’t smell like grease or strawberries?” Vicky asked.

“Never thought I’d hear either of you say something like that.” Emily kicked off her shoes and rolled up the legs of her jeans.

“Never thought I’d say it,” Vicky said. “What time is Ryder picking you up this evening?”

“In half an hour. I’ve got time to grab a quick shower and get dressed,” she answered. “All four of us are going up to the lake for a swim.”

“Not a very exciting date,” Vicky said.

“The excitement isn’t where you go, Mama. It’s who you go with. And you should encourage Andy a little. He gets stars in his eyes when he looks at you.”

“Listen to her,” Nettie said. “She’s a smart kid.”

“Amen.” Vicky’s head bobbed up and down several times. “She really is smart, but I’ve got too much on my plate for romance. Besides, those stars in your eyes are because you are so in love right now.”

“What’s this ‘right now’ business? I’m going to be in love with Ryder until we die at the same minute, and then we’ll hold hands and go to heaven together.”

Vicky shuddered. “Don’t talk like that.”

Emily hugged her tightly. “It won’t happen until we’re married eighty years. We have it all planned.”

Nettie shook a finger at Emily. “Don’t make plans like that, or God will get out the monkey wrench.”

“He already did. The birth control pills failed and I had to deal with Nicole—lordy, but I hate that name. In both instances it didn’t pull us apart but made us closer,” Emily said.

Nettie kicked off her shoes. “Like I said before, we got a smart kid.”



The sun was setting behind the trees on the far side of the lake that evening when they arrived. Shane had a quilt draped over his arm as they made their way from Ryder’s truck to the shoreline. He flipped it out under the drooping branches of a weeping willow tree. Emily and Ryder went on down the banks of the lake toward a swimming hole they’d all used since they were in high school.

“I love this place. W-we don’t come out here often enough,” Shane said.

“Never been here before right now,” Jancy said.

“Ahhh, come on! Surely you w-went swimmin’ wh-when you lived in Pick, didn’t you?”

She shook her head. “Not one time, but I love it. It can be our special place from now on. I’ve always pictured a little white house with a weeping willow in the backyard. In my mind I can see the wind blowing the limbs and kids playing chase in and out around it.”

“I’ll plant one tomorrow,” Shane said. “You said you had something to tell m-me and then the girls interrupted us.”

“When my car first caught on fire, I thought I was the unluckiest person alive. Then I got to feelin’ like maybe I was the luckiest, since I met you because of that fire and I’ve got these friends who are like family.” She hesitated.

He moved over close enough to draw her to his side with an arm around her shoulders. “I like that you turned things around,” he whispered next to her ear, his warm breath on her neck creating a quiver deep in her heart.

“Luck don’t last.” She sighed.

“We m-make our own luck, and love lasts when luck plays plumb out,” he answered. “Look at all those beautiful colors reflected in the w-water. It’s almost as gorgeous as you are.”

“Okay.” She inhaled deeply and told him everything about the probation, including why she’d been leaving Texas at the time she did.

“Is that all?” Shane asked when she’d finished.

“Every bit of it,” she said.

“I have a confession to make,” he said.

Her stomach tightened into a knot, and she held her hands so tightly in her lap that they began to tingle.

“I knew that three days after you got here and, Jancy, I don’t care about any of it,” he said.

Her eyes felt as if they might pop right out of her head and roll around on the grass until they reached the water. “How? What? How did you . . .”