The Devine Doughnut Shop(16)

Raelene looked across the table at Audrey and didn’t even blink when she said, “I don’t want to be your friend, Audrey. Why would I want to hang out with someone who treats me like you do?”

Audrey looked like she had been hit by a streak of lightning. “But . . . everyone wants to be popular,” she sputtered.

“Not me. Popularity is overrated,” Raelene said.

Sarah chuckled for the first time that day. “Good for you for figuring that out, Raelene. And, Audrey, I would like to know: What will you do when the money runs out? It won’t last forever with that lifestyle.”

“I will marry a rich man,” Audrey said with half a smile.

“Good luck with that,” Grace muttered.

“Amen!” Sarah agreed.





Chapter Four


Grace felt as if a stone were sitting in her chest where her heart used to be when she and Sarah left the house to go for a drive that afternoon. The only thing she could imagine was that whatever her sister had to tell her must concern Audrey. All kinds of scenarios played out in her mind: Sarah had seen Audrey with a fake ID at the bar she frequented on Saturday nights. Or she’d heard that Audrey had been smoking more than cigarettes. She had been such a problem child since she began her sophomore year that nothing would surprise Grace—and yet she sent up a prayer that the news Sarah had wouldn’t be anything to do with her daughter.

“Okay, spit it out,” Grace said the moment that her sister had driven around to the front of the doughnut shop and parked in the middle of the gravel lot.

“This is probably far enough that no one can sneak up on us and eavesdrop.” Sarah checked the rearview and side mirrors, turned the engine off, and faced her sister. “First of all, I’m sorry for the way I treated you when Justin left. And for the way I talked to you when Mama passed away. Blaming you being pregnant for her death wasn’t right.”

“Good Lord!” Grace gasped. “What brought all this on fifteen years after the fact? And I don’t remember you treating me so badly or blaming me for anything.”

“I didn’t verbally, but I did in my heart, and that’s just as bad,” Sarah said after a long sigh. “I thought you were a fool to even date Justin in high school. Then Mama died, and I needed to be angry at someone. My whole life changed. You were supposed to be old enough to know better than to get pregnant. And I might have been on probation the next semester of college, but at least I wouldn’t have been in Devine, Texas, working at a doughnut shop for the rest of my life.”

Grace grimaced. “Again, what brought all this on now? I thought we were all happy running the shop together.”

“We are now, but here lately I’ve been itching to settle down and have children of my own. I’ve loved helping you raise Audrey, but . . .” Sarah paused. “I was hoping for someone to share my life with, and maybe even have a daughter or two to carry on the family business since Macy is determined to have all boys.”

A little of the rock in Grace’s chest chipped away. “Boys can make doughnuts just as well as girls—and from the expression on your face, this isn’t just about me getting pregnant or raising Audrey as a single mother. I can tell something is wrong. Are you pregnant? Do you have a boyfriend that you’ve been keeping secret? Maybe a bad boy like . . .” Grace gasped. “Don’t tell me that Justin has come back and you’re dating him.”

“Good Lord, no to most of that!” Sarah answered. “But you nailed it on the secret boyfriend. Right after Thanksgiving, I met a guy named Joel at a bar up near Hondo, and we hit it off from that first night. He said he didn’t usually go to honky-tonks. I said I was there to have a few drinks and dance some leather off my boots, like I do every Saturday night. By Christmas, we were skipping the bar and going straight to a cheap motel that I usually paid for. I rationalized it by telling myself that I would spend that much or more on drinks.”

“And you fell in love,” Grace said with a smile.

“I did,” Sarah whispered, “and I fell out of love this morning. Evidently, Joel’s phone came out of his pocket and had slid up under the bed. I spilled coffee and was cleaning up the mess when I found it.” Her voice cracked, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Grace laid a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “Go on.”

“I understand what you must have felt back then.” Sarah covered Grace’s hand with hers. “I found out this morning that he was married. I’ve been seeing him every Saturday for almost four months, and we’ve talked and texted every day. I was going to ask him to come to Sunday dinner and meet y’all today.”

“What happened?” Grace could feel her sister’s pain so much that she wanted to find this Joel man and kick his ass.

“I grabbed the phone, and a picture of a woman and three kids popped up on the screen. The text said happy anniversary and that they’d be going to a hotel to celebrate,” Sarah went on softly. “I’ve been sleeping with a married man who was telling his wife that he was playing cards all night with his buddies.”

“What did you do?” Grace asked. “Did you beat him to death with a hotel lamp? Do I need to provide an alibi for you?”

“I laid the phone and the heart necklace that he had given me for Christmas on my pillow and walked out the door. His wife was wearing the same necklace, so evidently, he gave us each one—the sorry bastard. I went out to my truck with intentions of coming straight home, but . . .” Sarah took a breath. “I was mad at myself for being duped, mad at Joel for conning me. I was shaking too bad to drive, so I just sat there in my truck for a few minutes and tried to calm down. That’s when the door to the room right next to Joel’s and mine opened. A woman and man stepped out and made out like a couple of teenagers for a few minutes. Grace, it was Neal! The woman was Darla Jo!” She went on to tell Grace about Joel’s wife showing up and what had happened.