The Magnolia Inn(83)

A cold shiver chased down Jolene’s spine. Those two songs that were so unlike funeral music, hearing Tucker say that he was in love with her and saying it back to him, the way she’d felt when she awoke in the middle of the night to find him still in bed with her—it was all surreal, but not as much as Carla telling her about that dream. But then, looking back over the past month, not much hadn’t been slightly weird.

Carla went on. “I won’t smother you, I promise, but I do miss having a . . . well, maybe I should just say having a younger woman to go shopping with sometimes or out to lunch or maybe even just to talk to on the phone.”

Jolene flashed her brightest smile, and it was sincere. “I’d like that.”

“Let’s just sit here a few more minutes. I need the time,” Carla said with a weak smile.

“When you’re ready,” Jolene said. “Give me a call when things settle down.”

A gentle knock on the door was followed by Tucker’s face as he peeked inside the office. “I’m not rushin’ you, but we probably should be getting home.”

Jolene stood and then bent to hug Carla. “You don’t have to call before you come see me. Just drop in anytime.”

Tucker escorted her out of the house and into his truck, where he promptly removed his tie and tossed it over the seat. “Are you okay? What happened in there?”

She told him what had happened, and he leaned over the console and kissed her. It started out slow and sweet, but before long, his tongue was teasing her lips open. When he finally broke away, he was breathing hard. “You never cease to amaze me, woman.”

“Because I told your mother-in-law we could be friends? That’s as much to my benefit as to hers. I liked her honesty and the way she handled that funeral. We’ll be good friends. I can feel it in my heart,” Jolene said. “And you need a family, too, Tucker.”



Jolene slung the door open the day after the funeral. “Aunt Sugar, are you sure you want to climb up into that attic today? It’s going to be chilly.”

“And dusty, but there shouldn’t be any mice scampering around. Me and Jasper put out a fresh batch of poison before we left last month.” Sugar started up to the second floor. “I wore my oldest work coat, so it won’t matter if it gets dusty and dirty.”

Jolene followed along behind her. “Why are we doing this today, Aunt Sugar?”

“Because I want to take some of the old picture albums to my new house, and there used to be a little library stand up there that I could use in the corner of the living room. I’ve about got all the big pieces of furniture in the house. I thought I wanted all new things, but I need a few old comfortable pieces. A house isn’t a real home without some past, present, and future in it.”

As they made their way, single file, up the narrow steps at the end of the hallway, Jolene asked, “And how are you going to put future in the house?”

When they reached the top, Jolene was amazed at all the stuff that had been stored. She’d known for years that the door led to the attic, but she’d always been afraid of mice and thought that there could be one hiding up there.

Sugar pulled a rocking chair over to a roll-top trunk. “I need some doilies, and I know there’s a box of them in this trunk because I put them here years ago.”

“You didn’t answer me,” Jolene pressed. “That’s the past. The present is the new things. What about the future?”

“See that baby bed over there? I’ll send Jasper out here tomorrow for it. Tucker can help get it down the stairs. I slept in that crib, your mother did, and so did you when she brought you to visit as a small baby. That is the future, because your children are going to sleep in it when I babysit them,” she answered as she brought out a thick picture album. “I’m going to pick out several of these of you and have them framed to go in the nursery.”

“Gettin’ the cart before the horse, aren’t you?” Jolene blushed. “Did Reuben ever sleep in that crib?”

“No, he didn’t come stay with us until he was about seven. That’s when his mama started letting him out of her sight for more than an hour for what you kids today call playdates,” Sugar answered. “And I’m not gettin’ the cart before the horse, either.”

“Tucker and I’ve known each other less than two months,” Jolene argued.

“I knew Jasper fifteen minutes when he proposed to me. He was the shyest boy I’d ever known. I was so surprised when he blurted out that he fell in love with me at first sight. I told him he was crazy, but he proposed again six weeks later and meant it. I’m just gettin’ ready.” Sugar pointed at the album. “I hope the first baby is a girl and she looks just like you. Jasper and I are so ready to be grandparents.”

Jolene blushed again. “Aunt Sugar!”

“Oh, stop that blushing. I know y’all are sleeping together. I figure you’re on the pill,” Sugar said. “But me and the girls have been praying ever since I got home that they fail. We need a baby to spoil. We ain’t had one in more than thirty years, and that’s too long. Dotty is already knitting blankets. Lucy is keeping an eye out for one of those rocking cradles for her house, and Flossie is stockpiling diapers when she finds them on sale.”

Jolene’s hands went to her cheeks.