The Devine Doughnut Shop(85)

“And just think of the gossip if it got back to everyone in Devine. The girls who got Crystal and Kelsey in such horrible trouble were caught trying to smuggle drugs,” Audrey said.

Grace finished heating up sausage biscuits for breakfast and set them on the bar. “Speaking of those girls who are declaring that this is all your fault”—she glanced over at Raelene and Audrey—“the principal called me. The investigation is over. Neither set of parents wanted to appeal the decision that was made. You two will be going back to school on Monday morning.”

“Why didn’t their parents fight for them?” Raelene asked. “I figured that their fathers would use their positions to go to battle for the girls. Their mothers told everyone that we were the ones that got Crystal and Kelsey in trouble and none of it was their fault. I figured those two women wouldn’t be happy until the day they saw me and Audrey in jail for assault.”

“We’d never let that happen,” Beezy assured her with a pat on the shoulder.

“It was all verified when the investigation team looked at tapes from the school cameras,” Grace added.

“What about my scholarship?” Raelene asked.

“That’s still up in the air. We can look into things better when we get back,” Grace answered to soothe her. “Y’all come on over here and grab a biscuit and some juice. Are you ready to get back in school?”

“I am,” Audrey said. “My old friends have been texting me and Raelene. And guess what, Mama? I’ve pulled all my grades up while we’ve been on vacation.”

Sarah poured herself a glass of juice and picked up a biscuit. “Looks like everything is working out.”

“Except for my scholarship,” Raelene said with a sigh as she slid off a barstool and headed toward the kitchen.

“Girl, don’t you worry one bit about that,” Sarah told her. “I’ll make sure you get an education if that scholarship falls through.”

Raelene got the milk from the refrigerator and poured two glasses full. “I couldn’t let you do that—not after everything you’ve already done.”

Grace wasn’t sure if it was the right time to bring up the internship for Butler Enterprises or not. She remembered her mother saying something about seizing the opportunity while it was there instead of waiting to chase it down the road when it was a mile away. “Just how much do you have your heart set on that nursing program, Raelene?”

“That junior college was the best offer I’ve gotten, and the two-year program for nursing would give me what I need to support myself quicker than any other job,” Raelene answered and handed off one of the glasses of milk to Audrey. “I wouldn’t have the money to go on to a university without borrowing a lot—and I mean a lot—to go on for two more years. It seemed to be the best chance I had.”

“But do you really want to be a nurse?” Grace pressed on. “What was your dream when you were a little girl?”

“I wanted to be a princess, and then last year I wanted to be famous,” Audrey piped up, and then downed half the milk. “Both of those seem kind of silly right now.”

“Nursing wasn’t my first choice,” Raelene admitted. “I just wanted to be smart, and my Granny told me that it didn’t matter what other people thought of me, or what they said, or how I dressed. She said it didn’t take money or beauty to use my brain.”

Grace might not have believed in fate before, but she sure did at that moment. What else could explain everything that had happened in the past few weeks?

“How about you, Audrey? When you got past being a princess and being famous, what’s been your dream?” Grace asked.

“Why are you so interested in all this? Do you know something the rest of us don’t?” Macy asked.

“I do,” Grace replied with a nod, “but first, I want to hear what Audrey has to say.” She turned to face her daughter. “You’ve got two more years before you go to college and try to figure out what you want to do—but if you had to decide today, what would that be?”

Audrey fidgeted on the barstool. “I don’t want to hurt y’all’s feelings, but I would not want to run a doughnut shop. I want a job where I . . .” She hesitated.

“Where you what?” Grace pressured.

“Speak up, child,” Beezy said. “You’re not going to hurt our feelings. The shop has had a good, long run, and everything has an expiration date at some time. Maybe not this year or even this generation, but nothing on this earth lasts forever.”

“Dinosaur bones seem to,” Audrey argued. “But I want a job where I go to work at nine, get off at five, wear pretty shoes, and have an office of my own.” She paused again before adding, “With a view. Now, why are you asking all these questions, Mama?”

Fate or opportunity or the universe has surely come knocking on our door, Grace thought. She inhaled deeply, finished the last bite of her sausage biscuit, and took a drink of orange juice.

“Delores hires one intern each summer to help her in the office at Travis’s company, and he hires one intern each year to work with a team that he calls his ‘think tank kids.’ He asked about you girls, and I told him it was up to you. You would get paid minimum wage for the summer, a bonus at the end of the year. If you work out, Raelene, in that particular job for Travis, then you would have a scholarship to whatever college you want to go to, and you can study whatever you really want to study. The catch is that he would want you to come back to Butler Enterprises and work for him in the think tank, depending on what your master’s or doctorate direction turns out to be,” Grace explained.