The Magnolia Inn(69)

Sugar hit a few icons on her phone. “There’s one three miles ahead of us. Not this next exit but the one after that. When we get to the bottom of the ramp, turn right and it’s a quarter mile down that road.”

Half an hour later they were parked. Sugar made a fresh pot of coffee. She filled two mugs and carried them to the table. “Is it too soon to call Belinda about that house next to Flossie’s? Should we wait until we get there and look at everything on the market?”

“I liked the looks of that place when I looked it up, so call her and say we’re interested,” Jasper said. “It’s what we need—easy to maintain and yet big enough for our Sunday dinners. And for the grandchildren when Jolene decides to have a family.”

Sugar laid a hand on his shoulder. “What about when Reuben has kids?”

“Deep down in my heart I don’t think he’ll ever be involved with us, not like Jolene will.” Jasper’s voice sounded so sad that Sugar moved closer and hugged him.

“You do know that Jolene’s kids won’t really be our grandchildren.” Sugar sighed.

“Yep, they will. They’re goin’ to call me Gramps, and you’re going to be Granny,” Jasper said. “And we’re goin’ to spoil them. So we need to think about them when we buy a house. Do we want them to have some runnin’ room between our place and Flossie’s, or do we want them to live closer to town?”

“You’ve got your heart set on grandchildren, don’t you?” Sugar said.

“Yes, I do,” Jasper said.

Sugar slid out of the booth-type table and refilled their cups. “I can’t believe that we’re makin’ this decision.”

“Does it make you happy?” Jasper asked.

She nodded as she carried the full mugs back to the table. “Yes. How about you?”

“Yes, it does. Now make that phone call. And ask her to leave the utilities turned on so we can hook up to electricity and water. We can live in our home on wheels until we’re ready to move into the new place,” Jasper said.

Sugar hit the button to make the call and whispered, “But let’s keep it a secret and surprise all of them.”





Chapter Twenty-One

Jolene had barely gotten her coat off and hung on the back of a chair at the Gator when Lucy and Flossie came through the door. “I just thought I’d stop by a few minutes this morning. I had to come to town for milk and bread, and Tucker’s gone to Marshall to order some more supplies, so I had a free hour. But I wasn’t expecting to see all y’all here. Is it a bad time?”

“Definitely not. Lucy wanted to talk to us and you’re always welcome,” Dotty said.

Lucy slumped down in a chair and sighed. “Of course you’re welcome. We should’ve called you. I’ve got bad news.”

Jolene’s heart jumped up into her throat. She’d felt like something was amiss for a couple of days now and she couldn’t put her finger on why. Maybe it was just that things were going well and she was waiting for the other shoe to drop—like it always had.

“Me, too,” Flossie moaned.

Dotty threw up both hands. “I don’t have any news at all.”

Lucy’s hand went to her forehead in a dramatic gesture. “Everett and I broke up. I found out that sorry son of a bitch is married. He told me his wife was dead.”

“How in the hell did that happen? We’re supposed to keep up with the gossip better than this. And didn’t he say she’d died of cancer two years ago?” Dotty fumed.

Lucy pursed her lips and nodded. “He’s from south of the lake down where my folks took us to picnic in the summertime. Near Palestine. We can’t confirm the gossip from a place that far away.”

“Why was he even here in Jefferson?” Flossie asked.

Jolene wondered how many of the men her mother had brought home had a wife and kids at home. The thought had never crossed her mind before because all she’d wanted was for them to be gone or, better yet, to have never shown up in the first place.

“He came into the store looking for a special set of candlesticks for his sister’s birthday. I feel like a fool,” Lucy sighed. “A married man! My mama is probably rolling over in her grave.”

“How did you find out?” Dotty asked.

“His wife came into the store this morning. If she has any idea that she’s married to a philanderin’ fool, she didn’t let on a bit. She asked about the same set of candlesticks that Everett had looked at, and we got to talking. She bought a set of antique mixing bowls and gave me the credit card with Everett’s name on it.”

“Holy smoke,” Flossie gasped. “What did you do?”

Lucy sighed again. “I asked her for identification since that evidently wasn’t her card. She apologized, took it back, and handed me one with her name on it. She said that she’d taken her husband’s away from him because he didn’t have a lick of financial sense.”

“What did you do then?” Dotty asked.

“I asked her how long they’d been married, and she said forty-five years. And believe me, she didn’t look like she’d ever had cancer,” Lucy fumed.

“You think she knows about you and her husband and was just letting you know gracefully?” Dotty asked.