The Perfect Dress(22)

“I was just about to suggest that. Then afterwards you can bring me back here to get my truck,” Fanny Lou answered.

As soon as the van doors were closed, Fanny Lou started firing questions. “So how long do you think this affair was going on? Was he sleeping with both women? Is there a chance that Jody is pregnant, too? Now wouldn’t that be horrible.”

“He’s been cheatin’ on her for about six months,” Mitzi answered. “I don’t know if she’s pregnant, but Jody confided in us years ago when we were still young that she has a fear that she’ll be a bad mother like Wanda. So that’s probably why they didn’t have children.” Mitzi sent up a silent prayer for Jody to not be pregnant, even though she hadn’t been on birth control. That would be too much of a burden for anyone, even her strong-willed friend, to carry.

“Jody is nothing like her mother,” Fanny Lou argued. “She’d make a great mama if and when she ever decides to have children, but I hope she’s not expecting a baby now. That wouldn’t be a bit fair to her, to have to raise up a child to a man who broke her heart.”

Mitzi drove from the church straight downtown and groaned when she saw how many cars were parked on Main Street. “We’re going to have at least a thirty-minute wait,” she fussed as she parked a block away from the Celeste Café.

“I should’ve slipped out before the benediction and saved us a table,” Fanny Lou said. “But I wasn’t about to leave you to deal with Wanda alone. I could see she was fuming all through church.”

“How? She sat behind us.” Mitzi unbuckled her seat belt.

“I kept a watch on her out of the corner of my eye,” Fanny Lou said. “She came loaded for bear and someone was going to get it.”

“Well, we’ve got time.” Mitzi flipped the rearview mirror around and applied fresh bright-red lipstick to match the dress she’d chosen to wear that morning. “No need in getting in a hurry since we’ll have a long wait anyway.”

“But we might as well go on in and get our name on the list. There’s your dad parking right beside us,” Fanny Lou said. “When he and your mama married, I didn’t think I was going to like him, but he was so good to my daughter that I came to love him like a son. I hope you find a man as good as he is someday.”

“Me, too, Granny.” Graham’s image flashed through her mind.

Harry was out of his truck and tapping on the window before Mitzi put her lipstick away. She opened the door, and he said, “Let’s go on inside.”

He ran his fingers through his thin gray hair and cleaned his glasses on a snowy white handkerchief. “Danged things fog up when I get out of the truck in the heat. Boy, Wanda was on a rampage, wasn’t she? I thought I might have to step between her and Fanny Lou.”

“One more hateful word out of her mouth and they’d have had to bring out the mop and cleaners, because I was ready to knock the shit out of her,” Fanny Lou said as she got out of the van.

Mitzi slid out of the driver’s seat and looped her arm in her father’s. “I never thought I’d be taller than you. When I was a little girl, you were ten feet tall.”

“You can thank me for that.” Fanny Lou wore a bright-red pantsuit that morning and her white cowboy boots with gold tips on the toes. Her red hair was twisted up and held with a big clip that sported stones of every color.

Mitzi pulled her grandmother close with her other arm, and the three of them walked down the wide sidewalk together. “We match today, Granny.”

“If I’d gotten the memo, I would have worn a red tie instead of this bolo,” Harry chuckled.

“We’ll have to remember to keep you in the loop,” Fanny Lou teased.

Harry’s face went from happy to serious in the blink of an eye. “I was sorry to hear about Jody and Lyle, but I might’ve helped Fanny Lou if she’d tied into that woman. I might not agree with Lyle and Jody’s lifestyle, but they seemed happy. I’m right glad she’s stayin’ with you and Paula, though. That’ll be good for her.”

They entered the café together, and Harry raised his voice above the noise of a full house to tell the waitress they needed a table for five.

“Be at least half an hour,” she said.

“Mitzi!” someone yelled from the middle of the room.

When she located the voice, Mitzi saw Dixie waving in their direction. Mitzi waved back, but Dixie motioned to empty chairs at their table. In a few long strides, Tabby had crossed the floor and said, “Y’all come join us. We’ve got a real big table and we haven’t even ordered yet.”

“This is my dad, Harry Taylor, and my grandmother, Fanny Lou Labelle. This is Tabby Harrison. She and her sister are helping me out at the store. Oh, and here’s Paula and Jody.” Mitzi waved. “These folks want us to join them for dinner.”

“Sure.” Harry nodded. “I bought your mama’s last Cadillac from Graham, so it’s not like we’re sitting with strangers.”

“I wouldn’t care if we were,” Fanny Lou declared. “I’m hungry.”

“Great!” Tabby said. “Follow me. I’ll get all y’all through the maze.”

Graham was on his feet when they got to the table. He pulled out Mitzi’s chair before he shook hands with Harry. “Y’all have met my sister, Alice. She teaches school here in Celeste. Alice, this is Mitzi Taylor and her father, Harry.”