The Perfect Dress(31)

Neighbor, my ass! she thought. I feel more than that, but I’ll just have to get over it.

Harry and Fanny Lou arrived right behind her. Two hours later there wasn’t so much as a dust bunny left in the house. Mitzi had stayed behind to vacuum after everyone else had left. She finished the job and then sat down on the living room floor to catch her breath.

It had been a total whirlwind of a weekend. Last Friday everything had been pretty normal; then Saturday, Jody’s world came crashing down around her; and now here it was Monday, and they’d moved to the shop. Mitzi had never been real good with change, and so much was happening so fast. In another three months, they’d have a baby in the shop, too.

“God, grant me the serenity . . .” She couldn’t remember the rest of the prayer, so she stood up and said, “And all that other stuff.” She carried the vacuum out to the van and headed back into Celeste just as the sun sank over the far horizon and dusk settled on East Texas.

“I can’t believe we got this done in one evening.” Jody was carrying in boxes from her truck when Mitzi arrived at the shop. “We’ve only got a couple more left, and we’ve decided to go to the café for some supper. We should treat all these good folks.”

“You’re right,” Mitzi agreed. “If we’d only had one truck, we’d have been there past midnight tonight and we’d have to go back again tomorrow.”

“I’m starving,” Tabby said as she and Dixie jogged from the back porch. “We’ll be glad to help unpack tomorrow. We’re real good at setting up a kitchen. Aunt Alice taught us how when we moved into our house. Coffee mugs above the pot. Glasses to the right of the sink.”

“See y’all in the house. I’m not going to stand here and talk while I’m holding boxes,” Jody said.

“I’ll open the door for you.” Dixie ran on ahead.

“Thank you girls for offering, and yes, we’d love to have you help with unpacking.” Mitzi stacked one box on top of the other and headed toward the house.

“I’ll go tell everyone that we’re done for today. Mr. Harry and Daddy are setting up the last of the beds right now. Why doesn’t Jody have one?” Tabby followed behind her with the vacuum in her hands.

“Because we haven’t bought one for her, but we will. Tonight will be the last time she has to sleep on the sofa,” Mitzi answered. “She only moved in with us over the weekend.”

“We heard y’all talkin’ about it, but we weren’t eavesdropping, we promise. That man should be tortured.”

“Oh, he will be,” Mitzi chuckled. “Fate will bite him right on the butt.”

“I hope so. Jody is too sweet to be treated like trash.”

Jody was on the phone when they put their load down in the kitchen. “I’m calling the café and telling them to get a table ready for nine.”

“Great. I’m going to run up and see what they’ve got done.” Mitzi was halfway up the stairs when she met Graham coming down. Two big people passing in a narrow space left no room to do it without touching. She could almost count his thick eyelashes through the lenses of his glasses that had slid down slightly on his nose. His hand grazed her bare arm as he reached to push them up. Her shiver had nothing to do with the cool air flowing from the air conditioner vent right above her.

“I understand we’re all going to the café for supper?”

He was close enough that his breath reached to that soft spot on her neck, creating even more moisture on her palms. She caught a reflection of herself in his glasses and bit back a gasp. She’d sweated off every drop of makeup. Stray red hair had escaped her ponytail. Good Lord! Had her deodorant failed her, too?

She forced a smile. “My treat for all the help.”

“You might regret that. We’re not a bit bashful when it comes to food.” He grinned.

“Neither are any of us. We’ll just hope that the café doesn’t run out,” she teased.

He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you again for taking my girls under your wing. I’ve never seen them this happy.”

“Thank you for letting them take me under their wing,” she said. “They’re proving to be great help, but I wish you’d let me pay them.”

“Let’s keep it simple. You teach them to sew, and they can do whatever you need done to help out around here.” He moved his hand and headed on down the stairs.

She didn’t touch the warm spot on her shoulder, but she sure wanted to. She took the rest of the stairs two at a time and peeked into each room. Dressers and chests of drawers were in place, and beds were put together and ready for making up. Even the spare mattress was on the sofa in the living room.

Paula came into the room behind her and said, “Never would have guessed that only yesterday we got this idea. Wish that wedding dresses went together so fast. And”—she wiped a tear away—“I’m getting excited about the baby now. This was the right decision. I can’t wait for us to start decorating the nursery.”

“Me, either, but I’ve got a confession—I’m jealous,” Mitzi said.

“Well, I got to admit that your dad would be a helluva lot better with you being a single mother than my mama is going to be. I might be shunned like Jody has been all these years,” Paula said.